Another first

Today I tried out the gym facilities here at Paul-Sudeck-Haus for the first time. The gym room is nothing spectacular, but all the machines are in working order and it's great considering it's totally free. See, last week our "huiskomitee" held a party and orientation for all the newbies at the res. Although Bryan knew about the gym room he didn't know how to procure the keys for it. And when I saw it I thought to myself, "I can gym in here". Don't worry I will one day take my camera down to the gym room, so you can also see what it looks like. Bryan had me doing bench presses (2x5kg), I guess that's what you get for working out with a guy. We're planning on going back there Wednesday.

Another reason why I wanna get in shape is the fact that my husband has become quite the mountain climber. He can do Lion's Head in 34 mins, which is a great improvement on the 45 mins we normally took to climb Lion's Head. He also went up Table Mountain from the Kirstenbosch side (Skeleton Gorge) for this first time this weekend and promised to do so again. So as you can see I cannot let myself go whilst in Germany, where there are so many foods tempt me. Another motivator is the fact that if I work out regularly I can more regularly sample the delicious things on offer:)))

Speaking of lovely food: On Sunday I had my very first slice of a German Torte (cake). Peter, my very trustworthy personal guide here in Hamburg, took me to a coffee shop in the city centre. According to him they served the best Torten in the city. Well, I was completely spoilt for choice, but decided on the raspberry cake and I wasn't disappointed. It was absolutely heavenly and I savoured every bite. I foundly recalled the Berry Torte I had for my birthday in Germany ten years ago. Although it wasn't completely the same (this one had the raspberries worked into the light and creamy filling instead of having the berries on top of a creamy base) the effect was the same...absolute ecstacy. I'm definitely going back to that place because there are so many of the cakes I haven't tried and which I would love to try, possibly over and over again:)))

That's it for tonight.
Ciao