Where in the world are... Kris and Julie?: The Fairy Tale Road… Backwards (Bremen to Hanau) DAY 2

Julie's Lessons Learnt List

1. Campsite bathrooms don't necessarily believe in toilet paper.
2. Bath towels can make for warm blankets in a pinch.
3. Jet Lag takes a lot out of you.
4. Get there early! Line ups are EXTREMELY long!
5. Rain gear is necessary on a near DAILY basis.
6. There are too many no entry signs in Gent.
7. Getting gas can be complicated (language and technology issues)
8. Don't buy chocolate from a little old lady with rotting teeth.
9. Leave the poppies alone, they're not worth the pain.
10. Free to Pee! Free to Pee! It really should be!
11. Some toilets are weird.
12. Always carry a flashlight, you never know when it will come in handy.
13. Take out one screw in your engine and a black cloud will follow you around everywhere you go.
14. When in France always pay attention to where you step, yuck!
15. Continental toilet = hole in the ground
16. If you’re going to be spending the evening drinking in a bar ask if they have a bathroom before you start drinking.
17. Not only do some campsites not believe in toilet paper, but they don’t believe in hand soap and toilet seats either.
18. Alarm clocks must not have made it to Italy yet, as it seems everyone has a bloody rooster!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Fairy Tale Road… Backwards (Bremen to Hanau) DAY 2

We had three stops to make today, but only managed to make 2. Neither towns tourist office knew they were mentioned as a stop on the Fairy Tale Road. The first town, Verden, did have a theme park (Magic Parc), but it was aimed at kids so we passed. We did however stop at an Ice Cream shop. It is not our intention to spend money like this. The only reason we went into the Ice Cream store in the first place was to use their toilets, honest. Many of the town proprietors offer free use of their bathrooms; the tourist office has a sticker that marks them, because they have to meet a certain quality level. Julie and I felt a bit odd not buying anything and since we were hungry, as it was around lunch time, we shared a Hazelnut Ice cream desert and I had my second coffee of the day (Julie surprised me by buying me one to go at the campsite, what a sweetie eh?). We decided to skip our second to last stop (once again no info on the town) and headed for one we knew had a famous statue because of the picture on the FTR (Fairy Tale Road) map. It was pretty late when we arrived at the last town, Nienburg. This town also had a free spot for us to park for the night. It rained most of the day, and we arrived in this town as it began to stop. We took this opportunity to rush to the tourist office and find out about this town. We caught the office just before they closed and were able to get a map in English telling us the statues significance and all the other “sites” to see in town. Yeah, they only had the statue, but we did stay for free at the Stellplatz. Although we were ushered out of one parking lot to a neighboring lot by other campers, we aren’t sure why. The statue turned out to be the perfect Nienburg Girl, and was not that impressive but we were glad to have visited the town that night because we now knew we could leave early the next morning to our next stop. Julie told me much later (about 2 weeks) that if you touch a certain part of the statue you get good luck. Any guesses?