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Buell Forum » Tale Section (Share your tales of adventure here.) » Archive through September 13, 2009 » New trip with my Buell!! (Germany,Switzerland,Austria,Czech) « Previous Next »

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Jinxfin
Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009 - 12:11 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Finland May 19.

Buell, that strange looking bike from the heart of America shivers and shakes in the suburbs of Turku. I have checked my luggage three times, the bikes condition four times and the waypoints of my trip at least once. Some old song from Metallica continues from my iPod as I hop on the bike and start to put my helmet on my already a little sweaty head. The sweat is from the excitement I go through as I think of all the things to come in these two weeks. The weather’s nice, warm enough and sun shining high above and that makes the leathers feel a bit clammy too.

Old song ends and the next one is Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell. I kick the gear lever down, and as the first gear klicks itself in I gas off laughing out loud in my helmet.

The trip has begun.

One hundred twenty kilometres after, I come to the city of Lohja and drive to a near Lukoil to water my thirsty stallion. The backpack has proven itself as a comfortable way to carry luggage, though it definitely doesn’t look like it. Some local drunk asks me something about my strange looking ride, but the Finnish thrash metal playing in my ears dampens his voice to a mild whisper. Ignoring him I continue on.

My local friend comes and leads me to her house. We go for a ride at the Fagervik Mansion, a great drive with lots of corners as almost of a rehearse for the Alp roads.

The Goldwing:


At Fagervik:


Weather’s again good the next day as I leave my friend and continue to Helsinki and the harbour. Of course I take a good driving weather as a good driving weather and drive straight to Järvenpää to see the friends who are going to accompany me on this trip. We leave to the harbour and get in the ferry more sooner than we thought and the first pints are already in our hands before the caravaners get to flush their chemical toilets down the ferry’s lavatories.

First wrestles taken in the evening:


From the Koskenkorva Vodka we take strength to resist the horrors of the foreign and swear not to eat anything else on the trip but pea soup and rye bread. At the end of the evening some arm wrestling takes place, we sing old Finnish folk songs and draw sticks about who’s going to sleep on the deck next to the ship’s info desk.

The next morning brings a massive hangover amongst it. By the evening I start to see in colour again and have the courage to try the dinner. My friends think it over for a couple of times and join me to the buffet. The other one drinks a glass of milk and the other cheers him.

Bartender Isaac tells us that the schedule is changed and the ferry will be in the harbour five am but there’s no hurry in leaving and the company serves a complimentary breakfast as an apology. It is served from seven to eight and after that you can drive the red carpet down from the ship as the pretty waitresses wave you goodbye.

The truth is bitter. 3:30 in the morning in the middle of the most deepest snoring captain Stubing yells in the intercom that breakfast is served. Eat, you lousy worms and get the hell out of my ship! 5:30 we’re out of the ship after a great two hour sleep as we head ourselves towards Switzerland.

Germany May 22.

Lights of the Travemünde harbour are left behind when Buell, Xtx and Gsx-R head to south. At the start of the autobahn I’m leading the way with a nice 130km/h speed as I see the sign of a free speed limit. I point at it and with a scream the Suzuki disappears in the horizon. And so did my friends badly strapped sleeping bag.

Weather’s sunny, but the early morning is still cold. We stop to a parking slot to warm our fingers in the exhaust pipes. Hands are shaking, bodys are shivering but minds are clear and sunny.

Gasoline powered hand warmer:


More heat to fingers from the pipes:


By noon it’s getting nice and warm and I think I took a nap on some break. Or three.



On the half way through a bearded German fellow comes to see our strange looking expedition wearing BMW jacket, trousers, cap, scarf, shoes and sunglasses. He lights a smoke with his BMW lighter and starts to tell how this one time he was test driving a Buell and it was raining. He said he was more wet from the backside of his jacket than front. When I got a chance I asked him for an advice on a nice place to stay the next night. He pointed us to a town called Bonndorf in the Black Forest.

After 950 kilometres through Germany a cold beer has never tasted better.



The accomodation in Bonndorf is good and after a good breakfast that the moustached German lady in her traditional cow-milking-dress served us, we pack our bikes in the forest and start our way to the town of Villmergen in Switzerland.

Mr Suzuki thought for a while should he change the chinese bike to an italian one:


Switzerland May 23.

As Charlie Boorman pulled a wheelie in every border crossing, I had plans to do that too, but when that little bridge going over a river as small as a roadside ditch came, we were over it before I even remembered my plans. I forgot the stupid wheelie thing after that.

We find the town of Villmergen easily, because after watching enough of MacGyver our witty group leader tapes a gps navigator (which he lend from a friend) to his bike and our friendly sounding woman guide tells us the way. Going through little villages of Switzerland is not as simple as it sounds.

Patent number 264930818134859b:


Two days to spend in Switzerland and the weather could not be better. 32 degrees, sun and a backyard pool:


On our first night in Switzerland there’s a great party and it can be felt in the next morning when we go to the town of Luzern. With a car. Not me driving. Again it’s over thirty degrees and I’m sweating like a pig that I am. After noon I’m starting to feel better and taking again some interest to photographing.

Ridden only on sundays:



Vodka medicates:


Great place to fish:


Funny VolksWagen:


Small beer, please:



Monday morning starts sunny. Again. We thank from the place to stay and head to that beautiful lake and Klausenpass. Weather’s great, Feeling’s great. Ain’t holiday just great!

Being from the archipelago of Turku, the lake view makes me gasp. Turquoise water and and the mountains are just magnificent. I stop here and there to take pictures and my companions are starting to get pissed off by that.

Buell marks the place:


Nice cruising:


Hills:


Some smudge on the lens, but you'll get the point:


(Message edited by JinXFin on June 11, 2009)
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Jinxfin
Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009 - 12:11 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Greedily we continue towards Klausenpass’ snowy tops and twisty roads. The sun and warmth makes us to stop once in a while for ice cream, but that doesn’t bother me.



Finally we can see some snow ahead and the road starts to climb upwards. This is not the Grosslockner, but we couldn’t care less. This is the best place we know!

This is what we had waited:


Because of the heat and climbing in the thin air the machines run extremely hot and my Buell is starting to keep strange noises so I take our expedition to a rest stop. And when the place is this good of course we have to call home to our friends, parents, co-workers and the best, bosses…

Bikes and bikers cooling down:


Tank proof fence:


Almost at the top:


And there it is, a view from the top:


Some corners to go:


As we get down we stop for a little cigar. This is what we had waited for. Magnificent place indeed. I take pics and pics and pics and it is so beautiful and so massive and so relaxing. But now we have seen it, so back to saddles and on the road to Liechtenstein and it’s “capital” Vaduz for another cigar. And then to Austria.

Austria May 25.

By chance I picked a place from the map and we drove to a nice little town of Gurtis. The guesthouse was brilliant, sitting on a side of a mountain nearly 1300 meters above the sea level. In this view a beer did not have to wait for a long in a pint and the food we had was so delicious we could have had second dishes immediately if there just would have been any room inside.

A view from the terrace:


In the next morning were heading to Salzburg to see the city (and the girls, of course). We took a longer scenic road through the land and it was just brilliant!

Nice tunnel on the way:


Vacation on the beach is also available in Austria:


We drive through some beautiful valleys and towns stopping here and there to fill up and have something to drink. Even my rusty germany is starting to ease up a bit on the way and I manage to do my shopping in the local language. Seeing a dark scary cloud changes our waypoints a little and we take the faster route through Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Salzburg. Minutes after we get our gear off a heavy thunderstorm hits the city. It is so damp and hot that we had to sweat our pizzas down.



The next morning is wet and damp as we put our rain suits on and head to Czech Republic. After some thirty kilometres or so the sun suddenly remembers our agreement about my vacation and scares the clouds away. The border of Czech comes closer and my friend the Skodaman sees lots of team mates on the way. Literately, on our way…

Czech Republic May 27.

After we cross the border there seems to be much troubles with the local cars. Here and there are these girls on the side of the road with thumbs up needing a ride. I waved to them, ‘cos I don’t have any room on my back seat. Maybe the Skodas aren’t so tough after all.

By noon our todays destination can been seen:


We got a local hostel cheap, and it was worth the price. A bit mouldy, but the parking was secure. Five minute walk to the city centre is good.

Good English at the ACE-Hostel:




Thursday we put on our leathers, left all the stuff at the hostel and went to Kutná Hora. You might have seen it on Long Way Round. Roads were bad, but the ancient monastery good.



The bone church was amazing. A different kind of an anatomy lesson. A goth friend of mine asked me to bring some souvenirs from here, but I couldn’t stuff that many skulls into my leathers.

Proof






Bonehead and some headbones:




(Message edited by JinXFin on June 11, 2009)
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Jinxfin
Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009 - 12:13 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Now that we’ve seen the bones, a hurry back to Prague it is. Leathers off, a quick shower and out to have a beer or eleven. We walk to the old town to see some of the sights. We never got to the old bridge…

Some soup for starters, please:


On the way we take some pictures like we’d own the place.

One happy Skoda owner #1:


One happy Skoda owner #2:


One happy Skoda owner #3:


For dinner we went to the one and only place for a rock-lover to have something to eat, the Hard Rock Café.



Star Sailor was playing on the stage when we had our burgers. Saturday it would have been Bruce Springsteen ‘cos I accidentally told a wrong date to The Boss. Well, he couldn’t change his schedule anymore but joined us for few pints and at the end of the evening we went to the city to laugh at bypassers dressed as buskers.



One of best ways to get rid of a hangover is to drive through Czech Republic and Germany in the rain. The ride seemed at least two times longer than it really was.

Germany May 29.

Five hundred kilometres behind and I was feeling quite good. The sun was shining, wind was gone, I took my rain gear off and a friend of mine was coughing something bad from his throat. Full of courage he still saddles up and we continue. After seven and a half hundred kilometres we finally get back to Travemünde. Everyone sighs from relief and we get to the ship as fast as before. Few beers, long warm moment in the sauna and a good nights sleep is guaranteed.

Finland May 31.

The sea voyage goes smoothly and breakfast tastes as good as ever. A bit after seven am were on the docks and go to a local Shell to fill up and take the last photo and smoke the last cigars.



Friends say goodbye, hands are shaken, thank you’s yelled and it is the time to split.

I went straight to my local bar to my local bartender to tell her greetings from the Alps…

-Timo

(From here you can see all the pictures and videos. In Finnish though)

(Message edited by JinXFin on June 11, 2009)
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Roysbuell
Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009 - 05:55 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

WOW!!!! Absolutely AMAZING!!! Looks like it was a great ride. Riding, friends, nature, several countries and a little Rock N Roll. The Bone Church reminds me of one I visited as a kid in Mexico City. Shocking at first but actually very beautiful once you look past all the death.
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Rpm4x4
Posted on Friday, June 12, 2009 - 12:05 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Some of those switzerland views are amazing. Im totally jealous that I will likely never be able to ride there.
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Jinxfin
Posted on Friday, June 12, 2009 - 11:52 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Rpm4x4, I've seen pics of some of the places you guys have there in the US. So, same to you about Route 66, Grand Canyon, etc, etc... Places I'll never visit with my own bike...
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Hooper
Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 12:13 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

If you've got the money, or can save it up every now and then, renting a bike in a fantastic place is my definition of a dream vacation. I've done Scotland and a lot of great places in the US (Big Sur, northern CA, Grand Canyon, Utah, New England), but my goal is definitely the Alps...criss-crossing the border between Italy and Switzerland.

Hilarious writeup and beautiful shots!
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Brinnutz
Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 - 02:46 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Good story man, just read through it!

Looks like my kind of trip, especially all of the partyin!
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