Saying goodbye to Köln

The last few days in Köln were good fun. We spent some time packing boxes and wrapping paintings in bubble wrap. Josip was helping us and we wanted him to see a little of Köln during his stay, se we went out on the bicycles to see the city. It was quite warm and the sun came out for us. We rode round the town and Caroline showed us some of the places she knew well from her days at university, while she did some of the last tasks on her to-do-list. We decided we should include the cities Cathedral, the Dom, on our tour, which has been on Caroline and my list for ages too. The sky cleared as we arrived in the square and we parked the bikes and went in. It’s an impressive building and we climbed the endless steps to the top of the tower. It provides a fantastic view of the city and Caroline was obviously moved with the view and the moment, the last chance to see her city from this magnificent building, at least for the time being anyway.
On the Friday we moved the van to outside the flat and began the serious work of carrying boxes and loading the van. Lots of Caro’s friends turned up to help and soon I had a full time job in the van loading all the boxes and furniture. It was obvious it was going to be a tight fit and every possible space was filled in the van from floor to roof. In the end we had to leave a few things behind, but we managed to get everything important in. After cleaning the flat, we changed and went to Caro’s favourite bar, the Mexican, to meet her friends and say goodbye. It was a really fun evening with everyone turning up and chatting. They made me a Josip very welcome and spoke English all evening with us. Caroline was both happy to see them all and at the same time, sad to be leaving them. We got home quite late and went to bed to sleep on our mattresses and sleeping beds on the floor of the empty flat.
Josip got up early and left on his motor bike to ride bad to Sweden. We left a little later and started our first leg of our drive to Lubek. We stayed with her old school friend Anika and her man and family. It was a special evening as at midnight it was my Birthday. Me and Caro stayed awake and Caro gave me a wonderful present in the first minutes of the morning on my Birthday, it was a painting she had made especially for me… what a surprise, it was fantastic. She’s such a special girl and knows so well what I like. It was a perfect evening.

Last days in Köln - as seen by Caro

After moving out of my office in school and organising the last things there I am really off work now. Then the last week at home is quite busy. There is a lot to do and many people to see once again too. I have the girls around for the last dinner in my flat and we go out for a cocktail afterwards. Sunday afternoon my friend Markus is arriving. I am very pleased that he actually manages to come to visit me before I leave. We take the bikes and start a real Köln tour around town. We visit the large building sites on the riverside, ride into the Old town, have some Kölsch here and there and just enjoy „our“ town ;-)

On Monday I start packing boxes and in the evening then my old friend Alfred pops in. He is on his way back from Essen, where he just bought a new car. I take him to my atelier to pick up my last painting there. We go out and have a glass of wine together and have a good chat about his plans to get self-employed. I really like talking to him and I can sense that he is glad about my positive feedback. In the morning he sets off home, with a big painting of mine that he wants to buy. That’s cool as I won’t have space for this one anyway. I know that he really appreciates what I paint and therefore I am sure it’s in good hands.

After he’d left I continue my packing... still so many things in my flat.

Tuesday morning is as well the time when Richard and Josip are setting off with the van towards Germany. We get in touch from time to time to check how the trip is going. They share driving and manage to do the 1500km in one go – and arrive at around 5 o’clock on Wednesday morning.

The next days keep us busy with packing and organising the last things. I can even pick up my brandnew yellow bike!
The boys are a great help, even Josip is working all the time. He is so easy to get along with and such a nice person, I really like him. Wednesday afternoon Richard and he are driving down to the Nürnburgring to go on the track there with Josip’s bike.
We manage to do some „sightseeing“ as well. And I can again say good-bye to my city from high above as we climb up the 506 steps of the Dom!


Eventually it's Friday afternoon and we pack the van – quite a tricky project! We have less space then I expected and Richard is doing a very good job in packing it as effective as possible. But nevertheless a few things have to stay – the tv, storage racks and some plants... bye-bye.
After packing we clean the flat spick and span and eventually we are ready for the Mexican. I invited some friends to come around for a last Kölsch and very many pop up! It’s good to see them all on this evening. The good-byes are affectionate, a lot of big hugs and some tears too.

Is it really true that I am about to leave my place in only a few hours?

To the Nürburgring

Wednesday 27th June.
Checking the weather showed there was rain forecast for the following days. Josip and I decided that we should take advantage of the dry day and set off for the track. This was our plan for his Kawasaki, to go the Nürburgring race track and complete a few laps of the famous long circuit, called the Nordschleife. This 20km circuit is famous for its twisting path through the hills of the Eifel region south-west of Cologne. Josip and I left Cologne after lunch in the van and drove the 1 hour journey up into the hills. We stopped on the way to fill-up with extra petrol for the bike, which was strapped down in the back of the van. At the circuit we joined the waiting group of cars and bikes for the days open track session. You pay in advance for the number of laps you want and get a magnetic ticket which enables you to enter the track for each lap. We prepared the bike and Josip was first out, well it’s his bike! I took some pictures of the waiting area and the cars there. The lap time record for a bike is just less than 8 min. For un-accustomed novices like us, it takes about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on traffic. Josip returned from his first lap full of enthusiasm and surprised by the complexity of the circuit. The track is so twisting and un-predictable for a new comer. He went out on his second lap and I got ready to do 2 laps. When he came in I got on and set off on my first lap. It’s the first time I had ridden his Kawasaki on the track and it took a while to get used to the position and setup the mirrors. With all the porches and bikes on the track at the same time, it seemed pretty important to see what was coming up fast from behind. The track’s pretty daunting compared with the circuits I’ve been on in Sweden. The corners take every possible form, on hills up and down and every possible combination of camber and shape. With only a few laps to try it out, it’s not possible to remember all the turns and so much was again unexpected on my second lap. Anyway I did the 2 laps and it was good to have experienced the track that so many want to tryout. The session ended early because of an accident involving some bikes, so we had to settle for 2 laps each. But we were pleased to have had the chance to test the Nordschleife circuit. We packed the bike into the van and drove back to Cologne. Caroline was waiting for us and we cooked dinner and ate in the flat, chatted and then went to bed in good time as we were all tired.

On the road to Köln

Tuesday morning, 26th June, and my alarm goes off at 8… time to get up and get ready for the big trip, to go to Köln to collect Caroline and all her belongings and bring her and everything back to Sweden. Josip collects me at 9 and we go to the Statoil garage to collect the van. My friend Josip is driving with me on the way down and were taking his Kawasaki with us, more on that later. We throw our things into the van, plus my old sofa, which gets dumped at the tip on the way. It’s soon going to be replaced by Caro’s nice red sofa. We load his Kawasaki into the van and by 11 were on the road, on our way, only another 1400 km to go! We share the driving and have a plan to do the trip all in one go. Hit some rain in the middle of Sweden, but it cleared up as we got nearer the coast. We changed drivers every few hours and stop only for fuel and snacks. Its not long before were in Malmö and driving over the enormous Øresund Bridge, linking Sweden to Denmark. Its very impressive with its 8 km cable bridge, 4km artificial island and 4 km tunnel. Its two pylons are 204 m high and the highest in Sweden. We cross Denmark quite quickly via the islands and bridges and cross into Germany as it starts to get dark. As one is driving, the other tried to sleep a bit, but it’s not so easy in the front of a van. I called Caroline and told her we will arrive in the early morning and she was pleased to hear that we had made good time and was preparing for us to arrive. We filled up for the last time on the autobahn just before Cologne and drove into the city at about 4 on Wednesday morning. Josip and I were very tired and pleased to be parking the van and ringing Caro’s door bell. She was also sleepy but very please to see us. We all went straight to bed and had a long and much needed sleep.

Kiruna midnight sun

For some strange reason the heavy-haul railway industry decided to have its conference and exhibition in Kiruna. Kiruna is in the very north of Sweden at a latitude of 67.53 degrees North (the Artic circle is 66.33 degrees north). I suppose the fact that they have one of the largest Iron Ore mines in the world can contribute to the choice of location, so here we are to present our products to the industry.
I have never been quite so far north and as to be expected, there is daylight 24 hours a day as its summer and above the artic circle. Midnight sun is quite a special feeling. Having soon seen most of what can be seen in Kiruna, I decided to hire a car with my colleague and go and see some of the Lapland countryside. We drove over the mountains to Narvik in Norway, a 180km drive which takes 2 hours from Kiruna. It’s very pretty and the combination of snow covered peeks, reindeer, sun, snow, rain and great views make the drive well worth it. This view is of what’s called “Lapporten” which means door to Lapland.
Now I’m tired after 4 days here I’m and looking forward to going back to Stockholm and the coming weekend with Caroline, who’s coming to visit from Friday evening to Sunday evening.

Montreal in the rain

There are times when it would be nice to not have to travel. This week seemed like one of those weeks, with a short notice trip to Canada and the USA turning up just when I wanted to be at home. Having been away for two evenings last week in England, and missing Hannah and Emma at the weekend, as they were at a weekend leader group with their church group, I wanted to be able to spend time with the girls. I took my bike and joined them for a picnic with their group on Sunday afternoon. It was sunny and I shared their picnic food and we at least had some time together before I would be away in the week. It was a week since I was in Cologne with Caroline and I miss her already. She should have been in Stockholm, but due to an SAS strike, her flight to Stockholm was cancelled. I managed to divert there on the way back from Madrid and we had a special weekend together in Cologne. My flight to Montreal began early on Monday morning (I hate these early starts) with a flight to Frankfurt to connect with a direct connection to Montreal. I was pretty tired when I checked into the hotel and managed to mail and call the contacts in there in connection with the planned meetings. I took a stroll in the light afternoon rain, around the old town of Montreal, which I guess has been restored and looks very interesting. The old stone buildings and cobbled streets give it an old English look and the area is used a lot as a set for filming. I found a bar with its own micro brewery and had a few beers and a meal before getting back to the hotel to sleep. The next day was taken up with a meeting all day. I was driven to the airport and took an evening flight to Chicago. I like Chicago, but I just wasn’t in the mood for it. I worked and did some shopping for me and Caro and managed to get a place on an earlier flight home. There is a direct flight from Chicago to Stockholm and I usually try to get this flight to avoid a connection on the way home. I was a bit late to the airport and the queue to security was unbelievably long. I managed to jump the queue a bit and only had a few minutes to speak to Caroline in Germany before I had to go to the gate. Called Hannah too and said I’d be home a day early. Caroline sounded as if she’s missing me as much as I’m missing her. It will be another week before she’s in Stockholm for a weekend and I am really wishing time will go by quickly, we have so much to talk about and I miss her not being by my side. I’m on the plane now and just writing this before I try to get some sleep. Looking forward to getting back and having a few days at home.