My trip  took me through France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Monaco, and Italy.  I stayed in mostly hostels and some hotels.  I saw grandeur, experienced other cultures and met wonderful people; I had great times and some problems along the way and I wrote about it all.

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Maggie’s awesome mid-life up and quit her job went to Europe for two months road trip

Last summer I up and quit my job, probably not the brightest thing I’ve ever done considering the current economic climate, but I really needed a break, so I’m taking the rest of ‘08 off.

The first thing I did was take a solo two month road trip through Europe, something I’d wanted to do for a long time and I figured this is the time.

I flew into Paris, where I picked up my car and visited the places listed below.  Staying mostly in hostels, I shared wonderful times with people I had just met, had some neat adventures, explored beautiful places, got exercise, and rejuvenated my soul.

Scroll down to see the links to each day’s post. I hope you enjoy, please feel free to leave comments or questions.

Cheers, Maggie

My stops along the way:

Daily Journal entries and pictures:

Some places I stayed, some things I did, some places I saw:

Berggasthaus Äescher, the cliff house on Eben Alp near Appenzell Switzerland

Champ du Renard B & B in Vernon, France

Esther’s Guest House in Gimmelwald, Switzerland

Gasthof Simony in Hallstatt, Austria

Gästehaus Raidel (hotel) in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Hotel Marina Piccola in Manarola, Italy (Cinque Terre)

The Nightwatchman of Rothenburg

Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe

Vatican Museum

Chateau de Versailles

The Louvre

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

Claude Monet’s House and gardens in Giverny, France

Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria

Berggasthaus Aescher in the Swiss Alps

The Zugspitze in Bavaria

Ballenberg, a Swiss open air museum

The Shilthorn, above Mürren, Switzerland

Pont du Gard, the ancient Roman aqueduct in southern France

Hiking The Cinque Terre

American Cemetery at St. Mihiel, France

Disneyland Paris

« ought to be a real page turner         My 2008 European Road Trip »

On Monday, I had booked an appointment to return my car at Charles de Gaulle Airport for  9:00am.  I got up a little earlier than usual this morning, showered, ate and packed and got on the road for the airport.   I arrived exactly at 9:00am to my surprise.  It only took about 10 minutes to sign all the papers releasing the car back to Renault and they provided a driver to take me to my terminal at the airport.  Pretty darn good service from Renault Eurodrive I must say.  If you ever go to Europe for more than a month or so and need a car, this is the way to go.

I boarded my flight and was off at 12:50 local time.  My coach seat was surprisingly spacious and comfortable.  I spent the first hour or so just starring at nothing really, just dwelling on the adventure I’d just had.  Couldn’t sleep really.  I was feeling anxious to get home, back to the land of milk and honey.  I landed in Minneapolis where I’d get a connecting flight to Seattle.  Wow, I was definitely back in the USA.  I saw gobs of soldiers and marines in their fatigues, campaign workers and other travelers of all sorts.  I had a typical flight to Seattle and managed to catch an earlier shuttle bus by about 5 seconds.  The bus was pulling away and I yelled at someone next to the bus to signal the driver to stop and he did.  So, I was on the way home to Lynden at 7:00 instead of having to wait till 9:00.  Awesome.

I was the last stop for the shuttle as we arrived at the Lynden WTA station at 10:30pm, I grabbed my pack and just as I did when I started this journey, I hiked home.  Couple of differences though.  No blisters and I didn’t even break a sweat or raise the heart rate much, how about that?  It was such a peasant hike on a cool quiet evening.  I was surprised that the trees are still full of leaves and there are plenty of summer flowers still in full bloom.  Home smelled great, it felt great.  I got to my apartment and everything was just as I left it.  I went to bed and got up about 7:00am on Friday.  Hopefully I’m all adjusted time wise.

I’m home.  The trip is over.  The journey is just beginning though.

Final Thoughts:

I was so looking forward to this trip and I was excited come departure day.  After my hike to the WTA station that morning, I thought to myself, what have I done?  I was out of breath, I knew blisters were starting and I really didn’t know what I was doing.  Frankly, I didn’t think I’d last the two months and I’d come home early.  By the time I got to France, I was certainly a fish out of water.  For crying out loud, it took me half a day to figure out how to get to my hostel.  Oh man, no way was I going to last.

But I did last.  I learned a few things along the way like:

• Be patient, just take things slow.
• Watch others and imitate.
• The basics in the French, German and Italian languages.
• It’s OK to make mistakes and look silly from time to time, just go with it.
• In addition to its many other uses, the sun is pretty handy to navigate by.
• The European road system isn’t so bad once you get use to it and realize it’s no big deal if you miss a turn or exit.  You can get to everywhere from anywhere.  You just have to know the cities along your path.
• I’m not going to have things the way I’m use to while I’m here, so just chill and try it their way for a while.
• Kurt really is incorrigible.

The two highlighted locations for me, Hallstatt and the Cinque Terre didn’t disappoint.  They were so awesome and I had the best times there.  But so many other places were great surprises like Dinan and Cherbourg, Bruges, The Rhineland, Lake Como, Venice, Colmar, Baden Baden.

Surprisingly, I had no car accidents and other than a minor ankle sprain and a bunch of blisters (which I think will leave scars) in the first three days of the trip, I haven’t gotten sick, thrown my back out or pulled anything.  Actually, I’ve been suffering from this hip thing for over a year now and it seems to be gone.  I’m feeling pretty good, I’ve built up my stamina a bit and I enjoy hiking; who knew?

Things I did:

• Ate waffles in Belgium
• Watched the movie “In Bruges”, in Bruges
• Took pictures of the people who took pictures of the people who pretended to hold up the Eiffel tower
• Hiked a treacherous trail on the Mediterranean coast and somehow escaped certain death.
• Drove in Rome which is madness
• Hiked in the Black Forrest
• Drank more on this trip than I have in the last ten years combined, of course that’s not saying much about the last ten years
• Stopped and smelled the roses, quite a few times, I even took pictures
• Met a lot of really neat people, and only a couple of not so neat people
• Went to Rome and didn’t see the Coliseum or the Forum; I’ll be kicking myself over that one for a while
• Beat the Monte Carlo, and the Baden Baden Speilbank Casinos
• Never ate at a McDonald’s or Burger King or KFC or any other American incarnation
• Slept in a castle
• Accidentally walked into the middle of a funeral taking pictures
• Drove the Autobahn
• Fell off an Alp
• Got to shake the hand of an American World War II vet in France and hear his stories
• Inadvertently tried to bribe a Swiss customs agent
• Drove 9,997 kilometers, it’s a shame I didn’t muster up three more
• Rejuvenated myself and got a new lease on life

I don’t like to generalize and that doesn’t justify or really explain why I’m going to do it here and now.  Be that as it may, of all the people I met and encountered, generally:

• Europeans as a lot are very patient; way beyond that of most Americans I think
• The Germans and Belgians and Austrians were the kindest most welcoming and helpful people. The Swiss and surprisingly the French came in a close second; sorry Italy, you guys need to work on your people skills a little
• Germans drive fast.  Italians drive fast and crazy; the French are pretty reasonable
• Europeans sure seem to like bread
• Most places, where you may be alone, whether it be at dinner or sitting in a park, many people will strike up a conversation with you, or they are easy to strike up a conversation with

Things I missed:

• My own bed
• Boston Legal
• Milk
• Diet Pepsi in a glass with lots of ice
• A good Pizza; yeah, who knew you can’t get a good pizza in Italy?  What’s up with that?
• A bath tub
• My buds

I like Europe, I like the people, I like their customs and culture.  Europe is modernizing rapidly and I’m grateful I got a chance to see some of the old world before its overrun.  Those Europeans are on to a few things, but, there’s no place like home and I’m happy to be home.

« Good on ya Hans         The hills are alive… »

The Gästehaus Raidel served a wonderful breakfast, after which I walked the wall.  Rothenburg is a walled city and on that wall, one may walk the perimeter, fairly comfortably as long as you’re under six feet.  There are some great views of the city and the surrounding countryside and river from the wall.

I was planning on staying another night in Rothenburg, but I was anxious to get on the road and head south down the Romantic Road (Romantische Straße) to Schwangau to see Neuschwanstein, Mad Ludwig’s castle in the south of  Germany.

I passed though a few towns and then for some reason, the traffic in each town I approached was horrible.  It took an hour to enter one little town and another hour to enter the next.  So I got off that road, and off the map.  My map didn’t have enough detail to show exactly where I was so I winged it, trying to keep heading south, keeping the sun in its appropriate position.  It sort of worked, except for one little circuit of three towns that I made.  After a bit of that, it was getting late, so I tried to get on the Autobahn and I figured out why the traffic on the side roads was so bad, the Autobahn was closed.  So, I kept trying to head south keeping the Autobahn within about 30 km.  I finally found the stretch that was open and got on.  I covered the remaining distance in a couple hours.  I never did find out why the Autobahn was closed.

I arrived in the Füssen/Schwangau area and guess what.  There really are some mountains here in Germany.  I had just passed through beautiful deep green grassy meadows on rolling hills punctuated with towns and villages every few kilometers.  And then all of a sudden, mountains.  Big ones.  With black clouds hanging over them and I could see a couple of different rain storms.  I would explore tomorrow.

I found a hotel (Alpenhotel Meir) with reasonable rates and had a dinner of Schnitzel and potatoes and a salad at the hotel.  Then I went out searching for an internet connection, skulking through neighborhoods and found one.  I sat in my car during a rainstorm and uploaded my posts.  I got cut off during my last post though, I guess whomever I was snarfing off of was wondering why their connection was so slow and/or found me out, or just wanted to go to bed and shut down their system.  I went looking for another, but didn’t find one.  Oh well.

On the way back to the hotel, the three castles in the area were lit up.  They were about the only things that were; there weren’t even any street lights.  I stopped the car and got out for a few minutes to admire the view which was haunting.  Then I heard a loud clanging and my heart skipped a couple of beats.  It was cowbells.  Something, probably me, must have stirred the cows in the field I was parked next to and they started moving around.  It was really scary in an exhilarating sort of way, all this clanging from different directions from invisible cows.

« An easy evening at the castle         Invisible cows »

After having breaky with Donna and saying goodbye to her and the guys and the Castle Stahleck Hostel, I sat in the car a bit planning out my route to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  The Germany map I have is lacking a little detail, especially when it comes to big city interchanges, so when I get near a decent size town, it’s pretty much a crap shoot.  But generally, I was going to head down the Rhine for a while then toward Frankfort and down the Romantic Road (Romantische Straβe) to Rothenburg.

But I took a wrong turn or missed a turn or something, and a fortuitous mistake it was.  I wound up in Heidelberg, a good size city on the Neckar River that has a wonderful waterfront on both sides of the river.  The weather was 22ish C, blue skies with some clouds and the scenery was great.  I found a place to park the car and on the river bank I had a picnic lunch consisting of an orange that Christian gave me in Malmedy, a couple of hard boiled eggs from the hostel, some bread, and a Juicebox.  It was a moment.  Hey, wasn’t Heidelberg the town that Hogan and his zany heroes always snuck out of camp to go to?

I headed up the Neckar River along what they call the Castle Road (Burgenstraße); the choice of name quickly becomes obvious.  The Neckar is not as grand as the Rhine, but it is more cozy and inviting.  My route was lush and deep green with all sorts of deciduous trees and plants.  I bet the fall colors here are a site to behold.

And of course there were several picturesque villages and castles along the way.  I stopped a few times to take short hikes and pictures.  It eventually got to be too much and I realized I’d never get to Rothenburg if I kept this up.  As I’d come around a bend and see another town, I had to make an effort to just focus on the road and not look at the town or castle or river scene, so I wouldn’t know what I was missing.

It was getting late in the day and I had another three hours or so with no stops if I stayed on these roads and I needed to make up some time.  So, I got on the A6; A is for Autobahn I’m guessing.  Well, le’ me tell ya, that was an experience.  The posted speed limit was 130 kph.  I think that’s more of a guideline really.  I set the cruise control to 130 and I was the slow poke.  I kicked it up to 140 and was sort of holding my own, but I was still getting passed, a lot.  Here’s how it happens.  You look in your side view mirror and there’s no one in the left lane.  Two seconds later, there’s that loud, high pitch low pitch Doppler effect as a car speeds by you in a blur, and then he’s out of sight in nothing flat.  Scared the begeezies out of me the first couple of times; they must have been going 200 if not more.

So, when you want to pass someone, you check your mirrors as usual, but you have to look way back and if there is someone back there in the left lane, you have to give it a few seconds to notice how fast they’re coming on because in the time it takes you to get over, they could be on your butt.  I saw it a couple of times, someone ahead of me would get over to the passing lane and the car coming on behind him had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting him.  These roads are not for the timid, that’s for sure.  I wound up cruising mostly at 150 and made it as high as 165 a couple of times.  I closed the remaining distance to Rothenburg in 45 minutes.

Rothenburg is a walled town built in 960AD.  It’s a well preserved gothic, medieval town with an amazing history.  After parking and checking into the Gästehaus Raidel, I took a walk to get a feel for the town and had a light meal down the street.  At 8:00 I joined about 100 other people and the Nightwatchman for a tour.  The Nightwatchman carried a multipurpose stabbing, spearing, hacking weapon, and a horn for sounding alarm.  He wore a black cloak and an oversize velvet beanie/chef’s hat and black Adidas.  He would walk the streets at night to protect the town while citizens slept.  He was typically considered among the lowest of dregs, ranked just above executioner and gravedigger.  This particular Nightwatchman, whose real name is Hans or something, had an odd cadence in his voice and narrative.  He was kind of creepy, but gave a pretty good tour and told very interesting stories about the town.

After describing how the town was saved from total annihilation near the end of WWII by an American Major and a German officer he told us of how the town wanted to restore itself but didn’t have any money and so they came up with a creative way to raise funds; the message being that if you don’t have any money, you’d better have a good idea.  And that is why Hans is the Nightwatchman.  At 6 euros per person, that’s about 600 euros per tour and two tours per night (one in English and one in German), six or seven nights a week, nine months out of the year, not bad.  And he has DVDs available too of course.  Good on ya Hans.

« My European Road Trip         Just Getting Here »

General proposed route

Not all of you are up to date with me.  I recently quit my job and am taking the rest of the year off for a much needed break.  I’ve taken four weeks vacation in the last seven years and there’s something inherently wrong with that.  I need to explore beautiful places, I need grandeur, I need to rejuvenate the soul and get in shape and so I’m kicking it off with a two month road trip in Europe.  I fly to Paris on July 28 and then I’m off to the coast of France (Brittany and Normandy), north to Belgium, then to Germany’s Rhineland and Bavaria, Austria (Salzburg and the Salzkamergut Lakes District), the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland, the south of France, the French Riviera, Northern Italy, Southern Italy and the Amalfi Coast, Greece (if I have time), Rome, and finally back to Paris to fly home late September.

I’m almost ready; I’ve got my bills all paid ahead, I have my general route and timeline planned out with plenty of flexibility built in as well as some down days to just relax and enjoy wherever I am, and I have my car all lined up.  I just finalized my car lease (Renault Eurodrive); technically I bought a brand new Renault Modus Long, 85 hp diesel and Renault promised to buy it back after a couple of months.  I get a brand new car, unlimited mileage, roadside assistance in 43 countries, and they pay all the insurance with a $0 deductible.  It’s not a bad deal; it’s cheaper than renting a car.

My only baggage - one carry on

As my buddy Rick Steves says, “there’s two kinds of people in the world, those that pack light and those that wish they had”, so I’ve been practicing that and I’ve gotten everything to fit into one carry-on size bag that also has shoulder straps so I can wear it on my back.  Yep, that’s right.  Five changes of clothes, a pair of shoes, toiletries, camera & tripod, computer, guide book, maps… In that bag I also have a wadded up day pack that I can use when out and about.

My ASUS 900

You’re probably wondering how I got all that and a computer in one bag.  I have to tell you about my little computer I just got.  It’s an ASUS 900 netbook, it weighs two pounds and falls into the ultra portable notebook class.  I got this one with Linux OS and it has a wi-fi radio and an Ethernet connection so I can get on-line just about anywhere.  I can browse the web, do my emails, make phone calls with it, manage my pictures, etc.  I really like it.

• *******Update on the ASUS – It did great while I was on the trip, but about a month after I returned home, it no longer booted.  ASUS was quick to replace it and the new one failed after one day, same exact problem.  They replaced it again and it failed after four days.  And, they replaced it again.  I now have the 4th PC after I sent the 3rd in two weeks ago; I’m gonna sell it.  This whole fiasco took over six weeks and throughout it all, no one at ASUS seemed interested in getting at the root cause of the problem.  It was very difficult dealing with ASUS and I felt like I was talking with a bunch of children who had not developed interpersonal skills yet.  No one showed initiative, I got different stories from different people inside their organization, my phone calls and emails went unanswered, and no matter how much I asked and then demanded, I was never allowed to speak to a supervisor or manager.  I eventually got the names and email addresses of two managers and sent them an email, but I’ve never gotten a repsonse from either.  I DO NOT recommend the ASUS computers and I’ve had an absolutly miserable experience with them.  I’m now using a Sylvania g meso netbook and I like it even better than I initially liked the ASUS. ********

I’ll be staying at hostels about half of the nights and B&Bs, small hotels and farms the other half.  I have several nights booked already and many are still open. We’ll just see where I wind up.  I’m trying not to over think or over plan it all.  Feel free to post comments, questions or make suggestions about places to visit along the way.  I’ll make my next post from Paris I reckon. Cheers for now.

Dinkelsbühl (pts) 13.06.2008 – Malerische Landschaften und historische Kulturstädte machen die Romantische Straße vom Main zu den Alpen zur bekanntesten Touristikroute Deutschlands. Nicht nur in den USA und in Japan ist sie seit Jahrzehnten beliebt, auch im Inland kennt man die Vorzüge der abwechslungsreichen Strecke durch Franken, Baden, Württemberg, Schwaben und Oberbayern.

Eine Tour auf dem Fahrrad ist eine der schönsten Arten, die Romantische Straße zu entdecken und zu erkunden. Der gut beschilderte Radfernweg D9 Romantische Straße ist so angelegt, dass er die schönsten Landschaften und Sehenswürdigkeiten einbezieht, und das auf ruhigen Wegen, speziellen Radrouten und kaum befahrenen Sträßchen abseits der motorisierten Hektik. Den Besuchern fallen immer wieder Kleinigkeiten in Städten und Dörfern auf, die in keinem Reiseführer stehen.

Die schönsten Fahrradwege
Die Route mit zehn Tagesetappen ist insgesamt 424 Kilometer lang und erstreckt sich über 1400 Höhenmeter. Gebirge müssen keine überquert werden: Entspannt geht es vorbei an sanften Hügeln und Flusstälern, Weihern und Seen, mittelalterlichen Stadtmauern und Toren, barocken Kirchen, urigen Wirtshäusern und Landgasthöfen. Die Wege wurden eigens so ausgesucht, dass sie perfekt für ein Genuss-Reisen mit dem Rad geeignet sind. Ein einmaliges romantisches Erlebnis.
Wenn man im Norden beginnt, sieht man zunächst die Bischofs- und Barockstadt Würzburg und das liebliche Taubertal. Die mittelalterliche Altstadt von Rothenburg ob der Tauber gehört zu den herausragenden Sehenswürdigkeiten. Über Schillingsfürst mit seinem Schloss auf der Frankenhöhe geht es über Feuchtwangen und Dinkelsbühl zum Naturdenkmal Nördlinger Ries. Vom Nördlinger Kirchturm aus sieht man einen beeindruckenden Meteoriten-Krater und in Harburg die älteste deutsche Burg.

An der Wörnitz entlang führt die Strecke weiter nach Donauwörth, durch das breite Lechtal und die Fuggerstadt Augsburg. Seenlandschaften begleiten den Weg über Landsberg am Lech bis ins Alpenvorland mit seiner sagenhaften Aussicht. Schongau, Steingaden mit seinem Münster und der Wieskirche, die Königsschlösser in Schwangau und Füssen am Alpenrand bilden die Schlussetappe.

Europabusse mit Fahrrad-Transport
Ein einmaliger Service ist der Fahrradbus für die Nutzer der Romantischen Straße: Zwischen Mai und Oktober verkehren die Europabusse entlang der Strecke. Nach vorheriger Reservierung befördern sie auch Fahrräder. So kann man den Ausgangspunkt der Reise bequem wieder erreichen oder einzelne Streckenabschnitte bei Bedarf überspringen. Der aktuelle Fahrplan steht im Internet unter http://www.romanticroadcoach.de.

Weitere Extras und Tipps
Wer individuelle Radtouren bucht, kann neben der Unterbringung in gemütlichen Gasthäusern und Hotels ein ausgiebiges Frühstücksbuffet in Anspruch nehmen, den Gepäcktransport zur nächsten Tagesetappe, eine Pannen-Notfallnummer und den Rücktransfer samt Rad und Gepäck zum Ausgangsort mit dem Europabus. Der gesamte Reiseverlauf wird nach den persönlichen Wünschen und Vorstellungen der Radler organisiert.

Zur genauen Orientierung sind außerdem die GPS-Daten für die gesamte Strecke kostenlos erhältlich und können bei der Touristik Arbeitsgemeinschaft Romantische Straße angefordert werden. Die GPS-Daten sind in neun Abschnitte geteilt, die zu individuellen Etappen zusammengestellt werden können.

Viele Fahrradreisende entscheiden sich bei der Routenwahl für die Richtung von Würzburg nach Füssen. Die Hauptwindrichtung in der Region ist nämlich West/Nord-West. So lässt sich der Rückenwind nach Süden nutzen.

Weitere nützliche Tipps, spezielles Kartenmaterial für Radler sowie eine detaillierte Beschreibung aller Routen, Städte, Sehenswürdigkeiten und Rastmöglichkeiten bietet der handliche Radwanderführer Romantische Straße (Galli Verlag, 9,90 Euro) zu bestellen auch über die Touristik Arbeitsgemeinschaft Romantische Straße.

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Kontakt + Fotos: Touristik-Arbeitsgemeinschaft Romantische Straße, Segringer Straße 19, 91550 Dinkelsbühl, Tel.: +49-(0)9851-5513-87, E-Mail: info@romantischestrasse.de, Web: www.romantischestrasse.de