The ‘Ring to Luxembourg and Paris and back to the UK
Posted by adr1an on October 21st, 2008 filed in UK-EU TripComment now »
After I had cooled down from two very very challenging days at the Ring, it was on to Luxembourg and then Paris. I sussed out a good route with Bren which saw me taking a myriad of back roads – but all of them twisty, mountainous and silky smooth asphalt.
Luxembourg. City is very pretty. Very small! 
I was planning to stay a bit, but after I had it knocked over in an hour, I decided to whore it up on the tax free status of everything, fill up with the cheapest fuel in Europe and cross back into France to head for Paris.
Back into France in the Champagne then Moselle regions, not bad roads.. but I was now an hour and a half out of Paris and on a Mission I’ve spent too long in Germany tho… getting used to sitting on 130 again was a task.. often I was doing the same as most other Francophones and sitting on 150 
Thankfully, I was ignored!
I arrived into Paris and after having tried to book a hotel at 3 previous stops where the WiFi didn’t work.. I ended up parked up next to the “Sien Keys” and stealing WiFi from someone (who thankfully didn’t have it secured.. thank you “Marie” )
Whilst there, I remembered my previous experience with older French men.. doesn’t matter if they are babbling in Anglais or French, they just keep talking once you get them started I made the mistake of talking to a gent who asked me (first in French) if I needed help.. after explaining I was looking for a Hotel, he proceeded to launch into a long winded explanation of where they were. Being polite, I listened for 5 minutes, said my Au Reviors’ and moved so I could search myself in peace
I ended up with a Hotel literally right next door to The Pantheon! This meant I had to negotiate some very very interesting junctions and intersections to get there, as the French have a whacky “Give way to the right *ALWAYS*” rule, Unless the approaching road has a “Cedez Le Passage” sign – which when your on the main route is not always easy to spot…
I arrived at the Hotel, checked in, surveyed my spectacular view and went to get a Beer!
The next day saw me doing the typical Parisan stuff – Notre Dame, Louvre and Invalides. Notre Dame – Lovely exterior – but as a Christian – and a Catholic at that – I found it offensive they wanted 20 Euro’s to tour it. So much for ‘being a club member’! I passed on going in, and instead spent my time wandering up to the Archives Museum and then went into the Louvre. Amazing place – its just crammed with artwork, and most of it renowned. I saw the Vermeer, Mona Lisa, Venus De Milo, more Rebuens than you could shake a paint easel at and soooooo much more. I wasted about 4 hours in there (well, wasted is a harsh phrase… I was only planning to do a ‘whistle stop tour’ of the main artworks, but it disintegrated quickly). The Napoleon Apartments where also perculiarly interesting.
I was very ticked off though at lots of the viewing public. It says in about every language you can imagine, No Flash Photography. It even explains that its not just for other patrons comfort, but that the light can damage the artworks.. But every single american I came across was just snapping away with their flash on… oblivious to the fact it was no doubt also ruining their shots as lots of artworks are behind Glass. (This is seemingly an increasing trend in Europe.. along with Metal Detectors and Bag Checks when entering Galleries… I blame the “Mentally Disturbed” man who slashed big gashes into the Rembrandt “Night Watch” in the Reijks Musuem in 1978. Oh.. and probably that whole stealing of a few artworks from the Louvre a few years ago).
The Mona Lisa was crowded as to be expected… as was Venus De Milo… but everywhere else I had mainly uninterrupted viewing.
Returning to the Hotel, I was quite surprised to see that someone I knew had decided they wanted to catch up after all.. so we agreed to meet up after I had gone up the Tour Eifel (Eifel Tower). I headed out to the tower, grabbed some great shots from the ground, and was very pleased to see that there was no queues. I got straight up the tower. The hard bit was getting down. Took AGES…
I quickly made my way past the “Princess Di” Tunnel, onto Prince Albert Bridge, across Place De La Concorde and over to Opera where we had agreed to meet. We had a few beers and actually quite a pleasant evening in the end (I think that took us both a bit by surprise )
The next day I was a little slow getting up.. but hit the inside of The Pantheon and viewed the crypts. Saw Marie and Pierre Curries crypts (We can ultimately blame Nuclear Power on both of them ). I thought it funny that even though many literarary greats and “Great Men of France” where buried there, Only Marie and Pierre’s crypts had wreaths and flowers. Perhaps the closeness of the Paris University and their Science students are the reason, but who knows. I also saw Zola’s crypt, Victor Hugo’s (he wrote Les Miserables) and others.
I went and got the bike to do something I had spoken of with some people, and road Champ de Elysses to the Arc de Triomphe… Dumb Dumb DUMB move. It made Nurburgring look like a walk in the park. I will shortly get a video I made of that roundabout up on YouTube. It really is just Bedlam. (And its funny, Shermine called me an idiot for trying as well.. after 3 years in Paris, she only has ridden it once as well, and that was only 6 months ago)
I returned to the Hotel, parked the bike and caught the Metro over to Arc de Triomphe. I walked up the 286 steps and viewed paris from the top. It really is a quirky city.. everything is an identical height, except a tiny cluster of city buildings, Tour Siemens (Siemens Tower) and Tour Eifel. I guess the photo’s explain it better
The next day I suited up and was on my way for a very very fun ride through some “D” roads to Calais to catch the Chunnel (Sorry – EuroTunnel 
) back to the UK. I almost made it the entire way without getting lost, but some stubbornes on turning my GPS on cost me a bit of time, so I had to abandon the last section of my planned route and just haul it to Calais via the AutoRoute for the last 80Km’s.
I crossed back over on the 1615 Chunnel, which saw me back in “Old Blighty” by 1635. From there, I was heading for Chester, just outside Liverpool… the diagonal opposite end of the country. 4 Hours later I arrived after some made non-stop dashes up the Motorways. I think I managed to get caught on camera at one of the many many “Gatso” locations… I just missed the sign and was very late on the brakes… and because Im considered a UK driver back here in Britain, If I have gotten done, i wont find out till after I leave the country Ah well
I finally arrived into Chester at 9:30pm.. not a bad run considering And here endeth this post
Nürburgring (Nordschleife)
Posted by adr1an on October 21st, 2008 filed in FloatingComment now »
Well… what can I say!
Sunday saw me up bright and early to hit the road to Nürburgring. I had a great route planned with the aid of some directions from the guest house I was to be staying at (Sliders Guest House in Dollendorf) and had a fantastic ride there. One minor hiccup saw me squabbling for Fuel a little earlier than I planned (sitting on 200Km/h will do that I guess) and I had to enter into a small village in search of needed go-go juice. One small problem – it was one of those ‘24 hour’ service stations that have an automated card payment system – no Cashier to be seen. The damn machine would only take Chip cards issued by German banks… I was starting to panic a little (just a tad) when a kind gent who I approached was able to assist me – I passed him 15 Euros, he used his card for me Yay!
So from here, becuase Im being ultra lazy, Im going to cut and paste a ride report I prepared earlier for the forum But to sum up in a few sentences – Nürburgring is without a doubt both the most scary, challenging and exciting place I have ever ridden. Doing insane speeds on an insane track built by a Sadist (well, the Nazi’s where in power then I guess…) whilst having more Exotic Cars than you could poke a stick at lapping with you…. to parraphrase Arnold Schwarzenegger – “You have to get to the Ring!”
Well, what can I say. Im going to start all of this with a fantastic pic of the entrance to the Nordschleife (Northern Loop).
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/2939948178_1754cfced4_b.jpg[/img]
Sunday I rolled outta Brussels and steamed across via the E42 and then the B258 to “Sliders Guesthouse” run by a fantastic couple Brendan and Suzie. Bren is ex-RAF, ex-British Karting Champion (yes, like Lewis Hamilton), Ex-PerformanceBike road tester (last gig he did was the Bt016 launch in Jerez) and currently works as a driving instructor for RSR. His lived and worked at the ring since 2001, and been coming here since an RAF posting to Germany in 1994.
He has owned a precession of R1’s, but after a major off on Coolant (courtesy of a Porsche that kept going even after 3 bikes went down behind him…) at the ring in July left him with a shattered hip and femur, he isn’t riding at the moment. The X-Rays make anything I’ve ever seen back home look like a scratch.
Also staying here was a Ring regular – Ross. The bastard flys over every weekend in summer, has an XJ600 to ride to and from Cologne airport and a ZX9R parked in the garage here at the guesthouse. Heres a pic:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3186/2939596152_90335eb6b8_b.jpg[/img]
and this is his ZX9 and the VFR parked up near the ring
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3286/2938736341_b2594fe1fd_b.jpg[/img]
Your ticket to glory is this:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3283/2939572740_f67f0fd88a_b.jpg[/img]
Ross kindly showed me around and probably did some of the slowest damn laps his done this year! But I thank you whole heartedly… He spent the first lap watching his mirrors and pointing out when traffic was approaching so I could move over and indicate and just worry about the track and not watching what was coming up behind me too.
Which brings me to the first thing about the ‘ring. Its *NOT* a Trackday. Forget all those things you’ve done circuits with before. Everything *MUST* have Mirrors, lights, blinkers and a taillight/brakelight. And GOD you need them. Forget the rule ‘worry about the guy ahead of you and thats it’… At the ring you’re also responsible for getting out of the way too and must pay a lot of attention to whats coming up behind you. Once you pass Carousel, it gets real hard, because theres no more than 25M’s of clear track behind you ever, because its all undulating, all over blind crests or corners.. and stuff… just Appears. I had an F355 just materialise.. and when he came past his mirror was almost touching my elbow. Those things are FUCKING WIDE! And when you’re both up it for the rent at about 110MPH, its very very VERY nerve racking.
And thats the next thing – its cars and bikes… and BUSES (but thankfully from this year they are now restricted and escorted by a marshall car).
I also had the Zakspeed Viper come past me like I was standing still. Thats the viper that Sabine used to get ‘clean air’ to do the Transit Van run in… and let me tell you, getting ‘clean air’ at the track is hard work.. but you find cars that you want in front of you and not behind you.. they get everyone else to move over off the line and gives you a chance to just scoot through.
Heres a shot taken from the halfway point.. I tried to sort of convey how much damn traffic you can end up dicing with. Im not sure how to convey it in Canberra terms… but in Sydney – Imagine the M4 at peak hour… but with some people doing 170K’s, some doing 220K’s, and some doing 70K’s! (Western Ring Road in Melbourne perhaps ?)
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/2939185583_57864a0cf3_b.jpg[/img]
Sorry about the inner perimeter fence there – thats all a new addition for the FIA 24Hr race… they demanded it for ’spectator safety’.. up untill this year you could get right down onto the track Armco.
All sorts of cars are there.. Exotics through to… Police vehicles. Yes – they hit the track for some of their advance driver training and to also do general policing around the ring… Its very bizzare lapping it with a cop car or 3!
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3197/2939694084_81726d411d_b.jpg[/img]
This is just a shot taken during one of todays closures, hence no traffic… You’ll see how much graffiti there is.. and like I said in the other thread… about 10% are tributes… 60-70% are team well wishes or instructions… and the other 30% is just drunken people with spray cans – During the 24hour race everyone camps right next to the circuit, so for the week leading up to it its basically one long pissup. There is also the annual “Rock around the Ring” where you can camp on the verges of the tarmac and there is stages every 1km or so around the ring.
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3007/2938792569_619a9cdee3_b.jpg[/img]
and the exit from that downhill complex… is right back up hill again. Like I said… no computer rendition can possibly give you an idea of the elevation changes in this place
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3184/2939624254_1961a56d5a_b.jpg[/img]
There is No run off at all in most places.. some token kitty litter on 3 locations.. heres one of them… its at the exit of some very fast sections at about the 7km mark
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018/2939617038_b590eb49e4_b.jpg[/img]
Thats the most you’ll get at the ring… and only on 3 corners….
The ring is multipurpose. As outlined already, the Police use it, private driver training occurs on it, and most manufacturers still test here. In fact, just around town there is an Aston Martin test facility with cars, a Jaguar, Porsche, VW, Skoda and Opel. And thats just the ones I saw. The most interesting thing (im over exotics.. I’ve had two days of dicing with them… ) was actually a Gas Powered BMW.. that HAULED ASS! And Check out the exhaust on it!
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3239/2939071569_df18683dd8_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/2939084013_1e6c637480_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3229/2939930910_b68816016a_b.jpg[/img]
Between laps, you come back to either barriers on the old straight, or pull off into the carpark again and rejoin at the main barriers. Heres just a shot of everyone parked up during one of the closures…
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3293/2939034815_b839557222_b.jpg[/img]
Heres a pic of the main straight… which is the 20km mark:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2939131801_7c784b94dc_b.jpg[/img]
You buy your ticket, and then queue up at the barriers. The 2 centre barriers are for Bikes, the two outside lanes are for cars or anything else non-bike. The barriers regulate numbers onto the ring, but they also control when the track is closed etc.. The Only “Track Info” sign is here at the start, and is a huge LED sign that is *ALWAYS* displaying a warning for something. I saw over the weekend:
Oil (lots of this)
Low Adhesion
Road Works (Yes! They do roadworks on teh ring 
while people are lapping!)
And Motorbikes Forbidden (thats the one in the next two photos)
It also flashes the corners its referring to, or have further info for (there is a few lines of text at the bottom).
As you can see between these two pics… they closed it to bikes from 4:15pm today till 5, then it opened for 5 minutes, then closed again after 11 seperate accidents occured along with 3 bikes down. A BMW cut a corner and took off its sump plug on the ripple strip and dumped a massive oil patch around the 13Km mark… a particular fast section. The ‘missing bits’ is because the sign flashes the sections of track…
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3049/2939875726_ac4f7a63e2_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2939882128_341d652472_b.jpg[/img]
Remembering what bits of this sign was flashing some 10Km’s later is hard work!!! Theres no flag marshalls… just a safety car occasionally and whoever is on scene at the time… but there are no fixed flag points…
The track itself is just amazing. But the sheer work of paying attention infront of you AND behind you and BESIDES you is very very mentally draining. At the end of the day I was doing sub 10’s, and edged a 9. But I never ran proper timing, because basically everyone that does ends up eating armco. Also – due to the inability to not complete a flying lap, timing is considered ‘official’ from the first Bridge out of the cone weave after the barriers to the gantry at the midpoint of the main straight you can see. Hence the phrase “Bridge to Gantry” and the website of the same fame etc.
The thing that had me freaked for a while was not the triple apex “miss-hit-miss” (because you miss the first Apex late, Hit the second one, and then miss the third one on the exit) but “Carousel”… this is a 180o corner that has concrete banking on it… going on the banking was a challenge, since the entry to it is bumpy as shit, the banking itself is bumpier, and the exit is towards a blind crest (as is most of the ring from that point onwards). But the second lap around I convinced myself – following Ross – that I could ride it, and I did.. and man its unbelievable hitting it at speed on that banking.
I have to say – it really is one of the scariest places I’ve been on a bike. Having Ferraris shoving past you and GT3’s trying to eat you into corners is very very disconcerting. The amount of oil and coolant that gets dumped is very off putting and then you have guys in ‘84 Pugeot GT’s trying to shove past you in places they shouldn’t – like around a decreasing radius right-hander over a crest… when you hear the rubber start squealling and see the smoke coming off all you can do is just scream telepathically “Dont you lift – dont you lift” and pray to god the guy 1 foot from your elbow at 150+ doesn’t lift off and spin into you.
Thats when GT3’s aren’t just plain punting you off. Over teh two days here, 2 GT3’s took out two bikes into corners.. One just straight running a guy up the backside cause he didn’t realise the bike was going that slow.. to the guy this arvo who overtook on the right-hand side when the bike rider was indicating right and moving over to the right to let the GT3 past on the CORRECT side (Left-hand side passing ONLY at the ring).
Trying to remember 20Km’s of track is damn intimidating too. A few times I swore it was a flat out right coming up only to have the road kink left…
Having said all that – I had an absoloute frickin ball, and it was the best road I’ve ever ever ridden. It had every sort of corner, and lots that suck you in. Its a scarry, dangerous place strewn with hazards – both immobile (armco, concrete) and mobile (other cars and bikes). Most drivers are pretty good out there, indicating properly, following proper passing or overtaking rules, but there is always an idiot out there. Generally with Dutch or Italian plates. English plated cars tend to overtake the wrong side at first but quickly figure it out.
Its carnage on a weekend, dont even dream of coming out here. Every ring regular who has had a bad accident has generally had it happen on a weekend. The place is PACKED. But during the week, traffic drops by 50% and most idiots are at work.
But DEFINATELY come here – and ride The Green Hell. You’ll love it, and it will leave any road or track ever that you have ridden for dead. I dont know how much longer it’ll last.. apparently the last 2 years has just seen it explode in numbers, and accidents are way way up. So do it.. do it while its still there to be enjoyed. Im going to be back.. prolly not till July next year, but Im coming back for sure.
Im stuffed now after 2 days of the ring! More pics are up on my Flickr page. http://flickr.com/photos/ozadr1an
Brussels
Posted by adr1an on October 21st, 2008 filed in UK-EU TripComment now »
Well I headed out of Amsterdam to Brussels, Belgium. Being Friday, all the Eurocrats go home (as Brussels is the home of the European Parliment) and all the 5 star hotels intown offer stupid deals and late late checkout on Sunday (mine was 6pm!).
So I packed up in Amsterdam and rolled on through to Brussels. I quickly hit some ugly traffic on the motorways, but that wonderful thing of Europeans being completly ‘au-fait’ with Lane-Splitting bikes, I had people quickly moving aside to let me zip up between them all… Trucks included. I did manage to clip one Semi with one of my Cases, but was nothing. And it just added some more color to match the Yellow German Bus I clipped back in Berlin…
On the way I grabbed some pics of the obligatory wind mills and some dykes… You haven’t been to the Netherlands if you dont I guess
Arriving in Brussels, I was pleased to see my Hotel was on the door step of the old Cathedral, 1 minutes walk from “Grote Market”, or the Grand Market which has the Hotel De Ville (Town Hall) and several Mansions built in the 1600’s. Amazing place. There is also a notorious ‘Restruant Strip’ which I had read earlier about and also warned about by the Hotel Concierge that it was really ‘just for tourists’ – so I promptly avoided it and hitup a small Cafe, Arcadia1, located outside the Grand Galleries. Had an amazing Spaghetti Putanseca (very un-Belgian, but hey ) and wandered around some of the local Bars to have some more ‘refreshments’. Gotta love Belgian Beer – felt like Oktoberfest all overagain with 6.6% being the ‘lightest’ around
Saturday saw me do the tourist thing.. got pics of all the great architecture, Manniken Piss (the little teeny tiny statue that essentially is one of the most recognised ‘Belgian’ things abroad) and bought some Choclate. I had a quiet night, because tomorrow, late checkout be damned, I was off in the AM to head back into Germany for … Nürburgring!! (Nordschleife (Northern Loop) at the Touristfarhten!!)
Berlin-Hannover-Amsterdam
Posted by adr1an on October 10th, 2008 filed in Floating1 Comment »
Berlin – Hannover – Amsterdam
After some last wandering around Berlin, I set off to Hannover. It was raining again, so it was back on the Autobahns. Some suspension tweaking (upping the rear pre-load a fair bit) had the bike a lot more stable at 200.. so I cruised to Hannover in no time. I checked it out a bit, and quiet frankly was un-impressed. So I got back on teh road and before I knew it I was in The Netherlands.
I rode through to “the dam” (Amsterdam) and parked up just down the road from the Central Station at the Hotel Ibis and pretty much crashed out till 11 the next day. Getting up I wandered around the canals and did a daytime walk through the Red Light district (by accident – its right next to the old city!) and checked out Rembrandt House and Anne Frank House.
That night I figured, what the hell, Im in Amsterdam, so I headed to a Coffeeshop. Now for those that don’t know the subtle differences, in Amsterdam there is “Cafe’s” or “Grand Cafe’s” that serve beer and sometime food – they are Pubs. Then there is “Kaffehuis’s” or “Coffee Houses” that serve – Coffee. Finally, there is “Coffeeshops” – that don’t *really* serve a lot of Coffee
I sampled the goods at a couple of them and then called it a night.
The next day I headed to Reijks Museum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Heineken Brewery. Reijks is great, but a lot of their masterpieces are on loan because they are renovating until 2009. I did however see several great works, and the obligatory Rembrandts “The Night Watch” is still thankfully there. Van Gogh was much much better… they have over 200 of his works, its the largest collection and was actually establish by Theo van Gogh’s son and Wife (Theo died 6 months after Vincent). To see crows over cornfield, sunflowers and blue irises all there on the wall was amazing. I remember seeing Sunflowers as a child with my Mother at the NSW Art Gallery – to see it hanging ‘at home’ meant something too
I was stuck for where to go from here today – so I decided to do some overdue washing because there was a laundrymat just around the corner and I felt like a lazy day!
Berlin
Posted by adr1an on October 10th, 2008 filed in FloatingComment now »
I remember the grand speech given by Ronald Regan. I remember watching films such as “White Nights” about people stuck and standed either side of the wall.
But to be there, first hand, was something trule else. I discovered my hotel was actually some 300m’s into the old Soviet sector.
For readers who dont know/recall – Berlin was annexed in 1945. There was a British Sector, French Sector, American Sector and Soviet Sector. Each of the ‘4 powers’, noteably the British, French and American sectors ran in fairly much Harmon. But in the late 40’s and 50’s, the socialist regime of the Soviets pushed for isolationism. They started by cutting off the oil and water to the other sectors, as these ran through Soviet controlled terrotories – West Berlin was an island of democracy and captialsim in a sea of Eastern Socialism. This prompted the launch of the famous “Berlin Airlift” which at its peak saw 1 aircraft landing in Berlin every minute to bring in food and other supplies for the democratic outpost.
Then in 1965, the Soviet government, in an effort to stem the flow of people emigrating over the border, built the first version of “The Wall”. Then in 1968, a stand-off of American and Soviet Tanks occured at Checkpoint Charlie (so named because it was the 3rd Allied Checkpoint – the others being Checkpoint Bravo – now derlict on the Autobahn out of Berlin, and Checkpoint Alpha at Potsdamn Bahnhoff (or Central Railway Station)). This 3 day standoff built from two tanks standing off to a peak of 12 on each side before Diplomacy saw a controlled stand down. But this was, for many, the true beginning of the “Cold War” between the two Superpowers – and the only time American and Soviet tank forces have directly stood against each other.
The Wall is mostly gone now. Checkpoint Charlie still remains on teh American Side, but Russian Developers demolished the Soviet Checkpoint in 2000, and then ran out of money for whatever they planned to build. Unfortunately at the time, none of the wall was yet under proper heritage laws.
Being in Berlin the weekend of Unification was also something special. There was a huge street fair on 17 Juni Street, and the entire area around the “The Gate” was amazing to see how transformed it is from just 18 years ago (The Wall ran down and around The Gate and was part of the “Border Control Zone” and consequently barren… Its now filled either side with Embassies and banks… Ironically the British, French and American Embassies all now reside in the former “East Berlin”..
I walked the other 3 remaining sections of wall – one at the “Topography of Terror” – which has a 200m’s stretch out the front of what was the headquarters of the SS… the soviets demolishe the buildings and again incorporated them into the Border Control Zone. They did this in a few places, even right through a Prussian Cemetery (“The Red Baron” is Buried there!).. they had little regard for where the wall went.
Checkpoint Charlie also has the musuem that was setup in 1965 by an Escape Helper. It has some fascinating bits from the wall, as well as numerous escape cars, ‘fantasy’ passports and automatic firing guns from the control zones.
Berlin is just amazing. I highly recommend to anyone, get there and see what remains of part of the most moving parts of modern history – while its still there. Only one Soviet Watchtower remains, tucked away in the middle of a development. It *does* thankfully have a heritage plaque on it, but the way stuff is disappearing in Berlin overnight – who knows what could happen!
Munich to Berlin (via Dachau)
Posted by adr1an on October 10th, 2008 filed in FloatingComment now »
I headed out from Munich towards Berlin via Dachau. Dachau is the official Concentration Camp memorial and also one of the most complete and intact camps around. The place is just surreal. You walk in down past the old SS barracks to the remains of the platform and railway tracks that brought 100’s of 1000’s of people there. The wrought iron gate where is there with the infamous inscription that the persecuted walked through – “Work will free you” is all there.
The camp is actually “The New Camp”, built by prisoners in 1937-1939 to house 6000 prisoners. By the time the camp was liberated in 1945, over 30,000 where inturned there. Whilst Dachau itself was not a scene of mass killings – something that has escaped historians, but is proposed to be either due to the naturally high mortaility rate due to conditions and beatings or because of its proximity to such a populated town as Munich – it still had a Gas chamber that was used to kill smaller groups of prisoners, two crematoriums used to incinerate the dead that where always working 24 hours a day and still overflowing with bodies and it was also home to the main experimental labratories for the german altitude, malaria and other experiments.
Erected on the old roll call ground is a large memorial erected in 1965 celebrating all prisoners, as well as one that you may have heard of that simply reads “Never Again” and is in front of the ashes of the unknown prisoner.
One shower head remains in the gas chamber due to looting and pilferring, but to see the “shower block” and crematorium etc was quite chilling. There is also the intact execution wall and pistol mounds where over 110 soviet soldiers where killed, along with the guy that tried to blow up Hitler in 1939 who had been imprisoned there in solitary confinment all the way up to 4 days before the camp was liberated (he was among the 1000 or so executed by the SS just prior to them leaving… )
I ended up spending over 4 hours at the camp and museum, and by 5:30, it was really time to get my butt to Berlin – still some 600km’s away. No Problem – I was flying Autobahn!
Munich!
Posted by adr1an on October 10th, 2008 filed in FloatingComment now »
I departed Metz with some light drizzle that thinned out finally, allowing me to pick it up to 130 on the autoroutes. This made the time to some nice twisty roads just over the border in Germany a little shorter! . Finally with the weather easing, I hit some good old fashioned twisties… I have no idea where, I still have to check the map – I just saw them, saw I could deviate via them, and did!
From here it was onto my first Autobahn. Wow! Yes I had a Vanquish blow past me, along with an Enzo several dozen M3’s and 5’s, Mercs and embrassingly – Touregs!
The VFR, with luggage, got to 220 but that was wayyyyyy to unstable. The top-box and panniers just cause it to start weaving everywhere, and after my second power wheelie over a slight bump, I took it back to 180, which was still a little flighty, but a hell of a lot more stable.
I rolled into Munich about 7pm and basically setup in my Hotel and went for a wander around town. I promptly got lost – I swear I turned left 3 times! But nooooo – somewhere along the way I’d gone back over myself and ended up god knows where. But thankfully, with the help of a few photo’s I’d taken along the way (My GPS was back in the Hotel, I didn’t have a map yet, and my 3G wasn’t roaming in Munich yet so no google maps and phone-gps) I managed to find my way back to the Hotel.
The next day I arose, went and had a hearty breakfast of the English type (they serve “English Breakfast” everywhere….) I set off to Thessienwiess… the grounds where Oktoberfest is held.
Now I should explain that Oktoberfest is actually not really held in Oktober at all. Its primarily the last two weeks of September, with a couple of days in October. It traditionally celebrates the marriage of Theressa too the longest sitting Bavarian Monarch, back in 1512 or something. The king was much loved, and it was a time of good prosperity, so they all thought why not celebrate their wedding day every year. So they do
I arrived at the fest about 10am. I’d read and been told the only hope outside having reservations to get a seat in the beer halls was to get there early. So I did. And I was already too late really. I was relegated in every house pretty much to the Beer Garden.. or Biergarten to be colloqiually correct.
But that didn’t stop me… I sampled a Litre of 8 houses finest. By 4pm I was pretty ugly. Somehow I got back to my hotel and passed out.
Day 2. Doh! October 3rd. German Unification Day. Which idiot decided to be in Germany! Oh – I did. So I headed to Deutches Museum and wandered around Munich with the 1000 other people and visited the Palace and old town. I was to attend the New Munich Beer Challenge that night, a 4 hour beer crawl through 4 beer houses and culminating at Oktoberfest. All for 12 Euro’s and includes 2 beers and a Jagamiester. Sweet.
So I arrived at the meeting spot, paid my 12 euro’s and then met our tour guide – a bloke from Montreal So we had a bit of a chat, and I met some of the other participants… A newfie (new foundland in Canada) – sucks to be him (if anyone in Canada feels down, they look to New Foundland and are instantly cheered up). Two New Zealand girls, and a couple of old guys who I have no idea of origin, and 6 or 7 Americans… So whilst we waited… and waited… and waited… I complained ‘where are our Roadies….’ And promptly had to explain to one of the American girls (“your accent is awesome” im told) what a ‘roadie’ was.
We then got informed that yes indeed there was to be roadies had and we where going to go to Hoffenbreu House, becuase they just got laughed at when they rang for the tables. So we all got beers and caught a train uptown anyway. And then got laughed at at 3 more Beer houses. Finally they say ! We have somewhere we are GURANTEED entry too. So we all got back on the metro – but not before another round of roadies was given to us ‘due to the hassle’ – and we trotted off to the place of promised entry. Nope – they meant guranteed entry for 30 Euro’s a head – Plus food and drinks. At this point our tour guides threw in the towel and took us to the EuroHostel, gave us a round of Jagabombs and our money back. I quickly turned my 12 euro’s over the bar though and once again crawled back to my hotel – which due to various booking issues was now “The Regent” – a four star I picked up for the same price I was paying for my two star.
Day 3 I headed to Berlin – but via Dachau.
France
Posted by adr1an on October 10th, 2008 filed in FloatingComment now »
The Chunnel ride was interesting. After arriving in France to what one would consider UK Weather, I bought the obligatory ‘law from 1st October’ Yellow Safety vest and exterior bulb and fuse kit along with the GB sticker and set off for my adventure of learning to ride on the right hand side of the road, in the wet, at 4am in the morning in a Foreign Country. I know I saved on the Chunnel and all, but maybe I should have re-thought my timing ! At least the roads where quiet
I set off on my way to what was going to be Munich… but I got about 1.5 hours up my first AutoRoute, stuck at 110 due to the wet weather, and getting a tad bored and wet. So I pulled into a rest area and found a quiet little gazebo to catch some kip.
The rest of the first day was wet auto-route followed by a stop to dry out and try and be a little less comatose at the various and numerous service parks.
I did however get to race a TGV… and lost 
I bugged out at 200 – I wasn’t on the Autobahns yet. But If I had’ve had the R1 here, I reckon I coulda had him! hehehehe
By 5pm I was over it – the weather, the straight roads and paying toll everywhere. With the inclimate weather, and basically lack of choice without going way afield, I was stuck with the Autoroutes anyway. So I called it a night in Metz.
I fought my way into town to try my fist choice of hotels, only to be told they didn’t actully have any rooms. I believe they where just pissed off I interupted their staff dinner.
I then parked up to decide where to try next, studying my GPS when I heard a two-stroke coming up the road at a fair pace. I looked up and saw a dude in his ripped leather jeans and denim jacket with his blonde girly on the back gripping tightly. I chuckled to myself and went back to my GPS and about 5 seconds later I heard the sounds of plastic on asphalt. I looked up the road to see cool dude and his GF lying in a heap on the road just after a cobblestone crossing.
Dumping the GPS back in my bag i sprinted the 50M’s up the road to them and tried to render some first aid. He seemed okay, but his GF was crying and grabbing her knee. They also didn’;t speak English. Thankfully by now some cars had stopped and some French speakers got out and helped her out. They also called the local Gendarmarie and other relevant people and they turned up in no time flat. Girlfriend went off to Hospital, and Boyfriend (no shit of a lie, Levi.. I told you they where all called Levi….) was worried about how he was going to get home now.
So with that all over, I decided it was well and truly time to find a Hotel, so I headed to “Best Hotel Metz”, which Im sure wasnt, but it was cheap and had a room so consequently had my business.
Tomorrow – Munich, or should I say Munchen, and – The Fest !
London – Days 5, 6 and 7
Posted by adr1an on October 3rd, 2008 filed in FloatingComment now »
These days saw me doing the Cabinet War Rooms – the underground bunkers from which Winston Churchill ran the war. Its quite an amazing place. Lots of it was converted to Storage but several areas, including the “hotline” room to the US (which was secreted behind a door that looked like a toilet, complete with ‘engaged’ sign on it… which worked – most people that worked there during the war believed it to be Winstons private flushing toilet…) and the Map Room where locked up in April 1944 and preserved as they where till they refurbished it and restored the place in the late 70’s early 80’s. They even found surviving sugar rations in some desk drawers…
Its located underneath the treasury building, and using the ‘new’ American Concrete Pump technology, they built a 6 foot thick reinforced cieling said to be good to survive direct hits by 500lb-ers… (then the biggest weapon around…) I guess a modern day Durandal would decimate it quite nicely
Tower of London was just awesome. Some of the history inside there is just fascinating. Of course there is the Crown Jewels, but I found the history inside the White Tower far more interesting. I did the Yeoman tour (Beefeaters) who really do live and work there.. even though they appear comically dressed by todays standards.. they are all long serving (22 year minimum) Guardsmen and not to be trifled with.
Oh – and found out where the “Beefeater” name came from. In the days when the tower was being used actively as a palace and reciving dignatries, they used to obviously be catered for well. The yeoman all ‘charged’ for their services (but apparently the torture was free…) and received good food as payment.. consequently, townspeople would remark ‘there goes one of those damn beefeaters….’ when they where out and about because the townsfolk all had to survive on Turnips and Potatoes…
Visited also the Royal Observatory in Greenwhich – the home of time so to speak. The International Date Line, or Prime Meridian passes there, and anything east is +GMT and anything west is -GMT.
The Science and Natural History Museums are just fantastic. I spent hours in both. Some of the specimens in Natural History are just amazing to see in person.
Driving in London
Posted by adr1an on October 3rd, 2008 filed in FloatingComment now »
Its not for the faint hearted.
I learnt to ride in Sydney – my daily commute was right across town through some of the worst biker blackspots you can imagine. I admit that im nowhere near as aggressive now I’ve been in Canberra for a few years, but geeebus… you have no idea what London is like…
Im convinced that the line markings on the road are simply there to provide a job for the line markers – they bare no relevance to how traffic flows.
I had a Double-Decker push past me at a set of lights. Black cabs are worse for it… they will downright cut you off..
Speed Cameras – or “Gatso’s” as the locals refer to them (once upon a time Gatso was the manufacturer of them, now theres lotsa types (MultiNova, ACS, etc) but they are universally referred to as Gatso’s) are everywhere. I mean everywhere.Thankgod my GPS has a recent database of them – because the only give away is a tiny tiny sign somewhere before them, and some markings on teh road at the camera spot.
Petrol is also damn expensive here. About 1pound 9 pence a litre… or 2pound 24pence for premium.
I decided after my return trip from Manningtree I wouldn’t be doing a lot of riding around London!