We are now in Germany

Day 18:
Yesterday, we had a great trip from Marlow to Heathrow, didn't get lost once, even without Jenni (yes, we said our sad farewells to her)! It was then a quick pass through check-in and customs. It was amazing that the airport wasn't evacuated as we were asked to take our shoes off when passing through security! We then enjoyed a pleasant lunch and watched the business of Heathrow from the brand new Terminal 5. We worked out that they landed approximately 1 plane per 1.5 minutes and probably the same for takeoffs. There was some time to work these maths out as our flight was delayed by 20 minutes (the only flight we saw that was delayed) can you see a theme! When we boarded the plane we had two window seats, which the adults reluctantly gave up for the kids enjoyment. I don't think Rachel appreciated the sacrifice as she wanted to play with the blind and close it to stop the bright sunshine! All the same we watched the coast off sunny England disappear and flew the very short distance over the Channel to Europe. It seemed we had just reached flying height and we started to descend again. Almost like taking a short train trip, not changing countries.

We passed through German customs and had a short wait for our bags and then we were out looking for Ralf. We didn't have to look far as he was waiting right outside the doors with open arms and handshakes all round. A 40 minute drive along the Autobahn, passing trees even further coloured by Autumn than Marlow's, saw us arrive in Wuppertal in the late afternoon. A few beers, settling into our rooms, exploring Ralf and Shaun's home, meeting Frau Köller (whom Kylie last saw in 1982 and Andrew in 1995), meeting Shaun and enjoying dinner and a few more beers before retiring to bed. Ralf and Shaun's English is fantastic, Frau Köller's is non existant and our German is not much better but we still had a good evening together sharing many laughs and conversations. It is fantastic getting to know each other again after such a long time, although the highlight of the holiday for Andrew is Ralf picking on Kylie!

Day 19:
Today, Thursday, and we have had a great continental breakfast of meats, cheeses and fresh bread rolls and we are deciding if we shall explore Wuppertal by Schwebebahn (the upsidedown train) or go to the zoo. We'll let you know what we decided in the next installment.

Congratulations to the Bower's on the birth of your daughter. We hope all the other Mum's-to-be at church are doing well too. We hope all is well in all the households who are joining us via this blog. Thanks too, Grandma and Grandpa, for the postcard from Queensland, it arrived at Ralf's the same day we did. Glad you had a great time catching up with the family.