Got up late, and went up to the gym at 8am. They don't open until 9am on Saturdays. Oh well. Off to breakfast. Ran into the Swiss coming out of breakfast. And ran into Rossetta and her crowd just outside my room again. Turns out some of them were next door to me.

I packed and checked my email. Heard from Chris and made plans to see him Tuesday in Berlin.

It's raining again! OK, with a hurt wrist and tired of rain, I am going to take the easy way to Hamburg today. But first, I have to go down to the Concours d'Elegance at Storoget to say bye to P.O. I park my bike by Klaus and his friends under the trees. Before I can find Klaus, the Chief Editor catches me and introduces me to an Editor, Kenneth Larsson, who interviews me and takes my picture.

Usually there is a souvenir tent at this event but they seem not have gotten that together this time. In fact, the little metal and ceramic plaques that we usually get didn't get to the meeting in time, so they are going to mail them to us.

I find Hemut and Fr. Neukirche and say goodbye to them as well as P.O. I'll miss the parade and prize ceremony. I think Klaus and his friends are amused at my old dirty bike, but they are clearly surprised at how well it idles, and I make it a point to halt half-way off the curb and look around with no feet touching before I proceed.

It's only about 30km to Trelleborg where I catch a ferry to Travemuende, near Luebeck, not far from Hamburg. This is the easy way to travel today. It costs 580 SEK and is worth it. I wait in line with the other vehicles to board the huge ship, and then we drive on. The ship also takes on many large trucks, one of which parks directly behind me. I take my day pack out of the side bag and go up on deck.

This is like a cruise ship, with 9 decks and passenger cabins on two of the decks. I notice there is a fitness center on deck 8 and go there. I seem to be the only passenger who uses the center, and actually have to get a crewman to unlock it for me. It relly has no equipement, but it does have an exercise area, a jacuzzi, and a sauna. I always have my swim suit in my pack. I use all three for about an hour and a half.

Young crew guys come in as I am finishing. They hang a punching bag and start doing boxing exercises to loud hip-hop music. I'm out of here. I go down to the cafeteria to relax for the remainder of the 7 hour voyage over the Ost See.

I see another ship out here in the middle of nowhere and wonder if I should take a picture. I wisely refrain. Turns out these shipping lanes are crowded. We are almost never out of site of a passing ship, and sometimes two. The sea is calm, the sky is overcast, and it could not be more boring, unless we were flying.

I find out that we are not going to land until 9pm! And I still have to get to Hamburg. I try to telephone Susi to let her know how late I will be, but the public telephones are all closed due to "technical and atmospheric difficulties".

What's worse, is that I stupidly brought a city map for Hannover instead of Hamburg. I will call Susie as soon as we land in any case, but I am certainly going to have to get directions to my hotel.

Just outside the customs stop, there is a checkin building and a place where a motorcycle can stop protected from the traffic. I go in and find a nice Falk map of Hamburg and phone Susie. It is clear that I will be in late tonight and say I will call in the morning.

Hamburg is only about 75km away. This port is a good choice. It is about a quarter before 10 when I leave. I expect I will enter Hamburg at about 10:30pm and I do.

The difficulty with Hamburg is that there are no good east-west routes. I am coming in on the A1 on the extreme east side of town. My hotel is in the north-west sector. At one point 30km out of town, I try a trick of cutting over to the A7, but in following the signs to Hamburg, I end up back on the A1.

The bike does not seem to be running well. It stumbles above 6Krpm as if it is fuel starved. My right-hand mirror has come loose and is useless. And my electric jacket isn't working. But it is a warm night, just spitting rain off and on.

There is no way I am going to navigate all of the small streets that will take me from one side of Hamburg to the other in the dark and rain. I remember how difficult it was to find Globetrotter Ausrustung the last time. But I have noticed on the map that the airport is very near the district I am aiming for.

I follow the sparse signs for the airport. It takes a while, riding carefully on the rain-slick city streets and it is a long way. But I find the airport and then using my Falk, find my way further. Part of the problem is that the street names are well-marked on the map, but, as usual, not at all on the actual streets. Destinations, such as districts and other cities are display on large well-lighted signs and major intersections, but no information about the current street names.

Thank goodness the Falk is very detailed, especially since some of the streets are under construction and I would have missed them altogether had I not known from the map where they *should* be. By following landmarks and distances, I eventually arrive at my hotel.

One more surprise. There are seven bikes, of all kinds, in the parking lot. And they all have Russian license plates. The reception clerk, who wants to practice his English, says they are on a very long tour. I get to bed a little after midnight, asking for a wakeup at 7am.