Left Wolfsburg on Thursday, 16 June. I'm going to miss the Ritz-Carlton. This is absolutely the best hotel I have ever stayed in. There are at least five people waiting to open arriving car doors, all speaking in their hands and one is hardly allowed to touch a door handle anywhere in the hotel. More important, the staff, some incognito security, are impossibly friendly without being at all intrusive or obsequious. One feels that one has arrived in a warm village where one is an honored guest. The co-ed spa is manned by young women who direct you to your dressing quarters: the lack of prudery is typically German. And there is a a 40 meter-long lap pool: a barge floating in the harbor of the old power-plant, which is now a historical monument, though still working. Everything about this hotel is incredibly tasteful: there is no direct lighting to be seen and every room is filled with art. Thanks to VW for putting me up here. I'm glad this was before the current scandal, resignation of Hartz, and subsequent cost-cutting.

Took the IC to Münster and then the regional Bahn to Enschede - the latter very slow. The Amadeus Hotel is a big letdown from the Ritz and I had to lug everything up two floors. Put all my moto gear in the rollerbag and Rik picked me up in the trusty MZ sidecar. We packed the bike and I rode back to the hotel and then we had dinner.

It was good to be underway on the bike again. Rik had pointed out a way out of town but I couldn't seem to follow it. I ran into the middle of Enschede, which forced me to go back and then I hit the ring, so eventually I hit the way out of town and to the 474.

Somewhere near Bolscht, I picked up the A8 and headed to Düsseldorf where I was supposed to me Sigi and Stephan at Sigi's parents' house (Elke and Günther) at 6, and catch the train at 8:10pm. I had lots of time.

I had originally wrapped the backpack in the bike cover, but that didn't work on the AutoBahn. So I put the backpack back in it's airplane sack and that worked beautifully. I found the turn off to Mettmann, the Goldmann family Dorf, and I had found on the map that if I headed into Düsseldorf from this exit, I should go straight to the Hauptbahnhof.

Well, eventually I found it, and found the exact place where the AutoZug was to be loaded, and found it along with two other bikes who were searching for it. I was early, so I stopped at an Internet Cafe, hooked up my laptop, and caught up on email. Then back to the Goldmann house.

I got there a bit early, and Sigi's parents and I had a nice visit. When Sigi and Stephan showed up, we went to have dinner, because in 2001, when I last took the AutoZug, there was no train restaurant. We had a nice Chinese dinner and Sigi gave me a published copy of her dissertation.

I left the Goldmann house at 7:50 and still managed to make the Bahnhof at 8:10, because traffic was light and I already knew just what streets to take. I was astounded when I arrived. There were already at least 30 bikes lined up to load and about 20 had already loaded. I was next to last. And everyone stared and chuckled at the big old bike since everyone else was on modern sport tourers. And in Aerostich rather than brown leathers.

This was a big difference from my last AutoZug. Then, there was only one other motorcyclist, he was late, and it didn't matter. Also, the worker who tied down my bike made a big deal of it, using lots of custom-tiedowns and straps.

This time, it was assembly line efficiency with lots of workers. At the checkin gate, that guy put white DB straps at four tiedown points. Waiting in line, we were directed to ride up the ramp, where another worker snapped in the wheel stops in front of and behind the bike. We dismounted on sidestands and unpacked, and another worker came along and attached the four tiedowns. Zip, zip, zip, zip: done.

I had a cabin with a nice couple and there was indeed a Bord Bistro, though there was no symbol for a restaurant on the train listings. I had another nice meal and some beer. We all drank some more beer and talked until about 11:30 when it was announced that no one else would be coming on board (no more stops) so we could go to bed.

We were woken at 5:30 by the conductress and eventually served coffee and croissants. I checked out the Bistro but it was closed except for box lunches they were serving the first class folk from the Schlafwagen.

Also unlike my last trip, we did not stop at the Hauptbahnhof, but went straight to the Ostbahnhoff. We all schlepped our gear from the train and waited for our vehicle-carrying railcars to be backup to the ride-off ramp. I took lots of pictures.

I had studied the Munich city map, and was roughly familiar with it, so I had no problem finding my way around and through until I got on the A8. I left the Ostbahnhof at 7:30, made a few stops along the way to check the map and change gloves, and still made this reststop between Ulm and Stutgart by 9:00.

Stuttgart is about 90Km away from Ulm and easy to reach by Autobahn. I found the right exit and even the right hotel after awhile. The AC Hofer is very small but nice. The Frau keeps calling me "Herr Professor" and is very helpful. I got my clothes washed but I have to go to the Hotel Millinium down the street to get my Internet fix. It's O2.

I should write a whole page about the excursion Sunday that Holger Meinel organized for the DaimlerChrysler Technische Austauche Gruppe. But, just briefly here, Christine accompanied me on this trip to Nördlinger, where we rode a steam train, pickniced, rode back, and then had a tour of a fabulous steam train museum. I took over 200 pictures (go through them if you really like steam engines.) And had a wonderful time. And learned German for "in the middle of nowhere": Jans weit draußen (JWD).

Monday I worked at DC nearby. I had then to shift hotels to Ulm: the Schiefes Haus. Always fun and there is an Internet cafe nearby. There seems to be no way to connect my PC so I just transfer files with the memory stick. The evening hotel manager is Kitsana, a 26 year-old woman of Thai descent who has lived in Ulm since she was 2. She's essentially Swabian. We had a wonderful conversation on the porch that overhangs the "Blue" creek in back of the house.

She's waiting for some guests from Illinois who were supposed to have arrived in the early afternoon. She is quite worried about them and is making continual phone calls to the airlines. I said probably the United flight to Munich out of Chicago was delayed a day. Kitsana is very pleasant and it really fulfills her to make her guests happy. She's quite happy with Ulm and her job. And, as I was walking back from dinner at one of the restaurants on the city wall overlooking the Danube, I was thinking that this is how life should be lived rather than the hectic Internet life that I have most of the time. Kitsana and I discussed this too, but I also have a lot of freedom, which I cherish.