We’ve completed 3 years of driving around Europe and so begins Year 4. But first I have to do a recap of the last half of 2024.
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| We started in Athens and ended in Paris. It was an ambitious year and we pulled it off. This was 2024! |
And Without Further Delay – The Unrequested Random Clearing House
Not every paragraph I write fits cleanly into a topic thesis, some exist as disjointed, broken time-line offerings that were orphaned in my attempts at brevity. Let’s acknowledge that not everything can be an anecdote. Here are the underdeveloped notions that refused to play nice. Congratulations folks, it’s another unrequested episode of Bobby’s Random European Clearing House!
Catch Up
The last you read; we had completed our circumnavigation of the country of Turkey with an additional sojourn into Georgia. It was then time to head north to meet my brother in Vienna.
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| It was all fun and games until we met some real French people. |
Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia
We were moving fast and trying to hide from the heat. Northern Europe is unforgivingly cold in the winter and Southern Europe is almost equally uncomfortable in the summer. The crowds, scorching wet heat, and sucking mosquitos keep us indoors or rolling our eyes while outdoors. I’m so soft and old now that I only want the shoulder seasons. How’s that for a picky bastard? We needed to seek altitude while we blasted through these countries. We didn’t find it. We ran the portable aircon we bought in Morocco nonstop. Every sweaty handshake moved us north until we entered Slovenia.
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| Bulgaria. The lake makes it look cooler than it was |
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| Sofia Bulgaria. I grew the stache so they would respect me if I was kidnapped in Georgia |
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| Sofia Bulgaria and the obvious Eastern influences |
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| Somewhere in Croatia |
Slovenia
The parking spot we chose was free and came with a plug. Ruse is a cute little town and a good staging spot to clean and prep for the absorption of another human into our wee habitrail.
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| Maribor Slovenia - The oldest grape vine in the world. 450 years old!!!! |
Vienna
The pickup was smooth and the Friedman Bros were reunited with much fanfare. The whirlwind was about to begin.
Czechia
Brno was great, Prague was the best!
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| Prague at Sunset |
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| Prague after sunset |
Germany
The stereotypes are true – only let German’s lift your hood. Nowhere in the sunshine countries of Europe - can they be trusted. I can tell you stories of incompetence that would blow your mind. I came to Radeberg for some usual maintenance items and stayed for the charm of Bautzen.
Poland
I researched the usage of the letter “W” in the English language. It is used 1.3% of the time. I then researched how often the “W” is used in the Polish language: 4.1%. As I suspected. Then I went for the grand prize…The letter “Z”. In English its usage is .27% (that’s a decimal point in front of the 2). In Polish it’s a whopping 5.33%! That’s on par with the vowels A, E & I. That’s almost 20 times as much. Come on, Poland… less, Z's, less W's. They’re at the end of the alphabet for a reason. You don't need that many Z's and W's. And why put a Z next to an S? Isn't that a little redundant? Put your pitchforks down, I’m just trying to help.
Slovakia
Orava, Strba, Kosice
A castle, a lake, and a charming town. I didn’t learn anything about the culture. I don’t have any quirky insulting thoughts about their habits. More research is required. We shall return.
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| The castle at Orava |
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| Lake Strba. The next day they dragged the lake looking for that lost vowel. |
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| Kosice |
Hungary
Eger & Budapest.
Goodbye Skinny. We had a great 3 weeks together. I can’t attest to either of these cities as I was focused on my brother’s departure. I always miss him so much.
Back to Slovakia
Still didn’t learn anything – more research needed.
Back to Poland
The highlight was the Wolf’s Lair. Hitler lived here for 800 nights like a bat in his dank bunker during the end of the war. The campsite is actually inside the property so you have free reign all night (one more reason traveling by moho rocks). We got loaded with a German couple and walked back over to the spot where Claus Von Stauffenberg tried to assassinate Hitler. It’s difficult to kill pure evil. He failed and was executed later that evening. Cue up the Tom Cruise movie “Valkyrie”
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| The foundation of the building in which the meeting took place. See the photo below for a recreation |
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| The red squares denote where the generals stood and absorbed the blast. The briefcase was the bomb |
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| Then, once inebriated, we went back after dark and poked around in the ruble while accompanied by German accents. Spooky. |
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| There are some beautiful spots in Poland. This is Nowe Guty |
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| This is Poznan Poland |
Back to Germany
In Brazil, it's a contest to see how many best friends you can make in a day. In Germany it's a challenge to try and get one German to acknowledge your existence. We did better than average and had a good time but you do need to try a bit.
Made it to Berlin. I had no idea how many barber shops and kebab stands could squeeze into a single street. Good thing we were in Turkey earlier in the year and I still remembered how to say hello and thank you.
First impressions of Berlin: Big grimy city, rare to hear German being spoken, every 20 steps there's a plaque denoting the evil that was committed in that exact spot by their ancestors.
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| A whole family murdered at Auschwitz. These plaques are in front of the home where they used to live. |
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| This was an entrance gate from an old defunct train station. The plaque denoted that children were sent to their deaths from here |
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| To the left of that man in motion is a sign that explains Hitler's bunker was beneath this car park and apartments. It was here he finally did the right thing and blew his brains out. |
Berlin... Man. I'm so conflicted. So much evil and then there are all the cold war communist years, yet.... It's really a cool city
It went from “The stuff of nightmares” to “Fairytale Germany” as we dropped south and embarked on Deutschland’s Romantic Road.
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| Meissen Germany |
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| Ladenburg Germany |
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| Rothenburg Germany |
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| Trier Germany. This is the Porta Nigra built in 170 AD by the Romans |
Our buddy Dominik (we met him 3 years ago in Croatia) hopped in his whooshbanger and drove to Bamberg to meet us for a couple nights of revelry. The town is charming, the company was great and we walked on clouds
Luxembourg Was Lux
We’d never been to this country before. Q: Do you know why it’s so expensive? A: Because it’s so worth it!
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| Luxembourg City is beyond belief |
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| This is Vianden Luxembourg |
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| Vianden & the lovely Alejandra |
Belgium
The word “waiter” has European roots. They make you wait and wait and wait. Oh, he's gonna get to you…yeah - when he's good and ready. This isn’t just Belgium. It’s the whole continent, but the poor service is worth the price of NOT tipping. I’m a fan.
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| In this town hops grow wild on the side of the road |
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| Dinant Belgium |
Our second stop was a lot more solemn. Ypres seems to be a city dedicated to the sacrifices of the First World War. I was absolutely moved to watch the gathering and the words spoken at sunset on the street. I assumed we had arrived on a special day. No – this occurs every day. I stopped one of the men in the suits after that march and inquired what this was all about. He was from Scotland and had flown in just to pay his respects with his mates. He answered all my questions very politely and when I stalled out, he calmly asked, “if you don’t have any more questions, I’d like to catch up with my mates for a cold one.” I’m assuming it was Leffe he'd be drinking.
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| This sincere procession occurs each night. I was floored |
France
We passed through just to swap propane tanks and to take the ferry to Old Blighty. We somehow thought it would be a good idea to go to Britain for Oct & Nov…. again.
But that’s the next read.
All for now,
Black Top Bobby
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