This school reunion doesn’t start off too well. Andy (who I’ve seen once in eight years) arrives at Gatwick and finds his ticket is for the Friday flight, not today’s (Thursday). A £75 upgrade, some wine and beer and a ridiculously short flight to Germany later, we’re wandering around Köln trying to find the tourist attractions.

Where. The. Hell. Are. They.

It could be the awful weather, but this city (bar the excellent Dom, which holds the largest free-swinging bell in the world) isn’t particularly inviting for the snappy happy tourist.

Of course, this trip was never really about photography, but all about experiencing some German culture… drinking.

4th April 2008 РK̦ln, Wuppertal

I can’t even kid myself that this holiday is about photography any more. Today I meet with Moritz, the German exchange student I last saw in 1997. Moritz gives Andy, Mark and me a mini-tour of Wuppertal before showing us where to buy pizza. He kindly then shows us the direction to a bar…

Things go a bit foggy as the night progresses and fortunately the camera brings back all the memories, so it turns out to be a photography trip after all!

I really must get it into my head why 7am flights are so cheap. It sounds like a good idea to arrive early in Frankfurt for the Bank Holiday, but three hours sleep and a cloud-filled sky don’t motivate me to do too much exploring on the first day. Nonetheless, my first impressions of “Bankfurt” are positive. Despite the number of skyscrapers, it has retained a “small town” feel to it and the old town (completely destroyed in March 1944) has been rebuilt exactly as it stood before the Allied bombings.

The 200m tall “Main Tower” is not the tallest building in Frankfurt, but it does give an impressive view of the rest of the city and I watch the sunset amongst a comical line of photographers with shutters snapping every few seconds.

6th May 2007 – Frankfurt

A good night’s sleep prepares me for a long day of walking. Frankfurt is not a large city, but the banks of the Main River make for pleasant strolls and there’s photography fodder everywhere I turn.

The Jewish Cemetery is frighteningly moving. Unlike the one in Warsaw which is just an enormous mass of graves, in Frankfurt there is a long wall with tiny plaques representing each person who was exported and killed in the Second World War. Each name, date of birth, date and place of death is a shocking reminder of what happened just 60 years ago. The Jewish History museum is disappointing, but again the large wall of named casualties can’t help but hit home.

Now you’d think it’s relatively easy to find a Frankfurter in Frankfurt. In the same way you’d expect to find Cheshire cheese in Cheshire, or a tasty curry in Madras, or even a decent game of poker in Texas… I really thought there would be frankfurters everywhere but I was wrong; not a sausage!

The sun takes its toll and the next stop is a 1000 year old tower that has been converted into a bar! The speciality is cocktails and it’s a suitable way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon!

There’s an area south of the Main called Sachsenhausen which reminds me of Dublin’s Temple Bar. It’s full of character during the day, but later in the evening it’s full of beer guzzlers and doesn’t have the same appeal.

The last stop is back in the old town and I finally find my long sought after meal. Along with a huge beer, the frankfurter goes down a treat. Tomorrow I’m going home and my journey is complete!

I guess it is since I’ve got into photography (about three years ago) that I’ve started looking around a little more and it allows me to take in the scenery. Throughout those three years, I’ve always had one place in the back of my mind that I knew I had to visit. Finally, just a fortnight ago, I made it to Iceland…

It was an incredible risk going in January. The four hours of sunshine a day and the possibility of constant rain and poor visibility could have spelt disaster. Fortunately, luck was on our side (again!) and apart from the odd bit of snow and rain in the mountains, the weather was pretty good.

I loved every minute of the trip and the photo opportunities were absolutely everywhere. Some highlights included standing on the edge of a volcano, climbing a glacier, walking behind a huge waterfall and navigating through geysers! The best part (to my surprise) was going to the Blue Lagoon. I really expected it to be touristy and over-crowded, but we decided to go on a night visit and the whole place was practically empty. To go for a swim when the weather was minus three degrees was unbelievable! As the lagoon is heated naturally, different parts are hotter than others, so we swam around with mud on our faces, trying to avoid any areas which were above 45 degrees! To top it off, it was the clearest night of the holiday and the stars and moon were clearly visible.

With such clear skies, I was counting on seeing the Northern Lights. However, this is one thing that I guess I’ll have to keep waiting for (and another excuse to go back to a Scandinavian country!)

My other trip was a one-night stop in Hamburg. I’ve only ever been to Germany as a young child and I thought it would be a nice change for New Year’s Eve to spend it abroad. I can’t say I was overly impressed with the city, but nothing could top the German countdown to 2006: “Drei! Zwei! Eins..!” It felt like I was on the frontline going into battle!

Regarding a chosen charity for the London Marathon in April, I’ve decided to run for The Parkinson’s Disease Society; it means a lot to me because of the history of the disease in my family. The money is put towards finding the cause and a cure, as well as helping those through it. I’ve registered on the following website: www.justgiving.com/carlobezoari, which allows people to sponsor me directly through the internet. I’m grateful for any donations!