0372 Lago di Garda to Modena

30th Sept 2015

Verona brightens up an otherwise boring drive

The target today was Modena, but we planned to stop in Verona on the way because it is said to be almost as beautiful as Rome and was so important in the days of the Roman Empire (thus its name piccolo Roma – Little Rome) – And it has the “Juliet balcony”, as in “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou ?”.  It was cool this morning – Not quite the clear sunshiny day we were expecting from the forecast, but then it wasn’t raining ! So after packing up, doing some last minute banking on the internet, and filling up our water tank, we set of down the narrow road along the edge of Lago di Garda. 

0371 A lazy day at Lago di Garda

29th Sept 2015

One day here is a lot better than none at all !

I might not be able to stay here for the rest of my life, so one day is good !  Woke up to a clear blue sky, and decided to do all the chores while we had good wifi.  Such a beautiful spot, and I think we are the last people left in the camp site – We found out today that they close for the winter tomorrow !  Perhaps I could offer to caretake it for them over the winter ?!!

0370 Bressanone to Lago di Garda

28th Sept 2015

I think I might stay here for the rest of my life !!!

What a night !  While we were parked in a nice big field in a quiet farm in the country, we found out later that there was a train line not 50 yards from our car, and some of those trains make a LOT of noise !  And they ran all night.  I think I heard most of them – Not a good night !

So we were up reasonably early, had time to chat with daughter Sarah in Bangkok and catch up on her news, and then we headed out, through the tiny little bridge that we thought we wouldn’t get through, and out onto the main road south towards Bolzano.  And away from the railway line !!

0369 Schwangau Germany to Bressanone Italy

27th Sept 2015

In Austria  Germany  Austria  Italy !!

Up at 6 am in the dark, and by 7.45 am we were on our way down the road to Neuschwanstein Castle – We weren’t going to be beaten by the coach tours today !!  When we arrived, we were able to drive so far up that we were in Car Park A (as against the far end of car park D yesterday), and there was only one tourist coach already there !  When we got into the ticket office there was a reasonably short queue – But only one of the 5 tickets booths was open !!  And for some reason everyone in front of us decided to have a chat with the ticket operator, so it was over 30 minutes before we got our tickets.  And it turned out that the first English language tour wasn’t till 10.05 anyway, so there was no hurry !  So we went for a walk for a while, and then caught the transfer bus up the hill to NeuschwansteinCastle itself.  It is a 35 minute hike, and because the picturesque Mary’s Bridge (Marien Brucke) is currently under going repairs, we didn’t want to end up there and have to come all the way back down the path, so we caught the bus.

0368 Seefeld Austria to Schwangau Germany

26th Sept 2015

Castles, castles, and more castles !

After our plan yesterday to go up to see Neuschwanstein Castle, we got up in leisurely fashion – It was only 40 kms to the castle after all, and it had been pretty chilly last night – it was 5 deg C when we went to bed, and 4 when I woke up at 7 am, so it must have dropped down even further during the night.  I know my feet were chilly for the first time in a long time – Nothing that a good pair of socks couldn’t fix though !  But when we hit the road, we did change plans slightly, deciding to get straight on over to the castle and not spend any time in Seefeld this morning.  We could always come back this way later if we wanted.

0367 Landshut Germany to Seefeld Austria

25th Sept 2015

I get some mountains at last !

Set off quite early (for us) on a reasonably sunny but chilly morning, with a vague idea of heading towards Innsbruck.  As usual, we stayed for a while on small minor roads, and were crossing some very scenic rolling hills as we headed almost due south past Munich.  In one area we saw railway lines that had shiny tops, so they were obviously used – But there was quite a lot of grass between and along the edges of the track, so it looked disused.  The answer came a few minutes later when a little single diesel engine coach came along the line, carrying local passengers – What a perfect use for the little lines that would appear to be inefficient, but do still serve an important purpose, especially out in the countryside.

0366 Prague CZ to Landshut Germany

24th Sept 2015

Horrible traffic and a long day in the saddle.

By the time we had filled up with water and done a grocery shop at the supermarket near the Prague camp site, we weren’t particularly early in getting on the road.  And we then had one of our annoyingly frequent situations where JUST as you are about to get onto the road you want, there is a sign saying “Road Closed” for repairs or whatever, and no detour signs to be seen – Or at least not once which we can read and understand !!  So you then set off trying to do the best you can to find a  way around the blockage !

0365 Day 2 Exploring Prague

23rd Sept 2015

Castles, rain, gargoyles, sausages, and ham.

Today was out day for visiting the castle – But unfortunately we woke up to an overcast sky and light rain.  So we donned our wet weather gear, took my big Lotus umbrella, and headed off for our tram.  We had found out that if we took a No 1 tram instead of a No 9, it would take us all the way up to the castle on the other side of town, instead of going down town and then having to find a No 22 to get us up to the castle.  Tickets are purchased on a time basis, not a trip, so as long as we could get where we were going in 30 minutes, we would be OK and still travelled for the same price as going downtown.  In the end, we missed out stop for the castle and went off `cross town, so since we were still inside our 30 minutes, we were able to jump off, catch the same No 1 tram going the other way, and go back to the stop we wanted, all on the same ticket.  Too easy……..

0364 Day 1 exploring Prague

22nd Sept 2015

Incredible city, but SO many people !

We were a bit slow to get moving this morning, partly due to good wifi, and partly due to people coming over to chat about our journey and our car.  But as both of these are “good things”, it was no problem that it was near 11 am by the time we headed out to catch our number 9 tram into town.  It is literally a 3 minute walk to the tram stop, but it took about 5 minutes more for us to work out how to get a ticket, and which ticket to get, from the machine !  (Can you read Czech ?)  Once worked out, it was easy, and our tram soon came along (yup, it was a Skoda ! what else in CZ !), and off we went into town.  We tried to follow our route into the Old City (Stare Mesto) on the map so we got off at the correct station, and must have done a good job, because we found ourselves exactly where we expected !  Getting better at this public transport lark !!

0363 Sumperk to Prague (Praha)

21^st Sept 2015

Beautiful villages, over some mountains, and lots of roadworks

It was pretty chilly last night, but we survived OK – Actually it is easier to sleep well when it is cold, as long as you aren’t cold too !  But our good sleeping bags and liners work well to below freezing, so a temperature of only 3 or 4 deg C is no problem at all !  Once again we woke up to a lovely sunny morning, and several fisherman already set up and hard at work on the lake.  We slowly packed up and then headed out, with the plan being to try to get to Prague using just the smaller roads through the middle of the Czech Republic.  We succeeded too, but it wasn’t always easy !

0362 Oswiecim Poland to Sumperk CZ Rep.

20^th Sept 2015

Very interesting……….

We woke up this morning in Auschwitz -  Birkenau, and there was an eerie mist hanging over us.  No one around – Just us, the mist, and 100 yards away over the road, more than a million ghosts………..

0361 Krakow ro Auschwitz / Birkenau

19^th Sept 2015

A day like today you will always remember

What a night !!  It rained a bit off and on ever since we went to bed,  We even heard a little thunder in the distance.  Then at 10 to 2 in the morning, when I was thankfully awake reading, there was a thunderclap that I swear was no more than 3 feet from the car !  I have never heard thunder that was louder.  If I had been asleep when it happened, I think I might have had a heart attack.  As it was I think I hit the ceiling above my bed (which is only 2 ft above me !!), and since Janet was another 3-4 ft below me in her bed, I was closer to it than she was !   After that, it then rained very heavily on and off all night long – And if you have ever lived in a house with a tin roof, or spent a lot of time in a tent camping, you will know how noisy it was on our fiberglass roof which, as I say, was only a couple of feet above me.  I may be hard of hearing, but I am not totally deaf, so it kept me awake most of the night !  Ho hum. 

0360 A day exploring Krakow

18^th Sept 2015

What a beautiful city !

Lovely sunny day so we left the campsite and caught the bus for 5 stops, then jumped on a tram which took us into the old city.  Too easy, although as usual I need to have it all organized before I set off !  First impression was all the beautiful horse drawn carriages that take people around the old city – Both the horses and the carriages are in such beautiful condition, and their drivers are usually dressed in a period costume. It was a cooler 27 degrees today, and we walked along to the foot of the enormous Wawel Castle and its cathedral, but went first to the information booth. We decided first to go on a quick open bus tour in order to get an idea of where everything was located.

0359 Warsaw to Krakow

17^th Sept 2015

What a terrible drive – Most of it, anyway

We were hoping to meet up with Tomasz for lunch today, but unfortunately he got a last minute meeting call, and had to take a rain check.  No problem – Tomasz, if you are reading this, thank you for your hospitality and we owe you a dinner in Australia – Next year ?  So we had a long pack up, got lots of internet done, and eventually left the camp site at about noon, and made our way out of Warsaw.

0358 Treblinka to Warsaw, and exploring Warsaw

15^th/16^th Sept 2015

To Warsaw, and the old city.

Woke up in the car park at Treblinka to a suitably misty and overcast morning amongst the pine trees. Still feeling pretty somber, so we packed up, said our thanks to the museum staff, and headed out down the road towards Warsaw. 

0357 Vikaviskis Lithuania to Treblinka Poland

14^th Sept 2015

A drive to Treblinka……

Our misgivings about the facilities in the camp site at Vilkaviskis were totally unfounded.  When I stuck my head out in the morning I was greeted with a “Hey, Australlia” call from the owner, and went over to him for a chat (despite lack of Polish on my part and lack of English on his part).  He then took me over to the house, which was partly a restaurant, and we went downstairs.  There he showed me a very nice double shower, a sauna (including psychedelic lights, and a toilet, and told me it was specially for our use !  Obviously when they have a restaurant booking it includes use of the sauna, and as the restaurant was empty, it was for us to use.  Turned out the shower was one of the nicest in a long time, although we didn’t get the sauna cranked up, and when we eventually hit the road we were more than happy with this little camp site, despite our initial misgivings.   It was cold though !   And the clear blue sky we woke up to quickly became very overcast with a high wind, so we packed up quickly and headed on our way.

0356 Panavezys to Vilkaviskis

13^th Sept 2015

A tough day, almost ending up in Russia !

Janet enjoyed the residual heat from the sauna from last night – I preferred a normal shower – Too hot for me !  After buying some cheese from the local supermarket in the hotel / restaurant whose facilities we were in last night, we headed south, towards Vilnius.  We had no specific reason to got to Vilnius other than the fact that it is the capital of Lithuania – We have no guide book for the Baltic States, so we decided to head into Vilnius to the Information Centre and proceed from there.  Sunday, nice and quiet traffic wise, should be no problem, right ?     Wrong !!

0355 Cesis Latvia to Panevezys Lithuania

12^th Sept 2015

An old church, graves, and dirt roads.

Woke up and got sorted out, and since wifi was so good right next door to the van, we spent a bit of time on Skype etc, before packing up and heading back up into the medieval town of Cesis.  I wanted to get a couple of photos that I had missed yesterday, and we also wanted to see St John’s Church, which was consecrated in 1284, so we headed into town, found a parking spot near the centre, and set off on foot.

0354 Sigulda to Cesis, via Ligatne

11^th Sept 2015

Castles, more castles, and a wild ferry ride !

Cold – 3 deg C when I got up at 7.30, so it was probably a bit cooler during the night.  But we were toasty in our sleeping bags, and when you wake up to a clear blue sky, it is always a good start to the day !  Showers were “interesting” but hot – In other words there were mechanical issues with the fixtures !  But nothing we hadn’t seen before, and that couldn’t be fixed by a shampoo bottle or flip flop wedged behind the taps !   Hey ho !  Anyway, we started the day smelling sweet, and after noting that St Petersburg was still only 525 kms away, we headed to our first castle – Turaida, that we had visited briefly last night before heading to the camp site. 

0353 Riga to Gauja National Park

10^th Sept 2015

We head NE in search of castles and sunshine - And Adventure !

Another sunny morning and leisurely pack up, interspersed my several people coming over to us to say Hi and to have a chat, including Daniel from near Lubeck in Germany who invited us to come and stay if we are ever in the area.  While it didn’t rain overnight, there was an amazingly heavy dew for the 2^nd or 3^rd night running, so everything was pretty wet when we packed up.  By the time we had packed up, emptied our porta potty, and filled the water tank, it was 10.15 when we headed out.  But only 200 yards down the road to the supermarket as we were just about out of everything and had to do a big shop.  Very pleasant that it was about half the price of a medium shop in Norway !! 

0352 Exploring Riga on a sunny day

9^th Sept 2015

Perfect weather for exploring a great city

We woke up to a sunny day in Riga – Which considering they have had rain for the past 3 or 4 days just goes to show how lucky we are being with the weather.  There was no hurry because we had decided to walk into town instead of catching the local small tourist bus, and then catch a different tour once we got into town.  So we walked down along the river, across the Vansu Bridge over the Daugava River, and into the old part of town. We walked in past the Riga Castle (which is currently closed and undergoinf major renovation), past the Art Museum and down to Ratslaikums Square where we boarded our tour bus around the city. It was so warm and sunny they had even taken the roof off the bus !!

0351 Kabli Estonia to Riga Latvia

8^th September 2015

Troopie is fixed, and we find yet another jewel of a city in Riga.

It rained all night last night, heavily at times, but by the time we woke up it had stopped, and there were even glimpses of blue sky in the distance.  We didn’t get our hopes up too far but nevertheless, it was better than yesterday !!  While Janet was cooking some supper, I had tried to syphon the petrol out of the diesel tank, and I successfully got about 9 litres out that smelled like petrol – But was it all petrol or partly diesel ?  Does petrol mix with diesel, or does it float on the surface, like water ?  I knew there were still about another 15 litres in the tank, so until I could get about this amount out, I was unwilling to use that tank. And try as I might, I just couldn’t suck any more out – Got several mouthfuls – And those of you who have syphoned fuel before know what fun THAT is !!!  And it was far too wet on the ground to get under the car to see if there was any kind of drain plug – Hmm – Needs more thinking…….

0350 Tallinn to Kabli

7^th Sept 2015

Rain, and old wooden houses

After packing up this morning and spending a couple of hours exploring Toompea, we finally left Tallinn at about 1 pm, and set off down the main road south towards Parnu and Riga. And when we reached Parnu at about 3.30 pm, it was still raining !   Hard.  It was not a very pleasant journey because there were a lot of trucks on this road, and with all the spray it made it very hard to see clearly. 

0349 Exploring Medieval Tallinn

6^th-7^th Sept 2015

Wow – What an amazing place !

Next morning we caught a Hop on – Hop off tour bus just 100 metres from our campsite, and spent the next couple of hours having a guided tour around Tallinn.  The city is an interesting mix of (very) old and new and Soviet and Western, and it provides a fascinating mix that is so very different from most other places.  There are some buildings that were built especially for Soviet imported workers, at a time when many Estonians didn’t have a place to live. Now there are many free concerts and shows in parks all over town, and when the sun is out, the people of Tallinn come out in force to enjoy the warmth.  Of course, there are also many Finnish people here, both resident and visiting, as it is much cheaper here, and many people come across for a day or a weekend to do their shopping.

0348 Helsinki Finland to Tallinn Estonia

5^th Sept 2015

Well here’s another well kept secret !

Had to get up and get going in order to be on time for check-in for our 11.30 am ferry to Estonia.  It tried to rain, which slowed us up a little, and then we had to do some banking and buy some bread – But we arrived bang on time at 10.15 am, and then, as is usual with ferries, spent most of the next 1 ½ hours in a line waiting to board the ferry !  BIG ferry (compared to those we have been on recently) for the 2 hour crossing to Tallinn, across the Baltic Sea.  And it was crowded – Apparently it is like this every day.  Finns regard Tallinn as a suburb of Helsinki, and they cross every day in their hundreds for cheaper shopping (booze especially), as well as enjoying a city that is totally different from Helsinki.

0347 A couple of days in Helsinki

3^rd & 4^th Sept 2015

Rain one day, sunshine the next !

We decided to have two nights in Helsinki so we would have a chance to see the city before leaving Scandinavia and heading down to Tallinn and Lithuania.  We also needed a bit of a break from driving everyday, and Helsinki seemed like a good place to do it.  Additionally, there was a really good camp site with excellent facilities very close to the city, plus, the real bonus, a Toyota dealer not 5 minutes from the camp site so I could get my oil change done  Unfortunately the weather conspired against us – it rained most of the night, and for a good part of the next day as well !!

0346 Luvia to Helsinki, via Turku

2^nd Sept 2015

Finland is saved by Turku – What a great city !

Red sky at night does NOT necessarily mean “Shepherd’s Delight”.  After the gorgeous sunset last night, we awoke to a very grey sky, and even blacker clouds heading our way.  Ah well, I guess we couldn’t expect this Scandinavian Indian Summer to last for ever, and today it obviously cried “enough !”.  It wasn’t raining when we packed up and got on our way, but it started soon afterwards, and continued all day, sometimes very hard, other times just a light drizzle that meant you had to keep your wipers on slow all the time.

With Helsinki our end target for the day, we planned a stop en route at Turku.  Turku (or Abo as it is called in Swedish) was founded in 1229 and grew into an important trading centre despite being ravaged by fire many times.  It used to be the capital of Finland, but at one stage of Russian dominance they wanted a capital closer to Russia, and so moved it to Helsinki in 1812. 

0345 Larsmo to Luvia

1^st September 2015

Wandering down the Finnish coast

We played canasta for a while last night, so it wasn’t too early a night.  But once we were asleep, we slept right through till 8 am – And awoke to another blue sky ! This camping spot was delightful, and we had breakfast sitting in the sun, just enjoying the peace and serenity beside the water.  Before setting off, we went over to the office to use their wifi, (the one that wasn’t working in the campsite !), and managed to get a bit of the blog posted and a few emails sent.