Back home in time– 80 days tour is over
Big Welcome Party for trio from Bremerhaven
The rain is whipping against "Difty´s" windows giving the travellers a hard time to see where they are going, and they can´t get rid of the feeling, that the New York hurricane had followed them to Europe. Also a hard time for "Difty" who is having problems clearing the windshields with her tender little wipers.
During their stay in Glasgow (Scotland), where the men picked up their car, Manni, being an enthusiastic soccer fan, took notice that a soccer game was to be at the Rangers stadium between "Glasgow Rangers" and some other team that sounded like "Palmer", and he thought it was a derby. But he didn´t get it right because of the Scottish accent. It was actually the worldwide known Italian club FC Parma, and the stadium was sold out with 52.000 people.
No chance for him and Matterhorn to get a ticket. So he called one of the Superiors of the club and told him about the world tour and the internet site, and after 15 minutes he had two VIP tickets for the game. A kind of game he had never seen before, he said, not even during two World Championships.
Leaving Glasgow for Belfast (Northern Ireland), Dublin (Rep. of Ireland), Cardiff (Wales) to Hastings (England), the bad weather wouldn´t change.
Wag Matterhorn on the telephone: " All of a sudden no more rain, no storm, heavenly peace,
all is quiet around us. No wonder, we´re in a tunnel, the passage to Calais (France)! Now all we have left to go is Belgium and the Netherlands and we´re back home!"
Well, not quite home yet! First of all the guys make a stop in Bremen at the local radio station
for a live interview, and spontaneously the local TV station also wants them on their program.
So, no wonder everybody in their hometown and surroundings is better informed about their return to Bremerhaven one day before the official date than the two men from the management office who didn´t know about this.
Just about 5 miles out of town a 2 CV Citroen "Duck" convoy is to meet them and escort them into town.
Will it be a genuine world record for the Guinness Book of Records at the Millenium?
In the meantime the market-place in the center of the city is filling with curious people, but also with fans of this "around the world in 80 days" adventure, who have followed each and every event of the tour in the newspapers or here in the internet, visiting the pages of the Bremerhaven server "See You Internet" with big interest.
The "Manni Müller Combo", a band of friends, play very nice old tunes to entertain the people, the sun is shining, everybody seems to be in a perfect mood – what more can those two homecomers ask for?
Then at last, no later than 3:20 p.m. a loud and continuous honking lets the waiting crowd,
nearly 1.500 by now, look in that direction where the sound is coming from. Everybody wants to be the first in line to see the travellers and give them a big welcome.
Lasting applause from all sides as they pass through the welcome-arcade, driving through the band with the symbolic meaning: They have made it back in time!
Matterhorn is the first to climb the platform and addresses to the cheering crowd: " It is a real good feeling to have the genuine shit of the Bremerhaven seagulls on the car again!" The mayor of Bremerhaven is there to welcome them, and so are their wives and close friends, who even get the chance to hug them, but everybody else wants at least a handshake from the guys. It is a solemn welcome with touching scenes, and always a Bravo shout from someone in the crowd whenever Matterhorn or Manni lift their arms, meaning Thank You to everyone. A perfect organized party for two men who drove around the world as ambassadors of hearts.
gbm...August 20th, 99