STADE DE FRANCE

We pulled the Genny's into the Stade de France on Wednesday afternoon and the heatwave seems to be relentless. That evening though, a welcoming breeze got up and then strong gusts of winds followed and they brought a spectacular electric storm that seemed to go on allnight. The temperature dropped dramatically and the need for air-conditioning ceased, aleast for that evening!

PARIS CAT

The first couple of days in Paris saw us take the generators to the CAT service centre in Montlhery, a small village south of Paris. The people at CAT were very friendly and helpful and we had a great couple of days while the genny’s were professionally serviced. A very pleasant night was spent in the local village restaurant, “Chez Michel” the wine, food and company was splendid and yes, frog legs do taste like chicken! Come on, you only live once. Once the genny’s had been serviced we headed for the fantastic Stade de France

RHEIN ENERGIE STADION

I had a “gute fahrt” from Berlin to Köln “Cologne” It took about 9 hours and the autobahn was fairly quite. It’s another German city and another re-vamped stadium with a new name. The old Mungersdorfer Stadium has been re christened The Rhein Energie Stadion. The World Cup has certainly had a beneficial effect on Germany! After the show we headed for Paris, it was only 70 kilometres to the Belgium border at Aachen, I transited Belgium and hopped into France. The Belgium road surfaces have a lot to be desired and their relaxed attitude to coning off the roadworks is hilarious. In England miles of cones and contra flows with speed cameras and over the top warning signs are the norm. In Belgium hey’ a couple of cones will do the trick! In fact I think Belgium is turning into Poland or is that the other way round.
Anyway, we are now in France, the home of great cuisine as long as you don’t get hungry on the autoroute! Horseburgers are definitely an acquired taste!

ENGLAND LIFT THE CUP!

After a nerve racking penalty shoot out this afternoon in the Olympic Stadium Berlin, England finally lifted the World Plastic Cup! The rejoiceing that followed was slightly marred by a head butting incident during the game as captured in the photograph.

GUTEN MORGEN BERLIN

“I am a donut” President Kennedy proclaimed to the people of Berlin, so this morning I skipped the sausages and ate donuts in his honour! Berliners indeed! The stadium that hosted the recent World Cup Final looked splendid at dawn when I arrived. As the dawn light rapidly lit up the stadium, memories of failed penalty shoot outs, eager given red cards and Portuguese formation diving flooded my mind. Gennyworld is parked close to the Olympic flame pedestal at the open end of the Stadium and today is going to be another hot one. The heat wave is following us around Europe!
It was only a three hour drive from Hannover to Berlin, they charge trucks to use the autobahns these days and last nights journey cost 30 euros and with diesel costing 5 euros a gallon trucking in Europe is a costly business. Anyway to more important matters, us Englanders or as the Germans say Island Monkeys have decide to hold our very own penalty shoot out later this afternoon, more to follow, fingers crossed!

HANNOVER

The heat wave in northern Europe continues! It hit 40 degrees in Gennyworld yesterday but at least it cools down during the night. This morning Hannover is basking in early morning sunshine and clear blue skies. The Machsee, a lake that skirts one side of the stadium, is looking good and for a city the size of Hannover it is surprisingly quiet, anyway I can hear the sausages sizzling, it must be fruhstuck (breakfast).

Munchen to Hannover

After another breakfast of rost bratwurst mit senf und brotchen (sausage sarny) I drove the remaining 30 kilometres to Hannover and the AWD Stadium, I am sure it used to be called the Knicker-Knacker Stadiom or something like that before its World Cup spruce up. I had arrived in Hannover around mid-day after leaving Munich at 1:00 AM. It had been a pleasant drive through the cool of the night, the temperature dramatically dropped to a welcoming 11 degrees as I drove along the autobahn that runs alongside the Czech border near Wackersdorf and the Oberpfalzer Wald.
Well it’s Monday and another German Stadium car park and yes the temperature has soared to 30 degrees, air-condition trucks are a blessing!
Today I am posting some great shots of the Munich Olympic stadium taken by a fellow driver called Rommel aka Ronnie with his new camera. He must have parachuted out of a plane to get these! (Actually he rode his bike up to the top of a big hill!)

DINGLY DELL

After the show in Wien “Vienna” it was an overnight drive straight to Munchen “Munich” and the Bundersliga redundant Olympiche Stadiom. The forty plus production trucks snaked their way out of Austria and into Deutschland for a busy four shows in eight day schedule. The tree lined roads around the stadium soon became a temporary truck park for the emptied trucks as the production crew got to work clambering over the oil-rig looking skeleton of the stage. The Genny’s are perched in the usual position at the top of one end of the stadium next to the scoreboard that triumphantly displayed, in the not too distanced past, “England 5 Germany 1” With the retreat of Munich’s finest football team to the new Alliance “dunlopillo” Stadium the crew can now use the home and away teams dressing room for showers, I decided to use the one Michael Owen used for old time sake! After my victorious shower I decided to park my unit “truck, the bit that attaches to the trailer” at the entrance to one of the lanes we christened Dingly Dell quite a few years ago on a previous tour and this morning it is a gloriously cool blue skied summer morning in the capital of Bavaria. I expect its sausages for breakfast!

Italy

The journey began on June 2nd 2006.We picked the Genny trucks (units only)in Suffolk England and then bounced across to Amsterdam to couple upto the generator trailers and headed for Milan Italy. Down through Belgium,Luxembourg and France, then through the Mont Blonc tunnel into Italy. We where met by Alpine thunderstorms as we descended down to the flat plain of Northern Italy and soaring temperatures. The next few days were spent parked up on the expansive carpark of the San Siro stadium. The Heat became oppresive and hit 42 degrees! There is this strange fenced off waste land next to the stadium, rumours of it being an ancient Milanese bubonic plauge pit abounded, it was also obviuosly the breeding ground of the most ravenous blood sucking mosquito's in Europe. After the show on the 11th the 42 production trucks escaped to Austria and the relatively cool of Vienna and the Ernst Happel Stadium.

WE ARE BACK !