Holiday half time.

Half of my holiday is over and I know I have been a lazy writer. Partly due to the fact that I am only slowly emerging into the world now and only now fully recovered from a stomach bug followed by an infected throat. I had enough sense to get sick while I was with my mother, which helped loads since we all know that mothers know best when someone is sick. The sore throat spoilt the first few days of my stay in Hamburg as I couldn't even finish a glass of bubbly without crying in pain. A funny doctor, who gave me antibiotics and told me that South African wines would help a speedy recovery further along, finally made it all better.
Yesterday was Jakob Day and we travelled to the Heidepark, an amusement park with roller coasters and the whole lot, an hour away from Hamburg. Jakob clearly gets his organizational skills from his aunt - me - as he had already memorized a map of the park and knew exactly where the roller coasters that he was allowed to ride where located by the time he got up. Once we arrived he led us with expertise and a very commanding little voice and off we went head over heels.
Over the course of the day I learned that hell has no fury like an 8 year old who isn't 12 yet and not allowed to ride the 'coolest' coasters on offer. It would have been nice if him and my brother could have switched bodies for a day, as he has the heart of a lion whereas my brother, well, …. doesn't. We were all surprised to even get him on the water slides and he still screamed loudest, even though Jakob declared “Ach, Papa, they are totally lame.”

Seven exhausting hours later we got back and I met Marie for dinner at my all time favourite restaurant Vienna. An ex and I once bonded over the fact how much we both like the place and had our first and many more dates there. In a very nice way his spirit seems to linger there and though he lives in Paris now I always expect him to walk through the door when I'm there. Whenever I go it reminds me of a time when I was very young, carefree, and very happy. All paired with the best Wiener Schnitzel and my dear Marie as company made for the perfect evening.
Now I'm on the train to Berlin. I'm excited for the next part of my Germany tour, yet when I look outside everything is grey and measly, I cannot help it: I miss Africa. Especially today as I really want to see the snow on table mountain.

For African feeling in Hamburg: Rooibos ice tea with
pineapple and grenadilla.