Ramstein with Cousins

  • August 20, 2009 5:09 PM

Day 21 – 22: This is the end of our EuroTrip. And what better way to end it, then by visiting family – we headed to Ramstein, Germany to visit my cousins for two days. They’ve got three adorable kids – 1, 3, and 7-years old – and we had a great time playing with them.

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Up and Down Stairs

Unfortunately, I got a bad headache while I was there and felt kind of out of it, but while I was feeling okay, the kiddos were great fun. We hiked in the woods, visited the cows down the street, drew with sidewalk chalk, played hide and seek, and climbed all over Thomas. Well, I didn’t climb on him, but they thought he was a human jungle gym.

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Drawing with Sidewalk Chalk

My cousin is in the Air Force and gave us a tour of the Ramstein Air Force Base. Wow, that place is huge! It’s like a complete American city in the middle of Germany. It was really weird to see US post office boxes, American police cars, Burger King, etc. They took us to the Macaroni Grill on base for dinner, and Thomas and I marveled over the service – free refills, ice cubes, English menus, free water, doggie bags. These are all things you wouldn’t see in Belgium.

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Hiking with Sticks

They also took us to the American grocery store on base. Honestly, I felt a little depressed going there. I saw all kinds of products I missed from the US, (cheese dip, ranch dressing, cake mix) at rock bottom prices, but we didn’t get anything. Part of it was because we couldn’t carry anything on the motorcycle, but part of me wrestled with the fact that I didn’t NEED any of that stuff. I can live perfectly fine in Belgium without it. This doesn’t mean I won’t stock up when I go home, but I did a lot of debating over Want vs. Need.

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Talking to the Moos

The final day, we packed up and headed home through Luxembourg. After 3 weeks, Thomas and I were very eager to get home and didn’t stop long, but Luxembourg City looked like a really cute town to visit again sometime.

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Riding the Human Motorcycle

So that’s it…we can now say we rode a motorcycle on country roads through 7 countries over 3 weeks. We measured it out and found that if drove the same mileage in the US, we would have gone from Atlanta to Seattle. It was a wonderful, memory-filled trip. I feel like I got to connect with Thomas, learn more about myself, and discover new places.

I’m still working on a few more photos from Austria, Munich, and Southern Germany, but I skipped ahead and edited the rest of the photos from this leg of the trip. They’re posted on Flickr:

The Romantic Road and Beyond

  • August 19, 2009 11:00 AM

Day 19-20: On the next part of our EuroTrip, we followed the Romantic Road, a country route through lots of little medieval towns. I’m sure it’s got it’s charm, but after some of the other routes we rode on, I just couldn’t get over the touristy push of this one. The Romantic Road signs were even labeled in Japanese. My biggest excitement of this route was finally capturing a photo of Thomas and me in a street mirror.

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Say Cheese!

The next day, on our way to a nature reserve, we saw some storks feeding in a field and decided to break early.  Across the street was a grouping of 3 lakes, so we took a walk around them.  Those who know Thomas will know what he’s doing in this photo — catching frogs. There were a ton!

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Thomas catching frogs

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Got one!

The other break we had was fun because the town name is our last name. We drove around until we found a sign that we could pose by.

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Thomas poses by the sign

Our last name is Swedish (Thomas was born there) and is spelled has two dots over the O. This town didn’t have the dots, so I made sure to correct the sign with real rock dots.

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Dallas shows how it's correctly spelled. :)

Thomas has been catching up on his blog with some great entries from the EuroTrip.  He’s picked some different photos and focuses on different aspects of our trip than I do.  If you haven’t already, be sure to check them out at: http://sprocket.io

Riding with Chris around German Bavaria

  • August 18, 2009 6:15 PM

Day 19: I knew if I didn’t get all of the EuroTrip posts up before I got home, I would slack. Luckily, there are only a couple more entries.  After Munich, one of Thomas’ coworkers took the day off and toured with us on his motorcycle around the Bavarian countryside.

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Chris on his motorcycle

We started off with some really windy roads up and down the mountains. There were a ton of motorcycles enjoying the gorgeous weather, but unfortunately we saw two that fell over in tight curves.  The switchbacks weren’t my favorite, but I really enjoyed the views, especially the lakes.

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Dallas and Thomas posed by a lake overlook

Finally, I got the guys to stop so I could dip my feet in one of the lakes. I was so tempted to just jump backwards and float, but riding in wet clothes wouldn’t have been fun. I really want to spend a week by an Austrian or German lake.

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A quick dip in a lake

Afterward, we went to the Neuschwanstein Castle which has it’s fame as being used as a model for Disney’s Cinderella castle. Unfortunately, the whole side of it was under construction, but it was quite impressive to see.  We went up to a little swinging bridge to get a great view, and then hiked up to the castle.

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Neuschwanstein Castle from the swinging bridge

It was a ton of fun touring around with Thomas’ coworker, and I hope when he comes to visit the Belgium office, we can show him around here.

I’ve now got the rest of the photos from the Budapest leg of the trip on Flickr if you’d like to see them:

Munich

  • August 11, 2009 4:22 PM

Day 16-17: By the time we arrived in Munich, I was starting to realize some things about this trip — the biggest one being about our travel style. I’ve always held visiting as many countries as possible as one of my lifetime goals.  And I struggle with a feeling that if I’m living in Europe and not traveling, then I’m wasting my experience.  But I was quickly discovering that the big cities were not as exciting for me.  Part of it was tourists and crowds, part was exploring alone, and part was that I realized that I was rushing through to “collect them all.”  It’s really made me look at the other places I want to visit and see if there’s really something I want to see there, or is it just another check mark.

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Huge Beers at the Hofbrau Haus

In Munich, I didn’t really do the touristy things. The first day, I wandered around the downtown shopping area. Did you know they sell Lederhosen right there along with jeans and dress shirts? Crazy! I found a cute watch in a department store, and some used English books in an Oxfam shop. I spent probably an hour looking through a toy store – the toys were all so creative, thought-producing, and well made. There were shelves of Ostheimer wooden figurines, all kinds of construction and block building kits, boardgames I wish I could have bought, puzzles, dress up clothes, etc. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t see tons of plastic crap or toys based off of TV shows. In the afternoon, I ate lunch on the side of a fountain and people watched.  And then, I found an outdoor cafe to sip a cappuccino and read one of my new books. It was a great day!  The second day, I toured the Deutsches Museum, the German equivalent to the Smithsonian.

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Quiet Beirgarten at the Augustiner

Both nights that we were in town, Thomas’ coworkers took us to famous breweries for dinner. The first night, we went to the Hofbrau Haus, originally the Royal Brewery and now open to the public. It has been around since the 1600s and was one of the places where Hitler started holding Nazi party events. The waitresses wore bar maid outfits and a band played traditional Bavarian music. It was really loud and packed with tourists, but we had a great time. The food was delicious – pork knuckles and potato dumplings – and the drinks were huge. I tried my first radler (beer + lemonade) there. The second night, we went to the Augustiner which dates back to the 1200s. This place was much quieter and had a lovely beer garden outside.

I’ve finished editing the photos from the Prague leg of the trip and have posted them on Flickr:

Austria, the happiest place on Earth

  • August 9, 2009 8:25 AM

Day 13-15: I had a hard time posting about Austria because I didn’t know how to explain how amazing it was.  It was absolutely gorgeous – clear blue skies with fluffy clouds, rolling green hills, monstrous snow-capped mountains, and crystal clear lakes.  The air was fresh and clean and smelled like Christmas trees.

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View from a Gravel Road Wrong Turn

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Thomas at the top of Grossglockner Road

Have you been anywhere before where just breathing in the air fills you with happiness and energy?  That’s what this place felt like.  I just wanted to jump and down with excitement.

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Schloss Ort Castle across Traunsee Lake

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View from the Road

We spent three days crossing Austria.  On the first day, we rode from Budapest along the Danube River to Linz.  It was a beautiful trail filled with wine fields.  The second day started with a tour of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, later a luge ride, and then ended with the terrifying Grossglockner High Alpine Road across the highest peak in the Austrian Alps.  The third day brought us into Munich with a couple stops to dip our toes in the roadside lakes.

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A Quick Dip in a Rest Stop Lake

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View from the Road

Thomas could have dropped me off on the side of the road anywhere along our trail and I would have been happy to stay there for a week or two.  We have both agreed that we need to come back to this area and spend more time…maybe even as a bicycle tour.  We saw a ton of families traveling around on bicycles with saddlebags and camping gear.