Day 35, Friday – October 18
We are re-packing in the morning for our 2:40 LH450 flight from FRA to LAX. Our taxi picked us up at 10:45 am, we too are anxious to get home.
Arrived at airport 20 minutes later and we’re through check baggage, immigration, and security by about 12:30.
Scheduled takeoff at 2:10 on LH450, FRA-LAX was at 2:50 due to no flight time slot, an 11:10 minute flight. We had a mini-electrical problem about 2/3 into the flight, the cabin electrical went on the fritz for about 45 minutes or so. The entertainment and seating and overhead lights electrical locked up. Seats were locked in the power setting positions. Eventually, they got it all back on line. We arrived at LAX at 5:10, instead of the 4:50 time, pretty good actually! At the Hertz car and on the road by 6:30 pm (2.5 hours predicted, not too bad for Friday night) and we made it home by 9:05 pm (6:00 in the morning German time, we were up for 24 hours.)
Day 34, Thursday – October 17
Early 6 am wakeup to finish our unpacking the RV. We turned in our grey box (with the kitchen supplies that Thomas supplies), turned in the towels (both wet and dry) and the sheets and duvet covers. Again, Thomas is well organized and he has a place for everything. Cassette and grey water were dumped, fresh water levels as is.
On the road by 8:45 for our short drive to the RV rental agency. A quick potty break on the autobahn and a final diesel top-off before the McRent rental return process. We arrived at 10:20, Thomas was planning for 10:30! The rental return process was quick and thorough, some clients had unexpected road-rash that had to be played from their security deposits, we were just fine.
Our last diesel top-off was about 78€.
Day 33, Wednesday – October 16
It rained until about 3-4 am. The camper is not really sound insulated.
Our morning excursion into Wurzburg was similar to that of the June 2016 Viking river cruise. The city is beautiful and the Bishop Prince’s Residence is amazing.
The quick city tour started at 8:45 and were back on the taxis at noon. We had just enough time to gather a quick fish and chips lunch at the NordSee quickie shop in town and back to the RVs for the afternoon packup activites. Thomas is well organizes and it was surprising how much stuff we 6 clients had accumulated!
Michael came over in the afternoon, did some troubleshooting on the water pump and ended up replacing it. Thomas said they carry a few spare parts, water pumps being one of those parts that does go out on NEW RVs.
We had a pizza dinner in the campground restaurant at 6:00 pm. Happy hour at 5 pm. I think everyone is anxious to get going tomorrow!
Day 32, Tuesday – October 15
A day to explore the Passion Play HQ and the beautiful and quaint ciy of Oberammergau. The city has really capitalized on the Passion Play and we were able to see the ‘behind the scenes’ process and work involved for this every 10 year production. The town is beautiful and looks like what an upscale Lake Arrowhead could look like!
Hot lunch and dinner were found in a nice bakery, schnitzel and bratwurst to go!
We had to return by 12:30 pm to the campground because we had a 285 mile drive ahead of us. We came back with lunch for the RV only to find out that we were being disconnected electrically (without asking) right around noon. Our bathroom access key fobs were also collected by Michael. I guess check out was prompt. As they unplugged us, they were recording the meter usage of EACH RV. I think it caught us all off guard and left a funny taste.
Since we were ready, Sandy and I decided to take off ahead of the group and get moving. I didn’t really look forward to a LONG drive with a train of RV folks on the autobahn, we could speed up the pace as we travelled alone. We left around 12:10 and arrived at the new camp right around 4:45 pm. The main group left at the advertised 12:30 and arrived right around 5:15. Google Maps had us take a detour off the main A7 autobahn toward the end of the trip and did a great job. I think the ‘pack’ must have been pushing 120kph (on the autobahn), because I know that I was!
Campingplatz Kalte Quelle is a bust. Coins for shower and the bath facilities are in a portable looking Sea Train. This place is tired and we are here for 2 nights. You’d think, something a little more upscale as we close out the trip.
The WiFi is only at the reception area, but I tried it there, made a connection and took it to the RV. We were able to stream on Netflix, Star Trek and the movie ‘The Day After’.
As we were washing up after dinner and during the movie, we ran out of fresh RV system water! The electric pump was pumping, just no water. Just in time, we disconnected, ran over, filled up fresh water, dumped the gray water and returned right before a nightly rain front passed over. Our dad’s were watching out over us!
Day 31, Monday – October 14
Another day cruising through the Alps (I think) from Chiusa through Austria to Germany and to the first King Ludwig II Linderhof Castle. It is undergoing renovation and there was scaffolding and the Grotto areas that were inaccessible.
Lunch was in the castle parking lot, we arrived around 11:45 am and our tour was at 1:30 pm. A leisure lunch in our RVs and then the quick 20 minute tour and then FREE time to explore the tiny place and the tourist shops. We really didn’t need to spend the 3 hours here but …
A short drive to our campsite, Campingpark Oberammergau and we were settled in. The camp hosts are a little paranoid, you need a key to hook up to power and you need a key for the bathrooms!
Today is the pot-luck, chow time at 6 pm in the barn! A nice fire in the barn and a good time was had by all. Thomas went through the highlights of the ‘return the RV process’. We begin packing and cleaning up tomorrow afternoon with return on Thursday morning. We have a taxi from the hotel to the airport on Friday around 11:00 am.
The diesel fuel bill was about 47€, because we had topped off on Saturday.
Day 30, Sunday – October 13
A day cruising through the Lake Garda countryside and then climbing into the winery areas of Chiusa/Klausen. Lots of tourists on the Lake, bicyclists all over the place thinking they own the road. One of them was even drafting Joe and Darlene’s RV as we wound our way through little lake-front towns!
The Chiusa area is beautiful. The Hotel Camping Ansitz Gamp campground is a 10 minute walk to the town. On a Sunday afternoon, everything was pretty much closed. It will be cold tonight, we are in a valley at about 1700′. To be proactive, we switched propane tanks to tank #2.
Dinner in the restaurant was quite good. The pot roast was a strip steak with fresh steamed vegetables, first course though, a spinach ravioli and finished with a warm berries and ice cream dish. The espresso option was the topper, we passed on it. Dinner started at about 6:30 and we returned about 9 pm. One of the ‘complaints’ is that this is European dining, they start later than we do. The local red and white wine selections that Michael picked were quite good. The wines come in 1 liter glass bottles, not the 750 mL and were screw-top. They may be re-usable, not sure though.
A great meal and a great and clean campsight. This is in the top 3:
- This Camp Gamp site, view (of the monastaries) and functionality
- The site at Delphi, for the view
- The site in Venice for the functionality
- Mykonis was nice too, but it was a hotel …
Day 29, Saturday – October 12
A ‘break-away’ day for us! The troops are headed to Verona, on a Saturday, it is probably super packed with tourists on a Verona wine festival weekend.
We left after the caravan left, but passed them shortly after we departed. We headed to Lake Garda and made a futile stop in Modena to find a balsamic vinegar wine tasting. It turned out that reservations were ‘recommended’ on their website. We found the gates closed, so we pressed on.
Our shopping stop was at a Ipercoop, a large chain, much like a Super Walmart in the US. It was located outside of Carpi in a large indoor shopping mall. We spent close to 1.5 hours and we found the things we needed to close out the trip PLUS a balsamic vinegar from a ‘factory’ that has been in business since 1605! Sandy has it stowed away for the checked-in baggage. Walmart has everything.
We arrived at Camping Le Palme in Pachengo. Compared to the other sites, it is upscale, a little crowded and a happy place with lots of kids on a Saturday afternoon and evening!
It sounds like Verona was a little stressful today with the crowds and festival underway, glad we passed.
We sleep in tomorrow, our departure is 9 am! We added diesel right before we entered the campground, I think it was around 75€.
Day 28, Friday – October 11
Traveling overnight in the ferry, we wake up, have breakast in the aft restaurant and are enjoying the cruise back to Ancona. We left Patrus (further south than where we initially arrived into Greece, Igoumenitsa) headed back to Ancona in Italy. Later in the morning, we come to find out that the ship had a passenger medical emergency in the night and had to turn around and drop off the passenger in Corfu. This was AFTER the stop in Igoumenitsa, we will be 3 hours late.
The morning and afternoon dragged on, a painful process, with all the drivers worried about getting off the ship and driving back to Happy Camping in Bellario.
Docking was at 5:30 pm and we didn’t disembark until about 6:30 pm and we hit the road, in the dark, arriving at the campground around 9:15 pm. A semi-truck backed into our RV, knocking off part of the driver’s outside rear-view mirror. It could have been a lot worse!
There are plenty of short-fused drivers trying to park vehicles in the dark. Michael did a great job directing drivers into campsites, Thomas not so much.
On top of this disastrous day, we ended up overpaying/not paying a toll to the tune of 47€.
This mode of travel may not be for us, its not getting rave reviews from some of the other, more experienced travelers as well. We’ll see how the rest of the trip develops, hopefully to a fantastic conclusion.
Day 27, Thursday – October 10
A pancake breakfast to start the day. Thomas and team put on a delicious breakfast with sausage, fresh fruit and pancakes.
A morning to relax and prepare for our ferry ride to Italy with a departure of 11:30 am. Played radio and made one more contact as SV/K6WDE before packing up and hitting the road.
It rained pretty much most of the trip to the port and we arrived with plenty of time BUT it was still a circle-jerk for security and ferry boarding! We all got separated, with no rhyme or reason, a couple RVs had no electrical for their refrigerators and Michael told them to turn on their propane, go figure that one out! The Greek drivers are the worst and we are all glad to be off and back to Italy.
We had our 5pm ‘Bye to Greece’ ouzo toast and had a nice group dinner at 7pm in the aft restaurant.
Day 26, Wednesday – October 9
An early morning start at 8 am headed to the origin of the Olympic Games. A scenic westward drive from Camping Triton II to Camping Alphios through the winding mountains.
We arrived right about on schedule, about noon, had a quick meeting and were on our own until 3 pm.
Played radio for about 45 minute and managed to snag 6 contacts running QRP, pretty happy about that.
We took taxis into the Olympia Archeologic Museum and the remains of the origins of the Olympics. Again, beautiful scenery at the site. Our guide , Nikki, was light and wonderful and made the journey back in time, fantastic.
Dinner was hosted by Thomas in the camp restaurant and we were treated to a troup of 4 who delighted us after dinner with authentic Greek dancing, even involving us travelers! The ouzo was a fantastic cap to the evening!
Day 25, Tuesday – October 8
We started with the ancient Mycenaean Acropolis. The Lion Gate was amazing and the skill set these ancient peoples in the 18th-16th century BC time frame possessed was truly inspiring! First though, we stopped and saw the Treasury of Atreus, also known as the Tomb of Agamemnon, a beehive design tomb. It was built around 1250 BC during the Bronze Age!
The other part of today’s tour was the city of Nafplio, a city that is happening in the Gulf of Argo. A delicious lunch at the Gyro Grill was delicious. We were definitely hungry touring the Palamidi Fortress and the city. Lots of trendy shops and places to spend money. We were back in camp by about 3:30 for camp chores readying for an 8 am departure tomorrow.
Day 24, Monday – October 7
A rainy day from Athens to Camping Triton II. Along the way, we stopped at the UNESO Asclepios at Epidaurus site, the only remaining theater that still retains its original circular orchestra. Asclepios was the god of medicine. The acoustics are amazing sitting in the orchestra on the floor. It is amazing how the ancient Greeks were able to build such an amazing place! We were pretty much rained out, but did our best.
From there, it was a grocery stop and then to the coastal city of Deprano and Camping Triton II. As the season is winding down, if we do these trips again, it is best to NOT do the first and last trips of the season. The campgrounds shut down their amenities.
Dinner was a hosted on the beach BBQ by Thomas, Michael and Sabine. We celebrated Pattie-Jean’s birthday with Sabine’s Pannacotta birthday cake, it was delicious. The folks were great in that it did rain, but we were all good sports about it!
Day 23, Sunday – October 6
Breakfast, buffet America style, from 8-10 am, was delicious. Sleeping in a big bed and a real shower were a treat too. The coffee machine was great and the hospitality has been exceptional. Nice to relax and discover new places. Right up the road, we found a great market and net to it, the Veneti Bakery. It was the best bakery, gelato, coffee, sandwich shop, wine shop, and other refreshments all rolled into one. It is an upscale Greek chain and the selections were amazing. Knowing what was on the ship, we picked up a sandwich for lunch on board, some baklava and an apple turnover for tomorrow!
A long travel day, we met at 1:15 for our taxi trek back to the ferry. Ferry left as scheduled (these folks are punctual, unlike the Minoan line) at 2:15 pm. We had airline seats again and settled into a pretty empty ferry ride back to Pierus/Athens. At the island of Timos, we picked up a few more folks but on Symos, we packed the ship with locals. Several times, locals would cruise our empty seats in the airline section (if we were walking around, getting a meal …) and attempt to take over the seat! It was comical, but a game they play (according to Thomas) to get a better (or any) seat on the ferry. The locals were very forceful and very annoying. The only down to the boat ride, if I were doing this again, would be to upgrade the seat to business class, an inside the front of the ship, with comfortable tables and their own food and bar vendor. I think the upgrade is only 11€ or so.
We arrived back in port pretty much on time and were back to Camping Athens about 8:30 pm. We start tomorrow at 9 am!
Day 22, Saturday – October 5
Mykonos! The Blue Star ferry Paros left right on 7:30 am time for Symos, Tinos and Mykonos. Thomas upgraded us to “airline seats” on the voyage. Lots of people in the economy areas, the bar, the restaurant and and any place they could park. We arrived around 1 pm in Mykonos and were checked into the Aeolos New Hotel soon after, shuttled by 2 taxis.
Keys were passed out, room 212 for us, and a get-together and walking tour/shopping/dinner at 3:30. With 3 cruise ships in the bay, 2 being Celebrity X, it made for a crowded Saturday day in the city. Beautiful area with abandoned wind mills and a city covered in whitewash.
A great dinner at a local seaside restaurant, Nikos, as a group finished off a fun day!
We have late checkout at 1 pm tomorrow, before our 3 pm ferry ride back to Athens.
Day 21, Friday – October 4
To the Acropolis! We left on a private shuttle bus to the Acropolis at 8:30 and headed into the city of Athens with rush hour traffic.
We arrived, met our guide, Mariana and did an abbreviated city tour on the way to the Acropolis. The views were spectacular and the engineering and construction was amazing on site! We met at 10:50 am after the tour for our city tour in the bus and a 1:00 pm lunch date in the Athens main square.
The lunch was a la carte and Sandy had the pork Gyro while I had the lamb and pork kebab. Sandy’s was better. There was time for shopping and we found a nice 39th anniversary pendant to celebrate. The shop keeper was Dimitri Belousis with a phone number of +30 3248863 or 3243227. His address is Treasure Fine Jewelry, 7-15 Pandrossou Str., Athens, GR.
Happy hour had the announcement that tomorrow’s ferry ride to Mykonos is leaving at 6:15 am.
Day 20, Thursday – October 3
We left the Blue Dolphin around 9:00 am and headed to the ancient city of Corinth. It was just a short ride and arrived a little early for our 10 am tour with ‘George’.
Corinth was rebuilt 4 times and the ruins are amazing scattered throughout the city. There is no one place, but 3 different locations, one is missing. The tour was amazing and George was anxious to share his information. After the tour, we had time to shop in the area surrounding the ancient city.
Soon, we were off to Athens, with a quick stop at the Corinth Canal, an amazing feat of engineering! We drove into the center of Athens and are camping here for 4 nights, our vehicle will not move for those days, hooray!
There was time in the afternoon to do badly needed laundry with the campground hostess in charge. It is done though, we were first in line!
It was nice to relax a bit, even though the road noise is a bit much. Being at the head of the line has its benefits, you get the first campsite, but you don’t know what you’re getting. We lucked out with a nice easy-in easy-out and level spot.
Day 19, Wednesday – October 2
A beautiful day for a morning drive from Delphi to Itea to the west around the bay, through the Rio–Antirrio bridge and eastward to Corinth. The GPS estimated the drive to be around 3 hours long, arriving around noon-ish. We left at 9:30 am and arrived right around 3:30 pm. If you want to travel with a group, it is going to take a lot longer, every hour or so, a driver break, gas break and yesterday’s grocery store break added up to a long driving day. If you want to save time, break from the group and drive to your destination via the GPS. Ken and Jane did that, like we did before, and arrived at the grocery store right around noon! The drawback is that you don’t always get the campground host’s cooperation in getting a nice campsite. We were right on the beach, hearing the waves, they were stuck in the very back of the site!
We also fueled up on the motorway and our bill was around 110€. So far, we have had 3 official gas stops with costs of about 82, 85 and the 110€.
The camp at Blue Dolphin, while looking great on the website is rather poor and run-down. The potable water isn’t really (there is some kind of salt water inclusion in the local fresh water system), the toilets only flush, NO TP in them (just like Mexico, others said), and only ONE functioning washing machine. This place is right up there with Camp Giglia, low in our ‘favorites’ list. It is however, right on the beach with palapas, lounge chairs and a beautiful bay view.
Dinner was hosted by Thomas in the Blue Dolphin restaurant. We had a fixed menu with a Greek salad, a beef stew/pot roast on a bed of rice and a bread pudding thingy for dessert.
We left the lights on before dinner, returned in the dark and in lowering the windows, we let in a few mosquitos and other flying creatures. Lesson learned, if you leave the windows/screens open, TURN OFF THE LIGHTS when you are not in the vehicle.
Day 18, Tuesday – October 1
A beautiful day in the neighborhood! The campsite has a fantastic view of the city of Itea and the coastline toward Corinth.
Today we visited the “Navel of the Universe”, the ancient city of Delphi. The site and museum are really breathtaking, considering the ancient Greeks constructed all of these beautiful buildings.
The tour began at 8:30 am with taxis to the ancient site. Our tour lasted until 11:45 am with free time in the sleepy town of Delphi. Luch overlooking the Delphi valley with another alfresco view. My first gyro was wonderful, shaved pork with secret sauce and bread.
We met a great shop owner who had fresh olives, baklava, fresh bread, beer and wine. Picture of he and I are on the Google Photos.
A relaxing afternoon, starting the 5 pm Happy Hour time a little early, about 4 pm!
Tomorrow, the city of Corinth.
Day 17, Monday – September 30
Left at 8am for our tour of the Meteora monasteries. The 2 monasteries we visited, the Grand and the other one, were amazing. The skill of the monks is really hard to imagine.
We were done by noonish and packed up and hit the road at 12:45 pm. The drive to Delphi was long and winding and tiring. There must have been a short cut on the freeway, but Thomas wanted to show the back country roads, I guess. There were some areas that reminded me of Mexico, just shanty towns with roofs of corrugated steel sheets.
We arrived around 5:30 pm at Apollon Camping with happy hour at 6. Tomorrow, we begin at 8:30 with taxi cabs to Delphi itself. This place has a nice pool and our group campsites overlooked the city of Itea and the coast.
The temperatures today peeked at 33C, about 91F. Nice and warm and a beautiful dinner alfresco.
Day 16, Sunday – September 29
Woke up on the ferry, found some coffee and wandered up to deck 11 for breakfast. Included in our package was 30% off breakfast in the restaurant. We upcharged for a ham and egg omelette and it too was pretty good.
Around 11 am or so, we were cleared to enter the car decks to retrieve your vehicle. After we left yesterday afternoon, other cars and trucks were shoe-horned in but unloading the vehicle was much easier than yesterday’s loading. I think we were all off and organized by about 12:30.
Drove through Greece to our “Camping Vrachos Kastraki in the Meteora mountains. A scenic drive with lots of winding roads. We arrived around 3pm or so.
Dinner in the campground restaurant! It was amazing, family style, Greek salad, kababs, pork chops, hamburger patties. It was followed up with Greek yoghurt and ouzo! A great meal.
Day 15, Saturday – September 28
Lazy morning, we aren’t leaving until noon from camp. 1:30 or so arrival to the port for a 5 pm departure.
Played a little radio on 20 meters. Lots of RTTY stuff, but zero SSB contacts. Yesterday afternoon, 20 meters was much move lively, but happy hour got in the way. Oh well.
Drove to Ancona to board the Minoan Cruise Olympia ferry ship. We arrived about 1:30 for a 3 pm staging and a 5pm sailing. Our 5pm sailing turned into a 6:30 pm boarding. We were some of the last to board, which we took as one of the first to depart tomorrow, hopefully.
TripAdvisor’s writeup of this ferry line are abysmal. We brought our own toilet paper and were assigned window-less room 9034. The room was bleak, no trash can, a little dirty, but we made it work. The other rooms were not much better so we all just went with the flow. Not a ferry line that I would use again! The ship is old and dirty, lots of truckers who smoke. People on TripAdvisor mentioned that once Grimaldi took over the Minoan Line, the level of service went way downhill. Most of the staff were grumpy, maybe, it is just them being Greek, I don’t know.
If you didn’t have a cabin, you slept in the lounges or anywhere you could. The voyage was scheduled from 5pm to 10 am in Greece with a 1 hour time change. We HAVE to use this ferry line on the reverse journey back from Greece to Italy. Hopefully, it will be more on time.
In contrast, dinner was really quite good in the aft restaurant. This dinner was included in the tour package and the wine that Thomas ordered was great. I had pepper veal and Sandy had pepper chicken, both quite tasty. Others had good reviews of their meals as well with the usual hot this, this was cold, but overall a big positive from the disaster of boarding the ferry the hours before.
Day 14, Friday – September 27
Arrived at ‘Happy Camping” in Bellaria right around noon. A quick orientation by Thomas and happy hour scheduled for 5 pm. The internet doesn’t work down in spot 113, but does in the office area. Go figure, huh?
The beach is pretty much deserted and not much activity in the ‘Beach Bar’ either. Joe and Darlene said the water was cold, not like Texas!
The afternoon was uneventful and the happy hour was a little more lively. I don’t know that this place warrants long stops, we come back here after Greece as well.
Thomas gave us the details about tomorrow’s ferry ride to Greece, we change time zones, 1 hour ahead and take off at 5pm from the port, arriving Sunday at 10 a.m
At the beach camps, don’t forget to bring ‘gnat spray’, they are around your feet a lot.
Day 13, Thursday – September 26
A quick drive to Bologna, we got to leave at 9 am and arrived right on time about 11:30 am. A quick meeting at noon and off we went at 1 pm on the public bus system into downtown Bologna.
We had a 1.5 hour walking tour of the downtown historic area. Beautiful architecture and the 2 famous leaning towers of Bologna were the conclusion. They are just like the Tower of Pisa, but have stopped leaning. The shorter one does lean noticeably.
Time to shop afterwards with a return bus at 4:40, 6:40 or 8:40 pm, your choice. After the walking tour, we just wanted to relax, find some fresh pasta and enjoy a nice meal. We found the pasta with the help of Michael and Sabin and will have it at our next meal on the seaside port of ? They are extensive world travelers with THEIR own RV and know all the nooks and crannies and great food finds.
Dinner was at a cafe called Roberto Bistrot on one of the little streets leading to the main square. At 4 in the afternoon, it was not crowded and the meal was quite good. Two bottles of gas-water, a nice bottle of San Giovese (25€), a proscuitto starter, a secundi of tortelloni and a tiramasu dessert for about 75€.
We took a cab back to the campground rather than wait for the 6:40 bus. We noticed that 4 of the 6 couples took the cab back with Thomas, the ‘older’ crowd!
Day 12, Wednesday – September 25
Damage was done! We took the vaporetto line from Fusina to Venice and then line 5.1/5.2 to line 12 to Murano Island. For 26€ each, you can hop-on/hop-off as much as you’d like in a 24 hour period. The vaporetto is the bus system in the canals of Venice and is just like a bus, loud, noisy, but efficient. The taxis from Fusina to Venice run on the hour and the returns run on the 1/2 hour.
It was fun to window shop for the Murano glass. In the first place, I showed the saleslady a photo (from Amazon) of what we were looking for … dressed as the bum I am .. and she rudely shut me down. When Sandy showed up, suddenly, she warmed up, called to me (which I ignored initially) and took us to a ‘showroom’ where suddenly there was glass very similar to what we were looking for. For her behavior, she lost our business, even though here prices were pretty good.
We ended up at the Vetreria Artistica Colleoni gallery/factory, where we met Samuel and Marianna. They were really entertaining and opened up their shop to us. We did some major, but wanted, damage. We topped off the sales with a glass of prosecco, poured in beautiful Murano glass champagne flutes! Top notch!
Because of our leisurely strolling, we never did make it to Burano, the lace capital of Venice. Next time for sure though!
Day 11, Tuesday – September 24
We arrived right in Venice around noon as Thomas predicted in his itinerary. Driving through the Alps from Austria to Italy was very scenic, the freeways are very well maintained, we should learn something from these efficient Europeans. Thomas is very good at planning and being the wagonmaster. With the crew that we have, he keeps us marching on the days we have to march.
The Camping Fusina campground is huge with just about everything for all. We arrived and took our showers, it was too cold, dingy and dark this morning at Camping Gerli.
After settling in, (it rained the night before here too, so the sites were a little muddy) we met Thomas and took the water taxi to the island of Venice. After his orientation, off we went for the group gondola ride. We ended up in 2 gondolas as Thomas, Michael and Sabin waited for our return trip.
After the ride, we were all cut loose to explore on our own for the rest of the day and ALL day tomorrow. The next time we are on the schedule will be Thursday at 9 am when we head out. We went people watching in St. Mark’s Square, tried the margherita pizza, but it wasn’t quite the same as Pompeii, sorry Rosie!
Tomorrow, laundry and off to the Murano and Burano glass and lace islands on the public hop-on/hop-off water taxi system!
Day 10, Monday – September 23
Last night, we talked about taking a break from the group and doing just an ‘us’ day. The weather forecast is for rain late morning and through the afternoon on our journey from Salzburg to Villach. We go over the Alps and then descend. Just like at home, when it is cold, drizzly and foggy, it is no fun to do stuff outside. (We heard from the others, that it turned out that the views from Eagle’s Nest, today’s side attraction, were fogged out!)
This morning, we decided to do our own thing, let Thomas and Michael know and headed after they left to do some laundry in Salzburg, and some grocery shopping. The laundry search was complete failure, we found the place, but there was no where to park. We did find the grocery stores and decided to hit the road and do the laundry in Villach.
Well, that didn’t work either, found the laundry and then – only 2 washers, both being used! Before dropping down into Villach, we stopped at an AutoGrill on the autobahn and had a delicious lunch of Hungarian goulash, with some type of either potato or pasta noodles.
We arrived, on our own, at the Camping Gerli campsite around 3 pm with no one around. We ended up calling the proprietor and through our muddled conversation, we could park anywhere we could find an electrical outlet. All good, and Sandy wanted to get her spaghetti sauce simmering before the rest of the crew arrived.
It rained pretty much all afternoon and much of the evening.
Tomorrow, Venice!
Day 9, Sunday – September 22
Today was a day with no driving, but we ended up traveling about ALL day and returned about 5:30 p.m. There were lots of tired people on today’s journeys.
We started with a Sound of Music tour of Salzberg. Bryan Crawford of Edelweiss Tours was a fount of knowledge. and we ended with a walking tour with Thomas of the Hohensalzburg Fortress.
Salzberg is getting ready for their birthday celebration and the streets in downtown were packed with vendors and attractions.
The day ended with another cassette dump (in the morning), grey water dump and fresh water fillup (in the afternoon). I think it was a good thing to do. The grey water required removing a manhole cover and doing our dump, quite the adventure!
Rain in the forecast for tomorrow, we’ll see!
Day 8, Saturday – September 21
Our first cassette dump, successful!
A nice leisurely day, driving only 70 miles or so. Half way to the King Leudwig Herrenchiemsee Castle and the other half to the new campground for tonight.
The castle and museum were beautiful, lots of gold leaf and in the process of building the castle, the king ran out of money and bankrupt the country of Bavaria. Interesting, click here for lots of info.
The campground, so far, is the most un-even, but it works and is right below the Salzburg Castle. The showers here are FREE too! We are at Camping Aigen.
Today was our first diesel fuel stop and we added about 82€ to the tank, about $97 and the price was about 1.23€ per liter. We took on about 70 liters.
Day 6, Friday – September 20
Lots of driving today, lots of accidents on the autobahn today and a royal pain in the ass trip. We became separated into 2 distinct groups as the accidents closed down the A9 and A3 expressways. We ended up in the rear group, being LED by Michael, as the front group, being led by Thomas found a different way around one of the accidents.
It all worked out, but the rest stops went out the window as Thomas was trying to make up lost time on this day of 214 miles. This is the longest day, the next is ONE mile shorter!
Lunch was at an autogrill, quick bite to eat. As our group of 3 left the grill, we somehow caught up with the main party that had. somehow, fallen behind.
The campground at Kaiser Camping Bad Feilnbach was really laid out quite nicely with great facilities. We were in Circle 8, we had it all to ourselves. FREE showers!
Michael and Sabin treated us to an authentic Bavarian-style dinner meal. They brought local beers from their area (made by the local monks) as well as a platter of cheeses and cold cuts. There was liverwurst, Black Forest ham, blood sausage, bologna-looking stuff and other cuts. They were all delicious and I tried them all, except for the Liverwurst. One of the beers brewed by the monks was sweet and the other a pilsner type.
Day 5, Thursday – September 19
Being on vacation, we got up at 6:30 a.m. to be ready by 8:00 a.m. for a 45 minute taxi transfer to the RV rental agency. By 8:40 or so, we arrived, were assigned our RV, we are #7 and began the process of orientation and checkout.
By 10:45 or so we were on our way to the Rewa supermarket and by 1:15 we were on the road, fed and stocked up with supplies.
Following Thomas and the GPS, we arrived at our campsite about 4 p.m., got setup and unpacked ready for 5 p.m. happy hour. The campsite, at Camping Mainblick, is again by the River Mein, just further upstream? For being a week day in shoulder season, the campground is pretty full. Hookups are electricity only at the campground. We travelled 111 miles today!
Dinner was at the restaurant in the campground, Sandy had the huge portion of BBQ ribs and I had the schnitzel cordon bleu. Schnitzel with ham and cheese overlaid on the top.
The 6 RV couples seem very nice and we will get along just fine!
Tomorow, we hit the road at 8 a.m., so we’ll be up early, again.
Day 4, Wednesday – September 18
We do our meet and greet at 5 p.m. in the lobby, followed by a dinner at a local restaurant. Tomorrow, our adventure begins!
Breakfast was at Cafe Karin, about a 10 minutes walk. The breakfast in the hotel was the same, except we had link sausage! Coffee is not unlimited, you order a cup and … wait. Cafe Karin opened at 9 a.m. and by the time we arrived about 9:15, it was filling up. By the time we left, it was packed and loud. The one large pancake (between a crepe and an American pancake) was excellent and the scrambled eggs (with ham and cheese) was like an omelette, it too was pretty good. The large coffee was also a nice pick-me-up and the OJ was fresh squeezed. All for 25€, not a bad deal!
Nice lazy morning, finally got moving around 1:30 p.m. and went strolling around the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew (also known as the Imperial Cathedral of Frankfurt am Main) various churches and nook and crany shops. A nice espresso and capuccino at the Einstein Kaffee in the Romer square for a mid afternoon ‘lift’.
Day 3, Tuesday – September 17
Had breakfast in the hotel -1 level. Simple fair, just like in Italy, rolls, cereal, scrambled eggs and sausage patties that tasted like meatloaf. It was passible but both of us are on a different time zone, for now.
We met 3 of the previous trip’s clients at breakfast. Joseph and Kyle and their spouses as well as a mom/daughter combo. We got some good tips, take pictures of the RV in case of damage for one. It sounds like we stop at a Walmart-type store to stock up the RV. We pick it up about 45 minutes out of town, we gathered. The RVs are automatic rather than manual transmissions, bummer. They loved their trip and 2 of their clients are continuing on our trip as well! I think that is a strong endorsement!
We decided to do the Gray Line hop-on hop-off tours. There are 2 loops, the Express and the Skyline. We did the Skyline first, it took us across the River Main and explored the older part of the city. We took a break for lunch and did some shopping in the MyZeil complex, a 5 story mall with a food court at the top. We took the Express loop after lunch. We gathered that Frankfurt is a more modern city with skyscrapers. The European Center Bank (ECB) is located here as the HQ of the Deutsch Bank.
During our walkabout, Thomas delivered a package for us detailing our upcoming activities. Just based on the package, we think his outfit is very well organized. We a mid-afternoon expresso and coffee and enjoyed the people-watching from the Romer Square.
Our bodies are still not on German time, so we went back to MyZeil and on the -1 floor is a grocery store called the Rewe. We had cheese, crackers, wine and beer, all good.
Day 2, Monday – September 16
Arrived right on time, 10:40 a.m. even though we had a late departure. Taxi came to about 33€. The Hotel Miramar was all set up for us and the room, #111 was ready for us as we arrived at noonish. Church bells were going off around the city of Frankfurt, signifying noon. A tiny elevator to the 2nd floor, which is the first floor and we were good to crash for a bit.
A few guests were behind us, they were ending their European RV adventure and checking in for their last night in the city. Most of them had fun, a little crowded in the RV and the schedule could be hectic at times. Daily departures were anywhere from 8 to 10 a.m., depending on the day’s activities. Most days, they were in beautiful campgrounds by 3 in the afternoon. We will see!
Wandered around the various squares, window shopping. Lunch was at Klosterhof around the corner, rich tasting schnitzel and tomato soup.
Day 1, Sunday, – September 15
Left the house about 10 a.m., arrived at LAX about noon, returned the rental car and were all checked with Lufthansa flight LH457 and into the Star Alliance lounge relaxing around 1 p.m.
Flight left about 3:50, wheels up and the captain mentioned that even though we had a late departure (supposed to be departing at 3:10 p.m.), our flight would arrive on time because of a tail wind.
NOTES:
- Paper plates are not available after Germany
- Cappuchino coffee powder is best for coffee, all you need is hot water
- Bring single use Tide for doing laundry
