My German Hosts

My wonderful German hosts

 

Hamburg (August 18-20)

Tim (in singlet), his girlfriend and flatmates. They prepared this lovely brunch for me on my last morning.

Husum (Northern Germany) (August 21-24)

Vincent showing me round his lovely harbour town.

Steven, Vincent's friend (the two couchsurfed together at my place) showing me the charms of Friedrichstadt, close to Husum.

Bad Oeynhausen (August 27-30)

Adi (left) and his wonderful family who welcomed me for the third time in 5 years. I have Adi to thank for getting me in to see a top ear specialist who fixed my hearing problems. He also introduced me to the delights of the sauna.

Kahl am Main (August 31-September 1)

Niklas in front of Schloss Johannisburg in Aschaffenburg on the Main River.

Allgäu (Southern Bavarian Alps) (Sept 2-7)

Josef, my cruel host who forced me up and down the steep alpine slopes of the Allgäu. (He's not really cruel, just a lot fitter than me!) Apart from sight seeing we also attended a great production of the musical Sister Act in Stuttgart.

Memmingen (Sept 8-11)

Julius and his girlfriend Frederika at the Oktoberfest. A landscape gardener, Julius is the only one of my young hosts with a full time job. The others are uni students or trainees.

Ulm (Sept 12-13)

Alex, who patiently accompanied and encouraged me up the 768 steps of the Ulmer Münster, the tallest church in the world. It took a few pauses to get to the top but I did it!

Augsburg (Sept 14-15)

Peter and his wife Sabine at Ammersee, a beautiful lake outside Augsburg. Sabine sings in a philharmonic choir that performs operas and musicals. Next year her group will be involved in an open-air production of My Fair Lady (in German of course). Guess who plans to be there!

Tübingen (Sept 19-20)

Dennis and his girlfriend Martina. They took me on a great walk, down into a deep cave, over grassy meadows and up wooded mountains to a small castle. A lovely day.

Villingen (Black Forest) (Sept 22-27)

Florian (right) and his father Peter. The pair of them spoilt me rotten for a week. I stayed with Peter in his historic house in the heart of beautiful Venningen. He was so generous with his time and hospitality. I owe him big time!

Bamberg (Sept 30-October 2)

Marius (left) and his room mate Adrian and I drinking a Zombie cocktail. I felt like a zombie after it! (I looked like one drinking it!)

Zeuzleben (Northern Bavaria) (October 3-5)

 

Daniel (right) and his friend Hannes at Kloster Kreuzberg, in the Province of Franken, Bavaria. We hiked for an hour and a half then climbed a million steps to reach these crosses. The view was worth it.

Bonn (October 6-7)

 

Vincent (left), his brother Ruben and parents Benedikt and Ruth. The latter invited me to a delicious dinner on my second night. A lovely, warm and friendly family, as you can tell from the picture.