Oh blimey! The year's almost over, and I've yet to write about half of it! Here's August in a few words:

The month started well with Franz's birthday party in the Biergarten behind the old exhibition centre, just up the hill from where the Oktoberfest is held. I headed to another, the Michaeligarten, the next day with Béné  & her cousin & his partner.

The weekend I was mostly at the Flaucher, splashing about in the water with Selena, Neil & little Christopher. It felt just like a proper summer holiday!! There was even a cracking thunderstorm that evening, which I watched from a bridge over the Isar with Harry & Dieter, with whom I'd just had Greek dinner.

Another week, another Biergarten - the Menterschwaige with Veronika - and another thunderstorm - yay! Later in the week, Andy Kerr was in town with Duyen & their kids, so we went to a Biergarten (of course) and then had Vietnamese food at Mama. Finally, I could introduce my latest Vietnamese friend to my first Vietnamese friend!

Colin & Feli got married on 10th, and the party was splendid: a heady mix of Bavarian & Scottish music and food that seemed to have fallen straight from heaven. Just time for a couple of dinners here & there, including with Béné, Julien & Marzena at the Kloster, and then came the big trip...

California!!!

I flew to Los Angeles and met Chris, Kate, Sophie & Livi at the airport. We grabbed a hire car (more of a tank really) and headed first to Venice Beach, then to Santa Barbara. Then we headed up Highway 1, doing lots of eating, nature-watching, and more eating before reaching San Francisco.

Michaela, Russ, Ryan & Charlie flew in the next day, and we had a fabulous big family reunion type get-together weekend of fun & frolics in the sun. Then I took a train south to Silicon Valley to catch up with Jamie & Claire, who now live in Mountain View (Jamie's working at Google). Good times: too much food and WAY too much to drink - but it was ALL good. (I now understand margaritas and tacos.)

I got the red-eye across from San Francisco to New York and we touched down at Newark just before another massive thunderstorm interrupted all flights. Rich picked me up & took me to Teaneck, where I had an hour's sleep before heading into Manhattan for a mad rush of drinks & food with friends all on the same day: first catching up with Matthew who was over from Melbourne, then with Kenan who was up from Florida, and then with Dan (and Rich & Paul) for sexy Korean tapas.

The next day Rich & I headed out to the Jersey Shore to see how much of the Hurricane Sandy damage has already been cleared away - and how much remains to be done. And the following day we all headed out to Fire Island to catch some waves and some rays and chill, before I had to fly home again. Boo hoo!!

The last week of August, back in Munich, was marked by summer flair as well. Lots of eating & drinking, culminating in the Pestalozzistraßenfest and Marzena's birthday party with Béné. All in all, a good month.