Well, how one day can change things! Thursday night a storm moved in and things were very wet from there until the rest of the weekend. I met a group of germans ("Booorn", Ingo, Sascha -- www.booorn.de, www.alfa-power.de) who were very, very kind to me..we talked a lot, and then they tried to get me to drink as much beer as they were having, and let me share some of their food. On Friday I went to see the Nurburgring Grand Prix Circuit (which is in use as well as the Nordschleife for the race), but it was too wet and windy there -- I took the bus to the Dunlop Kurve where there was a hospitality tent set up where it was warm, there was a lot of food and beer to be had, and there was a projection screen showing Friday's races. Saturday I spent the entire day with "Booorn" and his group of friends, where we spent some time at Pflanzgarten, then decided the weather was too bad and so we went to the tent I had visited at the Dunlop Kurve, where we watched the beginning of the 24 hour race. Saturday night was many parties and fireworks and watching the race, on Sunday afternoon after the race we parted ways and I cycled 24km back to Mayen (in the rain, of course!) Hopefully the pictures will explain more! You can find them at http://www.divinia.com/people/jsanford/20050508/ James May 8 2005