Travel journal - a road trip

Travel journal - a road trip

This year's summer vacation was something slightly different. I wanted to attend Chaos Communication Camp 2015 but as the distance from Munich to Zehdenick is quite far (roughly 650km) I had the idea to stay up in the north a while longer. So I searched around if there were some music festivals in that region and hatched a plan.

The plan was to go from Munich to Hildesheim for M'era Luna, then continue to Hamburg, then a quick visit to the Baltic Sea to drop a certain someone off, go to the Camp, get back and stay at the Baltic Sea and visit Halle(Saale) on the way back.

Day -5: Saturday, August 1st, 2015

The car's "vehicle inspection sticker" (according to my dictionary of choice) was to run out in August, so I tried to get this fixed before the trip.

Day 0: Thursday, August 6th, 2015

The car is not done although it's not totally the garage's fault - in any case there was nothing urgent to be repaired, so packing begins. Pretty full for a medium sized car...

Day 1: Friday, August 7th, 2015

Early start on the A9 to Nuremberg, then A3 to Würzburg, then A7 nearly to Hildesheim. Quick detour to Hamelin with a bit of sightseeing and an iced coffee. Got to the Hotel (boo, no camping yet), then off to the festival venue at the airport for grabbing the wristband and checking out the medieval market and whatever's already there. ~690 km in total.

Day 2: Saturday, August 8th, 2015

My first festival, woohoo. Elvellon at 11:00 - quite good. Nachtgeschrei at 11:20 - very good. Versengold at 11:40 - kind of ok. Coppelius at 12:35 - awesome. Lunch break and looking around the venue. Melotron at 15:35 - quite good. Merciful Nuns at 16:30 - ok. L'ame Immortelle at 16:55 - not as good as I had remembered them. Saltatio Mortis at 18:05 - pretty good. Rob Zombie at 21:00 - ok, but near the end we left. Missed ASP, which is a bit sad.

Day 3: Sunday, August 9th, 2015

Hotel breakfast, then off to the festival. Private Pact at 11:00 - but can't remember them. Then a reading by Kai Meyer with a few songs by ASP - pretty nice, probably gonna buy the book. Unzucht at 12:20, but not impressed, then Tyske Ludder at 12:55 - pleasantly surprised, bought a CD as well. Quick lunch break, then Absolute Body Control at 13:55 and Tanzwut at 14:15 - which I still liked a lot. Then my memory gets a bit hazy, but I think we heard a bit of Joachim Witt. Then one of the acts I was coming for, Assemblage 23 at 16:05 - pretty cool. Caught a bit of Apoptygma Berzerk, then off to Mono Inc. (who I had seen already a while ago) - also really good. I was pretty keen on Einstürzende Neubauten, but I wouldn't day I've enjoyed it a lot. Too strange for my taste. At 21:00 the main reason to visit - Nightwish, who I hadn't seen live since around 2004 I think. For some reason I didn't enjoy their stuff with their then new singer Anette Olzon, so I kinda had written them off and only learnt that they had another new singer, Floor Jansen, a while ago and now I can happily listen to them again \o/. Anyway, the show and the music was awesome and concluded the festival pretty nicely.

Day 4: Monday, August 10th, 2015

Hotel breakfast, then off to Hamburg. Went for a boat trip around noon with a hilarious captain/guide. I know he's probably doing the same jokes three times every day, but it was a lot funnier than most so-called comedians on TV. Mostly sightseeing by walking after that. ~190km by car. Had a very good beer and excellent coffee at Barley and Malt. Dinner at Bistro Roth - pretty good. ~170km.

Day 5: Tuesday, August 11th, 2015

Very tasty breakfast at Das Knuth. More sightseeing (and walking). Saw the MS Queen Elizabeth which is so huge I mistook her for an office building at first glance. Walked through the old Elbtunnel. Dinner at Alt Helgoländer Fischerstube after I annoyed hmans for fish restaurant tips for a while :P - it was pricy, but very good. Went to the Pyrates Bar across the road (because we were too tired to go looking for another bar) for a few beers. Quite good Pilsener there that's rumoured to be brewed in Bavaria.

Day 6: Wednesday, August 12th, 2015

Breakfast at some bakery/cafe. Unfriendly clerk. More sightseeing and walking, what a surprise. Late lunch at Dos Amigos - wasn't bad for lunch, but a bit boring.

Day 7: Thursday, August 13th, 2015

To Lübeck by car, then had a look around the city. Had a list of restaurants but they were either closed for lunch or overpriced for a snack, so opted for Tony's Pizza. Saw a pretty cool street music combo in steampunky clothing in the city center. Quick visit to the small Niederegger marzipan museum and had a very tasty cup of marzipan cappuccino at their cafe. Then drove halfway to Wismar to a resort at the sea, had a brief look at the beach and drove off to the camp. Got there around 18:00 after buying some beer, food and soft drinks. Put up my tent, had a lot of fun and went to bed at around 4 am. In total ~370km.

Day 8: Friday, August 14th, 2015

Got up around 10, explored the so-called bathroom facilities, then the rest of the camp I had missed the day before. Started my diet of toasted cheese sandwiches and sausages. Went for a quick shopping tour for more beer for the village in the evening. Gladly the supermarket had Budvar besides all kind of German Pilsener. Got my rad1o in the evening and went to bed at around 4 am again.

Day 9: Saturday, August 15th, 2015

Got up around 10, more cheese sandwiches, beer, talking, sun and fun. Had my first angel shift ever (at the third CCC event I attended, shame on me). Went to bed at around 3.

Day 10: Sunday, August 16th, 2015

Got up before 8, packed up my tent and stuff and drove back to the sea. Enjoyed the afternoon at the beach. Dinner at portofino. ~240km.

Day 11: Monday, August 17th, 2015

Weather was kind of bad, so visited Wismar and went for an extended walk. Lunch at Piccoli - tasty pasta for a quite low price. ~80km.

Day 12: Tuesday, August 18th, 2015

Weather was a bit better, but not exactly sunny - went to the beach anyway. Dinner at portofino again - another pretty good pizza.

Day 13: Wednesday, August 19th, 2015

Got up at 5 to go to the beach and see the sunset and search for amber (nope, didn't find anything). Hotel breakfast (were the first ones so it was packed with stuff formerly not discovered). Onwards to Schwerin with a bit of sightseeing, lunch at Herzogliche Dampfwäscherei - wasn't especially good. Then off to Halle and again some walking and looking around, then dinner at Hallesches Brauhaus after a recommendation. This was basically the best restaurant on the whole trip - awesome food and I tried all of their homebrewed beers and nearly all of them were excellent. ~415km.

Day 14: Thursday, August 20th, 2015

Hotel breakfast (was quite ok) and after some more sightseeing and a trip to the Halloren factory shop where we bought a few kilograms of sweets we started the final leg of the journey home. Had a quick bite at the Brückenrasthaus Frankenwald overlooking the A9 (nothing special, but whatever) and an uneventful ride home. ~430km.

So in 14 days that was roughly 2600km of driving, quite a few cities visited (Hameln, Hamburg, Lübeck, Wismar, Grevesmühlen, Wismar, Schwerin, Halle), a few days of camping and spending a lot more money than just flying to a sunny beach somewhere. I'm definitely up for CCCamp19 though, and Hamburg's always worth a visit - usually I just go there for conferences and beers with developers. And each and every time not being able to meet someone living there because she's in another city on those days.