Fifth stop Hamburg and Munich

After 10 days came the time to say good bye and return to Hamburg in time for my 62nd birthday which was celebrated in Beate’s and Klaus Martin’s garden with some friends and relatives around.





And just a day later it was time to visit another friend and celebrate her birthday in style.



The days in Hamburg were followed by a few days in my old home town Munich and to meet for the “Stammtisch” with old and lovely friends again.

This Munich Stammtisch has a special character. All in all it’s a German tradition to have a and go to a Stammtisch regularly. This one has the ‘twist’ that it only gets together when I am in town. And it is always a very happy and lively affair which is enjoyed by all. And to my great delight, my very good and long term friend Georg from Loerrach could make it as well.





With cousin Angela I travelled to Chiemsee in order to visit my old friend Traute. She is for the last few years burdened by Parkinson’s disease and needs the daily help of a retirement home. And we were trying to prepare her for the visit and provide some basic explanation as to who the visitor may be. However, in this case that was not necessary …..Ich wuerde Jochen sofort auf der Strasse erkennen…. (I would recognise Jochen immediately on the street) were her words.

Sadly, her own son who was also called Jochen, had died a few weeks earlier.

And one day was reserved for 4 of us, Dorothea, Helmut, Georg and me to drive a few km into the Bavarian countryside to visit Kloster Andechs and to enjoy a real beer (my Australian friends will excuse my emphasis on ‘real’ in relation to beer from Andechs.) However, who ever has tasted the brew will understand.