We started that Friday with breakfast followed by buying the goods needed for the Christmas party in the evening. Running those errands was not enough as an alibi for the party. So, we drove to Snowdome in Bispingen for the afternoon.

I must say: Skiing is fun and for my first time alpine skiing I did not make much of a fool of me.

I went to Munich by train on Thursday and met my school mate from Ingolstadt and a rowing mate. She, the latter one, just moved to Munich and took the chance to visit the Oktoberfest with some friends.

Friday had only one big attraction, Oktoberfest again, this time accompanied by my host. Before arriving on Theresienwiese, we had a late breakfast and a nice stroll along the river Isar and through Englischer Garten.

Meeting a rowing mate had the inevitable result of having an appointment for sport on Sunday. But first there was the regatta on Saturday, preceded by a breakfast at my rowing mate’s. We also lent a boat from the rowing club at the Starnberger See for a tour.

The tour was really nice, so we made an appointment for Sunday morning, that tour turned out to be even better. Afterwards we took a bath in the lake (16 Celsius) and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon lying in the sun. In the evening I rejoined my host in the “Augustiner” having some beer.

The beer was necessary to help me sleep on my journey back to Hamburg on the night train.

For the journey to Berlin we had booked the ICE which is quite the optimum for travelling from Hamburg to Berlin. In just 90 minutes you get from one city centre to the other.

The river we rowed on was the Havel and the lakes it travels through. One of the lakes was the Wannsee where our hosting club is situated.

On the first day on water we went down the Little Wannsee and then rowed upwards the river Havel, passing Glienicker Bridge. We rowed into the canal going to Marquardt, where we took a break near the park of the castle.

The local fishing club had a summer party with some games in which we took part.

The last part of the days leg was going upstream the river Havel again to Werder. In the last half hour it started to pour. But the rain could not lower our spirit and we headed back to the rowing club in Berlin, where the married couple managing catering waited with a barbecue.

On the second day we had to return the boats to Berlin. We had to be faster than the day before, because we had to catch the train back to Hamburg. Anyway, there was enough time to have a break in Potsdam and on the island belonging to our hosting club.