At last, it is a time for the full account of our epic motorcycle journey through Europe. On Thursday afternoon with all our stuff packed we headed off to the docks in Helsinki. We would travel straight to Travemunde, with a half cargo, half tourist ship. I was expecting the journey to be exceedingly boring, since it would take almost thirty hours. Most peculiarly however, the three activities the ship had to offer, eating, sleeping and going to the sauna were enough to fill the hours.
It was Friday evening when we arrived at Travemunde with our new friend whom we had met on the ship. Matti was also a Harley enthusiast and would join us for the first leg of our journey, seeing as we would be going the same way. Our destination from the dock was the Finnish Seamen's Church of Hamburg, where we would be spending our first night, the only night we had planned ahead. Although the journey there was, looking back, in no way scenic, I thoroughly enjoyed absorbing the sights and the atmosphere of a new country.
Upon arriving at the church, we were greeted by a friendly member of the staff, parked our motorcycles in the garage, and went to change into some more comfortable clothing. In celebration of Germany's beer drinking age of sixteen, we also immediately glugged down a beer. Then we set of to explore Hamburg, but we didn't get very far and found ourselves in a bar. After enjoying the beer and the good company, it was already quite late, and we headed to bed.
Our next destination was Wiesbaden, right next to Frankfurt. Here we would meet up with my fathers brother, Kari. The ride through Germany was arduous, but there was plenty of interesting scenery. Wherever you go in Germany, there will always a be a few castles and towers on far hilltops. For lunch we stopped at random at a nice looking restaurant. As we settled down at one of the tables, I was slightly worried the place was unnecessary posh, and we would pay the price, quite literally. Despite the immaculately decorated venue and professional service, the huge platter of beautiful sandwiches we ordered cost a measly €3.20. We also rode through the Harts forest, where we stopped at a small village for two generous swathes of cake. Later on we parted with our comrade in motorcycling, and proceeded for the final push to Wiesbaden.
With evening closing in, and many kilometres to go, we opted to ride the autoban. I find it quite odd that most people who I have told of our story are incredibly excited by the autoban, and seemed to think it would be our primary route. Rather, whenever possible, we would set our navigator to stay clear of motorways, so that we would end up (hopefully) in winding little roads going through small villages and countryside. We arrived at Wiesbaden quite late in the evening, and bottoms thoroughly aching, we dumped our stuff in Kari's apartment and headed for a local Chinese restaurant. No, schnitzels quite yet.
Next day I woke up at twelve, just in time for lunch on the balcony. We made our preparations, and rode down south, now with Kari and his wife on their Harley. This leg of our journey saw the best scenery yet, as we rode through the foreboding black forest. In the evening we arrived at the beautiful city of Freudenstadt. After circling the city centre a few times, we chose to stay at Hotel Adler. The manager was very friendly and even moved her car out of the garage to accommodate our bikes. Then it was time for a large schnitzel and beer. Well fed, we set out for a walk to admire the city. After some delicious ice cream constructions at a local ice cream bar, we were entertained by my dad, who after playing over some fountains set into the ground, completely soaked his jeans.
