First leg - to Germany

The alarm clock rang very early but it was still a bit late. We got up and Yuni was "Girlfriend of the Year" and drove me at 4:30 in the morning to the Airport. Danke Schatz! Goodbye at this time was for good for a long while. Somehow it did not feel real. I am still trying to get over the fact that it may be for such a long time now that I won't see Yuni.

The airport was busy for such an early time, but after getting the ticket from the machine, dropping off my bag and passing through security, I had just enough time to buy some Irish Salmon and a bottle of water before going to the gate.

Arriving in Germany I was surprised to see that Duesseldorf now has an automated immigration check for EU citizens. I had to put my Passport into a scanner, it scanned it for a couple of seconds and opened the first gate. Then I stepped through to and it scanned my face, apparently trying to determine if I was the guy on the passport. It worked and I could go and collect my backpack from the belt.

I met my mom on the way up to the departure area and we were off very quick towards Duesseldorf and the Schumacher Brauerei. It was nearly 6 hours since I got up and I was craving for a Mettbroetchen. This Mettbroetchen came with a glass of Altbier and was followed by a Floenz and a Mainzer Cheese (and a couple more Altbier).

While my mom went to pick up some things from our friends just outside of Duesseldorf Dad and I went for a stroll around town. The sun was shining and it was quite warm. Probably 24 / 25 degrees by now. It was nice to see Duesseldorf once more and we met up with Mom again (having another Mettbroetchen) in the Gasthof Zum Schiffchen.

Now it was time to go home and repack the bag with the couple of things that my parents put out for me. Still the bag didn't get much bigger/heavier.

Basti came around and picked me up in his "new" Mercedes. It's a nice ride and even got a sunroof. A bit later Lea and Daniel joined us at the Uerige and it was a nice evening of chit chat which was finished off with a Lupo Pizza. As Lea and Daniel haven't seen Basti's new car we went past it and even took a very short ride up to Daniel's car.

During that ride Basti couldn't resist smiling a pretty police woman in the neighboring car and since it was late at night they pulled us over on the Koenigsallee in Duesseldorf and he was asked to do an Alcohol test, which since he doesn't drink was surprisingly (for the police) negative. Funnily enough there was also a male police office present, who was from the town Basti came from and he knew through his Brother.