So a wedding is always a lovely reason to take a trip, so when Nadine and Efren invited us to come down to Dusseldorf to celebrate, we couldn’t resist.
The trip took us through England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, and we enjoyed a nice stay at a spa hotel and then off to the wedding. It was a good party and we enjoyed the coffee and cakes and then had a fun night watching the German team perform admirably in the football world cup against Argentina.
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Nadine, Andrea and Lena
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The wedding ceremony
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Mitchell enjoying the ceremony
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Signing on the line
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Outside the Standesamt
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Christian and Gina
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Our family!
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Efren singing with the Mariachi band
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The Mariachi band
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Andrea and Lena chilling in front of the fan
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Us with the happy couple
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Mitchell reflects
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Mike and Sheetal
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Eindhoven
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Sheetal, Lena and Greg
On the way home we managed to catch up with Mike and Sheetal in Eindhoven. We looked around the city, enjoyed a nice meal at a Grand Cafe, and then we made our way back to the channel tunnel and had fish and chips for dinner in Dover with the setting sun.
Lena and Greg went to Dad’s Camp on Cookham Dean old cricket common. It was a fun weekend with about 40 dads and a hundred or so kids. We turned up, pitched our tent, and made sure the kids had a great afternoon with a big walk and treasure hunt. Once we had fed the kids and put them to sleep, then there was a couple of hours for us Dads to have fun.
Thanks to Porteur, Mike and Darryl for organising a great event and getting everyone together.
Lena and Andrea
We had a lovely easter in the sun, to celebrate the wedding of Dee and Martin, in the Munich Ratskeller. A Ratskeller is not a place where rodents dwell, rather the cellar below the Rathaus or town hall.
The wedding started with a drinks reception in the courtyard of the Rathaus, and then we went downstairs for the ceremony and then dinner.
Dee and Martin in cake form
The happy couple
The service and facilities were top notch, and it was great to see Dee and Martin marry.
Lena celebrated in style by driving her SLK Mercedes (ride on edition) around the restaurant.
Highlights for us were the well organised wedding – meant we could just have fun!
The food was good, and of course it was great to see everyone there too.
Well done Dee and Martin – we wish you well!
As part of my lazy updates to our family blog – Lena brought her little friend Alody up to the allotment (with a side trip to the park as well of course). Lena and Alody have lovely matching mauve jackets and every time they see each other it leads to a crazy squealing contest.
Anyway – I thought this picture was cute 
Check out more about Alody here: Our Family: a field trip to the allotments.
Last weekend I visited Bulgaria with my work mates and got to see a ski resort and country that I barely knew anything about outside of games of Diplomacy. Bulgaria is a former communist country bordered by Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and the Black Sea. We went to the resort of Pamporovo (Пампорово) near the Greek border, about 3-4 hours from Sofia where we flew in. My colleague Peter owns an apartment that has recently been built in the burgeoning resort.
As far as a countries go, I think Bulgaria has a long way to go. I could describe it as stepping into a time machine, but only partially, because you see loads of soviet style architecture, half finished houses and buildings. But there is also a mix of new developments, mansions, and some just plain odd looking stuff mixed in. Also the roads ranged from recently built to scary bumpy tracks that people overtake on in the middle while cars pass each side.
For skiing, the resort had a fair size, and on good days would have a nice assortment of runs, ranging from easy to nice fast black runs coming down the face of the mountain.
It was a fun trip of poker, snowboarding, pool and watching sport, and while I mightn’t go back soon, I would say it is an experience you will only understand if you go yourself.
One of Lena’s best friends lives just a couple of houses down the road, and is half-South African, half-French and of course all English just like Lena (except Lena doesn’t have the paperwork to prove it).
They get up to all sorts of fun games together including playing scarecrows, and sleeping bunnies.
Lena and Alody playing Scarecrows
Alody’s mum and dad come round and drink coffee, tea and wine whilst the girls play.
Alody has her own family webpage with her little brother Timo and posted some of this first here: Lena’s friend Alody.
