An old friend and the perfect present

There was a reason we came to Hamburg, and that was so that I could finally meet my German penfriend, Gila, after 36 years of correspondence. We arranged to meet for lunch in the lobby of the hotel. I was nervous and excited, I think she was too. But we recognised each other straight away and embraced like the old friends that we are. We had lunch in a traditional-style Hanseatic restaurant overlooking a canal (6th house from left in the photo below) and then retired to the hotel room to chat. The afternoon went quickly but the memories will last.



I want to show you the present that Gila gave me. It's a necklace made of Baltic amber. Lovely, isn't it. But do you know, she collected the amber on the beach while on holiday in Denmark, cut and polished it herself, drilled the holes to make it into beads, then assembled the necklace. How clever is that!! She also made a necklace for Em with lots of smaller beads on a silver chain. Mine is the top one - the big bead is 2cm long, Em's necklace is below.