Day 2 @ Couchsurfing at Laurens and Ineke 

Bremen - Oldenburg - Groningen

Enjoyed wonderful landscapes, tree-lined streets, drove along and picknicked at the river Ems for 50 km, passed weird tiny suburbs, felt so insecure everytime I saw loose gravel (contact point between bike and ground: size of 2 credit cards) and felt unbelievably happy everytime I saw hay rolls for some weird reason.

I couchsurfed at Laurens' place. He lives in an empty office space where he has a whole floor for himself - pretty damn cool! We went out with his girlfriend and their friends in cosy and lively Groningen. Before, they asked if I can ride a bike - kinda funny question for a Dane. Over a few beers, they then made a list of what I need to try in NL:

Day 3 @ Couchsurfing at stupid dude's place 

Groningen - Amsterdam

Today was a good day which turned very bad. But from the beginning...

I drove through nice landscapes and visited Edwin's hicktown/hometown. Then passed the dike which defines the border of the largest lake in West Europe, the IJsselmeer. Finally, I arrived in Amsterdam where the misery started. In short, I had crappy food, fell over, drove through the worst thunderstorm ever, arrived totally soaked, the couchsurfing host was 30 mins late so waited in the rain, then finally got inside and then he tried to hit on me. Fuuuuck.

Day 4 @ Jeroen in Antwerp

Amsterdam - Delft - Rotterdam - Tholen - Antwerp

Left early. Fortunately, I had a great day which started with tea in cosy Delft (Ole, how come there is so much duckweed in Delft?). Next break was in Rotterdam, where I visited the Cube Houses. Then off to Tholen, where I tried the frikandel (a hotdog-look-a-like) in a restaurant playing hits from the 90's haha. Finally, I arrived in Antwerp where I had mussels all-you-can-eat (Moules-Frites) and tasty Belgium beer with Jeroen and Eline. I met Jeroen in Ecuador 9 years ago and hadn't seen him since and it was so cool to catch up!

Day 5 @ Joy in Lille

Antwerp - Gent - Bruges - Lille

Just next to Jeroen's place is the most fantastic café where we enjoyed a delicious brunch with champagne on the house (not so good when you are on a MC trip). I cycled through their lovely city with its beautiful facades and visited the spacy 'Museum Aan de Stroom'. 

Next stop on the MC trip was beeeeaaaautiful Gent, followed by almost as beautiful Bruges. Here, I ate too many sweet local specialities in the sun at the canal (hey, you gotta try the éclair, cuberdons, Dutch cocoa etc.). Zuckerschock! (Sry, German expression, don't know the English word).

Weighting 5 kg more, I went to Lille where I stayed with Joy, whom I met in Taipei a year ago. Together with four other Taiwanese (so including me 5,5 Taiwanese) we had a great night at the annual Lille Flea Market - the biggest flea market in Europe! Kinda cool being on MC Europe tour and then hanging out with Taiwanese and speaking Chinese...

Day 6 @ Youth Hostel in Paris 

Lille - Paris

Unbelievably tired. My butt hurts. Terrified of the traffic in Paris. And don't even know where I'll be staying tonight.

Everything turned out better than expected. I had an easy-going trip to Paris and when I arrived there, the traffic wasn't nearly as bad as expected (although I did what I'd sworn never to do, namely to drive in between cars in a traffic jam...). I checked in at a youth hostel in a room with not a single electric socket, but on the other hand there was a free super hightech safe!? Took the metro to the centre (the metro map is slightly bigger and more complex than in Copenhagen ;-) and went to Notre Dame, just in time for an impressive mass. Walked smilingly around the city and was approached by several men. I then tried to look bored instead and then a guy approached me, saying I look sad. Haha. Had frog legs, rabbit and creme brûlée for dinner. Could be worse... :)

Day 7 @ Marie in Versailles

Paris - Versailles

Hardcore-sightseeing-day. Visited the Eiffel Tower, Louvre & Mona Lisa, Sacre Coeur and many other churches. Saw someone lose 200€ in a (very fascinating) Shell Game on the street. Had snails, duck and crêpes with super delicious speculoos (speculoos biscuits in peanut butter form mmmm!). Oh, and caneles is some of the best pastry I have ever tasted! Then, I went to Versailles to visit Marie whom I met in Taipei last year and had a great night with her, her mom and her cat :-)

Day 8 @ Léo in Paris 

Versailles - Paris

Visited the beautiful Château de Versailles and its billions of beautiful rooms and halls. Then took a nap in the marvellous gardens where they play classical music - pretty relaxing. When packing my motorcycle, a man wanted a kiss, which I politely declined. He was very surprised and sad as he wanted to marry me. Aha... Went back to Paris and met with Marie again and with Leo, whom I also got to know in Taipei. We had a great French dinner (Boudin Noir, Profiteroles and Millefeuille mmmmm!) at a great French restaurant with great French waiters with great French imperial moustaches, oh yeah!

Btw, there are many guys carrying around baguettes in the city. So, it is true. 

Day 9 @ Aurelie in Léo in Charleville-Mezieres 

Paris - Charleville-Mezieres

Started the day by walking down the Champ-Elysees and buying myself the Swatch watch I have dreamt of for so long. Climbed the Arc de Triomphe and bought the delicious Speculoos bread spread before heading to where the Champagne is from. Couchsurfed at Aurelie's nice place, who took me out for a drive and a walk and showed me her favourite bar (located on a ship) where I got drunk from a 8% beer called Kwak. At home she made crepes with cheese and sweets for dinner and we talked till late.   

Day 10 @ Heidi in Maastricht

Charleville-Mezieres - Sedan - Bouillon - Orval - Maastricht

Left early as Aurelie had to go to school (she is a teacher). Went through Sedan to Bouillon, which she had suggested and had the most beautiful foggy morning view over the city. I saw several castles and green storybook landscapes before heading to Maastricht to meet Heidi, my Taiwanese/Dutch flatmate from Taipei. We had a pretty chilled-out day and did what we Taiwanese do best: eat. The perfect day was rounded off with a beer menu of delicious fruit beer (hey, I am a girl, I am allowed to love fruit beer!)

Day 11 @ Bedrana in Dortmund

Maastricht - Wuppertal - Dortmund

Heidi and I went for a big brunch before heading to the St. Pietersburg Caves, which were really nice (and super cold). Then I headed to Wuppertal to to see the coolest Lego bridge ever :-) Finally, I went to Dortmund to visit Bedrana, my best friend from university in Copenhagen. We had dinner and taaaaalk with Bedrana in Dortmund :)

Day 12 @ Kathi in Hameln

Dortmund - Hameln

Enjoyed the most chilled-out day at Bedrana's and left late for Hameln where Kathi and I had dinner in the city and drinks at the river. Kathi and Sepp (my old school friend) have two cats, one of which thought it was a great idea to sit right infront of me in the middle of the night and scare me to death. Later, I woke up again and saw a cat lying on its back and sticking all four legs up in the air. I thought it was so funny I needed to take a foto. In the flash light, the cat and its legs turned out to be my plastic bag. Went laughingly back to sleep.

Day 13 @ Home in Blankenese

Hameln - Hamburg

The weather was great and warm! Do you guys know how hot it is to be in traffic jam on a motorcycle in a leather suit for hours? Immediately changed to bikini when I got back home and enjoyed the temperatures at the beach together with tons of other people. Much better. But funny how you travel Europe to see all the tourist spots and when you get back to your own home, it is full of tourists visiting Blankenese haha :-)

What a trip!

Such a MC trip is really perfect for meeting up with friends that you would not see normally. Its also great for thinking. You are on your bike alone for hours and hours and really have a lot of time to think about all the world and his wife. Often, my thoughts make me smile :)

Certain thoughts, landscapes and especially hay rolls make me unbelievably happy while driving. I have been driving around in the middle of nothing and suddely smelled sauna or pancakes with sirup. And in the cities, I have seen police men in cars, on motorcycles, on scooters (without a helmet!) on bicycles, on horses, on segways and on inliners. That also kinda makes me smile haha :) All in all, it was a damn hard but also damn cool trip. I survived. Think I can be proud of myself thihi...