Towards the end of Jill and Peter's stay with us in London, we all decided to head over to Germany to visit our friends, the Leibels. Greg and Katrina Leibel, along with their three children, relocated to Bonn, Germany earlier this year. We were really excited to see how they were all settling in, and to get our first taste of Germany.

We arrived at the airport to be met by Greg, who drove us back to his new home. It was quite bizarre being driven on the wrong side of the road (Peter found this particularly fascinating!). After a good catch up and a tour of their huge German home, we all headed to the local Biergarten on the Rhine River. There we enjoyed lots of tasty German beer and of course, lots of warm bretzels. After a home cooked dinner of schnitzel and spatzel we headed off to bed.

The next day was beautiful and sunny, so Katrina took us for a stroll around the streets of Bonn. We had lots of fun exploring the shops- the kids particularly enjoyed showing us the Puppenkonig, their favourite toy store. We also got to see the birthplace of Beethoven, and enjoyed some yummy German ice-cream. That evening we enjoyed more beer, bretzels and another fantastic home cooked meal in the Leibel's back garden.

On our last day in Germany, we drove to Cologne. Here, we visited the Lindt Chocolate Museum. As well as exploring the winding streets, we also climbed to the top of Cologne Cathedral. Feeling weary from all our adventures, we stopped off for refreshments at a traditional German pub. After staring at a menu for ages we decided that we definitely couldn't read German, so resorted to pointing (hoping we would get something tasty or at least edible!). We tried not to look too surprised when a plate full of green stuff (later identified as 'curly kale'-a form of cabbage) and a giant, salty sausage arrived on Jess's plate. Ok, this wasn't so bad. Then Mark's meal arrived. Mark smiled politely as a large hunk of fatty, bony, salty pork knuckle on a plate full of sauerkraut was placed in front of him. It's fair to say that presentation isn't on the top of the list when it comes to German cuisine. However, in true Aussie spirit, we tucked in and swallowed it all down with a beer and a smile.

As well as catching up with dear friends, we loved our small (and rather salty!) taste of West Germany. We really hope to be able to squeeze in another trip to Germany in 2012, but if we can't, we can always cook up a giant schnitzel and boil us some cabbage!

Auf wiedersehen!