Final Stats: Moto-Kevin

Name: Kevin St. Laurent
Age: 33
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Miles Moto'd: 10,630
Countries Moto'd: 13 (USA, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, Andorra, Belguim, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Russia)
Moto: 1997 BMW F650 ST
Primary Riding Gear: AeroStitch Roadcrafter Two Piece (a.k.a Jellybean), Nolan N100 Flip Lid Helmet, Alpine Star Gortex Boots,
Gear: GIVI 47 Liter Topbox, 50Liter Sidebags (way too big, never again). Customized ICON tankbag, brush guards, 1 DC power jack for charging cell phone and laptop. Note - successfully carried 13inch Sony Vaio Laptop in one side bag packed between clothes. 10,000 miles of vibration and one 10mph crash...still using laptop.

Favorite Week of Dancing: 5 all night nights of dancing at Herrang Dacne Camp, Sweden
Most Excilerating Riding: Full throttle riding on Auto-bahn in Germany. Bike maxed at 105mph with full bags and tucked riding position.
Favorite Day of Riding: Cassis to Nice (France) at Sunset riding two-up with Italian Girls Isabella & Monica.
Favorite Day of Trip: Everyday when I turned to my riding buddies and asked..."Any Complaints?" 100% response of "Nope." No matter what happened, where I went or who I was with...I was on a Moto in Europe. Life was Good.

Final Stats: Moto-Dave

Name: Dave Trier
Age: 34
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Miles Moto'd: 10,525
Countries Moto'd: 13
Moto: 2003 BMW R1150R
Primary Riding Gear: BMW Savanna jacket, pants, and boots. Nolan flip helmet, Frank Thomas gloves, earplugs.
Secondary Riding Gear: spare passenger helmet
Misc: Ritter marzipan chocolate bars and bottled water

Favorite Night of Dancing: St. Petersburg Russia
Favorite Day of Riding: Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy.
Favorite Day of Trip: All the all-nighters: Aux-en-Provence, Paris, Herrang, St. Petersburg.

Final Stats: Moto-Joel

Name: Joel Tornatore
Age: 41
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Miles Moto'd: 5100 km
Countries Moto'd: Germany, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Austria
Moto: 2005 Honda TransAlp 600
Primary Riding Gear: AeroStich Roadcrafter Two Piece (AKA, the blue jellybean, or blue razzleberry), Shoei Syncrotec helmet (in Anthrocite), random gloves, hand-me down boots from Randy, picture of MotoHank on the back of my helmet

Favorite Night of Dancing: The Final Friday at Herrang
Favorite Day of Riding: The Super Long Day from the ferry arrival in the south of Sweden all the way to Herrang
Favorite Day of Trip: Showing up in Salzburg, Austria, (after driving from Hamburg and hitting an amazing rain storm near the Austrian border) to meet up with Doug, and he had a beer (and more!) waiting for me.

Final Stats: Moto-Mark

Name: Mark Palatucci
Age: 26
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Miles Moto'd: 7,800
Countries Moto'd: 13
Moto: 1997 BMW F650 ST
Primary Riding Gear: AeroStitch Roadcrafter (a.k.a Jellybean), Shoei RF-1000 Helmet
Secondary Riding Gear: Joe Rocket, HJC Helmet
Misc: Gloves and Boots by Alpine Star, Luggage by GIVI

Favorite Night of Dancing: Apollo Jazz Cafe, Montpellier, France
Favorite Day of Riding: Oslo to Flam, Norway
Favorite Day of Trip: Riding through the Loire countryside and sleeping outside of Chateau de Chenonceau (France)

Moto-Mark arrives home!!!

I made it home!!! I arrived at my Mom's place in Philadelphia. It was unbelievable to see my bike parked in her driveway. A few days earlier it was 5000 ft above a fjord in Norway. The bike performed magically and never gave me an ounce of trouble through 13 countries and 8000 miles . With incredible irony, the bike died as soon as I rode into Mom's driveway. It just refused to turn over and pop starting wouldn't work. With no time to fix it before leaving for grad school, I rolled it in her garage and unmounted my luggage cases for the final time.

It was difficult to contemplate the magnitude of the journey. Where would I even begin? No time to wonder...tomorrow I leave for Pittsburgh and my new life at Carnegie Mellon..

I hit a rest stop to fill up and get some food. In Norway, I was paying $6 *per* gallon. In the US, I paid $10 to fill up the whole tank and get a Whopper. Welcome to the land of fast food and cheap oil! It's great to be home!

August 12th: Toronto to Philadelphia

August 12: I spent a few hours in customs and managed to get my bike out. I started the ride to my mother's home in Philadelphia - the last stop on my Motolindy tour. I made it to the Canandian-US border. (might I actually pull this whole trip off?). I was pretty exhausted and when the border guard asked me what country I was coming from, I said, "Canada". She put her hand in her face and just shook her head.

The club has live music every night. Wow. The band that night featured the fantastically sexy Janice Hagan. Tory Cassis, the male vocalist who usually performs Saturday nights sat in for a couple songs. He has an incredibly rich voice in the true crooner style. We need to get this guy to perform for us down in the US..

August 11th: Moto-Mark arrives in Toronto

August 11th: I arrived in Toronto. Despite the jetlag of a 10 hour flight, I quickly found my way to the Reservoir Lounge - a really cool jazz/swing club in the basement of some building. It reminded me of the club in Andorra. Here's Steve (my great host), Val, and me..

Mark's last photo in Europe...

The ride was long - over 20 hours. I spent as much time as I could sitting on the deck watching the sea and pondering the experiences of the last two months. This was the last photo I took in Europe. I slept that night on the floor of Deck 10 with all the other holders of steerage tickets.

The next day I arrived in Keil and rode to Frankfurt. My last ride in Europe was great - I was on the Autobahn in warm weather, on my way home to start my new life as a gradate student. I was so happy. I spent an uneventful day preparing the motorcycle for air shipment. I then flew to Toronto to wait for my moto to arrive...

August 8th: The ferry to Keil

August 8th: I boarded an overnight ferry from Oslo to Keil, Germany. The ferry is similar to the one we rode in Puttgarten - you just roll up and strap your bike down. I'm not sure if it was my jellybean, my "CAL" plate, or my Givi side bags, but I got a couple of strange looks from the other motorcyclists. But being that this was the North Sea, and that the rider farthest from home is always the coolest, I confidently locked my jellybean down and headed up to the sun deck.

Laerdal - right at the end of the beautiful Sognefjord. This was my last photo of the fjords and of the day. 6 hours after I took this photo, I found myself back in Oslo..

There were plenty of streams leading down to the fjord..

Approaching Laerdal..

I winded my way down the mountain pass into Laerdal..

Ahh life..It was great to have some company..

I continued on realizing that my motorcycle was the only thing between me and a sticky situation. It's moments like these that cause riders to develop emotional attachments to their machines.

I stopped for a quick stretch..when I took this photo I felt a strange sensation. It was fear. It was the first and only time in the whole trip that I felt it. I was completely alone and hadn't seen anything living in quite some time. It was cold and the road seemed endless. Before deciding to take this pass, I got the GPS and did some calculations to make sure that a breakdown wouldn't be a castostophic event. Well, I re-did the calculations, re-checked the GPS, and realized that my destination wasn't far away. Nevertheless, I was *really* glad to hear the engine turn over..I buried the fear, put the kickstand up, and rode on.

I've been riding about 1 hour in wilderness in almost perfect isolation.

Sometimes it felt like I was on a different planet. These rocks actually appeared green in real life - they weren't really green - they all had moss covering one side..

The landscape seemed somewhat alien..

Nearing 5000ft..snow = cold.

Wow. There's no one up here. I'm really in the middle of nowhere.

The clouds moved past very quickly, creating interesting shadows on the mountain tops.

Leaving the Aurlandfjord...I'm at about 4000 ft, nearing the top of the mountain..

Altitude 3000 ft..getting a bit chilly but the view is great. Time for heated grips..

The roads were empty. I could have counted the total cars I saw on 1 hand.

It's hard to get a picture of yourself with your bike when you're the only one on the road.

Near the top, looking back at Flam..

The road winds you up the side of the mountain and provides an amazing view of the Aurlandfjord..

On the way back I decided to take a detour to travel the "Aurlandsvegan"...a.k.a The Snow Road. Basically, this is a mountain pass that goes from Aurland to Laerdal (right over the 15 mile tunnel that we went through a couple days back). I had wanted to take this road on several occasions but the weather wasn't cooperating..luckily, the weather was holding today..

August 7th: The beginning of Mark's voyage home..

August 7th: Day 1 of the voyage home. I left Bergen for Olso. It will be a grueling 10 hour day of riding. The route took me back to Flam, the wonderful village we found about a week earlier.

Ah, Room 313. 313, has a lot of meaning for me. I lived with my three best friends (hey Lou, Mike, and John!) in college in apt #313 - and we became known as the 313 guys. 313 is also the number of beats in the famous Hellzapopin dance number. 313 is also on the T-Shirts Kevin designed commemorating the famous Hellzapopin dance number. You can see the 313 shirt in many of Dave's GQ photos below.

On the way back to my hotel, I passed the greatest of all mimes (and we've seen a lot on this trip). There were many real statues in the Bergen square that looked similar to this guy - bronze, pedestal, chain fence (he went all out). I thought he was a real statue - and when I walked by he moved and I jumped. Wow. I then chilled on a bench and I watched him freak out other tourists as they walked by.

The view from the "work" hut..The weather was perfect and I sat on a bench outside the hut for about 2 hours. This was the first day I was completely by myself..Despite missing my friends, it was nice to have some down time and reflect on an incredible two months..

About 100 ft from the house, Greig had his 'work' room. Basically, it is a small hut with a desk and piano. He composed most of his works there.

The BMW dealer was only a few miles away from the Edvard Greig house. Edvard Greig was Norway's most famous composer - I'm sure you would recognize many of his pieces.

August 6th: Julia flys home to Amsterdam..

August 6th: I took Julia to the airport in the early morning and spent the rest of the day running errands and preparing for the journey home. My motocycle was in desperate need of new tires. Luckily, the BMW shop in Bergen was able to replace them fairly quickly. While waiting for the tires I grabbed a soda. For some reason, all sodas in Scandanavia have what I call the "soda cap syndrome". Basically, the cap never detaches from the safety ring. It happens on all their bottles and I just don't get it. Clearly the fatigue was getting to me. It's time to come home.

We found a small cafe and had a quiet dinner. Unfortunately, this was Julia's last night in Norway. She had to attend a workshop in France, and was returning home to Amsterdam the next day. We were both sad that our journey together had come to an end - yet thankful for an incredible experience and a new good friendship.

On the way to dinner we passed this 14 year old Norwegian kid named Eirek. He was an absolutely amazing guitarist - one of the best I've ever heard. I guarantee he will be a rock star some day. There was a huge crowd around him and everyone was incredibly impressed - I watched him collect several large bills from people passing by.

Bergen is old..and like any old city, there is the strip of old buildings that have been converted into tourist traps.

Do we find lindy? Or does the lindy find us? By accident, we stumbled across a small Swedish cruise ship with a great swing/jazz band. We danced some Bal in the streets and got several strange looks from the other tourists..

We arrived in Bergen, a charming seaport town right on the coast. The weather had cleared, and we had a relaxing time exploring the city.

We boarded a ferry to take us across the Sognefjord to the town of Vik. Unfortunately, this was the last photo that we were able to take during the ride. It started raining on the ferry and got progressively worse as we traveled south. We crossed a mountain pass on the way to Voss - with any decent weather the ride would have been fantastic. Unfortunately, we hit the terrible conditions. Pouring rain and tremendous cold at 5000 ft. You win some, you loose some.

August 5th: M&J leave Solvern for Bergen

August 5th: We left for Bergen, a small sea port town on the western coast of Norway. Along the way we saw some animals that I had never seen before. Apparently, they are 'Yaks'. They look like hairy cows.

Simone (Kevin's sister), Charlie, and Allison, host Dave for a day in New York City en route to Vancouver, Canada.

Monica and Dave hanging out in the historical port town of Genova, Italy. Que bellisima.

Laia and Kevin in Gracia (neighborhod of Barcleonia) after a kickass night of dancing to live music in the streets.

Another team goes for eight levels. What looks like the bottom level is actually the second level standing on what looks like the crowd.

The Catalan Paparazzi were out in full force in Barcleona. Kevin & Laia make the local paper during his first night of dancing in Gracia.

Here's the same castle, but eight levels complete. My camera was too small to capture the whole thing.

Traditonal Catalan Castle buidling. Here we have three levels with the Mayor of Gracia watching from the balcony.

Here's a better shot of Laia's whopping 50cc moto. Two up? No worries.

Kevin's perspective while staying in Barcelona. He had no moto, so this is his perspective from the back of Laia's scooter in the two up position.

Christopher Columbus's home in Genova, Italy.

We got back to Solvorn and Trond warmed us up with some hot raspberry juice straight from the pasteurizer. Glaciering was great, but we were going through a lindy withdrawl. We put on some Lisa Ekdahl, danced a few tunes, and passed out from total exhaustion.

4 hours on the ice and we're still smiling.

The hike down was almost as tricky as the hike up.

To go any higher, we'd need to ice camp. We called this our summit and started back..

Style and grace..

As Kevin and Dave said earlier, fashion is priority one.

Don't want to fall in there. The pressure in the ice forces the oxygen out - thereby affecting the ice crystal formation and reflection of the light. The less oxygen the more blue the ice appears.

Time for a lunch break..

I check out Julia's bum while she skillyfully navigates the ice crevasse.

Here's Mark after climbing 1000 ft of glacier in his jellybean.

The team ascends...Climbing in full riding gear was a challenge - at least I was warm and dry!

Ingville, our Norwegian ice-commander, teaches proper clamping and ice axe technique.

I just strapped the ice clampers right over my riding boots.

Time to climb. We prepared for a 4 hr 'blue ice' hike through the glacier..It was raining and cold and we were about to spend 4 hours hiking on a big piece of ice - where could I get some warm and waterproof clothing? I know - JELLYBEAN!

Wow. That is a huge arse piece of ice.

August 4th: Glaciering on Jostedalbreen

Question: What's that funky grey thing in the background? Answer: Jostedalbreen, the largest glacier in Europe. It happens to be in Norway, about 50km north of where we were staying in Solvorn.

Hmm..let's take a boat across the lake and see if we can get closer..

Coming back from Russia we passed back through Stockholm and were able to catch a breakfast with Marie for a few hours. The Swedish love sandwichs for breakfast.

Russian style apartments. No where is safe from graffiti artists. Kevin busts a move on the jungle gym

Everybody loves a 3am aerial session. Kevin and Violeta attempt the 'snatch'

Violeta and Elenora made us traditional Russian food for lunch. Rakhim opened the pickles. Dave loves Elenora's Soup.

Rakhim's pad was on the 7th floor. He has a washer, but not a dryer. Dave stepped out to the balcony to hang his pants...oooops. That blue speck next to the car in the grass would be Dave's jeans. That's Rakhims moto on the right. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Traffic jam at 4am. Most bridges are raised in the middle of the night in St. Petersburg. Occasionally one will come down for 15 minutes to let traffic through. Of course Rakhim's pad was on the other side so we wait.

Violeta displays typical Russian Fashion.

Swedish Motorway Stop: A Big Tasty or a Big Nasty? Getting a McDonalds meal deal with a citron mineral water and side salad was a new experience for Kevin. Hey, it cost the same as fries and a coke.

Kevin, Katia & Dave. She was the one who did all the annoying Russian bureaucratic paperwork that got us to St. Petersburg.

After half a night's dancing, Rakhim only has half his glasses. The Russian women just can't get enough of him.

Dave's Bike, Kevin's bike, and our host Rakhim's bike on the right. Oh yeah, that's some famous Russian Church in the background.

Kevin - "Is the camera on?" Dave - "Don't know, all I can see are bugs"

FInnaly found it, the motorcycle part that goes...BING!

Dave and Katia tearing it up!

So many Russian women to dance with, I started to dance with two at a time. Katia, Marina, and Dave at Cafe Latino.

"Uhh, hey baby, want to dance?" Rakhim, Vanya, and Daniel resting during late night lindy and salsa dancing at Cafe Latino.

That night we rode a couple miles into the town of Hafslo looking for some food and a cash machine. We found this pizzeria owned by an Iranian couple. It was a very interesting story about how this couple found each other and came to live in the middle of nowhere in Norway.. It was pretty late and all the other customers had left - we were about to order a pizza when the wife came in with an Iranian Lamb Biryani for her husband. It smelled great and we asked if we could order that. So the wife went back to the house and came back with two more dishes. We sat and ate awesome Iranian food and talked to this couple for like 2 hours.

We made it to Solvorn! We found the most amazing place to stay. It is called "Eplet - Bed and Apple". It is a small hostel/guest house situated on a working raspberry and apple farm. This is the view from our balcony. It is one of the most relaxing places I've ever been and I can't wait to go back. The owner, Trond Henrick, is an awesome guy. He sat with us for over an hour gave us lots of info about glacier hiking, motorcycle roads, and Norwegian geology.

After the church we continued the ride to Solvern..we cruised on a small car ferry to the other side of the Sognefjord.

Many of the decorations on the church are identical to those on Viking ships of the time..

The churches were built right around when Christianity first entered the region. The churches are Christian - but have a very pagan feel..They are called 'stave' because of the wood beams (staves) that provide the primary support for the structure.

After we got through the tunnel we decided to take a quick detour and stop at the Borgund Stave church. This church was built in 1148! This particular church hasn't had much restoration..

Entering the cavern..you can pull over and take a break if you want. The lighting is really sweet..

This tunnel is awesome. To break up the monotony, they build these special caverns every 6km to simulate daylight and a tunnel 'exit'. The idea is to make people feel they are going through 4 smaller tunnels rather than one super long one. As you approach the cavern..

We didn't have any place to stay that night in Flam so we decided to head north to a town called Solvorn. Solvorn is very close to the Jostdalbreen glacier. During the ride to Solvorn we had to pass through the "Laerdalstunnelen". This is the longest drivable tunnel in the world - over 15 miles!! (BTW, the second longest is the St Gottardo in Switzerland - check out our Swiss photos below for that one).

The train arrives at Myrdal. I saw this girl that looked exactly like my friend Lili from the back and side..I jumped off the train and chased "Lili" down to the gift shop. Turned out it wasn't Lili but the resemblance was scary.

During the ride, the train stops at the beautiful Kjosfossen waterfall. A nymph comes out and music starts playing - it's all a bit cheesy, but the waterfall still rocks.

August 3rd: Flam to Solvorn

August 3rd: Just for fun, we took the Flamsbana train to Myrdal and back. Myrdal is a small village 3000 ft above the fjord. The ride on the train is pretty spectacular (very similar to the ride into Flam - beautiful views of the valley, waterfalls, snow covered mountains, etc..)

After we got back to Flam, we got ice cream and just chilled down by the fjord.

We got to Gudvagen and spent a few minutes cruising around..we then got back on and rode another 2 hours back to Flam..

The view right before we arrived in Gudvagen..

What's up with the fleece? Don't know if you noticed but I've been wearing this damn fleece everyday since Belgium. It's cold up here! (Walt, you were right)

We passed a spot in the fjord that looked just like Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. I guess that's not so surprising since Yosemite was formed by glaciers as well.

The couple next to us on the boat didn't get the memo about wearing socks with sandles.

This is the most narrow point - only 250 meters across.

Apparently, if you drink from this famous waterfall in the Naeroyfjord you will have eternal youth. The boat backed in and we managed to fill and drink a bottle from the waterfall.

Turning the corner into the Naeroyfjord - one of the most narrow in Norway.

Just mountains and water as far as you can see..

We left the Aurlandfjord and entered the larger Sognefjord. A fjord is basically an inlet of the sea that is surrounded by tall mountains. Fjords are formed by glacier movement over thousands and thousands of years.

There are lots of little villages that are nestled in the valleys.

The Aurlandfjord is beautiful..it is a small branch off the larger Sognefjord (the largest in Norway).

August 2nd: Ferrys and Flam

August 2nd: We boarded a ferry and took a three hour ride through fjords to the town of Gudvagen.

Leaving Flam..

I then went back to my small pension and enjoyed it some more..

We arrived in Flam about 10pm. Flam is located at the base of the Aurlandfjord. There weren't many people around - I sat alone by the water enjoyed the serenity of the fjord....

We winded our way down a bunch of switchbacks and through several tunnels before we reached the valley. The lake at the bottom had a beautiful reflection of the sky.

There were waterfalls coming down all sides of the mountains into the lake.

Leading into the valley was a huge river..

A few miles after the campground, we passed through a tunnel which opened up to an incredible view. This was our first encounter with the "fjords". There was a lush green valley surrounded by huge mountains. The light was low and cast these huge beams into the valley.

At this point, we had been riding about 50 miles at over 4,000 ft and we were cold. We managed to find a campground/lodge and spent an hour there warming up.

Seriously though - there are just lakes everywhere.

We continued along these deserted roads...

Nature rocks.

There were tons of streams and waterfalls leading down to the lake.

Along the lake were these really oldschool log cabins..

We continued along and things started getting chilly (the GPS reported our altitude at about 5,000 feet). In the wilderness about 4 hours from Oslo we found a stunning lake surrounded by snow covered mountains.

We passed a bunch of really pretty wooden churches. This one was about 80 years old.

The Norwegians love to build their roads as close to water as they can get.

Another lake. Blue skies and everything is so green. Are we in motorcycle heaven?

We passed countless lakes, rivers, and streams.

August 1st (afternoon): Oslo to Flam. The greatest day of motorcycling ever.

August 1st: After visiting the Vigeland sculptures, we headed to the small town of Flam at the base of the AurlandFjord. As you will soon see, the trip was unbelievable - by far, the greatest motorcycle ride I've ever been on. The route to Flam was E18 to 7 to 50. If you want to have an amazing experience, get a motorcycle and ride those three roads.

Crossing over to Russia, the 3 hour saga. Good thing we brought lunch.

Friend/host Rahim with friend Katia. fyi Russia has no helmet law.

Can't find a dance party, we make a party. Rahim's.

Rush hour in SPB.

"My milkshake is bedder than yours..."

Kevin, how many times do I have to tell you, chopsticks are from China not Russia? American boys show they can cook. House party at Rahim's. Rahim, Anna, Katia, Elenora, Daniel, Kevin, Irina, and Michael.

Patrick Swazye and Jennifer Grey preparing for future "Dirty and Wet Dancing" film.

Large LEGO display, at SPAS NA KROVI (Church on the Blood), St. Petersburg.

Dave windsurfing the Baltic Sea

Finally, Commrade Kevin's suit is fashionably acceptable.

Kevin and Dave Hit Russia...

Tic Tack Toe with french fry, mayo and ketchup. Tie game.

Joel's cat Hank. We like to call him MotoHank. He was unable to come on this trip as someone had to stay home and water the plants.

"Whoever denied it supplied it..."

"Dude, maybe I could get a better photo of this statue thinger if it weren't raining so hard..."

At the top of the park are another set of incredible statues..

"Maybe I shouldn't be juggling these?"

Crap. It's raining.

Kevin was the subject for "around the back"..

Frankie Manning and Anne Johnson doing one of their patented air steps..

"Hey you with the illegally parked Motorrad..."

You don't know how long I stood on this leg in order to get this photo.

The sculptures are incredibly lifelike and rather moving..

August 1st (morning): Oslo

August 1st: I've been somewhat trying to avoid big cities on this trip (it is easy to get to a big city - it is much harder to take your motorcycle 8000 miles into the strange and beautiful wilderness of a foreign country). That being said - we did take some time in Oslo to visit Frogner Park - and more specifically, the Vigeland sculptures.

And this is how the rest of the ride to Oslo went...

There was this crazy mist rising off all the grasslands..

Maybe I should be a farmer.

There are no freeways in Norway. Just beautiful country roads.

We left that lake and found another a few miles later.

It was hard to leave this place.

Wishing everybody could see this..

You know you wanted it.

Right after we saw that sign we discovered a stunning, isolated lake. These are all unaltered photos btw..

On a roll, about 100 miles from Oslo. This also happens to be where the ride became amazing - probably one of the best I've ever had.

"Are you lookin' at my bum?"

With the weather clearing and the sun getting low, we started to get some beautiful light and shadows.

We continued the ride to Oslo. Sweden is actually pretty flat..and the first 250km were pretty bad - rain, flat country, nothing particularly exciting. Then the weather started to clear and we noticed the landscape getting a lot more exciting. The farther west we went the better it got. There were lakes and streams everywhere. This was the first big pretty lake that we found..

My hot dog capsizes outside the Vasa museum.

Vasa needs better project management

Ok..I loved this story too much not to comment about it. How could the ship builders make such a mistake?

So the King of Sweden is engaged in several wars. He needs a secret weapon to stick it to the competition (Poland and Russia). He commissions the Vasa to be built (with a single gun deck). The King then decides he needs to go way over the top - and changes the specifications of the project in the middle. He orders the 2nd gun deck. The master builder happens to die about the same time. The junior builders are left to add the second deck. So they add it - but they forgot to adjust the size of the bottom of the boat to account for the new weight at the top.

The builders realize this and notify the Vice Admiral. Apparently, time-to-battlefield is important in war, so the King threatens 'His Royale Majesty's Disfavour' if the ship isn't delivered. The builders say it isn't ready. The Vice Admiral assures the King that everything is fine and the ship will be delivered on time.

So they launch the product..err..ship. And it just falls over and sinks into the Stockholm harbor.

The Vasa was the first warship with two gun decks. This is also the reason it sank. Well technically, it sank because there wasn't enough ballast in the bottom of the ship to keep it sturdy with two gun decks. Basically, the ship was top-heavy. A light breeze came right after it left port - it just blew right over.

It probably took a while to carves these guys. What a bummer.

They keep the boat in an extremely dark museum and it's hard to take good pictures. Flash photos don't come out. I figured out how to do the slow exposure on my camera - and this is what I got.

July 31st: Meanwhile...Mark and Julia head to Oslo, Norway

July 31st: We left Stockholm for Norway. Before leaving, we went to the Vasa museum. The Vasa is a huge warship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. It sank before leaving the harbor! Bollox! It was raised about 350 years later almost completely intact. Some repairs were made and it sailed a couple hundred meters on its own keel back to shore. It remained intact because the water around Stockholm has very low salinity (also why there are so many mosquitos..).

Kevin busts a move on the helio pad of the ferry

Kevin's three hour nap by a lake near Helsinki. Jellybeans make great nap suits becasue of the all the padding and warmth.

Kevin and Dave wait in line for the ferry from Stockholm, Sweden to Turku, Finland.

It's not just how you ride, Kevin and Dave take fashsion as priority one.

After 6,000 miles, it's time for Kevin's f650 to get a new tire.

August 3rd: Kevin and Dave head East to Finland and Russia

Dave, somewhere in europe after another day of riding.

Motolindy spreads across Europe!

After Herrang, we were all exhausted and were somewhat at an impasse as to what to do. Joel needed to be back in Frankfurt by August 5th..Julia in Amsterdam by August 7th..Mark in Frankfurt by August 10th, and Kevin in Dave in Stockholm to pick up Russian visas on August 3rd..hmm. Kevin, Dave, and I wanted to go to Russia and the Eastern block - unfortunately, my tour ends 10 days before K&Ds (starting grad school) so I won't be able to make it to Russia.

We decided to head to Oslo, Norway - apparently there are FJORDS! in Norway that rock. We figured we could spend 3-4 days there and get everyone to where they need to be. Along the way, the weather turned sour and plans seemed to change quickly. Kevin and Dave headed east to find Lindy in Finland, Russia, and the Eastern block. Mark and Julia continued west to search for Moto in the Fjords of Norway. Joel headed south to Denmark..

The motolindy four, Mark, Kevin, Dave & Joel with special guest rider Julia.

Of course, after dinner we all went for ice cream. We found this shop where they have pretty Swedish girls hand wrapping cones in the window. Life is gooood, life is gooood.

After dinner craziness - maybe it wasn't our hunger after all.

We had an awesome meal at Michaelangelo restaurant. Here is Mark, Julia, Joel, Kevin, Lia, and Dave.

Clearly our hunger was getting to us.

July 30th: Herrang to Stockholm

July 30th: Herrang ended too quickly...Wondering what to do, we headed south for Stockholm and arrived in the oldest part of the city, Gamla Stan.

The very last night of dancing..so sad.

A group of streakers hit the dance about 3am. It was rumored that Kevin and Dave were the ringleaders. If anyone knows who's ass this is, please let Motolindy know.

Lisa, Frankie, Julia, and Mark.

We had some of the famous Herrang brownies..

The last night of Herrang. The theme was "graduation day". There were a few people wearing the typical cloak and hat, but most were dressed as sailors. Apparently, the Swedish students dress up as sailors for their graduation day.

We then rode back 40 miles to Herrang. Along the way we found this cool clock tower. When we got back we finally crashed at 2pm..we slept until 10pm..

We slept on a rock for a few hours and enjoyed the sun.

...and I test the waters..tit bit nipp'ly in here.

Julia gets ready for a nap...

We rolled right up to the water. This is what we like to do (it makes us feel cool). It took us 50 miles and and 1.5 hours to find the real sea. Julia ponders our accomplishment..

Blue skies! We made it to the Baltic Sea!

We made it to Oregrund and the skies started to clear..

On the way to Oregrund we found more skinny trees. The skies aren't looking good. The weather changes so quickly in Sweden - you can't predict what will happen...so you keep going...

We drove around aimlessly for about 45 minutes without finding anything. Finally we stopped and asked an old couple for directions. Turns out the open 'beach' is about 45 km away in a town called Oregrund. We could have turned around and gone to bed, but we were determined to find the Baltic Sea. Along the way we found this cool looking church.

It would be great to take this boat, but we were getting eaten by mosquitos so we took off in search of the 'real' beach.

Beautiful, but this doesn't look like a beach.

We drove about 2 miles from the camp and found water..

It's about 8:30am. We've been dancing all night/morning and just made ourselves breakfast..The weather was beautiful and I still had amazing, almost unnatural energy. Julia grew up on the Baltic Sea and we both wanted to go to the beach. So why night go now? Herrang is very close to the sea..We just jumped on the bike and went..

Kevin fans out at 8am..

Dancers still going strong at 7:30am...

It's Friday morning about 6:30am..The entire Motolindy team is still going strong.

Thursday...

Wednesday...

Tons of great dancers in the middle of nowhere gather each night at midnight for 8 hours of dancing. What a wonderful and unique event.

We took a well needed rest and then headed out to the dance about 2am. At Herrang, you basically dance from 10pm to 8am everynight, sleep until 2-3pm (assuming you're not doing the classes) and then repeat the whole ordeal. It never got really dark - this is the sky at 2am. The sun doesn't dip far below the horizon so by 3am it feels light daytime again..

We quickly found out that mosquitos are really bad in Sweden. I had about 3 bites within five minutes of taking off my jellybean. We had half-plans to camp since we arrived at the camp late and most accommodations were full. Luckily, Julia's friends Lisa and Quinten from Amsterdam had an extra bedroom in the house they rented.

July 28th-30th: Herrang Dance Camp

Ah..here we are at the Herrang Dance Camp - the grand-daddy of all lindy hop events - right in the middle of nowhere in the Swedish countryside. How random.

We made it to Herrang!! Over 500 miles from our starting point..Iron Butt Julia has a small celebration.

We also passed through a lot of quaint villages..

I really loved this spot - it looks like a painting from my favorite artist, Edward Hopper. This farm is also a great example of Swedish country building - red wood panes with big white molding around frame and windows.

Ah..the countryside is beautiful and the roads are empty. This is what motorcycling is all about.

After passing Stockholm, we got off the main road and passed through tons of farms on the way to Herrang.

After passing this huge lake in the middle of Sweden the skies cleared and we were blessed with an amazing ride to Herrang.

RuhRoh. Clouds, and rain..and cold...and also these long skinny trees that only have leaves at the top - they are everywhere in Sweden. So far we've ridden about 300 miles in mostly bad weather....onwards we go..

Our first view of the Swedish countryside. It is very flat - but the fields are filled with color and are extremely beautiful.

We made it to Sweden! Only 450 miles to go..

The Malmo bridge rocks!

July 28th: Copenhagen to Herrang

July 27th: We left Rich's place with an ambitious goal - Herrang, Sweden, over 500 miles away. If we arrive, it will be our longest ride in a single day. The weather was clear and beautiful as we approached the Malmo bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden.

Just wanted to give a shout out to 'The Stu' since I know you're reading this blog. I passed this store and I thought of you..basically, it's a boutique with shotguns and English hunting clothing.

It is a Motolindy rule to have ice cream in every country we visit. There is a really great ice cream shop right next to Hans C.A. old house in Nyhavn. I got coffee and chocolate flavors - they were great but I've been sorely missing my beloved cookies and cream. It feels like years since I've tasted your sweet cookie goodness...oh Cookies!! PS - We had nothing to do with the Belgium style waffle next to Julia PSS - Honestly, it wasn't ours. PSSS - Ok, it was ours - but we didn't ask for the sugar and jam they poured on top. (Hey, what happened to the all the sits up and healthy eating we were doing on the Med?)

Rich finished work for the day and met us on the main pedestrian strip. The strip is mainly just a bunch of fashionable chain stores. There were a bunch of kick ass buskers though. Here is Mark, Julia, and Rich in front of some awesome eastern european hip hop group.

Finally, some sunshine. It has been overcast since we left Paris. This city is beautiful when the sun comes out.

Here was one of the cooler structures. According to legend, the architect "�Laurids de Thurah" jumped off the tower when he realized it spiraled to the right (his plans called for the tower to spiral left). A quick google search revealed that the legend was bogus and he really died in his home seven years later..

Here is the famous Danish statue of 'The Little Mermaid'. Hans C.A. also wrote the famous fairytale by the same name. I don't remember if the tale inspired the statue or the statue inspired the tale - either way, here she is.

So apparently these sausages are a Danish specialty. Basically, you get a long hot dog, wrap it in bacon and fry the whole thing. You then cover it with cheese. The best thing is the bun. It completely surrounds the dog (360 degrees). Just pour in onions, mustard, ketchup, etc right into the bun and then slide the dog right in.

Ok, so this was weird. Rich told us that Copenhagen is a very family friendly city - we could see that by the number of large, ornate baby strollers all around the city. The English call them 'Prams', we call them strollers. Either way, in Copenhagen they are all dark, morbid, colors. It is kind of disturbing actually. Here is a rare photo of the "Prams of Doom" during one of their secret meetings.

Wait..Wait..It's just the Danish stock exchange.

Run for your lives! We're being attacked by soft-serve ice cream!

July 26th: Copenhagen

July 26th: Julia and I explored Copenhagen. We started at the famous wharf street of Nyhavn. It was once the home of fairy tale writer Hans Christian Anderson. They (the Danish) manage to tell you that almost as often as Mark Twain gets mentioned in San Francisco. The street fell into decay for many years and became home to scallywags and prostitutes until 1960s. It is now a bunch of posh restaurants and pubs. Progress?

My good friend Rich recently moved to Copenhagen from London. He was kind enough to let us stay at his sweet apartment right off the main square in the city. We got some awesome pizzas and just ate/chilled in the main square.

Happy Birthday Gary!

Hey, it's July 25th - my brother's birthday. Happy B-Day Gary!! We passed this Greek restaurant - if you were here we could go..

We arrived in Copenhagen in the early evening. When we arrived in the city I was really amazed because the buildings seemed really alien.This building is a good example why- 6 or 7 stories, simple use of color, and very few planes. I haven't seen this anywhere else but Copenhagen.

The ride from Rodby to Copenhagen was really beautiful. Lots of open countryside and little traffic. We saw a lot of these old school windmills. There were actually more in the Netherlands but we didn't manage to get a photo until now (thanks Rich).

And then you wait. The ferrys are pretty comfortable..there are plenty of bathrooms, a cafe, and a nice deck you can sit on during the crossing. The ride itself was only 45 minutes but the whole ordeal took 2 hours to go about 10 miles. Can't they build a bridge?

Motorbikes go against the wall. You then strap your beast down.

July 25th: Mark and Julia - Amsterdam-Rheine-Copenhagen

July 25: We contined the ride from Amsterdam to Herrang, Sweden. Along the way we took a brief stop in Rheine, Germany and then continued north to Hamburg. We then rode to Puttgarden to catch the ferry to Rodby in Denmark. I had never taken a car ferry before. Basically, you ride right up to the water and wait in a large queue..once you get the signal you just drive right into the ferry..

Joel's willy was chilly, so we stopped so he could put thicker pants on.