La Mailleraye-sur-seine

This was another free parking spot for campervans, and once again it was along a river. I love these locations, I just wish it was warmer and maybe that I had a boat. After we got settled we remembered that I needed to call home as my parents just returned from Jamaica yesterday after attending Kate and Kenny’s wedding (sorry guys for not making it).

Courseulles-sur-Mer

The town of Bayeux appeared to be a nice small town with a fairly impressive church when we passed through the other day, but in the end we decided not to back track to this town. Instead we went to Juno beach about 20km west of Arromanches. When we woke earlier that morning we headed out with the intention of visiting the museum in town, which we sort of did. On our way we passed by the beach only to see the tide had gone out another 50 feet or so. It was crazy to have seen the water only 15 feet from the break wall and now the water was more than a football field away. We took advantage of this and walked around the beach again. We saw three people on horseback and we figured by the way they were riding them they must have been training the horses to walk in the water. Julie was also grossed out while we walked along the beach. That was due to what she referred to as “fish poo” that covered the ocean floor we were now walking on. We then went to purchase a giant Canadian flag to hang in our window when we’re parked and we also had some awful lunch consisting of microwaved hamburgers and French fries. The museum was on the concrete harbor that Winston Churchill thought up during the war. Since our shoe strings guide explained what the concrete things were, we decided to skip this museum for another. In the entry room for the museum they had on display the list of beaches that were stormed on D-Day and the countries that stormed them. They also had a plethora of information on all the beaches. The beach we were at is Omaha, which was stormed by the Americans. The beach to the west was called Juno and was stormed by Canadians. In the town of Courseulles-sur-Mer they have a Canadian orientated museum(http://www.junobeach.org/Centre/index.html). We decided that we wanted to learn more about Canada’s part in the war. Juno beach was the second bloodiest of all the beaches stormed that day. Utah saw more blood, which was located on the other side of Omaha. The young lady at the counter was from London, Ontario and we chatted for a bit, but because the movie was about to start we were ushered off. The museum starts you off in a small room with screens surrounding three walls. The lower half of the room is designed to look like one of the boats used during the storming of the beaches. The film was about Canada and about what the soldiers could be thinking. It wasn’t what we expected. We figured it was supposed to be moving, but it missed its mark. The remainder of the museum was set up in stages, what was being done in Canada and what troops were in the war. The second last room had to be the best though. On all the walls they had information on the war going on in each country and in the centre of the room they had videos playing. The videos were of veterans speaking of the war, all were matched perfectly from the start to the finish of the war. The last room had a continuous stream of names of all the Canadian soldiers that lost their lives. Apparently to watch it from start to finish it would take 4 ½ hours. Up to this point the museum was on Canada’s contribution to the war effort. Now the museum turned to Canada in its present state. Julie and I felt that this sign was just perfect. (insert photo here). We ended up not hanging around too long in this room as it seemed more like an advertisement of Canada then actual education. We did read some of the quotes that ran around the room. One read “It’s impossible to explain the size of Canada to any European. I mean we will drive 100 km just to see a movie.” We left the museum with Canadian patches for our bags (we haven’t had them and could not find them up to this point) and decided once again, not to buy Maple syrup. €15.50 for 500ml of this golden liquid is insane.

Arromanches

It would seem that I got my wish. This morning we woke to an extremely nice day. I was able to wear shorts and a t-shirt for at least most of the morning. I had to put on a sweater by mid-day. Nevertheless, we both enjoyed the warm weather until we had to leave the campsite at 2pm. At this point it had started to pour. We had originally decided to go to Bayeux to visit the D-day beaches but when I looked at the map, it wasn’t on the coast. So I changed the plans to go to Arromanches instead which was only 10 km north of Bayeux. Once we parked the van and had lunch Julie and I ventured out for a short walk. We had no intention of doing much today other than showing up. We plan to visit tomorrow. But the town is pretty small, really only one main street so we ended up walking the beaches later that night (at sunset) when the tide had decreased. This allowed us to walk right up to what we think was the old concrete dock that was made in order to support the troops during the storming of the beaches. As you can imagine, the sea is taking its toll on them, but they are still pretty impressive to see. After seeing these, it made me want to visit as much as possible in Normandy. So tomorrow we might visit the museum in town and then proceed to the other beaches. We will also make a stop in Bayeux, but a short one at that.

Le Mont St Michel

What can I tell you about Mont St Michel? Well, since it has a pretty decent history, I can start there (but I will only mention a few things). It is thought that Aubert the bishop of Avranches built a sanctuary on Mont-Tombe (now called Mont St Michel) in 708. He dedicated it to Saint Michael. It is a fortress and a place of worship. There is a town just outside its walls. During the 100 years war it was impregnable. In 1874 it was classified as a historic monument and 1979 it became a Unesco site. The current population is 42.What makes it pretty cool to visit, is that it is on a small island connected to the main land by a causeway. You can visually see where the water level comes up to during high tide. During low tide you can see the ocean floor for kilometers in most directions but can barely see the ocean itself its so far away. The walk up to the Abbey leads you along a narrow medieval street lined with shops and restaurants. The restaurants are extremely expensive and the shops sell typical tourist stuff. Julie and I could not imagine visiting this place in the high season because it was extremely busy today. Our guide book says not to even bother visiting on weekends during the summer and tells of traffic backing up 5 km from the abbey. We decided to go with an audio guide while we walked around the Abbey. One of the rooms we were in was thought to have been built in the year 1000 and has been untouched since. We didn’t have a close look, but apparently you can still see the timber marks from the scaffolding on the walls. The abbey was pretty cool and the views, when you got them from the windows, were great. On another note, Julie and I took way to long this morning getting going. I was typing the blog, while Julie was engrossed in a book. We managed to head out around 1, which made it too late to check out today. So we are spending another night at the campsite. Tomorrow is Sunday (April 13th) and everything will be closed. So we took the van to fill up on gas and purchased some food from the grocery store. My jeans are finally giving in. I tore them today at the knee, so Julie is patching them up now. I hope it can hold out until Canada, or at least until the weather becomes warm enough for me to start wearing shorts.

Fougeres and St Malo

Well this day was a bust, mostly due to us. We took our time getting ready this morning and didn’t leave the campsite until noon. When we did finally head out we ended up taking the wrong road and then had to back track. When we arrived in Fougeres the campsite we intended to stay at was full, but we aren’t even sure if it was the campsite. It was the wrong name and it was located in an industrial zone. We went to a McDonalds to use the WiFi and before long we decided to head to St Malo as it had a free place to stay. The drive to Fougeres was a long one, so we weren’t looking forward to this drive. It was around 6’oclock when we arrived in St Malo but the site didn’t open until June 1st unlike what our book told us. On a map it showed the location to other parking areas for campers. St Malo is a popular destination for UK citizens as it’s just across the channel. We never did get to see it as we decided to skip this stop as well. We drove another 1 ½ hours to Le Mont St Michel. Where there is a campsite just 2.5 km away. We were very grateful to be resting at a campsite after the drive we just did. It might have only been 367 km, but it took 8 hours to do it. Sometimes we wonder if avoiding the toll roads in France is really worth it.

The Loire Valley

Today we started the drive through the Loire valley. Maybe it was the route we took, but at no time did we see or feel like we were in a valley. We have only planned on visiting 2 castles out of the many that are here. Chateau Chambord is one of them and is the first one for today. From our rest stop it was roughly a 60 km drive to get to Chambord. But not even 30 km in did we spot our first castle. Sully-sur-Loire was definitely worth a stop so we pulled into the parking lot and started to take some pictures and walked into the grounds. We did not plan to go inside though, as almost all the castles in the Loire valley charge from 7 euros and up. This one was no different. It was a truly magnificent castle with a moat and everything.

We moved on feeling pretty excited about the drive and it wasn’t too long after that we were driving in Chambord’s nature reserve on route to the castle itself. Chambord castle is truly remarkable. Julie felt that it looked more like a church then it did a castle. To its defense, it was built as a castle but used as a hunting lodge. This is the first castle we have been in that actually uses the fireplaces. This proved to be a great way to warm up. We spent a few hours wandering around the castle, a few of the rooms were done up while some were stripped bare. On the third floor was an exhibit of all the products that bare Chambord’s name. It was really amusing to see and to learn what they did to sell to the Americans. The castle was truly great to see.

I decided I wanted to see the other castles mentioned in the book so we added them to our route. These were Chateau de Cheverny and Chateau de Chaumont. But in the end, they weren’t as accommodating as Chambord. High gates and bushes made it impossible to see. Whereas at Chambord, you could walk the grounds for free. On our way to Chinon we spotted another small chateau and took some pictures, though we didn’t get out of the van this time.

The campsite in Chinon is located directly across from the castle. It would have been great views if it weren’t for the huge restoration taking place. They are planning on rebuilding the entire castle to its former glory by 2010. When complete, it will be pretty impressive. We opted out of seeing this one even though Joan of Arc spoke to the Dauphin here. I decided today, since it was so nice out, I would get Julie to shave my head. I haven’t bic’d it yet but this is the closest haircut I have ever had (to my memory) so I might not do that. Julie says I look younger and completely different from behind and isn’t sold on it and neither am I frankly.

Norgent-sur-Vernisson

On the way to our stop we went to grocery store and mechanics in a town called Avallon. The mechanics said they couldn’t fit us in. This seems to be the norm though. No one wants to even try to fit you in, they just don’t seem to care whether they have your business or not. The location of our stay was next to a small pond. We weren’t the only ones there but the other people weren’t all that friendly (they were in a large rig towing a car). When we finished lunch I took Julie up on her offer to go for a walk around the pond. It was raining and pretty cold out but that didn’t seem to deter us. I’ve been suffering from headaches lately and today isn’t any different. After the walk my headache turned into a migraine. We did one full lap of the pond, but it was only on the farthest bank that we saw signs posted explaining what the small structures surrounding the pond were used for. It seems that the pond is set up in stages for a work out. Hurdles, balance beam, sit-ups, chin-ups and jogging were what we could figure out or were told. Tomorrow it’s off to the Loire Valley.

Beaune

The town we were in was almost completely deserted so we pressed on to Dijon. Dijon is said to have a nice centre and it is also famous for mustard. When we finally arrived in town, it was rather large and busy. It also appeared to be very modern. Our next stop sounded more appealing so we ended up only driving through Dijon. I hate skipping things, but this way it gives me something to see if I get the chance to return. Julie was happy, as she had no interest in seeing Dijon in the first place and especially so after driving through it. Beaune (pronounced “bone”) is the capital of the Burgundy region. We stayed in the municipal campsite just outside the town centre. We ventured into town that evening to visit the tourist office and try to learn about the caves that offer wine tasting. The only reason we came here, was to sample wine. That night we went to the campsite restaurant where we had a 3 course meal for 15 euros each. I also had French onion soup for 4 euros, though I didn’t need it. The meal was too much in itself. We both started off with red port as an aperitif, Julie had a huge salad campagnole and I had bread and liver with mushroom pate after my onion soup. We were both full before the main course arrived. Julie had beouf bourguignon (stewing beef with a red wine sauce) and I had chicken with a white mushroom cream sauce. Julie said the beef was too fatty. The meal was accompanied with French fries. We both had a glass of wine with dinner, I had white and she had red. For desert we had mousse au chocolat. We left the restaurant at 10pm feeling beyond full and quite happy. During the dinner there was an English couple sitting next to us that were sitting with a gentleman. This gentleman was telling them all about the tour he offers in the wine region and throughout the dinner Julie and I couldn’t help but feel the couple would rather speak with us. The wife more then once mentioned us because we were speaking in English too. She also commented on the meal we went with. The guy wouldn’t give up though and they left the restaurant with him, although they did their best to leave before. We felt for them, but couldn’t help but laugh when they left. Thank god Julie and I look like we have no money.
We woke early enough but managed to take our sweet time getting ready and managed to miss the last tasting of the morning (they run from 9:30 – 11:30am). So we ventured to Le Marchee aux vins for the afternoon wine tasting. At 10 euros each we got two souvenir tasting cups that we would also use for the wine tasting down in the cellars. It was a self guided tour. This was perfect because you could just sample the wines at your leisure and no one there to sell them to you. They did have a young guy walking around to ensure you only sample the wine once. Julie figures the tasting cups hold ¼ cup. Every wine they make was displayed along a wall with a price affixed to it. And each wine was also on top of a wine barrel with a candle to help you see. With this particular tour we sampled 15 different types of wine, a few whites, but mostly reds. Out of the 15 we could say we liked one white and maybe two reds. However, all the wine was too expensive, ranging from 11-80 euros. I would say that by the time I got to the 4th last wine I was pretty tipsy. Before we left the van I had a beer with lunch and I was pouring my own samples up to that point which was a full mouthful. Julie seemed to enjoy my drunkenness. After the tour we went by the tourist office to purchase two posters (€20.00) Julie really liked and a how to guide on wine tasting (€0.69). On the way back to the van we stopped by a bakery for a few things.

Fonteney le Chateau

This place was free and was roughly 3 ½ hours away. For whatever reason the GPS has stopped indicating turns to Julie. The result of this was a lot of U-turns. The last U-turn of the day was on a highway, where I pulled off and drove some distance to turn around and rejoin it. We were driving uphill when I glanced down at the console only to see the heat gauge almost maxed out. I said “shit” and drove the van up the hill to the first exit and got off all the while watching it climb and max out. I managed to pull off to the side of the road while the engine gave in and shut off. I might have sworn again, but I can’t remember. A few days back I remembered that I needed to “top” up the coolant but forgot. For the life of me though, I couldn’t imagine the engine heating up so quickly without giving me the flashing warning light as it had in the past. After I removed Julie’s seat and the engine cover a cloud of smoke came up from the engine. Despite being on a highway, we were really near nothing and it was a Sunday, so everything was closed. Julie made me read my book for an hour before I was allowed near the engine to see what had gone wrong (she said the engine had to stop smoking first). She didn’t need an injured boyfriend on top of a dead car. The coolant tank was completely empty, so I decided to fill it up. Julie was watching the line to let me know when I put in enough liquid, but it never reached it. Julie and I realized this at the same time, but the coolant jug was already empty. So we both frantically looked and listened for a leak. It wasn’t long before we found the culprit. A rubber tube had torn almost in half. The tools I had were useless to fix this problem but I tried anyway to no luck. Not wishing to be stranded though, I asked Julie for a butter knife and proceeded to unscrew the clamp. My hope was to either cut the tube and refasten it, or to force more of the tube onto the metal attachment and re-clamp it. I did the later. We topped up the coolant tank with water and prayed it would work. Our first try, we needed to add more water as the pipes were empty too. Afterwards, it seemed to hold. So we continued on our way. Thankfully we only had to drive 36 km before our stop. Only 10 km in and the warning light started to blink. To top it off we have driven into one mother of a snow storm. I pulled over quickly and had another look at the engine. The tube was leaking so I decided to see if the clamp could be tightened more, and thankfully it could. I topped off the tank and ran the engine again, this time the water was staying put. We had only stopped for about 5 minutes but the entire van had at least 2 – 3 cm covering it. The snow was coming down in huge clumps and falling fast. The repair seemed to hold to our stop and when we stopped we decided to see about visiting the restaurant of the parking lot we were in. It was too expensive. It became cold in no time so we huddled under the blankets and read before going off to sleep. I hate to eat my words, but Phil’s dad told me of a time he needed to fix a car with a knife while he was traveling and Phil and I both laughed at the possibility and I said I would hope to never need to resort to that. Well, it wasn’t a difficult repair in the least, but I still remembered his story. We plan to get the van fixed tomorrow.

Colmar

Our first day in Colmar was spent cleaning up the van at the campsite and me catching up on the blog and re-adjusting the new mirror. That evening we played cards and watched a movie. It was still early in the day when we arrived in Colmar, but we just weren’t up to touring. The following day (April 6) we left the campsite and found parking just outside the centre of town. The town map provided us with a suggested walking route which we decided to follow. Now we knew we were in France but we couldn’t help feel its German vibe. All of the buildings and alleyways scream Germany, but the shops are definitely French. Colmar was a really nice town to visit and to wander around. I felt I was almost successful twice in convincing Julie to visit a coffee shop or a restaurant, though she told me later that I wasn’t even close, everything was too expensive. There was a castle near by that we had decided on visiting that day. Now, I thought I remembered it being located in Mulhouse, so that’s where we went, all 60 km south of Colmar. However, when we arrived in Mulhouse we realized almost immediately that it wasn’t the right town, and confirmed it when I decided to look at the brochure. The castle was located just 15 km west of Colmar, and what I was thinking of was the old car museum that was located in Mulhouse. Slight mistake and it wasn’t the first one of the day. I was stubborn and wanted Julie to visit this castle so we headed back towards Colmar (this was easy to convince Julie since Dijon appeared to be in the same direction). Well, as it turns out the route to the castle is not well labeled. When we finally turned onto the correct road it was blocked off. There were so many cars parked along the street and on a trailer I saw a rally car that appeared to have rolled over. I would still love to see a rally first hand, but the amount of people walking down the road told me that it might have been over already. The route to the castle was blocked, and the deviation wasn’t at all labeled, so we headed off to Dijon. We drove for about 40 km before Julie realized we were heading north. She had me pull the van over and we confirmed that we should be heading south-west. To our dismay, Dijon was 5hrs away and not the 1hr we had originally thought. So we turned the van around and continued on the mountain road until we came across a rest stop and had some lunch while we figured out a place to stay for the night.

Hinterzarten and Freiburg

For the first time in days it was sunny when we woke up. It was still a cool day in the mountains but it didn’t spoil our spirits. We got ready, the van too, and headed off to Hinterzarten. The only reason we drove to this town was to then drive through the very scenic “Hell Valley” to Freiburg. Our high spirits wouldn’t last though. As we drove closer to Freiburg we were passed by a guy on a dirt bike who was weaving in and out of traffic. Only moments later we entered a tunnel and I went to pass a car that had slowed down only to have to swerve to miss the biker that was flat on his back with his bike several yards away from him. We saw someone had pulled over in the tunnel and was running towards the fallen biker. We didn’t witness the accident but we are pretty certain as to what had happened. That being said, we didn’t pull over but kept on moving, as did other motorists. Julie wasn’t pleased with my decision, but I tried to rationalize the situation with her; first we didn’t see what happened, second we are not trained in first aid, and third we don’t speak the language. Despite my assurances, Julie and I still aren’t sure if we should have stopped. We felt like shit afterwards and I didn’t feel like driving or touring around Freiburg. When we arrived at our planned stop, outside of a RV dealer, we sat in the car before we did anything. We were pretty shaken up by the events of earlier. Eventually I convinced Julie to come into the store with me in hopes of replacing the side mirrors. Going into the shop did help us move on a bit and we regained some of our focus. We were able to replace the smaller mirror but not the larger one. The stellplatz was such a distance away from the centre of Freiburg (more then 6km) that we decided to leave Germany and head to Colmar, France.

Schiltach, Wolfach, Triberg, Furtwangen and Titisee

We started today off very early because of all the planned stops we had. The first two towns were small and charming but offered us nothing really worthy of getting out of the van into the cold rain. The third stop would prove more worthwhile. Triberg is surrounded by three mountains, has the highest waterfall in Germany and is home to two of the world’s largest Cuckoo clocks. Since we left Baden-Baden we have been driving on the B500, which is considered the tourist road for the Black Forest. Up until Triberg it would seem to be just an ordinary road, nothing touristy about it besides it connecting the towns we have been visiting. Just before we entered Triberg we saw a huge shop called “The house of 1000 clocks”, corny but we stopped anyway. Before we got out of the van I had said to Julie “I wonder if this is where Rob Zombie got the title for his movie?” Of course this was wasted on Julie. It was still fairly early in the day and when we entered the store I was greeted with an automated cappuccino maker. I enjoyed a large chocolate cappuccino while we shopped. Julie picked out the clock we purchased for one good reason. I would have chosen the one that was huge, expensive and did just about everything a cuckoo clock could do, that being, many, many moving parts. In the end it came down to two clocks. The shop manager did his best to leave us alone but when he found out about our trip he couldn’t keep away from us. As is the case when people learn we have quit our jobs to go adventuring for a year. He was extremely helpful though. He managed to educate the both of us very quickly on cuckoo clocks and had placed all the ones that interested Julie on a plain white wall next to each other so she could better see what she wanted. In the end, I did have an opinion. The two she had chosen were more or less the same size. One had wooden carved maple leafs on it, the other had two horses pulling logs on it. The birds sounded different as well, but the main difference to me, was how often you needed to pull the chains. The horse one was needed to be pulled every day. My parents owned one like this and it became frustrating, I don’t know where they put their clock now. So knowing this, I suggest she go with the one that lasted a week. That way when we leave on weekends or what not, we wouldn’t need to worry about the clock keeping time. In the end, Julie was extremely happy with her purchase. The only thing that concerned her was that they didn’t start to package up the clock in front of us. She was worried he’d ship the wrong clock.
Once we parked we made our way to the tourist office to locate where the two “dueling” cuckoo clocks are. In the shoestrings guide we were led to believe that these two clocks faced each other. This was not the case as they were at least 5 km apart. So we decided to go do the hike to the waterfall and then take the van to view these giant clocks. The hike was an easy one but it was truly wonderful to be outside in the fresh air. It was fairly cool and when we got closer to the waterfall it was very damp but it was great anyway. The hike took no more then an hour and when we got back we decided to look for a restaurant to eat. We wanted to try the Black Forest specialties in the black forest. As you can expect, everything was expensive. So we left to see these clocks and can confirm they were large. We didn’t hang around for them to go off though, as we still had two other stops for the day.
Furtwangen is one of the larger towns on the list, but we only came here for the cuckoo clock museum. They had more clocks here then just the traditional style of the black forest. They also had many styles throughout the ages. Many were religious. One in the main hall was of Christ being nailed to the cross on every hour. It was about as exciting as a clock museum could get, so we moved on rather quickly. Our last and final stop for the day was Titisee. Titisee is a famous resort town that has the largest glacial lake in Germany. The campground where we stayed was nice enough and the restaurant was a fair price. So we had our dinner at the restaurant and it was rather nice – but way too much food was served. Julie could barely finish the main course and neither of us could finish the salad.

Freudenstadt and Alpirsbach

The morning was extremely cold which deterred us from leaving the warm comfort of our blankets. When we finally plucked up the courage to get going it was already getting late in the day. Being called the “Black Forest” you would expect to see trees, but so far we see the scars of clear cutting that was done many years ago. For the most part it is ugly, but occasionally you get nice bits. The rain is mixed with snow and the plants are still holding onto their winter coats, so I would suggest visiting in summer, as it might provide you with more cheerful scenery. It was still raining and cold when we arrived in the town of Freudenstadt, and after driving through the town we decided to skip it and head to our final stop for the day in Alpirsbach, which was at Camping Alpirsbach. The owner of the campsite was extremely friendly providing us with detailed information about the campsite and the surrounding area. What was probably the coolest thing to happen so far at a campsite was the owner stated that we each get a beer from the local brewery for free. This is when he walked us over to the fridge and started to explain that because the water is so soft in Alpirsbach, they actually have to add minerals to the water, but because of this, the beer is really good. He asked Julie if she drank beer, and when she answered no I was not particularly happy (she could have said yes, then I would get two beers for free) but before I could even finish this thought, the owner looked at me and said I would just have to drink two beers. I like this campsite. I chose a Pils, and since they also had a raddler Julie ended up being able to have a beer anyway. I went to explore the small campsites facilities, actually thinking they would be pretty bad based on what we originally saw when we pulled in. However, the bathrooms and showers were all very new and well kept. To Julie’s dismay, all the showers had the “Rain” shower head installed which provides no pressure. She also complained about the soft water not washing away the soap causing her hair to feel gross. I agreed with the pressure thing, but couldn’t confirm the hair thing. When I went to do dishes, I noticed that they had a stove and a microwave provided. We haven’t seen a microwave since we left Canada. Since Spain, Julie has been craving popcorn and since I spotted the microwave we decided to venture out to the grocery stores in search of microwave popcorn. The way into town is through a very lovely wooded area cut along a hill and is only around 1 km away. Despite visiting 3 grocery stores and having found it in the past we came up empty handed, sort of. In the last grocery store I purchased a bottle of Alpirsbach export (like a lager beer) and popcorn that can be popped on the frying pan. Julie is now happy because she can now have popcorn whenever she wants (until the bag runs out). The town itself is barely longer than the brewery plant which didn’t provide us with much to “explore”. In fact, the campsite owner only mentioned the church and the brewery for things to see.

Baden-Baden

It’s cold and raining today which made our drive less than pleasant but worse, it affected our plans for the day. Our intention was to start our tour of the Black Forest with a visit to Baden-Baden, Freudenstadt and Alpirsbach today. But the weather sucks, so we decided to hang out in Baden-Baden. When the weather cleared up we went into town and explored the pedestrian areas. The main reason for visiting Baden-Baden though is the spas. We’re broke, so we skipped this and that is also why we originally planned to visit more than one town today. The small pedestrian area was really nice to explore, but as you can expect, there were many stores catering to tourists. Julie loves this tree (below) so much that she took a few pictures and hopes to have it in our yard when we get back to Canada. We have no idea what kind of tree it is though.

Heidelberg

Our next destination after Stuttgart is Heidelberg but since the drive would be too long after visiting the museum earlier in the day we decided to stay in Heilbronn. When we arrived in Heilbronn it appeared to be a nice town to walk around although we never got the chance. The parking area was a fair distance away from the centre, however, it was next door to a lovely park, which Julie and I took advantage of. The nights are still cold which is another reason we chose this town for our stop, the site is free but the electricity is €0.50/kilowatt. I think we only put in 1.50 and that lasted us the evening, night and morning with our heater being on sporadically and our fridge on the entire time. On the second walk into the park Julie brought her entire bag of breadcrumbs to feed the ducks. This made me happy because the breadcrumbs were taking up a portion of the fridge. The following morning was so nice that we almost decided to stay put and just enjoy it, but we wanted to press on and see Heidelberg’s fairytale castle. We never got the chance to visit the medieval streets of Heidelberg because all the parking was underground and if there was above ground parking it had height restricted bars. So after a few U-turns we almost skipped this stop but in a last attempt we decided to drive the van up the cliff to see if the castle itself offered parking. To our luck it did, and it wasn’t all that expensive at €2.70 for 2 ½ hours. This massive castle was truly impressive. The views from above the city were amazing too. The fact that it’s ruined actually adds to the appeal. The only thing we would suggest skipping is actually paying to go inside. It is not at all worth it. Oh we did get to see a museum on medicine, but that was about it and medicine museums aren’t what I would consider a good use of my time. After paying the €6.00 entrance fee, you then have the option to purchase an audio guide for €4 which you can only use once inside the gates but if you actually want to visit the castle rooms etc, you have to pay extra for a guided tour. The castle is definitely worth visiting and from what we could see of the old town centre, it would be too. Just don’t pay to go in unless you’re going to want to do the guided tour (we didn’t). We stayed outside a VW dealership in the town of Bruchsal, this stellplatz offered a place to park, water, dump and electricity for free.

Stuttgart

Porsche and Mercedes build their cars here, it is also the birthplace of the automobile. So naturally I wanted to come here. We stayed at a campsite just outside the Mercedes stadium and plan. We had agreed to only visit one car museum while here so I had to make a difficult choice. I chose Porsche. The museum was small and just ok, but they are building a much larger one which should be pretty cool (I was reminded of the BMW museum in Munich). The best part about the museum was that it was free. We didn’t know this going in, so I asked if that meant we could now visit the Mercedes museum. At 8 euros admission, more transit fees to get there and a simulator for 4 euros I was eager to visit the Mercedes one despite the exorbitant costs. But we were running out of day time so I was only allowed to see the one museum, which was alright with me. We did manage to walk around a bit outside the campsite, since the weather was very nice, and ended up going to Subway for lunch. It will probably be the last time, as it was 20 euros. Oh, and they were still giving out stamps, I guess nobody here has thought to steal the roll yet.

Gunzburg

That night we drove to Gunzburg and I wasn’t all that comfortable knowingly driving at night to reach this destination because I didn’t fully believe the lights would work. To my defense, we have been driving without lights for nearly 2 months. Not having them really changes your attitude towards driving. But we managed just fine. The lights work just as well as they did before. Julie mentioned this location and I at once said yes to it. The place we are staying is in the parking lot of Legoland Germany. We need electricity still as the nights are cold and it was a cool place to park for the night, although Julie wouldn’t allow me to visit Legoland, which is probably for the best.

Prague

We all felt pretty rough in the morning and once on the train Julie’s hangover didn’t combine very well with the motion sickness she usually gets on train rides. Julie made it to the bathroom on the train only to find that it was occupied and she ended up puking on the train floor. Thankfully we were switching trains the next stop. The train ride to Prague was a quiet two hour ride and luckily for us we got our own compartment on the train. One of Michael’s friends Jonas, has a friend that lives in Plzeň and he offered to give us a hand getting on the bus to Prague. However, our train was delayed along the way and when we arrived he wasn’t there. We decided to ask for directions to the bus station. The young lady behind the counter was extremely nice and helpful (though, Anna reminded Michael and I to pay attention to the map and not the girls that were poking out of her V-cut top). We found out that it would be about a 30 minute walk. Michael then decided to call Jonas to see if we could get in touch with his friend Roman. Five minutes later we were on our way to the bus stop in Roman’s car. It all happened fairly quickly, we showed up, bought the tickets and were on the bus to Prague that left in a few minutes. An hour later we were dropped off somewhere in Prague, but nowhere near the centre. After we got some money and a bite to eat at the nearby mall we took the subway to the Mustek stop which was the centre of town. Before we jumped on though, two ladies approached us realizing we spoke English, but when they learnt Julie spoke French, it was only Julie they wanted to speak with. We (Julie) tried to help give them directions to their hotel and we think we managed to do so. This was sort of funny though, because we weren’t 100% sure of what we were doing only moments before boarding the subway. It was also funny, because you wouldn’t think that speaking French would come in handy in the Czech Republic. Once we surfaced, I used the GPS to help guide us to our hostel. It was a short walk, but it took us down some back streets and other major ones and eventually into the Old town square – we already liked the city. We had to wait 30 minutes for the receptionist to return to the hostel but once she was back it went rather quickly. Upon entering our room we all had to laugh. Of course we weren’t expecting anything great but we all felt like we just walked into a hospital room. The beds were small and covered with crisp white sheets like the ones on hospital beds. The high ceilings and walls were also painted white. We had some tea and coffee (as it was free) before we stepped out for the night. I decided not to bring the camera only to kick myself for the remainder of the night, thankfully Michael had his with him. We wandered around a bit before finally coming to a restaurant that all of us agreed on. Julie had a steak, I had chicken, Michael had Schnitzel, and Anna had a club sandwich. Some of the meals came with soup, fries and beer for around 200 Kč. We wanted to head to a bar afterwards for some light drinking and entertainment. The bar we finally decided on was an Irish pub, we saw a bunch of advertisements for it and weren’t too keen on a few pubs we saw along the way. It was an easy night and we headed off around 11.

We learnt of a free tour the previous day and decided to attend it hoping to save some time and learn more then we could on our own. The tour started at 10am in the old town square, so we bought our breakfast at a huge bakery and picked up some coffee from Good Fellows (we learnt from their coffee cup that they donate their old beans to charity). Our guide arrived more or less on time, though he wasn’t one of the guides on the brochure. It was a large group of around 30 people, from what I could tell, some were from England, some from America and a few Canadians too. The walk was long but interesting and he brought us to a few places we surely would have missed. We learnt a lot about Prague during the 2 ½ hour tour. We were supposed to head towards the bridge and castle, but we never even ventured within sight of it. We went for lunch afterwards at Friday’s as Anna was craving ribs and we all wanted to show Michael what a restaurant chain is like (France is the only place that has 1 chain so far) and he got to experience “North American” food. Unfortunately we had run out of time and needed to head back to the hostel to gather our bags before making our way back to the bus stop. This is where our trip fell apart. We arrived in time to meet the 5’oclock bus, but learnt that all the tickets where sold on that one and the other one leaving at 5:30. This was not good. We had already purchased our tickets for the train ride from Plzeň to Wieden and it left Plzeň at 7. The bus ride takes 1 hour from Prague to Plzeň. We ran through the list of options we had, first of which was seeing if we could take another train or bus, which we couldn’t. Then we talked about renting a car. In the end though we took the 6oclock train and Jonas drove from Wieden to Plzeň to come pick us up. Since he was in the area though, we all went down to the club Roman worked at and hung out until around 11 at night. Despite it messing up our plans, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the remainder of our time in the Czech Republic. Some shady things happen in this country. While we were waiting for Jonas, we witnessed a pimp picking up his girls (we think it was a pimp or the guy was loaded) but prostitution is legal here so I guess we shouldn’t dwell on it. When we came out of the club, Jonas’ car was “tagged” with something that wiped off easily enough. When you walk around Prague there are many men standing around, some we think were there to sell stuff, but we couldn’t be sure as they had nothing on them and they didn’t approach us. The following morning Anna dropped Julie and I off at the train station to head back to Regensburg. We got word that morning that our van was ready to be picked up. We had a great time in Prague and of course we had more great times with our German friends. Thanks for everything guys.

Our van is fixed and Tobias offered to drive us to Pasburg. We loaded the car up with everything and were there in no time. One of the brakes was seized, so that was replaced and the light issue was more problematic but it turned out to be the switch that was faulty. After we paid the 170 euros we stood around and talked for a bit. The mechanic invited us all in for a coffee which later turned into dinner, we had goulash and it was great. We moved on afterwards but we did manage to help provide the couple with some locations in Italy to visit when they go with their rig next month.

Wieden

Tobias was invited to dinner at Anna’s as well on Monday so we all drove down in Tobias’ car. Since it was such a sunny day we decided to venture to a nature park. This one was like a petting zoo with pathways leading you around the lake. It was nice but it wasn’t before too long we all started to get cold and continued our journey to Wieden. When we arrived we learned that Anna’s grandfather was not doing well and needed to be taken to the hospital later that night. Anna wanted to show Tobias around Wieden (it was his first visit), so we made the hike up the volcanic mountain to the church on top. This is my 4th time being here and I once again managed to forget the camera. Julie kindly reminded me before we arrived in the parking lot for the restaurant at the base of the mountain. We drove downtown afterwards and took a stroll though a park and the downtown before heading back to Anna’s grandparent’s house. The dinner was one we have had here before and it was still good, Julie managed to learn a few of the ingredients for parts of it too. This time it was followed by desert, a mole cake, and it was good too. Tobias needed to be on his way after dinner was over so the rest of us went downstairs and watched 1408.
The following day was slow and lazy for Julie and I. Quite the opposite for Anna’s family though. They were in and out of the hospital most of the day as Anna’s aunt and grandfather were going in for surgery. Later that night we booked our hostel for Prague and I tried to show them Canadian Bacon but the sound wasn’t in time with the picture. So we watched Billy Madison instead (Anna and Michael’s first time watching it).
Determined not to spend another day inside we took Anna’s offer of a drive into Wieden’s centre while she went back to Regensburg for an appointment. Julie and I ventured into a few bookstores and some stores that we couldn’t label (they sold kitchen stuff, wine, candles, patio furniture, greeting cards, “funny” mugs and some other stuff that didn’t quite fit). The bookstores provided us with no new books as they seem to have purchased the same ones as other bookstores. It wasn’t before long that Julie and I ventured to a coffee shop for something to drink, warm up and just sit and talk. We decided not to take the bus back to Anna’s place, but to walk back instead. We stopped by a grocery store along the way. We picked up some snacks and some flowers for Anna’s grandmother. Later, we had tea/coffee and cake with Anna’s grandmother, all of us doing our best to hold up a conversation. I think with not much being said, we all did very well. We originally purchased the snacks because we weren’t going to Anna’s Uncle’s birthday party that night. However, when Anna came back home from her appointment she had said that 3 people weren’t going to show up so there was room for us to join the party. We had barely taken our jackets off when shooters were placed in front of us along with our beers (Julie was drinking wine). It was a great night and we all had a lot of fun and managed to get pretty drunk. This was probably not the best idea though, since we were taking the train to Prague the following morning.

Kallmunz

Tobias’ son went to Poland with his mother for Easter which left the 3 of us free for the day. Tobias also had use of the car so he took us to one of his favourite towns nearby called Kallmunz. The town is full of artists and there are many shops for such a small town. The town itself sits right on the bank of the river and this time of year the river was full and running fast. Julie and I thought it completely impractical and unsafe to live so close to the river. Tobias showed us a few plaques indicating the highest the water has been in town (basically just below the first floor windows). We also saw a few houses that were built right into the cliff face. We have seen this before and find it pretty impressive. But before we wandered the town, we did a small hike up the cliff to a ruined fortress. The view from atop the ruins was great. Afterwards Tobias drove us to another small town, where one of his friends lives, to find a favourite beergarden of his. The beer was different from what we have tried before and both Julie and I liked it. It being Easter weekend not much was going on and we learned that during Easter all the bars have to shut down at midnight, so surprising for a long weekend. I should mention that after another delicious dinner by Tobias we played a round of the Wizard game and Julie finally managed to win.

Pasburg

Julie and I woke up at 8am to get ourselves ready in order to drop off the van before noon. The drive was longer than we expected as we were told it would take roughly 45 minutes (But because our van is slow it took more like 1hr and 20min to get there. Once we arrived in this very small village of only 40 houses we discovered the mechanic wasn’t at home. Not sure what to do we climbed back in the car to get out of the cold and snow. We waited for around 1 hour before he poked his head out from a nearby driveway. It turns out his “shop” is next to his neighbors place. He invited us inside for some coffee while he phoned Tobias to translate what was going on and it wasn’t long afterwards that he drove us to the train station. He helped us purchase tickets (although we learnt later that the tickets weren’t good all the way to Regensburg, well we were told this by our friends when they found out how much we paid). His wife stopped by too just incase more translating was needed. It was a short train ride back and we walked back to Tobias’ and along the way found umbrellas for 1 euro each. We also decided to swing by the computer shop before we made our way to Michael’s later that night for dinner. The guy at the shop seemed to think he would be finished with it in a couple of hours. This surprised us because it was Thursday and the following day was the start of Easter holidays and he closed at 5pm and it was nearly that time already. Michael made us Chili con carne for dinner and it was good (he even had oven fresh bread). When the 2 hour time came up we had Michael call the guy for us and apparently it didn’t take him as long as expected so we hastily made our way over there. The laptop is finally fixed (which is why you are reading this….just try to type on a foreign keyboard, it ain’t easy). I know I should have thought of it before, but it looks like our battery is kaput (which I had a feeling) so we can only use the computer when we have it plugged in. With taxes it was 70 euros and Julie and I couldn’t be happier.

St-Patrick's Day

We started the day off with heading to the computer store to see about getting our laptop fixed. It turned out he could fix it and it would only cost us around 40 euros (we didn’t find this out though until later when Tobias called the guy to translate everything for us). We will probably regret not heading to Dublin for St Patrick’s Day as it was one thing Julie and I did not want to miss out on. Unfortunately, it was just too expensive for us to justify the 4 day trip. There are two Irish bars in Regensburg and the one we went to was closest to Tobias’ apartment and had St. Patrick’s Day banners whereas the other one didn’t have any advertisements. Our initial plan was to have dinner and drink the night away at the pub, but to our dismay it didn’t open until 6 (as it is every day) and did not serve food. So we went to a bakery and picked up some beer absorbing food. Just after 6 Julie and I were in the bar along with the bar tender and the music being played over the speakers. We sat near the bar at first, Julie drank Raddlers all night, and I drank Kilkenny all night. Because it was St Patrick’s Day and I was drinking an Irish beer I was given a scratch ticket and proceeded to win one of those large goofy Guinness hats (I won on my next drink too but after that they stopped giving me scratch cards). When a few more people showed up, about an hour later, we decided to move to a long table, not sure if Anna and Michael got our message to come join us. The beer was going down easy and eventually the bar started to fill up. A guy sat down at the end of our table and was speaking to the waitress in English saying he was waiting for his wife. Well, his wife came with three friends and then two more showed up later. The table was full and the place was crowded. The band didn’t start until 9 (which I still can’t get over) so Julie and I had a few beers in us and were wearing the hats, the owner of the bar, a little lady with short red hair took our picture to go up on her bar. Eventually the band came and started playing, all American music, some English (no German, except when they spoke with the audience) and we managed to hear two St Patrick’s Day songs (can’t say they were Irish though). One of the guys sitting next to us was from San Francisco teaching English here, his name was Travis and he spoke to us for a bit, though most of the group spoke German and kept to them selves. On our way out though, more than one person at the table had said good night. We had a great night out, the band was great, the company was fun and it was the best way we could spend St Patrick’s Day in Germany (Most German’s don’t know about this auspicious day but they did hold a festival a few days before, so they are close enough I guess).
The following night Anna came by Tobias’ place for dinner and some games. I unfortunately decided to drink with them this night and the following morning was very rough not to mention that night. The dinner was once again delicious and we learnt a new game called Wizard – the play is similar to euchre but there are no teams and you must guess correctly on how many tricks you will take. It was fun and I won (Julie almost ended up with a negative score but on another day she beat the lot of us). The following day we met up with Anna and Micheal for coffee and made plans for dinner the following night. Before we left to meet up with them Tobias phoned the mechanic friend about our van, it looks like we will be driving it to Pasburg tomorrow to get the van fixed.

Regensburg

Well we sort of managed to find parking once again on “our” street. This time we are lingering over the parking spot but we think it shouldn’t be a problem. On Friday we called Anna to let her know we were in town but Anna and Michael were in Wieden this weekend. We intended to visit some travel agencies to see if we could book a flight to Dublin for St Patrick’s Day and see if we could make it to Kate and Kenny’s wedding in Jamaica. Unfortunately we just can’t afford either trip. The trip to Ireland would run us about €600/each and the trip to Jamaica would cost us $4000 CDN, money we simply don’t have. Julie and I hung out in town the next two days, visiting a coffee shop and some book stores. Sunday night Anna and Michael surprised us at the van and took us out to a Bavarian restaurant where even they had trouble decoding the menu. We were there for a bit but it was getting late so we headed out with the intention of meeting up the following night. On Monday we proceeded to the internet café to see what BW Campers has to say about fixing the van. It’s sort of hard to say if it is bad news or not, but BW’s is saying that they are under no obligation to fix the camper as it was only covered for 3 months or 10,000 km. I guess on the upside we don’t need to drive to Amsterdam, but now we need to pay to get it fixed. Anna was meeting up with one of her friends at a silver surfer themed bar for cheap cocktails night. Anna’s friend (can’t recall his name) knew of a place to get our laptop fixed which brightened our moods (I’m sure the drinks had nothing to do with it). It was raining on Tuesday so Julie and I decided to just hang out in the van and it was a rather long and cold day.
I convinced Julie to try out a Sport store for a pedometer, we’ve had no luck so far and she was convinced that we wouldn’t have any here either so she didn’t want to waste time. Success! We managed to buy Julie a very nice pedometer (although she thinks it was too expensive). Just after we purchased the pedometer we ran into a friend of Anna’s, Tobias (we met him last time and he showed us a nice garden restaurant). We spoke for a bit and in the end he offered a room in his apartment for us to stay in while we hung out in Regensburg. Julie and I being who we are thanked him and said we would give it some thought. The following night we met up with Anna and went out to the Buro for cheap beer and to meet up with more of her friends. During the night Tobias and Anna came up with a plan to get Julie and I out of the van and into his flat. So it was decided for us, at 4:30 tomorrow we move out of the van. Julie and I finished off the night with Tobias at a bar called the Pharmacy (when translated to English) and had the same name and sign that all pharmacies have in Germany. This bar offered free peanuts and didn’t care where your shells ended up, like Jack Astor’s or East Side Mario’s. Friday night we spent the day at Anna’s doing some general research online and trying to get caught up on everything. We later moved the van closer to Tobias’ and moved into our temporary home. We eventually met up at Anna’s place to go out for the night. The night started off with Julie, Anna, Tobias, Nicole and I and ended with at least 5 or 6 more of Anna’s friends. We went to many bars and had a great time.
We met Tobias’ son over the weekend and hung around with them and we went on a few walks. Tobias also made us what he considered traditional German breakfast which consisted of boiled eggs, cheese and meats, bread and muesli. It was quite good, especially the muesli. We also checked out a bridge that had caught fire earlier in the week causing large traffic problems as it was a main bridge. Regensburg is made up of 3 or 4 islands. On the Sunday night we met one of Tobias’ friends, David, whom stopped by for dinner with us. He offered to speak to his brother-in-law regarding our van issues. David’s brother-in-law works for ADAC (a lot like CAA) but is also a licensed mechanic and does repairs for friends and families.

Plattling

Yes we are back in Plattling. We knew this site was free and provided electricity which we need to run our heater. However, the electrical box only accepts 50 cent pieces and we only had 4 so this gave us around 3 hours of use. We slept in the cold that night.

Salzburg

The Sound of Music was filmed here or at least near this city. We did not venture out to the film site but can confirm there are hills (although we didn’t hear the music). Finding parking was pretty difficult in Salzburg and we are about 2 weeks too early to stay in the only campground we know of. So regrettably we only spent a few hours in Salzburg. It was pretty cold so it was probably for the best. The city was nice enough but you can see why Vienna wins out on visitors, but you can also see why it is more visited than Graz. Julie and I went to an internet café to send some emails and get caught up. Our laptop is still broken, having had no luck in getting it fixed. We should be in Regensburg in a couple of nights and we hope to figure out what to do about it then.

Konigswiesen

This was a bit off the beaten track and was only for a rest stop. We didn’t realize just how far off the main road this town is. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful drive even if some of it was done on snow. Most of the road ran next to a stream or river and all the towns seemed to be logging towns. When we finally made our stop we learned that the site was closed but an old man showed us that we could still hook up our electrical and even made sure the box was in order. We were watched for at least an hour before the town’s folk lost interest, we figure they don’t get too many tourists this time of year. Even with the heater it was a bit cold today but at least the sun was out. I had to switch the electrical connection once again to use the electricity and I hope I only have to do it one more time for the remainder of the trip.

Vienna

The following morning we checked in and watched the bus drive by as we were doing so. They managed to take some time to “check” us in and we left knowing we had to wait 20 minutes before the next bus. This really screwed up our plans as we wanted to go to the Spanish Riding school for 10am. The weather so far is cold and it is snowing, though it is not staying on the ground. We made it onto the bus and got off at the main station for the area. Julie and I made a small mistake when we entered the station. We read the sign and thought we were heading to the subway, but went to the surface train instead. We learned from a fellow that the train takes us into town and should be leaving shortly, well shortly was close to 20 minutes. We weren’t alone in this error though. A group of Americans came on the train thinking it was the subway too. I guess, we should have thought about it first being above ground and everything but we were tired and I hadn’t had my coffee yet. And to our defense, some subways come above ground at times. To add to our confusion the first 3 stops were identical to the subway stops it was only on the 5th stop that we realized our error. We offered some help to the Americans about which stop they should get off at to make it down town but they didn’t listen and got off one stop early. When we consulted our map, they got off where only the train goes to and there are no sites whatsoever nearby. So Julie and I got off at the correct stop and took line 3 to get off at the stop for the Spanish Riding School. Once we made it above ground (the train did go subterranean too) we used our GPS to locate the SRS because we had no clue where we were. When we started to walk around while the GPS was trying to get signal we felt like the city had been abandoned. But eventually we made it to the school and started seeing some signs of life. The morning practice ends at noon and runs for two hours. Since we can’t afford to wait until Saturday for the show (and can’t really afford the show either) we (Julie) accepted seeing the morning practice. When we finally arrived at the school, Julie no longer wanted to attend the morning “show” because she felt it was too late and that they would no longer allow anyone inside after 10. I figured we should give it a try since we were there. Lucky for us they don’t care what time you show up for the practice and they willingly accept full price for a ticket. So Julie got to watch the horses practice for around 45 minutes, and thankfully for me we were late so I only had to watch them practice for 45 minutes. I’m not saying I wouldn’t enjoy watching the Saturday performance, but the practice was so boring. Julie thinks differently and I’m sure there are a few other people I know that would agree with her. To Julie’s dismay I wanted to just start “walking” with no particular route or idea of where I wanted to go. But we walked anyway and ended up stumbling on a pedestrian route that brought us right to the Augustinerkirche (Augstiner Church) and Joseph’s Platz. We wandered around a bit more before stopping on a bench to see about locating one of the recommended coffee houses in our Shoe Strings guide. Drinking coffee is apparently the thing to do in Vienna. Well, we had two café’s picked out, the Café Sacher which is home to a famous cake called the Sacher torte and they have been serving it since 1832; and the second one was Café central because some famous people drank there (Trotsky, Freud and Beethoven). I put the shoe strings guide away looked up and saw Café Sacher right next to where we were sitting. That solved that problem. I wanted to go to this particular café for Julie, since she has no interest in caffeinated brew. I had hoped the famous cake would be something for her to enjoy. The cake though is not much to talk about (Julie and I left the café saying that McCain’s deep and delicious cake is better). The cappuccino I had was alright but again, nothing to talk about. There was a Starbucks across from the café so Julie and I went there to get her a Chai Tea Latte and me a Caramel Latte Macchiato, both Grande’s to go. I went to the bathroom while Julie waited for our drinks to be made. We aren’t sure if I got my actual drink, it didn’t taste like they added any caramel and Julie told me that there was some kind of confusion which she later blamed on me. I guess I should explain. While I was waiting for our coffees Julie went to the bathroom. My order came up but Julie’s wasn’t finished yet and a young woman had the same order as me, so I let her take it. But I don’t see how that would cause mass confusion, it was one drink and they were the same. We then passed by the Museum quarter before walking back to the Schatzkammer. From here we went to visit the national library as it was of some interest to Julie. Inside the huge library they had an exhibit about a Jewish photographer/journalist that was sent to a concentration camp where he later died. All of the photos, letters and news articles were only looked at 3 years ago and they set up this display in honor of the work he had accomplished. Vienna was a very beautiful city to just walk around and every building was huge and over the top. I would definitely like to come back, perhaps when it’s warmer and not snowing and preferably on the weekend so we can take in some shows.

Graz

Graz is the second largest city in Austria and was home of the Governator. But after a controversial execution in California the city wants nothing to do with him. There are a few weird sites in Graz, first of which is the Kunsthaus Graz. The Kunsthaus is green and blob like and is used for exhibitions. The locals refer to it as the “friendly alien” and it is very odd indeed. Secondly, the Murinsel is an artificial island in the River Mur and is shaped like an open Sea Shell, it’s used as a amphitheatre and has a café. Julie and I climbed to the top of the Schlossberg (castle hill) to get a great view of the city below. From this vantage point you can see the Kunsthaus and the Murinsel. There was a clock tower at the top with back-to-front hands (the minute and hour hands are reversed). There were a few things to do once up the 260 steps, but all cost and we have seen enough medieval museums and the like. I wish to note, that today’s weather was amazing, it was too hot for jackets and we saw someone tanning. We could not ask for nicer weather and so far Austria is proving to have nicer weather than Italy. Our intention was to head to Bad Waltersdorf to spend the night, but we could not find the location (we think it was under construction) and since it was still fairly early, we decided to finish the drive to Vienna. There were two campsites for us to choose from, because only two were open, or at least that’s what our camping book said. The first campsite we arrived at was closed and this didn’t impress either of us as we were both tired and stressed after driving through Vienna with its traffic. So we plugged in the location of the second campsite only to learn that it was on the other side of town and we had to retrace our steps. The traffic wasn’t as bad once we made it outside of the city as this campsite is located in the forest surrounding one side of Vienna. The location was nice and did provide easy access to the centre. When we arrived the reception kiosk was closed but the gates were open so we found a spot and set up camp. The showers at this campsite were great although Julie tells me her side had an odd smell coming from it.

Stainz

This stop was supposed to have electricity but there was none to be found. The town was small and quiet. We went for a short walk in town to call our parents only to learn that our trusted phone card had finally expired. We purchased this phone card in Amsterdam when we first arrived. It was a great phone card as we could add money to it when we needed and it worked in every country we were traveling in. It did not work well in France. So, Julie was able to phone home, but I wasn’t able to (sorry mom and dad). Tomorrow we are visiting Graz.

Ferlach

We finally made it to Austria. I have wanted to visit its two major cities since we landed almost 7 months ago (among other famous European Cities). The vignette needed to drive on Austria’s highways set us back €8.70 for 10 days use. While traveling through Switzerland we found the highways indispensable. The secondary roads are windy, narrow and extremely slow for our van, the highways offer direct routes at reasonable speeds and it was for this reason that we bought the vignette. We chose the town of Ferlach because it offered electricity with a free spot to park. We both felt the need for electricity to run our heater during our stay in Austria, it is March after all. When we arrived in Austria it was pouring rain and even when we stopped it didn’t stop. After an hour of sitting in the van the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. When we thought of Austria we thought of high mountains and rolling hills, but eastern Austria is fairly flat. We also figured we would encounter snow, but we could only spot it on the mountain tops in the distance. Maybe it won’t be as cold as we first expected.

Verona/Arzignano/Spilimbergo

We don’t think it would have mattered what time we got up this morning, we still would have been tired. As it is, we got up at 9:30 to get the van and ourselves ready before the check out time of 12. We both really wanted to visit Verona, the city that inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. We intended to go visit the statue and balcony of Juliet that was made and wander its centre. However, upon arrival Julie wasn’t feeling up to the walk into town. So I tried to drive closer in hopes of finding a spot but we had no luck and Julie’s mood, health and frustration made us decide to skip out on Verona and head to our resting spot early. Along the way to Arzignano we bought some groceries and visited a computer repair store to see once again if we could get our laptop fixed. It would seem that we will need to get the computer fixed once we are in Regensburg after all. After a night in Arzignano, we went north some more to Spilimbergo for another rest stop, this one had free electricity which we were so grateful for as it was getting pretty cold at night. Spilimbergo is our last stop before we head into Austria which is good, because I didn’t want to venture into Austria until at least March 1st.

Milan

It must be a northern Italy thing, because everywhere south of Milan and Venice has no fog. The fog was so thick in the morning it might as well have been England (we’ve heard rumors, will confirm later). The fog also seems to hang around until noon when the sun finally has enough strength to banish it. We are staying at a campsite for the next few days that sits just outside of Milan. Campeggio Citta Di Milano is located next to the Aquatica (aquatic park) and has bus service into Milan and then a short subway ride right to the centre. Julie and I spent the day getting ourselves showered and our clothing washed. Now when Julie saw the showers she had to laugh and ask me if I could use them. This is because the shower heads, I guess, were installed to the height of an average Italian (5’4” off the ground). I did manage to use the shower without much difficulty but it did get the floor covered with water because of the angle I had to put the shower head at for me to use it. This campsite took us for a surprise. On the left side of the road on the way in was what looked like a petting zoo. Goats, sheep, chickens, roosters, quail, turkey, geese, rabbits and some small birds were the animals we saw. With the exception of the rabbits and the small birds all the animals were let loose to graze in the campground. I made sure the clothes line was tied up extra high and never fully trusted the goats with our meager clothing. That night we tried to phone Phil to find out where and when to meet up but we had no luck. So we decided we would get up early and head into town and try him on his cell again, and at the hostel too.

The morning of February the 28th was cold and foggy. The hand drawn map to the bus stop provided by the campsite office was not very accurate and we managed to wander for about 10 minutes before we actually found the place to buy tickets and the bus stop itself. The entire ride into town took more than 30 minutes and when we were on the bus the police came on to check tickets (first time for us). We arrived at the Piazza del Duomo and hoped we would just run into Phil and his friends, Alex and Mike. After a few minutes we decided we would head to the tourist office and get a map and maybe see if they could try calling the hostel for us. Up to this point, we haven’t made a successful call which we now know it was purely our fault. The tourist office had trouble speaking to the hostel receptionist as the lady spoke barely any Italian and about the same amount of English (Julie figured she was Asian from her accent). We learnt that the guys had left the hostel already. Julie and I went back outside to the Duomo steps and sat and waited hoping that they were heading to where we were. We still could not reach Phil on his cell phone. Sitting on the steps was probably not a good idea since there was a group of guys running around trying to sell their string bracelets. When your standing, it’s much easier to avoid them, but we were sitting and one of the guys approached us. We spoke for a few minutes then he offered us the bracelets. The guy was nice and not forceful so we accepted them; he claimed they were for “good luck” (we gave him 1 euro). We were very down by this point and didn’t know what to do. We were about to give up on meeting up with Phil completely when Julie suggested we ask the tourist office how to dial Phil’s cell phone, maybe we had been doing something wrong. Turns out we had been and we quickly got Phil on the line and arranged to meet up on the stairs outside the duomo. Julie and I only needed to wait about 20 minutes before Phil showed up with Mike and Alex in toe. After some quick introductions and some talk we made our way inside the duomo to take some pictures and have a look around. Besides the church there is really only one other site worth seeing in Milan, and that it is Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. We couldn’t see the later as you need to book tickets three days in advance. We wandered the city for awhile before stopping in a coffee shop for a drink. The coffee was rather good and since it was off the beaten track, it was cheap too. We decided to go to a patio for dinner as it was a gorgeous day. We chose a restaurant near the duomo and each had a pizza and some wine. We walked around some more, ventured into a Ferrari shop and eventually made our way to a bar for some much needed beer. We tried a few places before finding one with food and bathrooms. In some Italian cities from 6 to 9 when you order a drink you get free food, think of Spain and tapas. The first place we settled on was probably the ritziest place we have all been to. Chandeliers on the ceiling, rich looking curtains, waiters in tuxes and the food was on silver serving trays. It was a nice place but we had to stand as it costs more to sit. After one beer we decided to move onto another location, to our dismay, the beer cost us 9 euros each. We made the decision to find a pub for some cheaper beer and ended up settling on a bar that also sold tobacco. This one also had a bathroom, but it was through two doors and a courtyard and it was also a continental. We sat out on the patio for a few rounds and were also served some food with each round. While we sat and talked a few peddlers came around trying to sell their wares, once again we had to repeat “No gratzie”. It was getting cold so we thought about moving on when we learned that it cost more to sit outside than in, so we went inside for 1 more round before calling it a night. Julie needed to go to the bathroom on the way home and asked if we could swing by McDonalds for a pee break. We all had a great laugh at Alex’s expense as he walked right into the glass window of McDonalds thinking it was a sliding door. We made our way back to the subway station and parted ways. It was really great meeting up with Phil and his friends, and who would have thought that it would be in Milan that we would get that chance.

Cremona

We originally meant to stay in Fidenza for a few days since it was free and offered electricity but the site was under construction so we headed off to our back up location of Cremona which didn’t have electricity but was also free. We didn’t do too much, but in our defense the hike was pretty tiring. We left for Milan on the second day in Cremona to go meet up with Phil and his friends.

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is a pretty popular hiking trail that runs along the coast and is linked by 5 tiny villages (hence the name, five lands). None of the villages have road access, which just adds to the charm. We arrived late in a small town called Levanto. The van still has no lights and the route was mostly winding roads that thankfully are not traveled a lot. We stopped in this town because we could park for 10 euros overnight and it was the first town we had seen for 30 minutes. I regret to say that we didn’t, at first, mean to stop here. We were pretty sure on making it to the parking area we had selected earlier. But due to two wrong turns and construction we did a U-turn and parked the van. The van did not survive this drive without getting some minor damage. I somehow managed to get the passenger side mirror caught on construction fencing which cracked the small mirror and bent the mirror mount. It can still be used so we were only mildly disappointed. The next morning we got up early and ventured to what was supposed to be our intended stop the night before, a whole 12 km away.

Bonassola is not considered one of the five villages that make up Cinque Terre but is a great base for doing the hike. Bonassola itself is a small village but it had lots of charm and we thought it was rather beautiful. If we wish to do the hike again, we would go back to Bonassola, maybe stay in one of the B&B’s overlooking the coast. The five villages that make up Cinque Terre are: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. We had a choice to make, either start in the easy section of Riomaggiore or start in the rougher area of Monterosso. Looking back, starting at the tougher section first would have been a smarter idea. The path for the most part was extremely straight forward, only when you arrived in the towns were you unsure of where to go. For that reason, we were not able to complete the hike to the last town. All hiking trails we have encountered so far in Europe are marked with red and white paint. So when we found out that we went on the wrong path in the second last town we were pretty upset since it was dark and we were getting pretty tired. The first two sections where a laugh, the 1st section could be wheelchair accessible. On the route map it estimated that the hike from each town would take 45 minutes which Julie and I did in around 20 minutes (we covered over 20.47km today, which is just under 30,000 steps). The next two sections however had pretty steep climbs that made your legs ache only after a few steps. We were told by a group of Americans that the last section we missed would have been pretty flat. Through most of the hike you could see the ocean and the cliff stretching out in either direction. You could also see the towns. It was truly beautiful and totally worth while. We have two regrets about this section of our trip. First; we didn’t finish the hike because we were too burnt out after we turned around and made our way back to the Vernazza where we caught the train back to Bonassola (It was too dark to continue anyway). Second; our laptop is broken which means we can’t take as many pictures as we would like (no way to remove the pictures). That being said, it now gives us an excuse to come back.

Pisa

It was a relatively short drive thanks to our stop the previous night so we managed to get to Pisa around lunch time. We realized that the location where we decided to leave the van was free until 3pm (free during the siesta hours 12-3) so we ventured into town with the intention of moving on afterwards and not spending the night as planned as it would cost up to 12 euros. From where we parked, we were able to see the top of the leaning tower just over the old city walls. Despite this, we still had to navigate a few cobbled streets and locate an entrance past the city wall which was not at all difficult because of our trusty GPS. Julie had spotted a sporting goods store, so we stopped by there first in hopes to purchase a new pedometer for her without any luck. The square in front of the leaning tower was quite nice, mostly grass and sidewalks and very open. Julie and I noticed that the leaning tower wasn’t the only structure sinking. It seems that the church, the government building and the tower were all designed utilizing the same materials and same basic design as well as the same sinking land, although the tower is the one that leans the most. We took a few pictures and the obligatory “pose” before making our way to an internet café to catch up on emails. There is nothing else to see or do here. The streets surrounding the square are lined with vendors and street hawkers and they are the most aggressive we have encountered to date. The leaning tower of Pisa was a pretty cool site, but it’s a shame there isn’t anything else to help keep you in town.

Orbatello Scalo and Suvereto

Before we left for Orbatello Scalo on Monday morning we got the van ready, paid for our site and purchased a bottle of butane. It looks as though we won’t be able to purchase propane until Germany. To our pleasant surprise upon leaving the sosta we passed an Agip gas station (cheapest gas in Italy) and a Lidl (our favourite grocery store in Italy), since we were nearly out of gas and completely out of food, this was indeed a great find. We added a stop, Ostia Antica, which is another buried city located 30km west of Rome. However, it was closed because it was a Monday so we made our way to Orbatello Scalo which is a small town located right on the coast. It provides campers with a secure place to park for the night. It was however, difficult to find. We drove all over this town with no luck and almost slept in a highway turn off lane before making another attempt at the town. This time we saw the signs leading us towards the parking area and when we arrived there was another camper. The German guy wasn’t sure as to where we could park (Julie and I didn’t know either) but he did say that he tried to speak to the policemen earlier. It was late and Julie wanted to stop for the night so she marched over to the police car and asked if the field behind the car park was okay to park our campers (she did this in a mix of French/English/Spanish) and it seems that we were all correct in our assumptions. I guess the only reason we didn’t think it was the spot was all the tiny concrete blocks poking up out of the ground and a small driveway that had a no entry sign. The concrete blocks were spot markers and the no entry sign was intended for cars, not campers. The following day we drove to an even smaller town called Suvereto. We learnt that Phil isn’t heading into Milan until February 28th, and it is only February 19th so we spent a few hours trying to figure out where we could spend the extra time but found there aren’t many cities to visit along the coast between Rome and Pisa. Suvereto has room for 5 campers, dump station and fresh water and unlike Orbetello, it does not have a time limit. There were no free sostas after Pisa so it was logical for us to spend 3 days in Suvereto. It was boring, but we made due with reading and playing games.

Rome

I’m glad to say that when we drove to Rome, it was mainly on the outskirts and the traffic was only slightly nerve racking (I was impressed and appalled the way a young lady drove a smart car through traffic like it was nothing more than a Vespa Scooter). The Sosta where we decided to stay was one recommended by John and Linda, it also was the cheapest of the 3 we knew of. It was completely fenced in and had 24 hour security watch. This meant we could come and go as we pleased which was great news. If you can believe it, the manager’s name was Luigi and his behavior was odd, but extremely fun and friendly. The check in took about 20 minutes, but was well worth it. He explained three ways of getting into town, showed us on a map where all the main sites are and provided us with detailed directions on how to get to each site using the public transit. He also had a print out of how to drive to our parking spot which was just neat. We left feeling very informed and happy. Since it was still rather early we set up camp, had a bite to eat and purchased the transit tickets from Luigi. We had 45 minutes of travel on any form of public transit for 1 euro. Not bad considering this is Rome. The tram and the bus stopped right outside the gates, but since the bus came by every 10 minutes we took the bus to the main station, from there we took the tram to the Coliseum. Julie and I could not imagine visiting this city in the summer because it was already filled to the brim with tourists (Julie and I stopped considering ourselves tourists long ago, we’re travelers). Everyone thinks that southern Italy is warm, but as you can see by our pictures people are actually wearing toques (it was still nice though, around 8˚C and sunny). To our dismay the Coliseum closes at 3pm and it was 3:15pm when we stepped off the subway. We did take many pictures though and had to say “No gratzie” to the many peddlers surrounding the coliseum. We then decided to visit Palatino Hill but learned that it too closes at 3pm. Damn! So we headed towards the Trevi Fountain knowing that it would not be closed. Trevi fountain is located in an extremely small square which made it hard to navigate through the throngs of tourists to get a good vantage point for a photo. We concluded our day after visiting the Trevi fountain (it was a spectacular fountain), but being as cheap and broke as we are we didn’t follow the superstition of throwing two coins over your shoulder into the fountain (first coin is to ensure a trip back to Rome, the second is for a wish). So we decided to walk back to the main train station so we could see more of the city and along the way we passed by many other spectacular unnamed sights. It was very awesome walking around Rome, exploring. With Rome being the largest city in Italy, you don’t feel it in the old centre with many pedestrian roads and everything being located within walking distance.

The next morning greeted us with a dazzling bright sun and cold crisp air. It was around 9am when we made our way towards the Vatican City. We ventured into St Peters square and witnessed the insanely long line entering St Peters basilica. It took Julie and I a few moments to locate the entrance to the Vatican museum (they had two signs pointing in opposite directions?). Although this line up was long, it proved to move swiftly. The main reason we went to the Vatican museum was to see the “Great Creation” painting on the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. However, this was not all that we saw. We spent a few hours visiting the many exhibits; there was a large concentration of the Roman period and a fair section from Egypt. Many of the hallways had very elaborate paintings on the walls and the ceiling, everything extremely detailed and “rich”. Once we saw everything there was to see we made our way to the Sistine Chapel. This small room was rammed with people all looking up at the many paintings. Julie and I expected something different, so that means we were partially disappointed. This was also the only place in the museum that you couldn’t take a picture. After spending 24 euros to get in, Julie was in no way leaving without a snapshot of the famous painting. Now, I forgot to mention that I dropped our make shift button for the camera in one of the rooms. The room was full of traffic and the floor was finished in impossibly small tiles. So needless to say, I lost our small pin, thus ending any chance for us to take pictures. This caused a nasty argument, but wasn’t without purpose, Julie managed to come up with an idea to take pictures but she still remained upset, but managed to stop glaring at me. We took her ring on the keychain and bent it to form a straight point, so we could then press the hidden contact inside the camera, thus making it possible to take pictures. However, this blunder actually made it easier for Julie to take that secret picture in the Sistine Chapel. So Julie was armed with the camera pointing at the ceiling, hoping to capture that tiny painting, she said “I think I got it” and not a moment later a security guard walked up to her and asked her not to take any pictures and to cover the camera lens and turn it off. We complied but we don’t think he knew we had already snapped a shot. We left shortly after as the room was cramped and smelled of ass. Julie feeling vindicated.

After we left the Vatican, we made our way to the Coliseum for another chance. This time we made it in. One thing is for certain in Rome, expect to cue. Once inside we made our way to the highest area to have a view of the centre ring. Julie and I were surprised to see all of the secret passageways that would have been under the arena floor. There was only a small section of the floor replaced. This, we suppose is to better educate how the Coliseum worked. We both feel it would have been better to see a completed floor, especially if you could walk out onto it. After that we went to tour the Royal Forum and Palatino Hill. The description in the Shoe Strings guide is much better than actually seeing it in person. We did enjoy the walk, but our feet started to get sore (we completed over 40,000 steps today, on average we do about 10,000). I tried to convince Julie to go to the Trinity College pub, but she said the more money we save now, the more I can spend in Milan (when we meet up with Phil) and when we head over to England. Discussion over, we went to Mc Donald’s (sorry Dad, I know you hate hearing how often we visit Mc D’s but it’s convenient, fast and cheap). The main reason we went to McDonald’s though, was for a bathroom. We have learnt that almost all restaurants, pubs etc in Italy don’t necessarily provide you with a toilet. And to our dismay, McDonald’s bathroom was closed. It was however, right across from the Pantheon (which did appall us, we would have preferred seeing a café or something). Despite us being so close to the Pantheon, we didn’t venture in, because that was on the list for the following day.

We awoke early once again the next day, and once again it was a gorgeous day. The only site open on Sundays in Rome happens to be the Pantheon, St Peters basilica and the Spanish steps. Today we started off near the Spanish steps and made our way to the Pantheon, our intention was also to visit St Peters basilica, but Julie was tired from the previous two days and we had already seen the square and the church from the outside. So after an extremely pleasant walk around a few new streets (we spent about 5 hours in town) and a quick call to our parents we made our way back to our van for a much needed rest. The bus was extremely full on our way into town so we couldn’t (or didn’t try) to get our tickets validated in the machine. This meant that when we arrived at the main station, we could take our time. We used our time wisely. We went to a book store and purchased some books. I picked up a book that contained 3 novels, Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara Trilogy and Julie picked up Michael Crichton’s Next, a Sudoku book and an expand your brain book (basically it has many different questions like math, memory, and word problems geared to “strengthen” your brain). I learned later from my dad that the trilogy I purchased is now more than seven books. We also managed to visit an internet café and learn more details from Phil regarding Milan.

Pompeii

The drive to Pompeii was only supposed to be an hour and a half long, but during the drive there was some construction which led us on a detour. The detour was not labeled well and we ended up doing a complete circle before retracing our steps and trying again and finally making it back onto the SS-18. The driving we have seen since we have gone south in Italy is absolutely appalling. Julie figures they just hand out car keys and driver’s licenses to anyone over a certain age without ever explaining any of the rules of the road. They don’t follow any street signs; stop signs, speed signs, traffic lights (they do well over double the limit). They even make up imaginary lanes (two lanes of traffic where there should only be one) and pass anyone at any time on any side no matter how busy it is, even if it means they have to drive into oncoming traffic forcing everything heading the opposite direction to a sudden stop. When pulling out of a driveway they pull out until half the car is on the street and then they look to see if any cars are coming. One way streets apparently have no meaning at all. Add in illogical street layouts and the ability to park anywhere (again not following the signs) and it makes for a very nerve racking drive (I’ve never heard Julie swear so much, she compares it all to being in a bumper car rink where the point isn’t to crash into other cars but to narrowly avoid one collision after another). We did, however, manage to arrive at the campsite unscathed. It was around 2pm and we both felt it was still early enough to venture to the archeological site of Pompeii. Camping Spartacus is located almost directly across from the entrance to the city of Pompeii, so close we didn’t bother marking the van with the GPS. Before I go on, I should mention that Julie and I were disappointed with the city built up around the famed ruins. The town was disgusting, crowded, filled with strays and completely surrounded the ruins. I guess Julie and I expected it to be located away from the city, in a rural setting. I should also mention that the garbage strike was still on and didn’t help with the appeal.

Once inside the gates, you’re left on your own to figure out how to go about exploring Pompeii. It is so large that you could spend an entire day wandering. With this in mind, Julie and I consulted the provided map and planned out a route. It is hard to believe that this city was buried once you start walking its many streets. Everything is mostly in ruins, but there is still a lot to see and much that has remained. Like paintings on the walls outside of shops, or paintings inside houses, they even had graffiti. The streets have elevated sidewalks and every time you approach an intersection, they have elevated stepping stones to keep it level but still allow for carts to pass through, they call these Zebra crossings. The sidewalks are elevated for one very good reason, to keep from walking in the refuse that was dumped in the streets. Julie and I were very impressed with the whole city and despite the modern city at its walls, you felt like you were in a different place. The best preserved building was actually a small house located a fair distance from the main city. The tiled floor was still intact, paintings and large storage containers could be seen. This was also were we saw our first preserved person (we later saw the dog and many others things locked up behind a cage). It was upon our arrival to the coliseum that Julie realized she had lost her pedometer (The pedometer counts her steps which is how we determine how many km’s we walk in a country). Since this was important to us, we decided to back track our steps hoping to find it. Unfortunately we did not end up finding it, but on the upside we can now walk around Pompeii with out the use of a map. The map of Pompeii that was provided for us came with a scale, so Julie and I managed to calculate the distance with a piece of string and the route we took.

We had intended to spend two nights at the Pompeii campsite, visiting Naples the second day, but since we didn’t see the reason to visit Naples (high crime, busy and dirty city) just for a slice of pizza we stayed at the campsite doing our laundry and catching up on our writing. We ended up spending another day mainly because we had the chance to get everything clean inside the van. So this meant spending Valentines day in Pompeii rather than Rome as we had originally planned. This years Valentines Day could not compete with last years, as Julie and I believed we had some spare money lying around and we went out to Ruth Chris’ Steak House in Mississauga (that dinner was well over $100). Nor could it compete with the previous years. So this year we took it down a bit, a candle light dinner (we ate spaghetti) with some wine. We actually spent the time talking about our previous Valentine’s experiences. We did attempt to find a nice place to eat out, but most things were expensive or not what we would consider romantic. After dinner we realized for the first time that we could no longer charge the laptop. We rely so heavily on our laptop that this problem will have an impact on our trip. Needless to say our moods soured. 

Julie discovered that we had a new friend the moment we arrived at the campsite. A small black dog hung around our van looking for affection and food until the day we left. We believe the dog belonged to the campsite owners, though we can’t be sure as there are so many strays in Italy. The buried city of Pompeii had 4 dogs wandering its ruins, following anybody that had given them food. So three days were spent in Pompeii and we head off to Rome for another three days, although we know we won’t be spending much time in the van. If we had more time and money we would have ventured to the Island of Capri.