Bonn

Priska, remarked Mathias, had a nose like Cleopatra's. When did he see Cleopatra, I wanted to know. "I'll get more wine," he said, and vanished.

That aside, Priska had one of those totally uninhibited from-deep-within grins and a hearty chuckle to match. Oh, yes... she works for the press office of the federal government.

I saw these guys sleeping in Bonn Station and had to take a picture. We've got lots of homeless people back in South Africa and it's one of life's ironies that I found it strangely reassuring to find them in Bonn too.

This is probably Mathias' camerawork again. I'm sampling a Vodka Sour which is like a Whisky Sour made with... Never mind. That's Sabine next to me looking at the camera but more on her later.

We flagged down a random passer-by to shoot this snap of a very maudlin bunch of us having a last drink together on our last day in Bonn. That's Alexander Zemeck on the left who was our local expert for Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and Bonn. Johan, yrs trly, Sabine, and Mathias.

Sabine Darges has a masters in Japanese studies with minors in history and political science.

Corinna Kreusel is German but grew up in Jamaica. It was the ankh that caught my eye. (No, really.) Necklace and earrings which, perhaps unsurprisingly, came from her travels around Egypt. She has one of those faces where you really want to see a smile...

... which when it came was worth the wait.