Back in town

Phew! After two weeks on the road, we are back in Dresden- and summer has arrived! It's 27 degrees and our new room gets evening sun! Next investment might be a fan!

Anyway, we have just returned from 5 lovely days in London. Particularly nice was the fact that they spoke English there, but it was also great catch up with some friends and family :) We were lucky enough to be collected from Stanstead airport by Jacqui and we also got to meet son Luke and hubbie Matt. From Cambridge, we took the train to London where we were hosted by Marty's sister Ngaire and her hubbie Paul, who were extremely kind- Paul went as far as vacating his office so that we could have somewhere to sleep!!

We spent most of Thursday at the Tower of London with Marty's friend Jin and her friends Donna and Joe. I'd have to say that I wasn't that excited about the trip, but it turned out to be fantastic and well worth the £16 (I've come to accept that you just need to close your eyes when paying in London). Once again, Marty enjoyed ogling the armoury, but the coolest part of the day was chatting to one of the Beefeaters who happened to be a Kiwi, and was the first foreigner to be employed as a Beefeater at the Tower.... It was also brilliant to have Jin showing us the sights and we had a fab lunch at the Borough markets- foodie heaven, through and through.

After a lazy day on Friday, we hiked across London (at rush hour) to see our friends Mark and Anita and their small fry. It was great to catch up with some Kiwis and hear a bit of news....

On Saturday, Ngaire organised a bbq with Paul's sister and her hubbie and they even managed some good old English rain for us. I'd have to say that generally, the weather has been amazing while we have been away, so the few drops of rain were a bit of a novelty for us! I also managed to get to the supermarket with Ngaire and we have been feasting on things we have missed- like yummy crackers and salt and vinegar chips :)

Sunday included a good old pub lunch (although we were too early for a roast, which Marty was a bit sad about) and a rest in the sun by the Thames.

So. Now we're back in D-town... 5 more weeks here, a week in Boston and then home. It all seems to be flying by, really.

Hope you are all well, thanks for your emails etc... (it's nice to hear from home- hint, hint).