The Fun

Phew - what a turbulent but wonderful few weeks I have had!
As you already know, it all started with an impromptu party at my place on the 22nd of March, my actual birthday.

On Friday night, my Mum and I went to a concert which was excellent. On Saturday afternoon, we met my relatives from England at the airport. Their plane landed 15 minutes early but then there was an unexplained holdup at passport control, and we had to wait nearly an hour for them. Never mind, they were finally there, and it was so great to see them!
My sister invited us all to her place for the evening. We ordered pizzas and had a few bottles of wine (and beer for "the lads", i.e. O.K. and my nephew, who is 24).

On Sunday morning, they all came to my place for breakfast. Usually on a Sunday morning, breakfast means just O.K. and myself at the kitchen table - this time, there were 9 of us crowding my small living room, but everyone found a place to sit and it did not matter that plates had to be kept on knees as the coffee table was completely covered in breakfast things. 
The weather was beautiful, and so after breakfast, we all walked to the palace grounds for a stroll in the sun and some photos.
 

O.K. and I left the others then with my sister, because I had to be at the pub early to talk to the staff and make sure everything was as it should be.
The first guests started to arrive at 3:00 pm, and then the fun begun in earnest!
 

Altogether, there were 66 of us at the pub, with only a handful missing due to illness or other reasons. All food and drinks were on me, plus we had a pub quiz with questions about me that my sister and I had made up. I will post the questions for you in another post, just for fun - see how many you would have been able to answer!
The party lasted until nearly 11:00 pm, when O.K. and I were the last to leave.

On Monday morning, we met with my relatives from England again for breakfast, this time at a nearby café, to give them an idea of a typical German breakfast. Afterwards, we had enough time for some shopping in the town centre before we had to take them to the airport again. A whirlwind weekend was over - and I loved every minute of it!!

Monday evening, O.K. and I drove to his village. Tuesday, we left there for our spa break at a very nice hotel in the middle of nowhere (near Lake Constance; more on that in another post). 
We spent three very restful days there, with massages, sauna, walks in woodland and excellent food. Good Friday saw us once again on the road back to Ludwigsburg, for dinner at my parents'. Saturday it was back to the village, because O.K. was scheduled to play with the village band in church the next morning for Easter Sunday Service.

O.K.'s sister and brother-in-law had invited us for dinner that day, so: more excellent nosh!
Easter Monday was mostly sunny and mild so we went for a run (more or less!) in the morning and a walk in the afternoon before I had to catch the train back home.
Yesterday was my first day back at work. It felt as if I've been away for much longer - it was only a week, really, but I packed it chock full so that it felt like twice as long (in a good way, of course!). 

I am still overwhelmed by the amount of cards, presents, flowers, kind wishes and phone calls I received - there was not even enough space on the sideboard to hold everything, and I will go through all my cards once more to make sure I won't forget to say thankyou to everybody who thought of me.