The Online World of Neil Barrett

Monday 18 August - France, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, France, Belgium, France!

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:47:01 +0100

So, this is it. The last day. But not without another country to visit. Luxembourg. There’s not much to write really as although it’s a small country, it’s got towns and a capital city. However, the capital, Luxembourg, is always very nice to visit because it’s very efficient and they’ve managed to get a lot in there. The other good thing is that you can see the influences from all the surrounding nations – and again, it seems that everyone can speak at least two languages.

The route back from Luxembourg (after filling up with very cheap diesel compared to the rest of the trip…. except Andorra) took me skirting around the France/Belgium border, so into and out of Belgium – twice. It was the first of these two crossings where something very suprising happened. I got stopped by French Customs. And all the bags searched. It seems that even though there is free movement, the French are now cracking down on vehicles entering the country for their possible contents. Obviously I was carrying nothing dodgy but it was still a bit strange, particularly as they insisted on carrying out most of the discussion in their native language….

Still, all this added to the reminder that I had spent the last two weeks crossing frontiers and exploring new territories.

So I was back where it had all begun – Lille Europe – after 18 days of intense travelling and sightseeing. Returned the second car, had my final drink of the trip (perfect excuse to say one of my final French words – 1664) and off to meet French Customs (again) before boarding the train home.

And so, the official grand total for the journey:

KM Today: 820
Grand Total KM: 9219

What had I learned? Some more words in foreign languages for a start. But more importantly, that this great continent is a fantastic place, with dozens if not hundreds of different ways of life.

Also that many of us Brits, perhaps because we’re on one of the island nations of the EU, are quite insular and introverted compared to others – and we don’t always fully appreciate what’s virtually on our doorstep or realise what a chance it is to be liberated from what we think is quite liberal over here.

Europe is definitely something worth celebrating – and visiting. I would certainly recommend it to you. All of it. So get out there.

But to be honest, it was less about learning and more about living the dream, having the adventure, and as far as I am concerned, over 9000 kilometres of travelling across an amazingly different set of nations definitely amounts to doing just that.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog – but it’s not quite the end yet. There will be some stats on the trip posted in a few days.

So, the end of the adventure, but the memory will never disappear – thanks in part to writing about it along the way.

left: Typical Luxembourg street right: Central Post Office

left: Interesting art…. right: The final pic…. the main square in Luxembourg

Friday 15 to Sunday 17 August - France

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:04:39 +0100

This is the entire weekend in one update – one which I thought would be relatively uneventful compared to the rest of the trip but I was proved very wrong….

I woke up fairly early on Friday determined to make an early start to the journey to Paris. Even though it’s the same country, it is one of the longest journeys of the whole trip as France is such a big country. I used to think of Paris as being at the heart of the country but really it is quite far north, even though it is still a few hours drive from Calais as I discovered on a day trip once. Hopefully that gives you an idea of the scale of the journey today if you’re not familiar with the size of the country.

I started by just travelling the 9km into Bordeaux city centre. I didn’t make this a long visit as I wanted to be on my way. I didn’t know much about Bordeaux before – except for its wine fame – and in fact I thought it was a standard town/city with the real action in the countryside around it (i.e. the vineyards) - so I was pleasantly surprised to find a modern, cosmopolitan city on a large, major river, with a modern, renovated walk along the riverside. The sun was shining which made for a nice brief stay in this major South of France city. Very nice, but enough romanticising about a relaxing life in wine country and off to Paris.

I quickly joined the Autoroute, very close to the city and straight away looked at the sat nav. I have done this every time I joined a motorway to see how far until the next turning. Most of the days of this trip had involved either one or two 200-300km motorway journeys. Not this one. There was an epic 575km until I had to do anything other than drive straight ahead and occasionally stop to pay tolls. This could get very boring. Ah, but it didn’t. Fate stepped in and made things very interesting….

100km into the journey and DISASTER struck. After about 8000km of driving across this great continent, on the A10, over 400km south of Paris, my diesel-powered companion finally started giving up the ghost. It was quickly dying, on the motorway. Thankfully I was close to a service station, got in there and parked up.

If your car has ever broken down in your home country, you’ll know that it can be stressful enough, but what about in a foreign country, where the language is…. Well, foreign? This was going to be a challenge, that’s for sure.

My car was hired, so of course the car hire company provides a simple breakdown service – call us 24/7 and we’ll help you get it sorted. Ah, but there was a snag.

I called them, got through to an English-speaking person and explained the problem. All good so far, until they asked where I was. Once I’d explained the location, they explained a new problem. It went along the lines of “You are on a private motorway. It is privately run. You have to call 112 [yes, 112, the emergency number!] to get a tow truck and let it take you to a garage. Then – and only then, you need to call us back. We will then pay the garage and then send you a taxi to take you to our nearest branch to pick up a replacement.”

Ok, so *I* had to call the national emergency number, try to speak French, wait for the tow truck, try to speak French with the mechanic, let them do their thing, call the hire company back from the garage, then wait for the taxi, then go in the taxi, try to speak French again, then pick up the replacement car, then get back on my way. Apparently, none of this could be done at the same time. I wasn’t allowed to find out where the garage was and let them know so they could have the taxi waiting. Not the best system in my opinion, but this website isn’t Watch-chien with Monsieur Nicholàs Campbell so I will get on with the story.

I must say that all the French people from the breakdown service and the garage did their absolute best to both understand and help me (as far as I could tell). I am also quite pleased that I managed to have quite a lot of conversation in French – reaching far and wide for bits of lingo picked up over the years and at school – but things started moving (not my car though).

So, now I know that on certain sections of motorway the company that runs the road provides its own breakdown service which normally you as the driver would have to pay for – it’s about €140-€160 just for a tow to the garage, I think.

After conversations with various people at the service station, I got taken to the nearest official garage although we picked up a whole family and their car from the motorway on the way. They were a really nice family, I could tell this because the oldest daughter – I think she was about 6, showed me how to get the sugar out of this strange coffee machine once we got to the garage - and also waited until I finished my coffee and insisted on taking the cup and sugar wrapper away to the bin. She then started speaking to me in French.

When I told her I could not understand as I was English (in her language), she said something very funny, unfortunately in French. She could have said one of a number of things such as “Why don’t you speak French?” or “But you are speaking French now!” Whatever it was, it made everyone laugh in that way that parents do at their children when they say something really grown up and amusing. She could have even possibly said something incredibly profound: very simply, “Why aren’t you French?” to which I would have had no reply anyway. Whatever she said, if she goes into customer service when she grows up I’m sure she will win any customer round as she was incredibly helpful to someone she knew was having the same problem as her family. So thanks.

It was then closing time at the garage, so I had to wait outside with all my worldly possessions until the taxi showed up about 20 minutes later. The driver spoke some English and we had a bit of a chat and managed to swap some new vocab on the way. He was trying to learn English and I was trying to pick up some Francais as well.

It was over an hour’s drive to the bureau, on the west coast of the country. The meter showed well over €100 and this was going to be charged twice to, I assume, the hire company, as the return journey was going to be charged for as well. Still, I wasn’t paying. I was more concerned about the journey I still had to make.

The new car is a minor downsize to an Opel Meriva – that’s fine as there won’t be a passenger for this last weekend and I could do with a bit more fuel economy after the amount spent on diesel over the last fortnight.

The fun part of swapping the car was seeing their stunned reaction to the unusually high difference (understatement) between the start kilometerage and return kilometerage. It doesn’t feel right typing that – I should be writing mileage – but when in Rome… (or western France)…

By the way, I had looked after the car (checked the oil / fluids / tyres regularly etc). I guess I’d had a pretty good run up to that point!

Anyway, I got into the new car and that mini-adventure was over. I was back on the road, but with an hour’s journey just to get back to the motorway I was originally on.

But, once I was back on the main A10, I was a bit aggravated but started thinking about the whole trip and what I’d accomplished – and realised that the car incident was just a little problem towards the end of this epic journey – in the home country of the car.

So, a five-hour problem out of an action-packed two weeks is really not that bad. Easy to say now, but the stuff with the car won’t be the memory of the trip that will stay with me. Still, it gave me something to write about!

So, once I was back on the main road, the whole episode of the car breakdown was fading into the rear view mirror (literally as well).

I was soon back on a high from my great trip around a great part of the world.

And the other bonus - although the car hire place was out of my way to the west, it was north-west, so when I got back to the motorway, I was 100km further north than when I left it.

So, after the remaining 350km-ish of fairly uneventful driving, I arrived at the hotel in Paris at about 11pm. Not the day I had planned but still pleased that I’d managed to sort it all out and do most of it in a language I’m far from fluent in.

Saturday saw the first of two days visiting the centre of Paris. I did the usual sightseeing – I’ll let the pictures do the talking – but three things of note:

I’ve been staying near Le Grande Arche in the NW of Paris – the large white square arch which is also an office block at the sides. I went there first on both days of the weekend (the Metro line starts here) and I’d forgotten what a great building it is as well as what a great view you get from there. It’s a clear straight line downhill to the Arc De Triomphe, some 4km away - it’s worth sitting on the steps at the bottom of ‘the big arch’ just to see that great man-made panorama and right in the centre, one of the major monuments. Behind it of course is the Champs-Elysees, running downhill to the Place De La Concorde and the Louvre. Great planning and makes for some great sights.
The waiter in the restaurant near the Eiffel Tower, who was the spitting image of the late great Luciano Pavarotti, seemed to speak every language thrown at him – fluently – and reminds me of what I was thinking about near the start of the trip that we are so lucky in the UK to speak a language that most people can speak, but we take that for granted so much. He even assumed – correctly – that I would want a latte instead of the espresso he was offering to his French customers. It didn’t stop there: even the dozen or so people who approached me for money were bilingual at least. It makes me think even more that it would be good to learn another language – properly.
80% of the shops are shut for about three weeks in August. They all go on holiday themselves, or renovate, or whatever. They must do well during the rest of the year. I don’t see British retailers going on holiday en masse – they need the business, particularly with the current credit crunch.

I spent quite a bit of time in the Jardin Du Luxembourg – a park/garden, with a big fountain thingy in the middle but plenty of space around the outside to rest. It’s nice if you just want to relax – I almost dozed off there in the warm afternoon sun.

They have turned the walkways by the Seine into a beach for the last month or so – they have done this for the last few years – and it really helps to bring out the feel of a fun, friendly capital city summer.

Sunday (today as I type) was pretty similar in that I spent some time walking around, seeing the sights. I went to another park – this one had an amazing waterfall inside a cave. The whole park is on a massive hill so there is plenty of rock for the water to, well, fall down. Went and stood under the Eiffel Tower. I didn’t intend going up it, but that sort of place is great for soaking up the atmosphere.

So, I am back at the hotel now, just about to get a late dinner and then it’s the last day tomorrow, hopefully with one more country to visit.

KM TRAVELLED FRIDAY: 571 km TOTAL: 8399 km

left: Bordeaux centre right: The ‘Covent Garden’ equivalent – all closed for summer

left: New tree-lined boulevard in Bordeaux right: One of the many wine shops I expected

left: Main junction with statue right: View across a massive gravel area to the river

left: View across the wide river in Bordeaux right: Up a narrow street towards a church

left: End of the road…. The Zafira on the tow truck right: View from La Grande Arche into the centre of Paris

left: The Arc De Triomphe right: The Arc from the other end of the Champs-Elysees

left: The Place De La Concorde from the same standpoint right: The grounds of the Louvre

left: Sunday: Waterfall in the cave right: Performance art on the Metro

left: Obligatory Eiffel Tower picture. France holds the EU presidency at the moment

Thursday 14 August - Spain, France

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:57:17 +0100

This morning I had a quick look around Bilbao, a cosmopolitan major Spanish city which includes the Guggenheim museum and a train station with a massive stained glass piece of artwork. I have been here before – and there’s been grey skies all day today – so I stayed to have some morning tapas and coffee, walked around by the river and got back into the car.

Crossing back into France, I could see that they’re currently building a massive customs / border control plaza on the border. Who said free movement?

Driving across a number of countries is much more straightforward than you might expect. Yes, the sat nav helps, but even if you didn’t have one, there is a network of E routes: pan-European routes, which keep their E number for the whole trip. Major roads in most countries in Europe have their own national number as well, but now include their E number on signs and maps.

For example, from Bilbao to Bordeaux (the area I’m in now), I took the A-8 (Spain), the A63 (France), the N10 (France) and the A63 again (France). But this, being an important route in Europe, is all the E05. It’s also the E70, but later on that goes elsewhere.

We actually have E routes in the UK, but do we use them? Of course not, we’re special. We’re British. Like using miles for the roads and kilograms for the spuds, we’re showing that we like Europe but we’re not quite as European as the rest…. Yet?

So – as a perfect example, the E05, actually starts in Scotland. The entire route is 2960km long and goes like this: Greenock – Glasgow – Preston – Birmingham – Southampton - [ferry] - Le Havre – Paris – Orléans – Bordeaux – San Sebastián – Madrid – Sevilla – Algeciras.

The E70 goes the other way though: A hefty 4550km : takes it from A Coruña through Bilbao – San Sebastián – Bordeaux – Clermont-Ferrand – Lyon – Chambéry – Susa – Turin – Alessandria – Tortona – Brescia – Verona – Mestre – Palmanova – Trieste – Postojna – Ljubljana – Zagreb – Slavonski Brod – Belgrade – Vršac – Timiºoara – Drobeta-Turnu Severin – Craiova – Alexandria – Bucharest – Giurgiu – Rousse – Razgrad – Shumen – Varna … Samsun – Ordu – Giresun – Trabzon – Batumi and finally Poti.

To recover from yesterday (and as the weather was awful) I decided to check into the hotel and eat at the restaurant there in Bordeaux. Now, which red wine to have with my steak here…..?

I’m nearing the home straight now - I am off from here in the South of France to Paris tomorrow to stay for the last few days. I will probably update you next, towards the end of the weekend or on Monday.

KM TRAVELLED TODAY: 338 km TOTAL: 7828 km

left and right: Bilbao, Spain

left and right: One of the main junctions in Bilbao

left: Amazing artwork in the train station (yes, it really was 12pm) right: View along the river to (probably) their Millenium bridge

left: View from one of the road bridges in Bilbao right: Sculpture by the river

left: View of the Guggenheim museum from the Millenium bridge

Wednesday 13 August - Spain, France, Andorra, France, Spain

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:20:33 +0100

‘Barcelona Reus’ Airport, it’s called. It’s over an hour away from the city – still that’s budget airlines for you. This was the point where I had to say goodbye to my wife. It was a shame that she couldn’t stay for longer but I’m glad she shared the middle part of this epic journey and experienced everything from Austria to Spain.

The next part of my trip proved the most complicated, long-winded and – at times – frustrating. But it’s these sorts of things that can mean finally achieving the thing is more rewarding and it was great to finally reach Andorra, another nation all by itself – closely connected with Spain and France (who have joint responsibility for defending it) but not part of the EU and therefore duty free. The fuel prices were much, much lower here (about 30-40c per LITRE cheaper) – just one example of why Andorra is such a popular destination for people who dare to make the pilgrimage.

Andorra is not the most easily accessible place. It’s in the Pyrenees, another stunning mountain range. I decided to go a slightly longer way round by driving up the Mediterranean coast, just a few km back into France and then along the main road directly to Andorra. Although I’ve written ‘directly’, it’s definitely not a straight line. It goes on for three hours as it works its way into the Pyrenees. By the time I’d finished, I was above the clouds. I was actually looking down on some clouds in the mountains.

Once inside the nation I made my way through another long, winding road to the main city. It’s clear that this is very popular for skiing and climbing holidays as well as fuel buying ones.

The city centre itself is like a typical mountain resort town. It was about 4.30pm and I knew I had quite a journey ahead of me. I didn’t stay for long. Unfortunately although I needed to head north-west, there are only two exits – east (to France) and south (to Spain). The France exit was for me, as I had to head north to get on to the motorway network.

Because Andorra isn’t part of the EU, there is a customs station a third of the way down the mountain back into France – and the queue for it was long. It’s such a strange place to have it, but of course it needs to be before the first point that cars can turn off to another road – and so I think it must count was one of the most picturesque passport control areas on the trip, if not globally.

The next seven and a half hours were spent firstly slowly working my way back to the motorway network (not helped by a two hour queue for a tiny roundabout and pedestrian crossing), then motorway driving through France back into Spain and finally finding my hotel. I arrived at midnight in Bilbao on the northern coast of Spain and not surprisingly, checked in and went to bed after breaking my record for the longest distance travelled – but again, the mountains kept me overawed as well as busy.

KM TRAVELLED TODAY: 1088 km TOTAL: 7490 km

left: Entering France from Spain (dotted line) right: The Pyrenees

left: The mountains open up before my very eyes right: Inside Andorra

left: Signs to Spain and France? I must be in Andorra right: City centre in Andorra

left and right: Views down the main road into and out of the city centre in Andorra - Burger King off to the left!

Leaving Andorra looking straight at the clouds - the gate is the boundary with France

Tuesday 12 August - France, Spain

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:25:30 +0100

We went to Marseille city centre for brunch by the sea. The city is quite standard – quite run down in places, in fact - but when we reached the area by the marina it all changes again. Helped by the baking hot, Mediterranean sun, this bit of town was very enjoyable to look at, even if it was just for half an hour.

But that’s one of the joys of this trip – one morning you can be taking a quick walk along the marina in Marseille and the same evening you can be strolling along the beach in 40 degree Barcelona.

The 500km + journey between the two was interesting because the view through the windscreen became more and more Mediterranean every half an hour. More of the dry, barren land and more of that sort of orange colour associated with such hot places.

We arrived at our hotel during the early evening. It was fairly out of town, so we decided to get a lovely air-conditioned bus into the centre of the city. Having a quick walk around a couple of the main points on the map (Place de Espanya and the surrounding area) what struck me was the size of the buildings, the monuments and the statues. I had been given advance notice that the architecture was good. They were right.

After a ride on the air-conditioned underground system to the marina area, we walked down a long boulevard to the beach. The sun was in the process of setting, so I have to say that Freddie Mercury was right. The panoramic view, south East towards the seemingly never-ending expanse of sea, with it being over 30 degrees well after 8.30pm at night, made the visit worthwhile all by itself. However a nice seafood meal, at a restaurant on the beach, made it all the more special. Being the last night my wife was with me on this trip, it was nice to be in such a romantic destination.

KM TRAVELLED TODAY: 545 km TOTAL: 6402 km

left and right: Views from the dock/marina in Marseille, France

left: Up the main boulevard in Marseille right: Same place, opposite direction

left: A nice Marseille fountain right: Castle on the hill

left: Entering Spain right: Arrival in Barcelona

left and right: View from the bar on the beach

left and right: The Barcelona beach at sunset

left and right: "Barcelona, it's such a beautiful horizon......"

left: Games on the beach, in over 30 degrees C after 9pm right: Definitely in the Med

Monday 11 August - Alps and Mont Blanc Pics

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:29:36 +0100

Some more pictures from the long-distance drive....

Monday 11 August - France, Italy, France, Monaco, France

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:20:20 +0100

After a late night last night, it was time for a lie in this morning and also the maps needed updating on my phone for navigation – the memory card was full of pictures and other maps so that France and the other remaining countries could be put on there. These needed downloading, so it meant a relaxing morning in the hotel bar, before setting off at lunchtime on what would be a spectacular journey. Lots to see whilst on the road, judging by the number of pictures we’ve taken today.

The fastest route, as decided by the newly updated sat nav software on the phone, included literally hundreds of sharp bends, bridges, tunnels, speed limit changes and more. But that’s the practicalities. You can probably imagine what the roads must have been like from that description, but nothing I could write would do justice to what we could see out of the glass of the car.

The Alps are simply spectacular. I’ve only ever seen them from the air before, flying to Italy, but from the ground, the vast array of random peaks, towering well into the clouds – and valleys, including sheer vertical drops at the side of the road – really take your breath away. Or stop your heart, when you get a sudden side wind on a high bridge or take a corner and realise what’s on the other side of the fairly basic barrier, keeping you, your wife and your car and possessions away from the drops of sometimes more than a kilometre.

Each mountain seem to have its own ‘style’, some with large forests, a few with houses and villages, some with animals, and some even with snow. In August. This was another new experience that this trip had given both of us and was slightly surreal, given that it was a hot European summer day.

We were heading East from our original hotel (even though we needed to end up a little west – but MUCH further south – than our start point) and after the first tranche of Alpine Mountains we came across the big one – Mont Blanc (yes, it was white, well, what we could see of it as much of it was well into the clouds) – and over the course of an hour or two we were heading straight for it. With many of the mountains we spent quite a while slowly working our way around each one. With Mont Blanc, there is another way – to go straight through.

The Mont Blanc tunnel is an amazing piece of engineering. It is around 15km long. So long, that when you pay your toll at the beginning, you wait at the tollbooth for your lane’s turn – the lane barriers are opened in turn, with a gap between each one, to ensure a distance between each vehicle. On the drive up to the tollbooth (which is a climb in itself) there are Alton Towers style ‘queue time from this point’ signs. Thankfully it was empty for us today.

The tunnel is so long – and potentially dangerous – that they give you a long car to hang from your rear view mirror with all the rules on – minimum speed, maximum speed, distance from the vehicle in front, details of the in-tunnel radio station to listen out for any emergencies, etc etc.

The rules worked. We maintained a smooth 60km/h (ish) through the tunnel, enjoyed the almost hypnotic disco lighting as you go through, and the best bit is that when we came out at the other side, we were in Italy. Yes, the tunnel took us into the Italian Alps – again, spectacular – and onto our journey. Concentration was key again as we worked our way around mountains. In fact, there was one point where we saw a bridge, running parallel to us, just a few hundred metres away but much lower. That bridge was where we were about an hour and a half previously. We had spent the last half an hour slowly getting up a tricky mountain and round the other side of it.

This carried on for ages and then there was an hour or so of fairly standard, flat Italian motorway, heading South. It was raining at this point so we couldn’t see much anyway.

But then, suddenly out of nowhere, one of those massive changes in the holiday happened. We ran out of country. We’d hit the Mediterranean Sea and it suddenly appeared in front of us. And the sun came out. Memories of Malmo and that top-of-Europe climate came back. What a difference! This was definitely the other end of the continent.

The road took us west along the coast, which was great. Just after eventually crossing the border to France, we took a long, winding, complicated road down a massive hill to Monaco, another sovereign principality. The roads were so twisty that the satnav kept telling me to do a U-turn because the road bent round so much (i.e. 180 degrees) it must be a U-turn.

Monaco, and the main city Monte Carlo, take up such a small, very hilly, patch of land at the bottom right corner of France, but they have put something (usually something very tall) on every square inch. This is another millionaires’ playground – one of the world’s most well known ones.

Many international sports players and business people are resident here for tax purposes. Last time I checked, there is no income tax. Luxury is everything here, with designer goods shops, large apartment blocks, that famous marina and the world-famous Monte Carlo Casino. Just a look at the cars parked outside (and the restaurant opposite with the main courses ranging from €80 - €460, the latter being the caviar of course) really brings home the sort of place it is.

It’s completely different to the small French town I was standing in, seven hours previously.

But wealth isn’t everything. Monaco may be very impressive, but nowhere near as much as Mont Blanc and the Alps. And they didn’t cost a penny (or cent) to build.

On to Marseille for a very late arrival at the hotel.

KM TRAVELLED TODAY: 803 km TOTAL: 5857 km

Pictures from the Italy bit and Monte Carlo are below. The pictures from the Alps and Mont Blanc are in a separate article.

left and right: Views from the long drive through the Italian Alps

left: a village in the Alps right: Some designer artwork with the casino in the background

left and right: Shots of the spectacular world-famous Monte Carlo Casino

left: My boat is the one on the far right right: Close up

left: Monte Carlo, Monaco right: Approaching the marina

left: The marina, as viewed from some very steep steps

Sunday 10 August - Switzerland

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:33:24 +0100

I’ve wanted to visit Switzerland for a long time – it’s always held a certain mystery for me. In the middle of the European continent, but not part of the EU at all; several official languages, mainly depending on which bit of the country you’re in; and always known as a neutral country – does this show in how things are done?

Chur (in the far east hand side of the country) seemed to be virtually closed on Sundays, so after finding somewhere that sold vignettes we started our long motorway drive to Geneva, in the far south-west.

The Swiss are blessed with having a lot of the Alps in their great nation. I sincerely hope they appreciate this when they jump in their cars and take a motorway trip. The speed limit drops frequently for long tunnels and bridges – through and between mountains – so that helps with really being able to take in this absolutely breathtaking scenery. The pictures don’t do it justice. I feel like we’ve seen all of the country, having travelled from one side to the other and seen what’s to offer.

While I remember – I must mention the motorway service station. It was very modern, very clean and the view from the gents’ was like no other – have a look at the picture!

And so Geneva itself was really something else. On the edge of the main lake of the country and with the sun shining, I can really see why so many people want to spend time here and why it is one of those playgrounds of the rich and famous (its country’s independent status and reputation for banking privacy helps with this helps) as well as being a great tourist spot.

Walking around the bit of Geneva by the grand lake, the geographical setting and what the Swiss have done with it, makes you feel that you really have arrived – in this true ‘place to be’. As you can probably tell, this is one of my favourite places so far on the trip. If you ever get the chance, you may find that the feeling’s “neutral”.

I will certainly be coming back on a longer trip.

Finally, we crossed over the border and headed towards the hotel just 1km into France.

KM TRAVELLED TODAY: 351 km TOTAL: 5054 km

left and right: View from hotel in Chur, Switzerland

left: view from hotel in Chur right: View from the gents at the motorway services

left and right: Views from Geneva, Switzerland

left: View from Geneva, Switzerland right: Amazing journey through Switzerland

left and right: Journey through Switzerland

left and right: Views from Geneva

left: Geneva right: Victoria Hall, played by a number of famous musicians

left: View from Geneva, Switzerland

Saturday 9 August - Austria, Germany, Italy, Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:17:09 +0100

Well into the mountains now, the first trip of the day was south to Italy and to the resort town of Bolzano / Bozen. Again, the drive itself was great as it involves lots of twists and turns as the Autobahn – and then the Autopista – worked its way through the mountains of the Tyrol region.

On the way we had to travel through Germany again – so what I thought was my last trip into the country a few days ago actually wasn’t – it’s so geographically central, I can see why it’s got involved in many of my trips.

After a nice outdoor lunch – spaghetti of course – back on the road and I deliberately picked a non-motorway road because I wanted to experience mountain driving at its best. It’s very difficult to express the exhilarating feeling from a drive through the mountains, away from the main road – some would say it’s what cars were built for – especially the adverts for them.

After a bit of driving it’s back into Austria, just a few hundred metres from the border with Switzerland. The next destination, however, was one of those small, little understood nations, but with a charm all of its own – Lichtenstein.

Entering the small principality, closely related to Switzerland, involved the first border control with real border guards checking passports. Of course, like it’s neighbour, it’s outside of the European Union and has many of its own rules and regulations. Lichtenstein is famous as a tax haven (slightly less so since the details of hundreds, if not thousands, of people’s affairs were recently leaked/sold to various countries’ tax authorities in recent months), a centre for business excellence and a country with various unique rules. One thing I did notice, early on a Saturday evening, was that everything is closed. They don’t believe in long opening hours – Vaduz, the capital, seemed completely closed for business when everywhere else I know would be at its most lively.

The only thing going on was an international Beach Volleyball tournament – an interesting choice of sport for one of only two doubly-landlocked countries in the world.

Anyway, even for such a small place, Lichtenstein genuinely does have its own character and well worth a visit.

After that it was in to Switzerland itself – via the river which is the entire Western border between Lichtenstein and Switzerland - and on to the resort town of Chur, where we were staying tonight. Had to go via country roads, because we wouldn’t find a shop selling the motorway sticker (“Vignette”) required, but again, worth it because of the surroundings.

KM TRAVELLED TODAY: 551 km TOTAL: 4703 km

left: View from the BP garage! right: Bolzano, Italy

left and right: Bolzano

left and right: Lichtenstein

left and right: Lichtenstein (castle on right)

left and right: Drive through Italy and Austria

left and right: Drive through Italy and Austria

Drive through Italy and Austria

Friday 8 August - Austria

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:09:50 +0100

We spent the day exploring everything Salzburg has to offer. The city is set into the mountains and it’s easy to see why it became the inspiration for so many musicians, artists and of course those hills were very much alive in The Sound Of Music.

The weather wasn’t too great, but there is so much to see it doesn’t matter. We took a boat trip up the river, going nice and slow through the city so you can see the old and new parts of the area, then the boat speeds along into the mountains, to drop everyone off near Hellbron Palace, an amazing place, not just because of the look and size of it all; not just for the picturesque setting it’s in; but the important person who had it built (Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg) obviously had a good sense of humour. The Trick Fountains are a major part of the attraction. Paths, floors, walls, statues, even chairs in the outdoor dinner table were set to spray jets of water at unsuspecting visitors – then….. and now. Already a wet day but this brightened it up no end.

Loads of things to take pictures of, as you can see.

This was a nice relaxing day, without any travel (except from the hotel to the city and back again) and of course the first time suitcases didn’t need carrying around as it was the same hotel for both nights.

A long journey to follow tomorrow, so a well deserved rest even if I do say so myself.

KM TRAVELLED TODAY: 6 km TOTAL: 4052 km

left: View from the hotel room across the mountains right: Fame at last

left: View along the river in Salzburg right: Across the bridge

left: View over the water in Salzburg right: View from the back of the boat

left: View from the back of the boat right: Castle on top of the hill

left: View under one of the many bridges in Salzburg right: Old Town in Salzburg

left: Moving along at 50km/h right: Mountain view

left: Mountain view right: View inside the boat

left and right: Hellbrunn Castle

left and right: Hellbrunn Castle trick fountains

left: Trick fountains right: Hellbrunn Castle