Well, I’m back.

This vacation was one for the record books. Having friends over was seriously special, and more so because we experienced so many new things together. It was an honour to have them fly half-way around the globe to visit us. All the warm and fuzzies were felt. Having said that, I’ll try to keep the emotions contained while I write this. You know me, a big old softie. 😛 I cry at McDonald’s commercials.

So, I’ll keep it simple. The visit was epic. We had a ton of fun, made a lot of memories and grew as friends.

Now, though, I’m left with an empty, quiet apartment and SO MANY photos. It brings a lump to my throat to go through these pics, let me tell you. I’m not the most sentimental of souls, until it comes to photos. But, for the sake of the blog, I must work through them all. Torture, for your sake. You’re welcome. 😛

I have no photos of the day the Groenewalds arrived, because, you know, dramarama. Everything that could go wrong in travel terms went wrong. Wrong times. Wrong tickets. Wrong trains. Wrong meeting places. You have no idea how much worry you can feel if you have a group of South Africans on the loose somewhere in Germany – knowing they can’t speak the language and most Germans can’t speak English – and all the while freaking out because the cell service they were supposed to have didn’t work.

I could type you a short story about this day, but I won’t. We found each other. Eventually. I’ll be the first to admit that the tears shed at this meeting weren’t tears of joy as much as they were tears of relief.

We all recovered on the second day, as you can imagine.

So, the third day was our first outing. We visited Witthausbusch and Mülheim an der Ruhr – all the local haunts.

It needs to be said that some of these photos were taken by my second shooters, Lorenzo and Lizanne. You’ll be seeing a lot more of their work as our vacation pics are showcased. 🙂 Also, you can click on an image to enlarge it – just for all the older family members stalking these posts. Welcome! Haha.

Have a look at our first (non-stressful) adventure. 🙂

See, we even managed to smile after the misadventure at the airport. And most of Düsseldorf – we were just about everywhere that first day. Twice. I told you I could write a short about it! 😀

Hope you have an awesome week, folks. See you Wednesday. It’s good to be back.

Yolandie.