Day 15 - 17, Hamburg, Germany

We arrived in Hamburg relatively well rested, though at the wrong station as the train decided to skip Dammtor station. From there we made it to the Google office, which was a bit of a surreal experience, given that we didn't go there on a work related issue. Instead, we picked up Patrick's keys from Max (thank you both!) before getting breakfast by the Alster, organising some things in town and heading back for lunch with Max. With enough food taken in, we then went to our home for the weekend, where we were delighted to see that Patrick had labeled all important components in his house for our convenience.

Freshened up we were ready to start the main weekend activity proper. First stop was the Gröninger Braukeller, meeting up with Yvonee, Alex and most of the wedding party for tasty food and homemade beer. On the way there we ran into Tobi Altendorf by total conincidence, which was a really nice surprise. Arriving at the Braukeller, we had a great time, catching up with the bride and groom to be, colleagues from Ireland and getting to know new people along the way. We left around 8.30, but we heard that the party went on for much longer, with Ray finishing the beer in style at around midnight. Ourselves, we met up with Max and Tobi for the night, starting off by (half-)watching the (awful) Germany-Austria qualifier game in a pseudo-Irish pub called the Shamrock. It was great catching up with Max and Tobi and I certainly enjoyed the Cider on offer. As the night went on, we moved ourselves to trendier areas, finishing on a large, very minty and very tasty Mojito in the Sternschanze quarter.

Saturday was Yvonne and Alex's big day. We started things early though and got our shopping hats on. For us, walking into an outdoor shop without a list is extremely dangerous, so we made one and - against expectations - managed to stick to it ... well, almost. Most importantly, we bought the most essential piece of equipment for our Africa stay: Really good binoculars. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this!

After that we got ready and headed out to the wedding, which was set in a beautiful hotel housed in a restored water tower in the heart of Hamburg. The ceremony was heartfelt, warm and beautiful and we met a lot of friends at the following reception and party, including Jorge, Claire, Thomas and Alex. The party went on into the early hours of the morning, with plenty of great food, good wishes, small activities and vigorous dancing keeping us entertained. The DJ/MC was particularly entertaining as he took requests from guests, and he sang and danced to all the greatest diva songs in style. There was a brief debate about the danger of the tomatoes and cucumbers on offer, but we decided to be brave and dug in regardless of the news reports. The highlight - besides the confident "yes" obviously - was the moment where everybody went outside to put on special glasses that surrounded every light source with two rainbow-coloured hearts. We headed home around 3am with the couple and a number of guests still going strong.

Understandably, we slept in the next day, but good weather dictated outdoor activities. Kathi and Max picked us up and we headed out to Blankenese for one of the most delishious brunches we've ever had. Fish, meats, salads, bread, sweets, juices - anything we tried was really nice. With all the food intake, a walk was in order afterwards, so we made it down to the river to bathe in the glorious sunshine for a while. The height of the day made it really hot though, so at some stage we had to head back to cooler pastures, getting some cold refreshments along the way. Kathi and Max dropped us back at Patrick's place, where we carefully repacked everything. Thank you Max for taking care of some of our stuff, we are looking forward to see it back in Istanbul!

Day 10 - 14, Clarens, Switzerland

Dad was waiting for us at the station when we got to Montreux, and we actually managed to fit our two trolleys, two large backpacks and two small backpacks into their Peugeot 107. The real welcome came with the pisco sours we had as soon as we got home. Many more of those shall be drank in Chile and Peru I'm sure. Although on the first day the weather was sunny and warm, it changed for the worse the next two days, so we spent them mostly at home, relaxing, eating and also sorting some final bills and canceling contracts from our apartment in Dublin. We also took my parents to see a movie, and as usual Montreux did not have too much on offer in original version, so we saw Pirates of the Caribbean IV in 3D, and we actually all really enjoyed it. It might be a bit long, and I find 3D a bit annoying but this movie was pretty entertaining.

We had thought of doing some treks around Lake Geneva, with the good intention of training a little bit before heading to South America, but the weather so far had not been on our side, so we had only managed an hour and a half walk by the lake shore, but on the last day the sun came out again, and we decided to do a 3 hour trek around Glion. We left early after breakfast, got our bags (which we didn't really need but wanted to try out) and walked to Montreux train station from where the walk started. The trail took us quickly down by the river, where we left the town of Montreux behind us and we were suddenly surrounded by lush green trees and plants, which looked more like a Central America jungle than the Swiss Riviera. The path continued and started to climb steeply into a forest by the mountainside, ending up in Glion with a good view of the lake, even being able to spot my parents house from there. The way down was mostly through steps back to the train station.

The trek had opened our appettite quite a bit, so we welcomed the BBQ my parents had for us to send us off. We also got to see and spend a bit of time with Brendan, Anoushka and my niece Shana, and then it was off to the train station again, to catch the night train to Hamburg.

Day 9 - 10, Zürich, Switzerland

AirBerlin continued to impress us, delivering us swiftly and without a hitch to Zurich, which had pretty much the same weather as Spain (=hot and sunny). Swiss public transport also did not disappoint and we dropped our bags at Claudia's place shortly after 3pm from where, without much ado, we headed out to Stephanie and Dennis to enjoy the first summer barbecue. The conservatory/balcony/terrace proved to be a great venue, with the sun blazing and the built-in fireplace producing tasty grilled fare right by the dining table. Between us, Claudia, Steffi, Dennis, Jens, Max, Claudia and Mark there were loads of updates to cover, so time flew by quickly. To top things up, Barca gave ManU a thorough beating in the CL final, which received widespread approval. Claudia and Gerard dropped by around midnight, just as the party was winding down - so on the way home the four of us stopped by the city center a quick exploration of late Zurich nightlife.

Making the best of the good weather, we decided to meet up at the Viadukt/Markthalle for an outdoor brunch the next morning. Very tasty food indeed, but a preview of what Swiss prices are like. Afterwards we strolled to a nice little place by the river, which Foursquare aptly refered to as the hipster place in Zurich, but which was very nice nonetheless. Despite being tempted, nobody decided to jump in, so we restrained ourselves to a drink and some more talking and lazying around in the sunshine. We also ran into Gerard and some friends, but didn't have too much time to chat, as our train to Montreux was departing in the early afternoon. Picking up our bags and saying good-bye to Claudia were the last things on our agenda, before heading south on the ever efficient Swiss train system.

Photos from Spain