Due to various constraints and sad reasons, most people (read Wadax, Hari & Deepak Toni) dropped out. So to save the show, Pauly and family graciously offered to host Prashant Ramesh (aka Patta) and myself (RMd) at Heidelberg.
Rahul Cherian (RCJ) and Anjana who were driving through Europe also agreed to join us to ensure that we had a quo'Rum.
The core plan was simple, we all land up in Heidelberg between friday evening (21st of Dec 2007) and saturday afternoon (22nd of Dec 2007) Have a few beers, go around Heidelberg a bit , hang out in the German Xmas markets and then split on sunday evening.
However only Patta landed up on time. I missed the ferry from London on friday afternoon and had to take the evening ferry. So I reached Heidelberg by 1200hrs on Saturday afternoon, having spent friday night in some Koln hotel. RCJ & Anjana reached only by 1800hrs on Saturday, due to cartographic issues.
Once the group assembled, the meetings, moderated by Mr.Jägermeister himself, kicked off in earnest, in Pauli's car. Afterwards we sat in the H'berg Xmas Market continued the discussions over Bratwurst and other German delicacies.
After we realised that we could no longer feel our extremities, due to the extreme cold, we shifted to Parking lot# 12. However,by then Mr.Jägermeister had to leave and we turned to some german beers for 'moderation'!!
We wound up pretty early I think (i dont remember when though...) Pauly played the ever respected role of Designated Driver.
Sunday morning, we reconvened at Pauli's place to sort out the cartographic issues for RCJ & Anjana. Late on Sun afternoon we split and went our different ways. BUT not before Patta gave us a glimpse of his old self by doing a Bottle of Red in under 6 gulps!
Patta flew back to Madrid, RCJ & Anjana continued on their EU road trip & I drove onto Stuttgart to meet another family and then onto Dunkirk before taking the ferry back to London the next morning.
On a personal note, the German section of the Stuttgart-Dunkirk drive was one of the most exhilarating drives ever. I left Germany convinced that High Speed Driving is indeed an alternate and more advanced form of Meditation!
Snaps from the trip are on Picasa at
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