Küttel's Roadtrip II (17 Sept - 2 Oct 2008)

Europe
October 2nd 2008

Published: October 2nd 2008

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Kuttel

LONDON UK

Djamilia, Benoit & I in Battersea Park

Day 15 & 16 (Wednesday & Thursday - 17/18 Sept): LONDON UK
I got up very early since i needed to be in the Islington Citroen garage at 8am in the morning to have the problem with my squeeky wheels fixes (they couldn´t fix the problem in Southampton since they did not have a grease pistol). So 1 hours and 48 quit later (the also changed a rubber part), i took off to the Modern Tate museum before meeting up with Djamilia, Benoit & the kids at Battersea park. It was really great to see them again after quite a long time, and we´ve had a nice walk through the park whilst reviving old memories.
In the evening Celine & Marc had prepared a delicious roast chicken (nature yogurt is the secret!) with some beers.
On Thursday, after walking Nova in Hyde Park for an hour, I took the Tube out to Heathrow and a BA flight back to GVA where we had far too many beers at good old Mulligan´s Irish bar while listening to the Crazy Canadians. Thx all (Erwin, Folker, Marco, Nina, Eva, Anna, Thibault, etc.) for coming and welcoming me back!

Day 17 - 20 (Friday

LONDON UK

- Monday, 19-22 Sept): GENEVA / LUCERNE / WINTERTHUR CH & BACK TO LONDON UK
In short: Recovering from hangover, drinking & smoking with my neighbour Christiane. On Saturday Waagi & Carole´s wedding in Lucerne (was great to see Günthi, Silvia, Brasle, Sarah, Mischa, Sonja, Luki, Hümbeli, Wülsi & Co. again!); on sunday to Günthi & Silvia´s place in Winterthur and go for a walk with the kids (incl. Nora, my god dauther). On Monday traditional Swiss lunch (Ghackets & Hörndli) before flying back to London and meeting up with Vera, Larissa & Anthony at Belgo´s Covent Garden (great Belgium food & beers!). Was fantastic to meet up with them again!

Day 21 (Tuesday - 23 Sept): LONDON UK
Basically sleeping in, walking the dog & using internet for some e-banking and some surfing.
In the eveing, Eva & Aman invited me over to their house in South Kensington, so with a little 1 hour delay I arrived there, and we´ve had lots of beers, wine and later on drinks... Their friend Stefanie was also there, and she told us dozens of stories about her life as a PA for some rich banker! sooooooper-funny!!!

Day 22 (Wednesday -

LONDON UK

Chicken feast with Celine & Marc

24 Sept): LONDON-DOVER UK - FERRY TO DUNKERQUE FR - GRONINGEN NL
Since I was supposed to meet Tinchen on Wednesday evening in Hamburg, I had to get up at 5:10am to drive down to dover and catch the 8 o´clock ferry over to Dunkerque. I was completelz hungover, however, managed to pack my baggage and leave at 5:30am at the Swiss Embassy. My TomTom navigated me right south, crossing Oxford Street towards Picadilly Circus when all of a sudden my Pearl´s engine stopped running... What the f*** was going on. Well, luckily, Regent Street is not that busy in the very eaerly morning, so nobody really cared when I started pushing my car in front of Hamley´s accross Picadilly Circus, trying to make her engine start in the 2nd gear. No bloody sign of life however... So I called my insurance company which contacted UK road assistance which then organized a South African guy who was specialized in 'old' cars... Meanwhile the traffic was very heavy, and I kept telling the traffic wardens that my car had broken down and that I was waiting for road assistance. After a look at Pearl they believed me immediately and left me

LONDON UK

Anthony & I

alone... Anyway, the repair man found out that the fuel tube had disconnected from the fuel pumb and therefore no petrol would reach the engine. He fixed it, and at 10am i finally left London and headed down to Dover to catch the 2 o'clock afternoon ferry over to France...
I informed Tinchen that I would only be able to meet her the other day, and after arrival in Dunkerque at 5pm I passed into Holland where I arrived in Groningen at midnight, went for some food at Febo's (De Lekkerste!) and slept at Hotel Martini.

Day 23 (Thursday - 25 Sept): GRONINGEN NL - HAMBURG D
I left Groningen and drove through the northern Dutch countryside, which was really nice. Arriving in Hamburg at 3pm allowed me to visit the Miniatur Wunderland, a huge toy train installation in dozens of industrial halls with some thousends trains or so - absolutely amazing! Different themesa (e.g. the Alps, Scandinavia, North America) with lots of details - definitely a thing to recommend!!!
Afterwards I needed to relax, so I tried out the whirlpools, saunas and hamam at the Meridian Spa. How nice! Then I drove to Tinchen´s place, and we had

LONDON UK

Stefanie, Eva, Aman & I

a great dinner in a nearby restaurant and some more beer in a pub. Was great to have a chat with her!

Day 24 & 25 (Friday & Saturday - 26/27 Sept: HAMBURG D - ÅRHUS DK
After the long 700km drive from Dunkerque to Hamburg, my Pearl needed to have the roof fixed, so after lunch with Tinchen at her medical cabinet I went to OBI and bought some stuff to repair it, before heading up to Denmark to meet Iben.
At a petrol station south of Flensburg I met a carpenter "auf der Walz", meaning that she was dresses all in black in a traditional carpenter´s outfit and basically worked here and there on a day-to-day base for a couple of months. Really interesting. So I gave her a lift up to Kolding, and we had some great fun smoking (cigarettes) and listening to Reggae music.
Arriving in Århus, Iben had aldready prepared some dinner (chicken with potatoes - yummmie!) before we went out to a live music pub downtown. Of course we never arrived there because after the first stop at the Golden Lyon Pub we met some of her friends (Lene & Tim) and we

LONDON UK

Road assistance at Picadilly Circus

did not leave the bar anymore before 3am....
In the night I woke up because of Iben´s cat was jumping on my belly and peeing on my duvet.... Great - in the middle of the night... But luckily I found some other sheets and continued sleeping withough being botherd anymore.
On Saturday, after breakfast, we took Iben´s mom´s dog for a great walk in the old town. Absolutely lovely, and the weather was perfect. So we drove out to the beach and met Tanja, another friend of Ibens, and decided to have some drinks at Iben´s place before going out later in the evening. And so we did. Fajitas, beers, wine, spumante, mojitos & strawberry margharitas - a great base for Iben, Tanja, Katja (yet another friend) and myself before hitting the streets at 1:30am... But Fatter Eskil´s pub was great fun, and we got absolutely hammered. Danish people are very friendly and openminded, so therefore we chatted a lot with all kind of folks, including Else-Marie, a local girls wanting to improve her French skills. So we had long conversations, and all of a sudden it was 5am, and so we tried to get a cab which took us

LONDON UK

another 1 hour or so...

Day 26 (Sunday - 28 Sept): ÅRHUS DK - BERLIN D
After only 5 hours of sleep I said good-bye to Iben and left Denmark towards Berlin. The weather wasn´t great, and so the 6 hours drive seemed endless. Luckily I found a nice little pension in Berlin-Mitte very quickly, and so I went to the Hackeschen Hoefe (former Easetern Germany) for some food and drinks.

Day 27 & 28 (Monday & Tuesday - 29 & 30 Sept): BERLIN D - PRAGUE CZ
Very relaxed I did a quick sightseeing tour through Berlin (inluding currywurst stop!) before heading down to the Czech Republic via Dresden. What a great city - I wished I could have stayed there longer!
The ride through the landscape south of Dresden (almost until Prague) was absolutely spectacular, and that also why they call the area "Sächsische Schweiz": Lots of hills, castles, forests etc - great!
I drove all the way through Prague´s oldtown to meet Friedi at her working place, the Four Seasons. Kind of weird to park an old car like mine outside and hand the keys over to the employee...
So we had a quick chat

DOVER UK

Taking the ferry over to France

(she was very busy with her budget presentations) and met later on in a cafe nearby her home for some food & drinks. Very nice. At 1am she had to get some sleep whilst I went downtown again to check out the party scene. Bombay Bar was very nice, however, at half past two I´ve had enought and took a cab back to Friedi´s apartment.
Unfortunately, she had locked herself in without removing the key from inside, and so I could not open her apartment door. Ringing the bell like crazy and calling her on her mobile did not keep her of continuing sleeping, and so I took a cab back into town and continued partying.
At the Tretter´s I got a lot of indecent proposals (unfortunately I was supposed to pay THEM, not they me...), so I went over to the Bombay again and, after closing at 4am, to the Roxy. At 5am, however, this bar was closing again, and I found myself alone in rainy Prague... Thank god there was a pension next door to Roxy´s, and so I got a bed for 20 euros or so for a couple of hours. However: Friedi and I had a

DUNKERQUE FR

Arriving in the harbour

good laugh the other day when talking about the last night... ;-)
During the day I did some sightseeing (oldtown, castle, Carl´s Bridge) and then spent the rest of the day and the evening at Hanz Buny pub, a nice little student bar with lots of interesting people to discuss about god and the world. Really cool. Friedi was working very late, so we only met back in her apartment at 1am to have a final chat before going to bed.

Day 29 & 30 (Wednesday & Thursday - 1/2 Oct): PRAGUE CZ - VIENNA A
After getting up I quickly past by the Four Seasons to return Friedi´s keys and have a cappucino before hitting the motorway and heading down to Vienna. The weather in the Czeck Republic was rather lousy, and so it was a great relief to see the sun popping out one I approached the Austrian border.
So last night I met Angie, Markus & their little son sebastian, plus Angie´s sister who´s visiting at the same time. After two great roast chickens, we had some good discussions whilst having some beers/wine and watching the Moulin Rouge Boat Party video.
This morning I went to

HOLLAND

the Amalienbad to have a 1 hour massage (my back is a wreck after 5,500km of driving in Pearl...), and right know I´m sitting in an internet cafe nearby the Prater.

My next stops will be Salzburg and Munich before heading back to Switzerland early next weel. Will keep you updated...!

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