The best European weekend EVER!
Well, as it turned out Munich would be out of the question. It was simply too long a drive and a train ticket would have been pretty expensive to only spend <48 hours in the city. I was thinking I would go to Trier, GE next weekend followed by Luxembourg but we decided to go ahead and hit it up this Sunday.
I knew Trier had a lot of history associated with it, being Germany's oldest city, so I did a little research on it the night before. I was reading an article that mentioned as a side note that the Germany Rally Championship takes place in Trier on one weekend out of the year...how cool would that be? Too bad I'll never be able to go.
We pulled into town about an hour and half after we left Vogelweh and were having a hard time finding a parking spot due to a bunch of roads into the heart of the city being blocked off. After a breakfast of a small cup of coffee and chocolate pastery, we eventually found a spot near the train station. The morning rain was starting to let up.
We walked closer into town, heading straight for the Porta Nigra, the most well known landmark of the city, only to be blocked off by some barriers and men in reflective vests...and that's when I found out my dreams were going to come true.
The rain cleared up around noon and the sun came out, reflecting brightly off the shiny bonnets of so many gobsmackingly awesome, tricked out rally cars, tuned and ready to compete in the final stage of the World Rally Championships, Deutchland. I think we also went and saw a massive cathedral and a few other historic things but I don't really remember much due to the amazingness of the day's big event.
At 1400 the racers started their time trials around the 1.3 mile track through the town's main streets. I saw Ken Block's "Monster" Impreza speed out of the gate first (the only American there as far as I could tell). Over the next two hours I did my best to catch site of the race from as many points along the track as possible, filling up my camera's memory with pics and video along the way.
I was on my own at this point. The others were content to enjoy some drinks at a cafe near the start/finish line. I positioned myself at one of the sharper corners of the track to get a front row view of the rally cars driftin' and screachin' all over the cobblestone roads. That's when I saw it, my favorite car in all the world came zoomin into view, the Lancer Evo X, tires clawing for grip on the uneven surfaces, the 2 liter turbo charged engine roaring at the top of its cylenders. The 8 seconds that I saw that first one race by is now forever etched in my head. I've gotta go to another one of these races at some point.
Captivated from all the noise and joys of the race, it eventually came to an end and I walked back to the start/finish line, located right smack under the Porta Nigra, to watch the awards cermony and see the champagne spray. Once that was over, I paid a visit to the Merch tent and spent a large portion of my spending money there.
If I had died on the way back home that day, I'd've just been ok with that.
I knew Trier had a lot of history associated with it, being Germany's oldest city, so I did a little research on it the night before. I was reading an article that mentioned as a side note that the Germany Rally Championship takes place in Trier on one weekend out of the year...how cool would that be? Too bad I'll never be able to go.
We pulled into town about an hour and half after we left Vogelweh and were having a hard time finding a parking spot due to a bunch of roads into the heart of the city being blocked off. After a breakfast of a small cup of coffee and chocolate pastery, we eventually found a spot near the train station. The morning rain was starting to let up.
We walked closer into town, heading straight for the Porta Nigra, the most well known landmark of the city, only to be blocked off by some barriers and men in reflective vests...and that's when I found out my dreams were going to come true.
The rain cleared up around noon and the sun came out, reflecting brightly off the shiny bonnets of so many gobsmackingly awesome, tricked out rally cars, tuned and ready to compete in the final stage of the World Rally Championships, Deutchland. I think we also went and saw a massive cathedral and a few other historic things but I don't really remember much due to the amazingness of the day's big event.
At 1400 the racers started their time trials around the 1.3 mile track through the town's main streets. I saw Ken Block's "Monster" Impreza speed out of the gate first (the only American there as far as I could tell). Over the next two hours I did my best to catch site of the race from as many points along the track as possible, filling up my camera's memory with pics and video along the way.
I was on my own at this point. The others were content to enjoy some drinks at a cafe near the start/finish line. I positioned myself at one of the sharper corners of the track to get a front row view of the rally cars driftin' and screachin' all over the cobblestone roads. That's when I saw it, my favorite car in all the world came zoomin into view, the Lancer Evo X, tires clawing for grip on the uneven surfaces, the 2 liter turbo charged engine roaring at the top of its cylenders. The 8 seconds that I saw that first one race by is now forever etched in my head. I've gotta go to another one of these races at some point.
Captivated from all the noise and joys of the race, it eventually came to an end and I walked back to the start/finish line, located right smack under the Porta Nigra, to watch the awards cermony and see the champagne spray. Once that was over, I paid a visit to the Merch tent and spent a large portion of my spending money there.
If I had died on the way back home that day, I'd've just been ok with that.
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