Day 11 – Warmsen Germany

Day 11

Amsterdam Holland – Warmsen Germany

Let get this out of the way first. A few of you have felt the need to point out that the Little Mermaid is not in Amsterdam but in Copenhagen which is not in Amsterdam. Copenhagen is in Denmark which also is not in Amsterdam. I knew this, it’s called poetic license and if you don’t like you can go read some Byron or Keats. Heck you can piss up a rope for all I care.
(poetic license, yeah-yeah that’s the ticket).

I’ve got to say I failed miserably on the drunken debauchery front. It must have been due to the lack of drunkeness which made the debauchery seem less appealing and was asleep shortly after the World Cup game. Oh what a drag it is growing old. I didn’t even do anything about the voices in my head so I guess you’re going to be stuck with them too unless you’ld rather read Byron and Keats.

I made my way out of Amsterdam around 7:30 in the morning and while it smelled aeromatic in the evening the smell in the morning could most kindly be described as pungent. I think a honey wagon down the street has having some probelms.

Reflecting on Denmark the one thing that struck me the most (besides the weirdness of Amsterdam’s Red Light/Reefer district) was all the towns looked relatively new unlike France and parts of Belgium where everything looked like it had been around for a few hundred years. Don’t know if I was travelling through newer parts of Holland or if they tore down their old buildings and replaced them with new ones.

Crossing into Germany the first thing I noticed is that traffic immediately started going about twice as fast. Also all the two lane roads are marked as passing areas about 99% of time the way God intended. This means coming up on a slow moving truck becomes a moment of celebration instead of frustration and the best way to celebrate is to drop it down two gears and pin it weeeeeeeee. Germany seems pretty awesome so far except…..

So what’s this I hear about the Germans being an industrious people. Around 2pm I was feeling a bit peckish so I stopped by the first restaurant I found to find it closed. Same with the next two restaurants. Apparently they only serve lunch from 11am – 1pm and then close till dinner time.. Doesn’t seem to industrious to me. This meant I was left with McDonalds as my only option for sustenance. Those Scots, now those are industrious people. They’ll slap a McSomething on your tray 18 hours a day 8 days a week.

I found my way through the German countryside to KMS Mottorad which wasn’t at all like what I expected. I was expecting something in an industrial park or town centre and the GPS had me stop at an intersection seemingly in the middle of farm country with nothing that looked like a motocycle shop. I found the place tucked away behind some trees and it appears to be a small slice of Guzzi heaven. The owner Achim Kinderman asked about my travel plans and then took the guzzi out for a test ride. He told me if I headed back to Ireland right now I would make it. Looks like the motor is coming out of the bike tomorrow. When I mentioned the World Cup game he said ‘Meh, I was racing all weekend’. I think I came to the right place. Also Achim is letting me stay in his camper and use the shop’s facilities while the bike is being worked on so I’ll save some money on camping at least. I think this is all part of the Guzzi character people go on about.

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