Le Weekend

Where to begin...
Last weekend was planned thus:
Thursday night fly from Frankfurt Hahn to London Stansted, parents pick me up in car. Spend the Friday sorting out the things I wanted to take back to Germany with me. Saturday morning go to London and catch the plane to Venice. Sunday night return from Venice, collect my bag from home and then catch a plane to Germany on Monday morning.

What actually happened varied slightly from the aforementioned plan.
Thursday night awaiting the flight from Hahn, it was announced that, due to heavy snow storms in London, Stansted Airport was closed, and my flight was cancelled. Great!
The following flight was at 6.45am, so I decided to return to Mainz and spend a few hours there in the company of Jordi, Alberto and Lourdes. Of course, by this time there were no trams any more, so I had to get a taxi back to Hechtsheim. Met up with said people, saw the film of the Kutre Concierto II (which I had missed by being at the airport) and then at 4am left (by taxi again) to catch the bus to Hahn.
Checked-in for this first flight, and waited until they announced that this too was cancelled, as the weather had not improved over london. As the next flight was at 11-ish, I decided it would not be worth returning, so I waited in the airport foyer.
Came and went 3 more flights, until finally, at 6.45pm on the Friday a plane left Germany for England with me on it.

Of course, getting to the UK is one thing, but getting out of Stansted is another. The motorways were blocked, the trains were not running, and there was a 2-hour wait before a taxi would be available (and then a 3km queue for it as well). Of the 10,000 people stranded at the airport, I did not want to be included. So instead, once Kathy had managed to arrive, we went off to the Hilton (the only hotel in Stansted).
As it was Chinese New Year, we sat down for a meal of some oriental dishes before going to bed. Not much time to sleep, however, as at 4am we had to get the bus back to Stansted to go off to Venice. At this time the airport was still closed due to snow, and so in the end we had another 4 hours delay.

Arriving in Venice, we were definitely taken aback by how amazing the city is. It really is a lovely place, with the canals running all through the centre, with gondolas passing by. It was, however, very cold at this time, and so travelling through the city on the vaporettas required scarf, gloves and a lot of shivering.
The youth hostel is very well situated, pretty well equipped, and best of all (unlike the rest of Venice) cheap !!

The Saturday afternoon and Sunday were spent visiting the Basilica, Palace, and all the other tourist attractions, as well as getting lost in the side streets and wondering about aimlessly taking in the views.

Sunday night returned to London, were my parents were ready to collect us, went back to my place, had some dinner (at midnight) and then proceeded to pack my bag for Germany.
Finishing the packing at 2.30am, I decided half an hour was enough for me to rest before getting up, showering and then catching the bus at 4am.
This time it was my fault, but I overslept and finally woke up at 5.30am. Seeing as the flight was at 7.45, and Stansted is about one and a half hours away from my house, this was not good. Due to very good driving on the part of my mum, we arrived there with 10 mins to spare, caught the plane and got back to Mainz ok.

So, all in all, a great holiday. The photos of which will be put up once I get chance to connect from home.

Of other news, I don't really have much to say, seeing as I was not able to read a paper or see the TV during this time.

Tomorrow my class in Classical Mechanics and Thermodynamics has their exam, so I will be there to hold their hands, so to speak. Afterwards we have to mark all the papers, so our Saturday is going to be pretty busy.

Best get back to work