Amsterdamned

The first leg of my flight back from Sweden had worked without any kind of problem, so I had time to do some shopping at Amsterdam airport (some fragrance for my queen). I walked to the gate and spent the usual waiting time before I suddenly realized that my connecting flight to Strasbourg had been cancelled ("Geannuleerd") due to technical problems with the plane.

Well, these things happen, no problem. But the way KLM was dealing with the issue led me to believe that KLM never had a flight cancelled before in their company's history. We were told to go to area T2, where we found a state of chaos that you do not want to see at an airport. One sole flight officer dealing with a plane full of frustrated passengers coming from all over the world (in fact some of them flying in from China) kissing their evening plans good-bye. Instead of putting up a sign explaining the next steps KLM had their poor officer checking connections for each and every one of the passengers (with the same result for each of them), then handing out numbers for queueing up at the next counter for handing out hotel vouchers. As most of the people obviously did not understand that (un-explained) concept they stood in line at the counter without a number just to be briskly rejected when they finally thought it was their turn. In the meantime the officer had lost his temper and started screaming at the dozens of customers trying to get some information from him. Really not funny...

Anyway, after a couple of line-ups (officer, then counter, then another counter, then a hotel counter) I finally found a home for the night at an ibis airport hotel where I had a very short night just to get up at 4:20 next morning to catch the first plane to... Brussels! Luckily I had time to buy some Belgian chocolate (yummy!) before I finally caught a plane to Strasbourg. I had made the acquaintance of two teachers living in the vicinity of our hometown, and they had a pick-up arranged which they kindly shared with me. At noon I arrived at home, and after getting the washing machine working, fell into two hours of sound sleep. What a way to spend an unplanned day of vacation...

A Swedish Shindig

Sunset over Norway from the window of my plane to Oslo

Roland: my good friend Stephan who I know since kindergarten days turned 50 recently, and as he lives in Sweden in the middle of the woods he invited something like 50 of his best friends to join him for a long weekend with nature, food, beer, music and a lot of fresh air! Unfortunately Sonja did not get any vacation, so I had to do the trip all by myself...

So after a journey from Strasbourg via Amsterdam Stephan picked my up from Oslo airport at 11pm on Wednesday nigh at broad daylight! We had another 2.5 hours to drive back to his house in Sweden, but it never got fully dark during the journey. Amazing! We arrived at 1:30 AM, and I fell to sleep as soon as I went horizontal.

The next day I had the opportunity to have a look around (it has been two years since I had been here the last time). Stephan is extremely handy, and where a few years ago there used to be an old hut without electricity or running water there now is a palace with heated floors, satellite TV and Internet, a couple of guest houses and a hot tub built from an old milk tank and heated to 40C/105F by log-fire.

One of the guest houses (I stayed in this one)

Backstage view on the pool with its heating system

Of course there is also a boat: right before we launched it

This one will not be launched in the foreseeable future

A view from the hill

At some point during the day my other friends arrived from Cologne area (also by plane, and Stephan had to do another tour to Oslo for picking them up). Right away we hiked to the nearest lake where two of the boys turned into men and jumped into the ice-cold water.

On our way back we lost our trail, but managed to get to the house using our superb pathfinder skills and my iPhone's GPS software. Just in time for the start of the party!

Serious men in suits...

Stephan had arranged a live band for the evening. Although the band consisted only of two guitar players plus some MIDI equipment the guys did a fantastic set playing lots and lots of 70s, 80s and 90s rock and pop music with their own twist. The lead guitarist managed to sound better than Knopfler and Gilmour when he played Dire Straits and Pink Floyd! 

Rocking all over the World!

Some food matching the occasion

The weekend was a full success, and all of us were having a blast! We only lacked one thing, and that was sleep. Sunday afternoon Stephan made one more trip to the airport, this time for dropping us off. Which in my case led right to my next adventure, but this is a story for another day!

Heading for the Hills

Sunday morning around 7 a.m. with birds in full communication mode, and church bells terrorising the neighbourhood, my peaceful sleep was gone. A bit grumpy at first I checked the weather forecast (not too hot, no thunderstorms yet), then jumped out of bed to get ready for the day.

I decided on a whim that I would take Alonzo, my trusty Vespa, into hills to play a bit off road before heading to one of my favourite breakfast stops. Over the travels with my Harley, and my cycling and hiking activities as of late, I had almost forgotten how much fun venturing out on the Vespa could be.

Alonzo, not good at playing hide&seek

Those roads would be narrow, with potholes and stretches of gravel, but the scooter would manage (not so sure about the Sporty...). 

It's steeper than it looks.

Flower picking

Are you looking at me?

A few hikers and cyclists were up early, too, and gave me a friendly wave when I passed them. The air was clear, the people were nice... the early morning is a different universe, indeed. All was right with the world.

I was the first biker - ok, scooterist - arriving at the bakery/cafe, and ordered a mug of rooibos tea and two spelt croissants (the hell with gluten!).

Soon after, other early riders arrived, maybe inspired by my Vespa sitting in the parking lot, said their good mornings and stayed for breakfast, too. We had a nice little chat.

Half an hour later I was on my way, continuing my loop. Meanwhile more and more riders (alas, all male...) crossed my path.

Too much traffic for my taste, and I was glad when I got home around noon, but not before giving Alonzo a bit of a cleanup at our car wash. He certainly deserved it!

***

Der Berg ähm, Hügel ruft!

Sonntag morgen kurz vor 7 wurde ich vom Gezwitscher der Vögel, sowie dem Terror der verdammten Kirchenglocken wach. An Wiedereinschlafen war nicht zu denken. Schlecht gelaunt checkte ich die Wettervorhersage (nicht zu heiß und noch keine Gewitter im Anzug) und sprang dann voller Elan aus dem Bett und machte mich für den Tag fertig. Ich wollte mit Alonzo, meinem getreuen Vespa-Roller, in den Hügeln spielen gehen. Die Straßen würden eng und voller Schlaglöcher und Schotter sein. Das traute ich meiner Sporty eher weniger zu. Die Vespa aber würde das schon hinkriegen. Über meinen Reisen mit der Harley und meinen letzlichen Wander- und Fahrradaktivitäten hatte ich schon fast vergessen, wie schön das Herum"gurken" auf dem Roller sein kann. Ein paar frühe Wanderer und Radfahrer winkten freundlich, als ich an ihnen vorbei schoss. Die Luft war klar, die Menschen gut gelaunt, der frühe Morgen ist in der Tat ein Parallel-Universum. Morgens um sieben ist die Welt tatsächlich noch in Ordnung. 

An der Bäckerei mit Cafe war ich der erste Biker (ok, Roller-Fahrerin), doch kurz nach dem ich mein Frühstück vor mir hatte, es gab Dinkel-Croissants (sch... auf Gluten) und Rotbusch-Tee, kamen noch weitere Zweiradfahrer, vielleicht inspiriert durch meine Vespa, an. Wir quatschten kurz und eine halbe Stunde später machte ich mich wieder auf den Weg. Es wurde immer voller auf den Straßen... fast nur Motorradfahrer (aber leider keine Damen...). Bevor es mir zuviel wurde, machte ich mich auf den Rückweg, bzw. noch einen kleinen Umweg über die Waschanlage - das hatte sich Alonzo redlich verdient - und war kurz vor mittag wieder zuhause.