We have decided to meet up with Tara and Tyler in Nürnberg. We have been missing them since they left Munich, and with a holiday coming up we will make good use of this possibility. They will be cycling from Rothenburg towards Nürnberg today, and will be meeting on a camping ground in the early evening.

We are supposed to be leaving Munich at 4 o'clock, but Felix is stuck at work, and doesn't arrive at home until 4:45PM. When he does, he says: Guess what? My first guess is that the car broke down. But it's not that. It's festival weekend, and it takes place on the outskirts of Nürnberg on said camping ground, which is booked out, as Tyler informs us. We start thinking about a solution while talking to our friends on the phone.

They are in Nürnberg already and don't know where to go. Everything is full, booked out. So, we find a space on a camping ground 13 km outside the city and I feel so bad. They must be hungry and tired. If it has been pouring down as bad there as it has been here, I can only imagine their state. Maybe we should postpone to meet in Berlin… but, we are set and ready to go, I have packed everything.

It hasn't stopped raining all day. We get soaked just going to our car. We leave at 6PM… into a 12 km traffic jam. Unbelieveable, is the word most uttered during our ride out of town. We just want to see our friends! It won't stop raining, was this a good idea?

The traffic jam dissolves, we drive on. At 7:30PM I talk to Tara on the phone. They have arrived at the camping ground "Zur Mühle" in Zirndorf and are setting up. It will take us another hour to get there. I tell her to go ahead and have dinner, they must be starving. We will put up the grill once we get there.

We pass the city sign of Nürnberg and finally, it stops raining. Then, we get lost in Zirndorf and call the camping ground where a man speaking in a Frankonian accent tries to explain the way, talking non-stop for about 10 minutes. I try to remember it all, but I don't. We just want to get there!

We find it, finally. At the check-in there is an old lady who won't stop repeating the same sentences over and over again. Unbelievable. I just want to fast-forward her to the point where she tells us where our friends have set up camp, and opens the gate for us. It takes at least ten minutes for her to get her walking helper and walk sloooowly, slooowly to the upper gate. Then we are there!

Tara and Tyler are the only ones tenting, everybody else is in a camper. It's so good to see them again! It was definitely worth the trouble. We all open a bottle of beer. Without much ado, Felix gets the grill started, and we have a great steak and sausage dinner with grilled vegetables.

We enjoy seeing each other again and talk and talk. All the tension has vanished, and it is just a great evening sitting outside with friends!