Generally, having the hire car upgraded to a brand spanking new 2010 E Class would be a good thing. However when the destination, Nurburgring's Nordschleife, is arguably the most gruelling production car test track on earth, this isn't good news. It would be an under powered, 4.8m and 1.7 tonne battleship that Andy C, Andy F and myself would be pushing around the 'ring. The car was indeed built for the cruise up the Rhein Valley, and had plenty of legs for the Autobahn (2400rpm at 180km/h) getting us to the accomodation at Altes Forsthaus in style and good time.
In their own words Altes Forsthaus was established 1924. Briefly after the opening, Daimler Benz noticed the advantages which this house offered: Direct proximity to the racing course, infrastructure to maintain race cars and simultaneous accommodation for the team. Until today nothing changed! The facilities were spot on, the menu had more meat than an abatoir and a well stocked bar that stayed open until the early hours. This is the closest accommodation to the entrance of the 'Ring.
Saturday morning saw further exploration of the Rhein Valley, with all of us getting a chance to settle into left hand drive. By the afternoon, we returned to catch the tail end of the days racing and get ready for the track to open for public laps. The massive Merc stood out in the car park amongst a sea of roll caged Beemers, Porsches and a surprising amount of R35 GTR's. I opted to take first lap, and suitably scared the boys- but their revenge would be at hand very soon.
In the Saturday and Sunday sessions, nothing short of a race ready BMW over took us, and many a 'superior' vehicle had the ominous grill of the E Class in their rearview mirror, before seeing our tail lights for the last time. Andy F put down a 9min55sec lap only 3 laps in- 170HP 1.7tonne, impressive. With the brakes seriously ready to combust, and the ABS retired, Andy C's climatic last lap was met with rain, but he persevered with some awesome moments, including overtaking a Caterham and finding some reverse lock out of a few tight turns; showing that the fateful day on a lonely Iluka gravel road is well behind him.
A modern pilgrimage. Nordschleife, I will be back.
Light reading in Subway?
Sausage Sizzle in the car park
Back markers meeting the E Class / GTR overtaking all of us.
It became painfully obvious very early that 2 days would not be enough to even scratch the surface of Berlin. Fran did have the bright spark to hire bikes, which allowed us to cover vast distances, and was fun to boot. However, every little nook and cranny along the way needs exploring too. This post will be as brief as the weekend stay and as superficial as the experience. How long would be long enough? Comparing to time spent in London, possibly an ‘Active’ year to get the full spectrum and give it a fair shove, at least a week to form a more conclusive opinion.
Finally a trip to the mother land, still not as far west as Galway, that will have to come later in Life. Dublin is a lovely little city made even better by the outward friendliness and understated optimism of the Irish. They like a drink too... with accommodation right on Temple Bar, Dublin's infamous bar area, the level of drunkenness was quiet astounding for how early in the evening it was, even for a Friday, no rowdiness, just a lot of staggering and singing. On route and on time to rendezvous with Andy F and meet his lovely French girlfriend at THE Temple Bar. Saturday was a self guided walking tour, Tea with my new friends Tammy and Lindsey, Football with Fez (Hull City v Liverpool 1-3, Man U v Tottenham 5-2) and - of course- NOFX!!!! This was a fantastic gig, hard to believe they just get better- added bonus, they played 'The Decline' in it's 18min entirety!
After one week back in some of the most depressing weather on earth, I booked a weekend trip to Amsterdam to see the Vidlers. With only a days forethought, and a short amount of time there, I just went with the flow and had a total tourist experience. There were various highlights, including the Van Gough Museum and a chance to help out on stage at Casa Rosa.
Having just made the brutal mistake of reading lyrics for The Waifs “London Still”. It’s now right up there with "Flame Trees" on my list of “Songs Not To Listen To While A Long Way From Home”. 5 weeks at home was not enough.
Brisbane Jo's place was visited quite often, including a massive first night and equally unhealthy finale. After an almost 2 year hiatus from Brissy, the place seemed strangely inviting...
Gold Coast A night out with Jo, Tea and Cake with the Wynn's, 6am casino entrance and a chance meeting of Haddo. Standard Goldy fun!
Byron Bay Mum and Dad are in Byron now. Could not think of a better place to be for Xmas and New Years. Most people came and checked out the new pad. Fun was had by all!
Dyl on his hand-made, traditional, all wood, no fin slider.
It was The Misfits 'London Dungeon' I found paused on my MP3 player as the Shuttle Bus pulled away from the 'Ring. This reminded me of exactly how much had transpired in the last month, and how good it felt that summer was here. Rock Am Ring had been fantastic, 3 days and 3 nights of Rock and Roll, something that is totally absent in the electro/funk/hip-hop pre-disposition of Frankfurt. 100 000+ like minded revelers- in fact walking through the 4kms of tents was like having my ITunes on shuffle, if interspersed with terrible, terrible German pop (terrible). By Lunchtime Friday the perks of traveling Solo had revealed themselves several times. My single man tent fitted snugly (smugly even?) into a prime position that may have attracted animosity from surrounding campers if I were a loud group of English speaking blow-ins. At the wrist band counter, and the main gate, queue jumping failed to gain any acknowledgment. Pushing through the 60 odd thousand at Incubus to be at the front for Rage Against the Machine would be the real kicker, I left behind my new found friends who just couldn't keep up and were met with resistance while trying to follow me. Even on my own this still took some aggressive maneuvering and the entire Incubus set plus 3 Rage songs!! If anything could take away from what was about to happen, it would be the huge advertising billboards all around Centre Stage. As the Stage darkened and a huge glowing Red Star was raised into placed all ambiance was totally annihilated by a flashing white signs that revealed the band long before the intro had finished. I was insulted and could/would hope the band felt the same; although after the riff over Zach's political bent and the rest of the guys just wanting to play music this was in doubt. 'Bulls on Parade' started things off and social pondering would be left aside until the mid set rant about how they had been misquoted after last year's Rock Am. The speech went on for quite some time, with a large portion of the crowd taking a seat. Complex Ideologies in Fast Angry English to a predominantly drunk German audience bought on the yawns rapidly. 'Know Your Enemy' and 'Killing in the name of' saved the day. 'Killing in the name of' had a comical ending where the whole crowd (around 60 000) chanted something that loosely translates to 'shit rich people' at the corporate boxes along the side of the stage. The VIPs really should have sipped lattes somewhere else. Exit stage right, and back down to the Alternastage just in time to hear "We're Mötorhead, We play Rock and Rock" -indeed. Saturday morning would be a chance to see the other camp sites; the ones people had arrived 4 days earlier to procure. Utter Squalor is an understatement. While I was on a tree lined hilltop with a view of Nordschleife's front straight, these people where camped on the gravel remains of the old F1 tracks car park. Concrete had been busted up into fist sized rocks and each 200m square allotment had a 6 foot chain link fence surround. Add to this; burnt/burning tents, endless rubbish, puddles of human waste and, finally, the lowest elevation of the whole area (no wind, no shade, hot days) -the scene could have been any African border camp. Live in excrement for 6 days OR cruise in at lunchtime Friday and walk an extra kilometer, hmmm. Today would be a Metal Fix with a hint of Aussie Flavour. Checked out Pete Murray first up (just to be patriotic), then Disturbed, followed by Inflames. Inflames where phenomenal leaving no doubt as to why they have been sighted by Metal Hammer as one of the 10 most influential metal acts ever. Made a mad dash to see those Victorian Sheep shearers, Airbourne, only to find out the Tent they were was at capacity, with a huge line up of hopefuls that wanted In. With 5 hours until Metallica you would be forgiven thinking that now would be an OK time to get a good position, Wrong. After Rage last night, Everyone had the same Idea, except today the crowd would be up 30,000. Yes, at least 90,000 people standing around waiting for Metallica, an amazing site. When the Metal Lords finally took the stage it was everything anyone could ask for, finishing the third encore with 'Die My Darling'(when am I ever going to hear 90,000 sing a Misfits song again?), 'Whiplash' and my all time favourite 'Motorbreath'. Emotion ensued. The Final day would be easy, everyone I wanted to see was on the Alternastage, and hours would be at my disposal to find the perfect spot for Queens of the Stone Age. An endless stream of good old Rock appeared on stage with a few unheard ofs impressing me, namely Disco Ensemble. The Eagles of Death Metal were awesome and very humble- apparently this was the biggest crowd they had played to. I was fairly interested in seeing HIM, only know they exist thanks to Viva La Bam and they have quite a following; The verdict- Not Bad. Lead singer, Ville Valo is not the most unattractive man in the world, perhaps it is not going to far as to say he is the Bon Jovi of this generation. They Covered Wicked Game and Rebel Yell as well, it was awesome. Queens of the Stone Age came on to Finish the Festival -put simply- they really rocked. Felt fantastic to go away for a long weekend after having had to actually work for the last few weeks. This is going to be a great summer my friends.
Here is Metallica's final encore on Saturday night!!!! (if this vid isn't loaded, press refresh)
A new Job and a new attitude, it's Frankfurt where I hang my hat these days. The financial capital of the EU, with a day time population of almost 4 mil that drops to 667,598 by evening thanks to a surrounding 'Sound of Music' villages where the Bankers and Stock Traders retreat after a hard day globalising. It stands to reason that Friday nights in the city are a bit more lively than Saturday. On Sunday Everything is closed except Free standing alcohol kiosks and the multitude of brothels... some hobbies will be needed. Enjoy a few pics of my street that Starts in trendy Westend, serves as a border between the financial and redlight districts, and finishes at the river.
Light reading in Subway?
Sausage Sizzle in the car park
Back markers meeting the E Class / GTR overtaking all of us.
