We caught the train to Nuremburg and Lena and her father Helmut met us at the station. We then travelled to their place and met her sister Sarah, and her partner Peter, her Mum Edeltraud, and Lena’s partner Stephan came later. We had a lovely walk around the centre of Nuremburg and had a drink in a nice pub, then we went to an old Bavarian restaurant where we had a traditional German meal. Lena’s parents joined us for this and there was so much laughter. Back at their house we enjoyed chatting around the dinner table. A lot of humour and alcohol!

5th October
We took a day trip to Wurzburg which was very pretty and wine country and was where Stephan grew up. We went to Marienburg castle which overlooks Wurzburg and had the most amazing views, and the weather was stunning - it was actually really warm which was very unusual for this time of year.
We had a glass of local wine on the bridge, which is a tradition there. Later on that day you could hardly move on the bridge because of all the people drinking wine and talking. It was a great atmosphere and lovely tasting wine! We went to the Residenz which was really pretty and walked through the garden with Lena and Stephan. This beautiful city was 90% destroyed by bombs in WWII.
Later at home, Sarah had been busy in the kitchen making pizza (about 10 of them) and we had a casual night at home with everyone.

6th October
Today was a chilled out day for us – Kyle and Helmut went to the clay court and played some tennis for an hour and I was chief photographer.
After this we went back to Nuremburg with Edeltraud and met Lena, Sarah, Stephan and Peter. We walked around a bit more and took some photos. We visited an organic shop and sampled lots of pure juices and came away with a few! Then we went to an amazing gelato place and enjoyed them in the sun. A few firemen were doing the same, with their firetruck in the street.
Back at the Kiesl’s we had apple strudel which was homemade by Edeltraud and so delicious!
That night we went to a small town called Lauf an der Pegnitz where some friends of the Kiesl family were performing at an Irish pub. They were an Irish Band and were very good! They played for quite a while and had the whole bar joining in! It was a really enjoyable evening.

7th October
We had another day trip today where we went to Regensburg. Our first stop was Kelheim where there was a memorial designed like in the Roman times. It was a memorial for the 60 year war and there was a photo of it surrounded by thousands of Nazis standing there using it for propaganda. It was really interesting and we were pleased to have been able to have gone there.
Next was Weltenburg which was a kloster (cloister) and it has been brewing its own beer since 1050 and is the oldest one in Bavaria – it continues to be a brewery today. We went to the river and skimmed stones and enjoyed the sunshine before heading back over the river on the barge.
- Danielle