Ah the blog. I have left it disappointingly unattended to for far too long. But now I make my amends and offer my four loyal readers a taste of what has been happening here in Germany. As Nikki stated in her last post, Schutzenfest was this past weekend and we joined in the fun Saturday evening. Teresa was already at the designated meeting point by then, which was what looked to be a small drinking establishment that was occupied, inside and out, by an abundance of uniformed and unanimously drunk Germans. Soon after our arrival the teetering mob assembled into a column and "marched" to the festival grounds. Nikki and I jumped in line and made our way there in stride with the trigger-happy party. Perhaps I am guilty of being tad narrow minded in this instance, but, initially, the thought of an organized group of uniformed German gun enthusiasts on the march was a bit frightening. However, this was an easy going and fairly violence free affair and my initial apprehension soon diminished with the help of a few brews. Nikki knew some people there from the last time she was here so she hung out with them all night. I spent most of the evening outside chatting it up with anyone who spoke even a semblance of English. We called it quits sometime early in the morning and returned home. Schutzenfest actually continued for another two days, but I, some say wisely, chose not to partake in any more festivities. This however didn't stop Nikki or Teresa from enjoying the party atmosphere for another couple nights. During the entire weekend the sky was either threatening or delivering rain, and, in accordance with Nikki's wish, the deluge has persisted so far this week as well. Making the rain worse the last few days has been a significant drop in the temperature as well with highs only in the 50s F. Ridiculous if you ask me, it is as though the solstice came and decided to skip a season. Hopefully the weather will improve soon. Nikki is not concerned with the weather here though, for we have parted ways and she has gone on to Vienna without me. I decided not to go with her because by the time we reached Northern Italy, the manic pace of our travel had taken its toll on me and I was ready for a break from it. Also, we had already seen the countries that I really wanted to see and I didn't care as much as Nikki did about seeing Austria or the Czech Republic. So, with brief embrace at the train station Tuesday night we said goodbye and moved into a new phase of the trip, where Nikki travels those two countries alone and I spend time seeing Hamburg and its surrounding areas with sister Teresa. Hopefully while there Nikki will find a suitable place to upload the hundreds of pictures she has taken the last couple weeks. And hopefully we will both find the time, energy and inspiration to update more frequently. LATER - Maxwell