Peeking through the curtains, I noticed it was raining. With Summer in full swing now, we haven’t seen wet streets for a while. As promised yesterday, at 9am sharp, the bags were collected from our rooms by Peter. The early departure caused by a particularly large (500kg) unexploded bomb being discovered in Frankfurt and a [...]

So today began in Leipzig. The continuance of the fitness regime saw me in the gym, today with Graeme and Tom. A typical luxury hotel basement facility, cold, quiet and empty with standard Technogym torture machines. A bowl of Bircher and we were off again, in cars to airport and then on to Frankfurt where [...]

Losing a close friend is something we all eventually experience. This morning, I was shocked to be feeling so low and a few of our crew boys were shaken too. Alan Rogan was such a gem, one of the very few ‘really good ones’ as my pal Glyn Johns put it. A trip to the [...]

No words today, apart from 'Rest In Peace, Alan'. We all miss you. [/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Never before has it occurred to me that Stuttgart was associated so strongly with wine. When I think of Stuttgart, I think of Mercedes-Benz, Bosch, Daimler AG and most of all, Porsche. I looked out of my inner city hotel room window this morning and noticed a hillside vineyard, not even half a mile from [...]

Tim Myer and Christoph Kemper Right in the middle of the Ruhr industrial region of Germany lies Oberhausen, a working class heartland, one of a line of cities making use of the Rhine, Ruhr and Lippe rivers. Nicknamed Germany’s Detroit, Oberhausen is at the tail end of decades of decline and is now known for [...]

However you look at it, we are the lucky ones. Anyone who stays at such a lovely hotel as the Park Hyatt, Vienna, should consider the same. This is high end luxury and should never be taken for granted. Occasional reminders appear, as this morning, a particularly emaciated young girl comes up to Mark and [...]

Wiener schnitzel. Need I say more? You cannot come to Vienna and not have this traditional dish, vegetarians excluded. We hadn’t been in the hotel half an hour before plates of it, with Truffle Mayonnaise, were laid out on tables in front of us. More on that below. In Prague this morning, the weather was [...]

Browsing through the Times online, I read this morning that Prague is the official Hen capital of the world. It’s hardly surprising with alcohol being as cheap as it is. Cut price air travel means that Stag parties get a look-in too and wild weekends seem to be the thing…it is certainly the place to [...]