02.08.11 - 18.08.11

How it all began

Due to excessive Danish taxes, I had to sell my Z4. Obviously, I then needed a new toy and so I bought a red Honda CBF 600 on July 29th. Four days later I went on a trip through Germany and all 9 neighboring countries for two weeks. No, my butt didn't hurt :)

Day 1 @ Jonas in Bremen 

Hamburg - Bremen

What a troubled start. The Elb tunnel was closed and there was a massive jam. I decided to make a huge detour and it took me hours to get to Bremen which is really not that far away. Jonas and I had a BBQ at the Werdersee. Pretty neat start after all.

Day 2 @ Bedrana in Dortmund

Bremen - Dortmund

When you visit your best girl friend, you'll obviously spend most time gabbling :) We did though also go sightseeing and went for a drink before I panicked bcs I didn't know where to sleep the next night. I'd kinda trusted couchsurfing.org blindly without ever having used it... 

Day 3 @ Youth Hostel in Liège

Dortmund - Düsseldorf - Aachen - Maastricht - Liège

I visited the cool harbour of Düsseldorf with all its funny buildings. Then, I went to the "Dreiländerpunkt" (three-country-spot: BE, NL, DE) and met a guy who told me to go to Maastricht where I went but thought the hostel was too expensive so I drove on to Liège instead. Quite an international day!

Day 4 @ Youth Hostel in Saarbrücken

Liège - Luxembourg - Saarbrücken

First thing was a fun trip to the supermarket in Belgium. They have loads of wine as the first thing when you come in. Also, they don't have refrigerators but instead huge rooms that are cooled down. Really nice when you run around in your leather outfit!. Luxembourg's bridges were impressive. Stayed at the YH in Saarbrücken with Hanna, a girl who did almost the same trip as me but by bike... Took her 5 months instead of my 2 weeks! Together we went to the Saar Spektakel. Sounds great and fancy! It isn't.

Day 5 @ Ole in Basel

Saarbrücken - Strasbough - Basel

Saw the European Parliament and the Council of Europe and went to the supermarket again (I like doing that abroad). They had tons of different kinds of brie cheese and loads of baguette! Now tell me prejudices aren't true ;-) In the evening, I arrived at Ole's place and almost died of starvation. Being concentrated on the bike for so many hours causes huge hunger!

Day 6 @ Ole in Basel

Basel - Weil am Rhein - Huningue - Basel

Ole made pancakes for breakfast. Win! We went for a wild swim in the Rhein with its incredibly strong current. A sign said "danger to life". That was where we went in. Then we biked to Germany to visit the Vita Design House, where I would love to buy everything but where I couldn't even afford to buy a miniature in the museum shop.. Then we went to Huningue in France and had tarte flambée, pastis and red wine and then we biked back to Switzerland to BBQ at the riverside. Niceness!

Day 7 @ Bettina in Weinfelden

Basel - Zurich - Weinfelden

I went by motorcycle to Zurich, where I met with Ole and another Danish/German friend, Sebastian who came by train. Zurich is a really beautiful city but there are oddly enough tons of sex shops!? In the afternoon, I continued on my own through heavy rain on small curvy country roads to a tiny town called Weinfelden, where I had my first couchsurfing experience ever. Bettina and I had just met but talked about travels and life till late and then I got her keys and could stay as long as I wanted. Wow!

Day 8 @ Nina in München

Weinfelden - St. Gallen - Bregenz - Kempten - München

Yet another rainy day! Nevertheless, I enjoyed a nice view in St. Gallen, couldn't find any cheese in Appenzell, saw a very grey Lake Constance in Bregenz, had a delicious ginger ice cream in Kempten and finally arrived in Munich, just in time for my friend's birthday.

Day 9 @ Nina in München

München

My best friend Nina had given me the apartment key and I decided to sleep till late and enjoy a FREE DAY for the first time on my tour. I have lived in Munich for half a year and didn't feel forced to run around and see all the tourist spots. Around 3pm I then panicked bcs I hadn't seen or done anything the hole day, so I did a speedy sightseeing tour. Later Nina and I enjoyed a massive portion of pork roast with crackling. Yummi!

Day 10 @ Youth Hostel in Plzen

München - Regensburg - Plzen

After toast bread from the freezer (ingenious idea!) for breakfast, I took off full of vigour after a strongly needed day off. I had the longest day trip ahead of me and damn many things on my programme. The weather was great and nothing could stop me. Except for the fact that I forgot to fuel before leaving Munich, which resulted in me standing with a reflective vest at the highway soon after. My ignorance was actually somewhat an experience but cost me 2 hours and 160€. Oh well. Been there, done that. I visited yet another cool Hundertwasser tower in the middle of nowhere (Abensberg), walked along the water in Regensburg and then rode to Plzen instead of Prague, where I enjoyed a free concert, two pilsner (cheaper than water!) and then went to the hostel to sleep. I shared a room with some young German girls, whose cosmetic bags had the size of my entire luggage...

Day 11 @ Youth Hostel in Prague

Plzen - Prague

Woke up early and went to Prague, where I got a room in a hostel from which Tom Cruise had apparently jumped out of the window in Mission Impossible 4. I rode around on extremely steep streets and kept getting lost in the one-way streets but eventually managed to visit the Charles bridge, a weird dancing house and other beautiful sights. Back at the hostel, I met Mathias and Robert (the latter traveling by motorcycle to India!) with whom I went out on a Segway tour. THAT was fun! The evening was rounded off with a Pilsner Urquell and disgusting Becherovka.

Day 12 @ Lena in Dresden

Prague - Bogatynia - Zittau - Dresden

In Dresden, I visited Lena who I went to school with until 9th grade. She showed me around the most beautiful city on my tour and we enjoyed fantastic ice cream (strawberry/rocket salad and mango/basil!) in a cosy inner yard, while chatting about old times. 

Day 13 @ Youth Hostel in Magdeburg

Dresden - Leipzig - Halle - Magdeburg

In Leipzig, I enjoyed a snack at McCafe, where I had never been before... I passed the Porsche factory and could hear the roaring engines being tested behind the fenced off gates. Then I went to Halle and walked around in the rain before continuing to Magdeburg where I saw yet another Tausendwasser house. Finally, I had dinner at McDonalds. That is the first time ever that I have been to McD twice on a day!

Day 14 @ Sepp in Hameln

Magdeburg - Braunschweig - Hannover - Hameln

After a rather unspectacular trip back to Northern Germany and walking around in Hannover, where I bought a small (MC) wheel for my Pandora bracelet, I went to Hameln to visit my old friend Sepp. We saw everything there was to see in Hameln and then went for drinks and food :)

Day 15 @ Home in Hamburg

Hameln - Hannover - Hamburg

I went to the beautiful Herrenhäuser Gärten (where the employee paid my 2€ entrance, since I didn't have cash). Then, on the way back towards Hamburg, I got some cash in order to be able to pay for driving through the old Elb tunnel. Unfortunately, the automate only took coins, so a nice man paid for me. Cheap day! Finally, I arrived at home and my mom seemed pretty relieved. I went straight to bed.

Day 17 @ Home in Copenhagen

Hamburg - Glücksburg - Flensburg - Odense - København

I visited the Castle of Glücksburg, my old school in Flensburg and then went to the border to buy transferring license plates for the next few days in Denmark. Surprisingly, they told me that this was impossible (although I had called and asked the day before). Furthermore, they told be that I was not allowed to ride the motorcycle in Denmark, nor in the rest of the world. Oops! (This is due to ridiculous Danish rules about having a Danish address and a foreign vehicle). After much talk, I finally got a one-day plate and was allowed to ride directly to Copenhagen with no detours. I couldn't help stopping for an hour (hey, I also needed a break) in Odense to visit H. C. Andersen's birth place before riding home to Tietgenkollegiet to show off my (new) bike :)