2024 – Page 6 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

April 24, 2024 Wroclaw PL

Wroclaw is another city with a very complicated history. It sits at the intersection of three different powers, and has been ruled by all of them multiple times in its history. It was originally part of the Czech speaking Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of Poland, then the Hapsburgs, then Germany, and now Poland again. It is actually much more complicated than that. As an example of how things have changed, in 1900 when it was part of Germany and known as Breslau the population of the city was 98% German speaking and 2% Polish. Today it is 98% Polish and 2% German.

The architecture in the Market Square shows the German influence in the area.

It is a very beautiful city, but we didn’t enjoy it as much as we would like as it was extremely cold today. On a trip that has been cold and damp from the beginning, today was by far the coldest day. When we got to the center the temperature was still in the 30’s and it was windy. We spent the first hour shopping for warm clothes. Ton bought another sweatshirt to augment her vest and coat, and I ended up paying too much for a stocking cap to cover my head, because I cannot divide by 4. (4 Zlotys=1dollar)

The side walk cafes were empty today as it was far too cold to sit outside.

We enjoyed walking around the market square, it is very large and surrounded by nice looking buildings from the 1800’s. The square was mostly empty as everyone was walking briskly to where ever they were going, as it was not a day to linger outside.

I’m doing a cold weather jig on one of the over 100 bridges in Wroclaw.

We spent about an hour exploring the square. But some of this time was spent in the McDonalds getting a coffee warm up. The coffee in Europe is really excellent, but sometimes you just want a cup of good old watery Amercan coffee, and you can always find it at McDonalds.

There are three hundred of these small bronze Gnomes throughout Wroclaw. We found about 10 of them, but we were not looking too hard.

We finally decided to head to the old covered Market as we figured it would be interesting and heated. Usually we would walk, but since like Prague as seniors we had free access to the transit system we jumped on a tram for two stops.

The interior of the market. Lots of interesting things for Ton to window shop thru.

The market was nice, and pretty good sized. But what caught our eye when we first walked in was a small cafeteria style restaurant with a long line of customers. We knew we had found our place for lunch. We joined the line and when it was our turn we ordered our food by pointing at what looked interesting, with the ladies behind the counter than pointing at what side dishes they recommended we get with our main course. It was fun and we ended up with a tremendous amount of food for what amounted to $10. When we sat down, the couple at the adjoining table starting chatting. They were a mixed Dutch/Polish couple about our age. The Polish half explained that this cafeteria was typical of the restaurants during the communist era, but was still an institute in the town. The food was hearty, plain and simple. It was really a good meal and an exceptional value.

Our $10 “Communist” lunch. It helped to off set my $20 stocking cap that I needed to survive the cold weather.

After about 4 hours and another visit to a coffee shop to warm up we decided to pack it in and head back to François. The weather is supposed to be just as cold for the next couple of days, but it is supposed to warm up closer to the weekend. Tomorrow we are going to shift to Krakow, but we may just hunker down for a couple of days and wait for it to warm up so we can enjoy the city.

April 21, 2024 Wroclaw PL

Today we entered our 18th European country,(19th if you count the Vatican, we are debating the technicality since François the motorhome did not enter the Vatican). The distance today was 290 kilometers, so I expected it to be less than 4 hours. We have been traveling almost completely on freeways this trip so I expected the trip to be a little over three hours. For the first 150 kilometers we were cruising along on nice empty freeways. It was stress free and I could drink my coffee while François moved along on cruise control. But then I noticed that the next turn on Greta the Garmin was a left turn, and you obviously don’t do that from a freeway.

It turns out that the new stretch of freeway in Northern Czechia, and Southern Poland is not complete. So we had about 120 kilometers of 2 lane roads thru the Sudetes Mountains on the Czech/Poland border. The drive was pretty but instead of averaging 90 kph, our average speed with villages and mountain roads was around 60 kph.

Yesterday we had a view of the river with a Gothic church on the hill on the other side. Today we have a yard full of construction cranes. But the family running the campground are very nice, and the showers are warm and the water is hot so we are happy.

It is also very cold. The low overnight in Prague was 31 degrees, and the high today in Wroclaw was 40 degrees. So when we arrived at our campground in Wroclaw, and joined the only other camper a nice couple from Finland, we decided today was a laundry day. Tomorrow we will bundle up and head into town to check out Wroclaw.

April 20, 2024 Prague CZ

Despite the terrible weather we are enjoying Prague. It rained almost all night last night. When we woke up in the morning it was both cold and wet so we were in no hurry to get going. Finally about 9:30 we decided to head out, and just as we were about to leave François another downpour came. So we settled back down and finished our morning coffee. About 11 the rain let up, so we hustled down to the dock to take our pedestrian ferry to the right bank of the river.

Our river ferry that started all of our trips. We are camping on an island in the middle of the river.

The river bank had been converted into a weekend market, and despite the weather there were quite a few people there. Today because of the weather the big sellers seemed to be anything that was served hot, including sausage sandwiches and mulled wine. There was a microbrewery selling beer, and we were impressed that they were offering it in proper glass. No plastic cups in Czechia. You took the glass full of beer and consumed it while shopping in the market and when you were done, you returned the glass to the brewery tent, all very civilized.

Walking thru the Saturday Market along the river bank from the ferry landing.

Our primary destination for today was the Mucha Museum. Alphonse Mucha is a famous Czech artist, and one of Ton’s favorites. The last time she visited Prague she was unable to visit the museum, so she had set aside one day for the museum in our three day itinerary.

Mucha is most known for his advertising posters from Paris in the 1890’s.

Mucha was born in Czechia in 1860. He studied art and architecture and in the 1890’s a rich patron payed for him to study in Munich and Paris. In Paris he began to make a name for himself as an Art Nouveau artist.

Mucha was a leading Art Nouveau artist. The model for this poster was his daughter.

He became famous when he was commissioned at the last minute to provide a poster for a new play by the most famous actress in France, Sandra Bernhardt. His poster when displayed caused a sensation and she signed him to a contract to produce posters for her for six years.

He parlayed this fame into a great deal of advertising work. He also designed furniture, jewelry, and even cookie tins during this time. He made a lot of money, and eventually he decided to return to Czechia as he was very patriotic.

My favorite poster, done for the Moravian (his home province in Czechia) lottery to fund literacy in schools. I love the fierceness of the little girl.

During the early 1900’s he visited the US for a couple of years to lobby for Czech interests, and for commercial reasons. His work was very popular in the US in the early 1900’s.

He was not just a graphic artist, he also worked in paint. This painting is called Winter Night and is based on his time in Russia. In this painting his wife is the model.

After the founding of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. Mucha designed the currency, stamps, and the medals for the army as his contribution to the independence of the Czech and Slovak people from the Hapsburg Empire.

One of the banknotes he designed for the Czechoslovak Republic.

After independence he dedicated himself to art. He began working on his grand masterpiece called the Slav Epic, which is a series of over 20 very large paintings showing the history of the Slavic peoples. He worked on it until his death. Yesterday one of the stained glass windows at the cathedral really caught our attention. We really liked it, and thought it was one fo the most interesting stained glass windows we had seen. It turns out it was designed by Mucha.

Drawing for the design of the stained glass window in the Cathedral in Prague.

When the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939 Mucha was arrested. He was only held for a few days, but the arrest broke him, and he died a few days later at age 78.

A poster for the Paris Worlds Fair in 1900.

We really enjoyed the Mucha museum. It is not a large museum, but we spent a great deal of time there. Ton then asked me to check on a restaurant she had read about to see if it was close. It turns out it was just down the street. The restaurant is a modern take on local food. They serve Czech food in Tapas sized portions. This allowed us to sample a bunch of different Czech dishes. It was quite delicious.

Some of the small dishes we enjoyed today.

To keep up with the culinary tour, Ton had picked out a coffee shop in the Municipal Symphony House. It was built in the early 1900’s, and Mucha contributed much of the art in the building. When we got there it was packed, but we got the only empty table. The room was beautiful, and the desserts were superb.

The coffee shop in the Municipal House. A great place for coffee and dessert on a cold wet day.

Prague has been a great experience. I see why it is one of the must see places in Europe. Normally after three days in one place we are ready to move on. In the case of Prague I think there may be more to see, and while we are moving on, I am not in a hurry to do so.

April 19, 2024 Prague CZ

Yesterday we spent most of our day in the old town of Prague which is located on the east bank of the Vitava River, today we spent the day in the interestingly named Lesser Town on the west bank of the river.

Crossing the Charles Bridge to the Lesser Town.

Despite having the diminutive name of Lesser Town the west bank of the river has the Palace and main Cathedral for the city. They are located on a major hill that looks down on the river and the rest of the city.

Looking down on Prague from the grounds of Prague Castle.

The climb up the hill is very steep. As we were beginning the climb an Irish Pub (Ton and I believe that it is a EU law that every city must have at least one Irish Pub.) had a great sign, “Look at how steep that hill is, you are going to need a Guinness to make it up there.” Despite the warning we took on the hill without a Guinness.

St. Vitus Cathedral at the top of the hill.

The Cathedral and the Prague Castle are part of the same grounds, with the Castle and Government buildings surrounding the Cathedral on all sides. There was very little historical commercial activity in the vicinity of the Cathedral which is unique to what we have seen in most cities. In this case the Cathedral was integrated with the center of government, not commerce.

The rear of the cathedral. All of the buildings surrounding it appeared to be religious or governmental.

The Cathedral is considered Gothic, and there has been a church on site here since the region was converted to Christianity around 1000 AD, construction of the current Cathedral was begun in 1340, but building ebbed and flowed over the next 500 years and the building was not completed until the 1870’s. For this reason it has elements of Renaissance and Baroque architecture also.

When we got to the entrance there was quite a line to get in, but we decided to buy a ticket because it looked interesting, and also because we were cold, and it looked warmer than outside. It was quite crowded inside, but the building is immense and could handle the crowd.

We liked this statue built onto one of the columns. We are not sure what it is depicting, and it is much more modern than most of the other art work in the Cathedral.

We both really enjoyed the stained glass windows. They also seemed to be from many different eras which was interesting to compare.

This window had a style of art and coloring that we have never seen in any other Cathedral we visited. We both really liked it.

Another window that felt more “modern” to us than the windows we normally see in Cathedrals.

The Cathedral was undergoing repair in the center, so parts of it was roped off. Most of these giant buildings require constant maintenance, so it is rare to visit one that does not have part of the building closed off or covered in scaffolding.

This is the last of the original gargoyles removed from the Cathedral a few years ago. The original Gargoyles were made of sandstone and as they aged they began to break off. Now all of the original ones have been replaced with concrete replicas.

After the Cathedral we moved to Prague Castle. Prague Castle was begun in 970 AD and is the largest castle in the world at 750,000 square feet. Part of it is the official home of the President of the Czech Republic. It was originally built as the home of the King of Bohemia, and has also served as the residence of the Holy Roman Emperors.

The coronation room in the castle is immense.

Only a small part of it is open to the public, but the scale of the rooms, especially the coronation room is very impressive. The public areas are sparsely furnished, but given the crowds that makes sense.

Adam and Eve on the outside of the Cathedral.

There is a small street next to the palace that is supposed to represent typical merchant shops from the middle ages. Mostly it looked like an excuse to capture some money from the tourists visiting the Castle. But one of the buildings had a collection of armor from the era which was interesting.

The suit of armor designed to look like a chicken was our favorite. Someone really admired chickens and spent a lot of money to have this constructed.

The walk back down the hill was much easier than the walk up the hill, so we decided to reward yourselves with a Pilsner (after all we are in Czechia, not Ireland), and some Goulash. We picked a restaurant at random, and had a nice warm meal. When we ordered our beers the waitress asked a large for the gentleman and a medium for the lady? We said sure, my large beer turned out to be a full liter, which was twice as much as I expected, but I managed to finish it.

Our meals included 3 different types of dumplings.

After lunch we decided to head back as the forecast called for heavy rain in the late afternoon. It was a good call as a few minutes after reaching François and firing up his heater the rain hit. We spent the rest of the afternoon staying cozy and dry.

April 18, 2024 Prague CZ

We made a short shift up the freeway to Prague. Before we left Pilsen we went into a Lidl near the campground to stock up on some food, and stopped for some fuel. Parking at the Lidl was tricky as the lot was very small and parking was awkward. But in the end we have a full refrigerator and some interesting Czech foods to try. The drive over to Prague was busy, and near Prague the right lane came to a complete halt with trucks backed up for several miles. We never figured out what caused the back up.

The Charles Bridge, one of the highlights of Prague.

I had picked out a campground on an island near the center of the city. After having a campground to ourselves for the last two days, I did not think to call ahead. When we arrived at the campground, the lady at the reception said they could not accommodate us for the three days we plan to stay in Prague. Fortunately there is another campground on the same island, and they had no problem accommodating us, and the manager had lived in the US and visited Oregon so we felt at home. After we settled in we headed over to the water taxi to get us across the Vitava River to the tram stop to get us down to old town. We are really enjoying Prague already because if you are over 65 all public transport is free.

The tower that leads to the Charles Bridge.

Our first stop was the Charles Bridge that is a medieval bridge that is now used for pedestrian traffic, and is one of the main tourist stops in town. Despite it being April, and the temperatures in the low 40’s, the bridge was buzzing both with foreign tourists, and Czechs out for the day. Despite the crowds we enjoyed our walk across the bridge.

The crowds were still pretty thick. You can tell how cold it is, by how everyone is bundled up.

After the bridge we headed to the main square to check out the astronomical clock which is one of the other main tourist attractions in Prague. When we got to the clock I overheard an English speaking guide saying that the clock here is considered the second most disappointing tourist attraction in Europe. (The first is the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.)

The astronomical clock, the second most disappointing tourist attraction in Europe.

We hung around with a bunch of tour groups until the top of the hour to watch the parade of faces that are part of the hourly chime of the clock. Since I did not have high expectations I was not disappointed.

The meridian line in the market square. On sunny days the spire from the monument in the center of the square casts its shadow here at exactly noon.

We based a lot of our agenda for today on a blog from a local guide. We enjoyed her takes on places to go, and also places to avoid. We got a kick out of her description of a popular treat that is sold near the bridge, and around the market. It is called Trdelnik, and consists of sweet dough with cinnamon on a stick with a bunch of cream. She said in her blog that it is not a traditional Czech desert, that in fact no Czechs eat it, but use it as a sure fire way to spot tourists. Whoever invented it for the tourist trade had a sense of humor as Trdelnik in Czech means “dullard”.

The not so traditional treat sold to tourists around Prague.

But we did take her advice on a good local beer place to go to try out Czech beers. Pult was located near the old town hall, and had a small but well chosen menu of Pilsners from all over the Czech Republic. The service was excellent and the guy behind the bar did a great job of matching up our taste with the appropriate beer. We really enjoyed ourselves.

The Powder tower near our beer hall for the day. The car in the foreground is another tourist trap according to the locals, with no connection to Czech history or culture.

After a few hours downtown we decided to head back before it got too cold. Despite it being closer to the end of April than the beginning the overnight temperatures are still in the mid-30’s with a frost warning for Saturday. We are going thru a lot of propane keeping François warm.

April 17, 2024 Pilsen CZ

The most common type of beer in the world is Pilsner, and today we visited the brewery that originated the beer. Pilsner Urquell Brewery has been brewing beer in Pilsen since 1842 when all of the people with brewing licenses in town decided to consolidate beer brewing in one location. They hired a German brewer from Munich to start up the new brewery and cold brewed Pilsner style beer was founded here.

The expansive grounds of Pilsner Urquell Brewery.

Today the brewery is a major industrial site capable of producing 880,000 bottles of beer per day. We have toured breweries before, but they were microbreweries. This is the first time we had visited a modern macro brewery.

Part of the old brewery which was used until the early 2000’s. It is now part of the tour, but not used for producing beer.

We had signed up for a tour at 12:30 and decided to drive over. The weather is still unstable, and it rained overnight, and once in the morning. Today was a little better than yesterday, as there was more periods of sun than rain and the high was around 45 degrees.

Part of the bottling line at the plant. There were three others of this size.

The tour was led by a local medical student who does these tours to work his way thru college. He was very knowledgeable and had a good sense of humor. Besides providing us with the history of the brewery, he was full of facts about the capacities of the brewery, and their worldwide distribution.

This is another Czech beer produced on site here, at a smaller brewery. Ton really liked the logo with the beer drinking king.

They have 9 kilometers of tunnels under the brewery which in the past were used for production of the beer, as pilsner requires periods of cold storage as part of the process. Some of the tunnels were used for the cold production, and some was used for storage. Today the cold production is done using modern refrigerated equipment to control the temperature exactly, so the caves are empty.

Part of the caves under the brewery that were used in the past. The large keg was built in the cave as it is larger than the door. The large barrels were used for cold processing of the beer.

It was an extensive and interesting tour and we enjoyed ourselves. It ended as all good brewery tours do with a sample of unfiltered, and unpasteurized beer. The beer was quite good. While all of the beer sold as Pilsner Urquell in the world is produced here, the company is now owned by Asahi Brewery in Japan, so they do bottle other products at the plant.

Sampling the product in the cellar under the brewery.

After we finished the tour we headed to the town center for a visit. Our target was the synagogue which is the third largest in Europe. We have seen other synagogues in Europe and they are usually understated because of the complicated history of Christian/Jewish relationships. This synagogue is one of the most prominent buildings in Pilsen.

The synagogue in Pilsen is very prominent and an architecturally striking building.

The synagogue in Pilsen was built in the 1890’s. It is a beautiful building inside and out. We were the only visitors while we were inside so we were able to enjoy the interior and look at architectural details.

Looking the length of the synagogue from the women’s gallery.

Unfortunately, Czechoslovakia was the first country conquered by the Nazi’s in WWII so the Jewish population of Pilsen was decimated. Less than 100 Jews from Pilsen returned to the city after WWII so the synagogue fell into disrepair during the communist era.

The synagogue was beautifully restored in the late 1990’s by the Czech government, and the local Jewish community.

In the late 1990’s funds were provided to restore the synagogue to its past glory. The restoration was beautifully done and the interior of the synagogue is striking. Unfortunately the Jewish community in Pilsen is still quite small so services are held in a smaller building. Today the main synagogue is also used to host concerts as well as being preserved as a memorial to the past.

The main square of Pilsen with a mix of architecture from different eras.

While we were touring the synagogue it had rained pretty hard, but the rain let up just as we left. We decided it was time to head back, we wanted to stop at a Lidl near the campground, but when we got there we could not find a place to park François, so we decided to try again tomorrow.

The water tower at the brewery, based on a Dutch lighthouse.

April 16, 2024 Pilsen CZ

We were up early so that we could join Dang and Jeap for breakfast. They skipped the tour groups morning walk thru town so that they could join us for coffee and another long conversation. Ton speaks to them frequently on the phone, but nothing beats a face to face conversation. Finally they had to depart at 9am for Frankfurt and then Thailand.

We had decided yesterday afternoon to head over to the Czech Republic for a few days. We selected Pilsen as our first stop as it is the originator of Pilsner Beer. Tomorrow we will head into town to check out a brewery and take a look at the town.

We are the only inhabitants of a newish campground near Pilsen.

On our drive over the weather continued to be unsettled. On the drive we saw hail, rain, and at one point I saw snow mixed in with the rain, though Ton refuses to confirm my observation. The temperature on the drive was around 40 degrees the whole wayand at one point dropped down to 36 degrees. Not the spring weather we were hoping for. Despite the weather we made good time and pulled into Pilsen around 2pm. We found the campground without any issue, but when we pulled up the gate was closed and no one was inside. There was a note to go to the restaurant down the road 50 meters, and since this is the only campground in Pilsen I was hoping for the best. It all worked out and we are now the only guest at a large lake side campground, hunkered down in the rain with the heater going in François as the over night low is supposed to be around freezing.

April 15, 2024 Würzburg GE

Today we doubled back to a nice town in the Franconian wine country called Würzburg. We had visited here during our first trip to Germany and had fond memories of the town. While we had fond memories of Würzburg we probably would not have gone out of our way to visit if two of our best friends did not happen to be visiting today.

Looking at Würzburg from our spot in the stellplatz.

Dang and Jeap have known Ton since elementary school in Thailand. They have both visited us several times in the US, and every time we visit Thailand we spend time with them. They are like family to Ton, and to me now.

Flowers on the walk on river walk to town.

They are on a tour from Thailand and happened to be visiting Würzburg today so we told them we would meet them at their hotel and join them for dinner. We were off early from Bamberg, and rolled into the stellplatz in Würzburg around noon. We had originally planned on doing some shopping on our way into town, but the Lidl we planned to stop in was too urban and could not accommodate François’ bulk. So shopping is in the plans for tomorrow now.

We took a quick scouting trip to see the hotel we would meet Dang and Jeap at, and found the restaurant they were scheduled to eat at. The recon work done we kind of meandered thru the shopping area. We have seen this kebab chain called Berliner Donner in a couple of towns and it has always been mobbed. Ton was peering in the window looking at the preparation of the kebabs, when one of the guys looked up and showed her the meat he was preparing and waved for her to come in. So we ended up splitting a Doner Kebab which was delicious.

Part of the main shopping street in Würzburg.

Dang had told us they were due to arrive at the hotel about 5:30, and as luck would have it we walked up to the front of the hotel just as their bus arrived. We helped them with their bags to the room and Ton, Dang, and Jeap spent the next hour catching up. Than we walked to the town center where we did the traditional glass of wine on the pedestrian bridge over the river.

Jeap, Ton, and Dang enjoying wine on the bridge over the Main River.

Dinner was a continuation of catching up on events and life. When dinner was over we were the last from the group to leave as no one wanted to end the evening. When we went outside it was pelting rain, and the wind was howling. We hadn’t gone 50 feet when a gust of wind swept Dangs hat off her head and down the street. A gallant young German gentleman took off after it and after about 50 yards ran it down, and returned it to Dang with a smile, and the congratulations of his 3 mates. We survived the walk back to the hotel bent over against the wind and the rain, though the conversation between the three of them never stopped.

The vineyards on the hills above the Main River that produce the wine Würzburg is famous for.

It was a great evening, and hopefully we will be able to hook up with them for coffee in the morning before they head back to Thailand.

April 14, 2024 Bamberg GE

Today we did a short pub crawl in Bamberg. We headed into town about 11am and our first stop was the visitors center. Last time we were here we purchased a self-guided brewery tour that included a free beer in up to 4 breweries. We enjoyed it last time so we decided to do the same thing again. Ton called today Good Beer Hunting.

Bamberg is famous for a smoked beer called Rauschbier. This brewery is one of the two original producers of Rauschbier going back to 1642.

Bamberg is famous for Rauschbier which is a beer with a strong smoky flavor produced when the malt is dried using a wood fire. Apparently almost all beers were produced this way until the middle of the 1800’s. In the mid-1800’s breweries were able to eliminate the wood smoke from the taste of beer by using other methods to dry the malt. This non-smoky beer gained popularity and wood smoke flavors in beer fell out of favor. Two breweries in Bamberg continued on with using wood smoke and they are now considered to be the two original breweries to produce Rauschbier. Today we visited them both, as well as two other breweries that produce modern versions of Rauschbier.

The brewery on the right is the other original Rauschbier producer. It is called Schlenkeria. We also had a nice hearty Franconian Pork meal there.

Ton loves Rauschbier so she was in heaven. I like it, but by the end of the day I was beginning to go towards more traditional German beers. We enjoy the German tradition of having communal tables to eat and drink at. Today we were paired with a German couple in one brewery, and a German/Macedonian couple at another. We enjoyed chatting with them and were able to overcome language barriers to have a good time.

It was a lot of work but we managed to finish off most of our large pork portions.

Bamberg is a nice sized town that is easy to walk in, and has an interesting river front. The town hall (Rathouse in German), is built in the river, because the merchants of the town would not donate land for it. The mayor not to be denied a prominent spot in the center of the town, built it in the river.

Well, we enjoyed our pub crawl, but we are not as young as we used to be, we visited 4 breweries, but could not make it to a fifth despite our original intentions. We just don’t have the stamina that we used to have.

Looking down on Bamberg from our first stop for the day.

If we could do it again we would by one free brewery tour and only one entree at the restaurant. 2 beers and one giant piece of pork is more than enough for the two of us these days.

This is the part of town the tour groups visit. The rest of the town was pretty quiet.

April 13, 2024 Bamberg GE

We are parked up at a beautiful campground next to a small river near one of our favorite towns in Germany. We are going to meet two of Tons best friends from Thailand on Tuesday in a town near here. When I told Ton that the town was near Bamberg she said that it was one of her favorite towns and we should go back there. Bamberg has over 200 breweries near it, and also good food. Bamberg also has the campground that has the best showers we have found in Europe. So our plans for the next couple of days are settled, some beer, some good German food, and long showers.

I said yesterday that our plan for today was to visit a military commissary in Weisbaden to stock up on some American goodies. After going to one military base near our campground and only finding a small 7-11 type store, we discovered that the main shopping was on another base about 20 minutes away. As a retiree from the military we have commissary and exchange privileges as part of the retirement package. But, some countries have put restrictions on access to these facilities as part of the basing agreement, on the theory that people using them should use local groceries. We ran into that in Spain as they have restricted usage to them to active duty military. We expected no problem today because we have shopped in the commissary in Germany twice before, and the exchange several times. So we had filled a small shopping cart with American goodies, when we went to pay at the self-checkout aisle, I showed the clerk my military ID and was getting ready to scan our first item when he asked “where is your pink card”. I told him I didn’t have a pink card and didn’t know what it was. He said that without a pink card we were forbidden to use the base facilities and we could not purchase anything or the German customs would fine the Army. This was news to us as we had freely used both the commissary and exchanges several times when passing thru Germany. I didn’t doubt him, but I did not like his officiousness, he seemed to enjoy blocking us from using the facility a little too much for my liking. It turns out there is a provision in the basing agreement with the Germans that prohibits people who are not based in Germany or permanent residents of Germany from using military stores. However, the pink card is very rarely checked as so few of the customers are like us, that’s why we have never been checked before. Unfortunately, this time we ran into a guy who enjoyed being a pink card cop.

After our shopping disappointment we got onto the road to Bamberg and arrived mid-afternoon. We decided on a day of rest before heading into one of our favorite towns tomorrow.

April 12, 2024 Mainz GE

Today we entered our 4th country of the trip on our way to Poland. We took our time getting going this morning, but were still off to a pretty early start. We picked Mainz as it was a nice distance in the right direction, and it looked like it would be a fun place to spend an afternoon in. Also, there is a US Army garrison near by so tomorrow we can do some shopping at the US base before heading out of town.

Mainz is the birthplace of Guttenberg who developed the movable type in the west. This is the museum in downtown Mainz devoted to him.

The drive over was uneventful, and while it looked like the French Customs Bureau was setting up to do a spot check with about 50 customs officers standing by the side of the road near the German border, we were not stopped. After checking in we thought about skipping Mainz, but I managed to encourage Ton to do the walk, and we headed over the Rhine River to downtown Mainz.

Mainz is famous for its red sandstone Cathedral.

We enjoyed a short walk thru the center of Mainz. It was a nice spring day so downtown was hopping with locals enjoying the beginning of their weekend. It was a nice city but our hearts were not really into walking thru another nice city, so after about an hour we cut it short and headed back to the campground.

A nice row of buildings on the market square.

Sometimes its the small things, often in France, and now it seems the Netherlands, when you use the showers in the campgrounds, they have them on a pressure switch so you have to push a button every 30 seconds or so to restart the water. Tonight’s campground had free flowing water in the shower which we both appreciated.

We haven’t been in a church yet on this trip, so this is the inside of a Catholic Church in Mainz.

April 11, 2024 Nancy FR

After I published the blog last night we did something we rarely do, which is go out at night. But the Port Captain strongly recommended that we head back to Stanislas Square after the sun goes down. We were both glad we listened to him.

Looking thru the Arch on Stanislas Square back towards the Dukes Palace.

It is a relative short walk to the square, but we noticed that the character of the town had changed. The day town crowd was business people and tourists, but the night time crowd was much younger. Later we learned that 25% of the population of Nancy are students, and they had filled up the coffee shops and brasseries around the square and were thoroughly enjoying a comfortably cool evening.

The square itself was probably one of the quietest parts of the center of town, which gave Ton plenty of room to work on her photos.

We walked around for two hours, which had us out to the ungodly hour (for us) of 10pm. We really enjoyed ourselves and the energy of Nancy at night.

One of the bustling cafes at the entrance to the square.

It was cold overnight so we slept in. After a nice Tortilla Breakfast from Costco we were on our way to see the Corbin Museum. It was a pretty good walk thru town to the museum almost all of it uphill. Lorraine is a hilly region in France, so once we left the river it was all up hill to the museum.

The Corbin House is now called the Musee de L’Ecole de Nancy. It houses a collection of glass ware and furniture from the Art Nouveau movement in Nancy. Nancy along with Paris were centers for the movement which was in vogue for about twenty years in the late 1800’s and very early 1900’s. It was eventually surpassed by the Art Deco movement which Americans are more familiar with.

These two glass lamps are examples of the Art Nouveau style, which tries to blend natural elements into household items.

Eugene Corbin was the richest guy in Nancy during the time of the movement and a big supporter and collector of Art Nouveau. He had originally lent his collection to the Nancy Art Museum, but a few years before he died, the Art Museum had put the collection in storage, unhappy, he had his collection returned to him, and converted his family home to the museum we visited today.

The dining room of the home with furniture, glass ware, and the ceiling all done in Art Nouveau style.

We took our time going thru the museum and enjoyed the extensive collection. We finished our visit by walking through the gardens of the home.

Having had a long uphill walk, we decided we had earned a sit down lunch, so we headed back towards the center of town to look for a restaurant. After looking at many restaurants we settled on one that appeared to specialize in local foods called La Portager. We settled into our table and began the process of trying to decide what to order. Often at lunch time the options are written on chalk boards, and can be a little confusing to understand, also the waiter didn’t speak English. We were trying to figure out what we wanted and how to order it, when the two couples on either side of us began to sense our uncertainty. One of them finally told us in English that if we had any questions he would be glad to help us. His partner pointed at him proudly and said that he speaks English because he lived in New Zealand. With his help, and recommendation we ordered a platter of local foods for two. It was absolutely delicious.

Our mixed platter of local cheeses, sausages, and a couple of slices of Quiche Lorraine to die for.

We chatted with them for a while. They were tourists like us, but from Paris. As they left we thanked them for their help. Then the couple on the other side of us took over our guide of food from Lorraine. They were a couple from Brittany who had an American son in law. We enjoyed talking to them and they convinced us to try a selection of regional desserts.

A selection of local desserts including a creme brulle with Bergamot, and a Mirabelle Plum with cream. These are both local specialties and are quite delicious. The clear liquor is made from Mirabelle Plums. Bergamot is a citrus from southern France and North Africa, and is a very popular ingredient in Lorraine. It is also a key ingredient in Earl Grey Tea. The Mirabelle Plum is from this region and is grown in small quantities so very few of them leave France.

We really enjoyed our lunch because it combined good food, excellent company, and we experienced new tastes. Thanks to our helpers from Paris and Brittany, and the good humor of our waiter who put up with us stumbling around in a language we did not understand.

Mason des Souers, producing Macarons since 1793.

In 1792 during the French Revolution the Benedictine Nuns in Nancy were driven from their convent. Not having any practical skills to survive on they began producing Macarons that they cooked when they lived in the convent. It turned into a very lucrative business, and the same recipe is still used today to produce them. A Macaron is a cookie and everyone we have met in Nancy told us we had to buy some. After leaving the restaurant we headed over and picked up a box, but we were too full to try them. We will give you a review in the future.

This is an example of an Art Nouveau Building. We thought about eating in the restaurant, but the Excelsior was much too posh for our budget.

April 10, 2024 Nancy FR

Now that we have been able to move on from the issue with the French court system we can get back to what we come to Europe for, traveling and exploring new places. We were both ready to get going this morning and were up bright and early so we were on the road well before 10 am which is our normal departure time.

The French countryside in the spring is absolutely beautiful.

The first 90 kilometers of our drive today was along back roads in the Burgundy and Champagne regions. This is one of the most beautiful agricultural areas we have ever seen, and every time we drive here we really enjoy ourselves. While the roads are not particularly fast, the scenery along the way is enchanting and we did not mind the slower pace.

Ton loves the contrast between the yellow of the canola crop and the bright greens of the other fields. Spring in France is one of her favorite places to take pictures.

Eventually we ended up on an Autoroute for the last 200 kilometers of our trip. We play a game called toll road “Price Is Right” where we guess the price for a toll on a section of road. When Ton named her price for this stretch of road, I thought she was way over. Unfortunately, she won with a couple of Euros to spare.

Tonight we are sharing our Aire with the canal boat docks for the city. The location is fantastic for exploring the city.

Nancy is a city in Northeast France that is a little off the tourist path, but had nice write ups. The first impression was of a busy medium sized city. I was thinking as we were driving into Nancy that when we first arrived I would have been very stressed with the traffic in downtown Nancy. Now I have a much better sense of how to go with the flow of European city traffic and while it required paying some attention, it wasn’t super stressful. Even when we missed the turn into the motorhome Aire and I instead turned into a narrow parking lot that we couldn’t turn François around in, we stopped and assessed our situation and Ton came up with a great solution. She got out and guided me back down the road in the parking lot while she stopped traffic until we got just past the entrance to the parking lot, then I put it in first, she jumped in, and we circled the block until we got to proper entrance of the aire.

Some of the roads in downtown Nancy, this corner has great art work.

Once we found the entrance to the aire which is managed by the Captain of the Port of Nancy we were given a very warm welcome by one of the workers who went out of his way to show us all of the amenities of the aire. When he found out we were from the US he wanted to know what state we were from, and even knew where Oregon was. He explained that part of his course at the tourism school he attended was US geography. We later played name the state capitol with him, and the only one he didn’t get right was Alabama.

The Port of Nancy where we are staying is a couple of hundred miles from the coast on a canal off of the Meurthe River.

After we registered the manager heard our name and asked if we were here to visit the Corbin Museum. We told him we did not know there was a Corbin Museum, and he said that technically the museum is called Museum de L’Ecole de Nancy, but it was founded by Eugene Corbin. It turns out Eugene Corbin was the richest guy in Nancy around 1900 and was the patron of the Art Deco movement that Nancy is famous for in France. So tomorrow we will visit the “Corbin Museum”.

What Nancy is really famous for is Stanislas Square which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was the center of the Duchy of Lorraine which existed in the late 1700’s. We took a quick walk to the square and it is quite impressive, and we will explore it more tomorrow.

One of the wrought iron gates that lead into Stanislas Square.

Nancy has made a great first impression on us. First we have a distant rich relative from here, the first people we met in the city were extremely nice and friendly, and it is one of the most walkable cities we have seen in Europe, and Stanislas Square is quite striking. We are really looking forward to spending some more time here tomorrow.

April 9, 2024 Migennes FR

Last night right after I fell asleep, a large thunderstorm swept thru. It started with about 10 minutes of peas sized hail which makes quite a racket hitting a camper made mostly out of plastic. The storm lasted about an hour with a good amount of rain, and a few nearby lightning strikes. Then everything quieted down, but it was noticeably cooler.

Today turned out to be our last day for our administrative stop in France. Once again we were on our way early to the Hotel de Police to drop off our appeal. We arrived at the police and were warmly greeted by Officer Nikolas, and the nice clerk whose name we never got. They took a look at our documents, told us that they were fine, and then took them back into the office, while we waited in the lobby. Officer Nikolas and another policeman made some small talk about our travels for a few minutes until the very nice clerk came out and told us the documents had been successfully sent to the administrator. Officer Nikolas then said we should hear something from the administrator in a little while and wished us a “bon journey”, and we were on our way.

We stopped at the office of Eurocampingcars to ask them to keep an eye out for a response to our appeal. Sandrine the owner of Eurocampingcars told us that several of their clients had run into the same problem, and she said it appears the English website to pay fines in France does not allow you to list the name of the driver due to a problem with a link. She called the police to pass this information on to help with our appeal. Now we just have to wait and see if our appeal is successful.

We were back at the campground a little earlier than planned so another load of laundry went into the washer, and we spent the rest of the afternoon planning the next stage of our travels. Tomorrow we are back on the road to begin a slow trek north towards our primary destination of Poland, and the Baltic States.

April 8, 2024 Migennes FR

We were up bright and early in anticipation of our visit to the Hotel de Police in Sens. We were both a little nervous last night not knowing quite what to expect. The drive up to Sens was uneventful, except it started to rain again, and rained hard the rest of the morning.

We found the Hotel de Police no problem, but we had to look around for a few minutes to find a place to park François. Luckily the police station was next to the hospital and we found parking in a large lot there. Just as we were at the door to the police station 4 National Police officers walked up and asked us in French what we wanted. I hit them with my well rehearsed “I’m sorry I don’t speak French”, and before I could continue to my equally well rehearsed ” Do you speak English”, one of the younger of the officers asked ” Do you speak English?”, when I affirmed I do, he said “Then I will be helping you today.” So we were off to a good start.

We were invited in and told to take a seat in the lobby. After a few minutes Officer Nikola came out and asked how he could help. I handed him all of our paperwork and gave told him our story. He asked a few questions, asked for a copy of the registration for the car and my passport. He said wait a few minutes. After a few minutes he came back out with a clerk, and she asked a few more questions about our Societe Civile, then told us to wait a few minutes again. They finally came out and explained that we had not responded to the ticket we had received in 2023 with the name of the driver, and had not responded to a second request for the name of the driver. I explained to Officer Nikola that we had paid the fine as soon as we received it, and he acknowledged that, but the issue was not providing the name of the driver. I told him I was the driver and would have been happy to say that if we knew it was required, and that we had not received the second request.

Officer Nikola and the clerk had a short conversation in French, and told me that it was “not unusual” for the documents requesting the name of the driver to not be received in the post. He said this in a very neutral way, not denying what I was saying was true, but also implying that he hears that quite often. I appreciated his professionalism.

He then explained how we could appeal the finding of the administrator. He said that we needed to mail a statement telling the story I had just told him to the office we were at in Sens. I asked if we could hand deliver it, and he asked the clerk and she smiled and said “oui”. But then she told us one condition that we did not expect. She stated that the appeal needed to be in writing by hand, not typed. I looked at Officer Nikola and he confirmed written by hand is much preferred. After we submit the document he said we would know the answer of the administrator within 90 days.

From arrival to departure was less than an hour, and both the clerk, and Officer Nikola were very helpful and courteous. They were patient in answering all of our questions, and provided us with helpful information.

Armed with the information we returned to the campground with a plan. I would write our appeal in English, then I would take my English and put it into Google translate, we would ask the manager of the campground to confirm that googles translation was accurate, and finally Ton would hand write our appeal in French based on googles translation. It took most of the afternoon to write the appeal, have the French verified, and then write it out in French by hand. Ton definitely got the worst of the bargain with the handwriting part.

Tomorrow we will be heading back up to Sens to drop our appeal off, and see what happens.

April 7, 2024 Migennes FR

Today is going to be another short post. After two days of long driving we decided to take a day of rest. We slept in late and enjoyed a quiet day poking around the campground. After a couple of weeks of bad weather today was warm. One of the good things about all of the rain is the trees and flowers are in full bloom. One of our random observations that is probably not true in reality is that the song birds in France sing more and are louder than anywhere else we have been.

The trees are really flowering at the municipal tennis courts next to the campground.

I finally coaxed Ton out for a short walk. Her heart was not really in it, so we never got out of the industrial area next to the campground.

This vine was full of seeds ready for the next wind to send them on their way.

The reason we have taken a 4oo mile detour in the wrong direction is right before we left for this trip we received a notice that we owed a substantial fine to the French government. The problem is this is the first notice of this fine we ever received. It is not a fine that you would get for a speeding or parking ticket but for something more substantial. We have no idea what we could have done to get such a large fine, or why we received no prior notice that we had done something wrong. After sending an inquiry to the office we received the notice from we still are not sure what is going on. We received some more information that it was for failing to identify someone who had been speeding, but this is the first time we have never heard of this issue, and never received a ticket or notice that we needed to identify someone to the police. The tax office which is responsible for collecting the fine told us that we needed to go to the police in Sens to find out more about what we have been fined for. So tomorrow we are off to Sens to try to understand what is going on. We have showed our documentation to a couple of people who are fluent in French, and they are also equally shocked about the amount, and also cannot figure out what exactly we are being fined for. Wish us luck.

April 6, 2024 Migennes FR

Another busy day for us, but not terribly interesting for a blog. We woke up early and got on the Autoroute heading south towards Paris. Our destination today was Migennes in Burgundy, the total drive was a little more than yesterday, but today was Saturday so the traffic was lighter.

One of Tons favorite things in France are the canola fields, they are in full bloom right now.

The good news is that our route took us right by one of the two Costcos in Paris, so of course a stop was in order. We enjoyed a two hour stroll thru Costco, and now the refrigerator, and all of the cupboards are stocked with our favorite goodies. My only disappointment was that they were temporarily out of hot dogs, so I had to settle for a large portion of French Fries from the snack bar.

The campground we are staying at is next to a large soccer and rugby complex that is currently part of the Yonne River, this dog didn’t mind at all.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, and the traffic south of Paris was very light, so I managed to use cruise control most of the way. I know I have been whining a lot about rain, but when we pulled into the campground we saw the soccer/rugby fields next to it were flooded. It turns out that the campground we are staying at was on short notice to evacuate due to the heavy rains. Luckily it wasn’t necessary, but apparently it was close according to the campground manager.

The Yonne River running high, but mostly back in its banks.

Lastly, Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife.

April 5, 2024 Arras FR

Today was a very busy day for us, but not a very interesting one to write about. We need to be in our “home” city of Sens France for a few days to take care of an administrative matter that we will talk about later, so today we picked a spot about half way there near Arras.

We were off early and had 300 kilometers to cover to Arras which is in northern France. The drive was mostly freeways thru the Netherlands and Belgium. We passed thru 3 major cities, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Antwerp in Belgium, and Lille in France. After a busy but relatively uneventful drive we arrived at a nice family run campground in a small village near Arras. While the drive was busy the whole way we made better time than I thought we would so we arrived during lunch. We were not too concerned when we pulled in and no one was in reception as most campgrounds close for a couple of hours during mid-day for lunch. There were cars around, and the place looked lived in. We decided to go fill François up with fuel, and to run thru a French grocery to get some of our favorite French foods.

We returned to the campground about 3 pm and as we pulled in a gentleman drove up on a tractor, and told me they were closed until April 15. He said that business has been slow in the spring and with all of the rain the ground in the campground is too soft. He recommended an aire in Arras that was about 15 minutes away, and that is where we are now. I made a quick run into Arras and took todays photos which account for the low quality. Otherwise today was just a busy travel day.

April 4, 2024 Delft NE

We woke up to rain pounding and wind shaking François. Our original plans were to go to a famous tulip farm not too far away. Ton checked the weather forecast, and said the rain was supposed to stop around 1 pm. Since the tulip farm was very expensive to visit and we would have to pack up François and drive him there, we both rolled over and slept in instead.

This is the canal near the campground, with a bird fighting the wind above it.

After a nice leisurely breakfast we just chilled in François for most of the morning. The steady pounding rain eventually turned to occasional showers. Then just as predicted about 1pm the rain stopped and we saw blue skies, but if anything the wind got stronger.

The wind blowing the Ikea flags at the store near the campground.

After some discussion and looking at maps we decided to visit the Ikea next to the campground. We knew we could kill a good amount of time window shopping, and we have never been in one in Europe.

The Ikea was only about 1/2 mile from the campground.

Well, the Ikea’s in Europe are full of the same stuff they are full of in the US. But it was fun walking thru and looking at the displays. This one seemed a little larger than the one we have in Portland. In the end we picked up a couple of little things for François, but the bill was less than €5, so it was a pretty inexpensive experience. On the way back thru the park between Ikea and the campground, we saw a few Tulips blooming, so Ton took a couple of pictures to give us a very small tulip experience for the day.

April 3, 2024 The Hague NE

Last night it rained steadily until early morning. We really have not had a good day since we arrived, but last night was probably the worst. The first thing I did when I got up was check the weather forecast, and the rain we had last night was forecast to continue for the next 48 hours except for a short 3 to 4 hour window today. We had originally planned to go to the Hague for the day, but I looked at a couple of options if the weather was really as bad as forecast

As you can see from this picture the weather was not nearly as bad as forecast.

When Ton got up, she thought about the options for about one minute and said if it rains it rains, let’s go the Hague. So after confirming we could extend our stay another day we were off to the Tram for the Hague.

The Hague is most famous internationally for the Palace of Peace, which is the home of the International Court of Justice, and the International Court of Arbitration. They are both housed in the Palace of Peace which was built in the early 1900’s. I learned today that the Palace of Peace was largely funded by Andrew Carnegie. He put up the money for the design and the initial construction. Unfortunately, the Palace of Peace was finished in 1913, less than one year before the outbreak of WWI. The grounds can only be seen by organized tours, but we stopped into the visitors center and saw a nice presentation on the history of the Palace, and the role of the International Courts of Justice and Arbitration.

This beautiful street is lined by stately embassies of the worlds powers. The US embassy is located here, but like most US embassies it is not stately, but a giant concrete block with tiny windows, for security reasons our embassies are really ugly.

Ton wanted to check out an old bookstore in the center of the Hague, so we had a pleasant stroll thru a neighborhood of embassies, and stately old homes. As we were wandering we came across the official office of the Netherlands Royal Family. They don’t live in this particular building, but it is where they work. It was understated as palaces go but still fairly impressive.

The working offices of the Netherlands Royal Family.

Outside the Palace of Peace, the Hague or as the people who live here call it Den Haag is more of a working town without a lot of sights to see. So having taken in most of the sights we decided to head into the city center to see what we would see.

Part of the center of the Hague, Ton liked the art on the roof of the apartments on the left.

We had originally planned on having coffee in the book store Ton wanted to visit, but when we got there the only seats were outside, and today was not a sit outside kind of day. Since I’m complaining about things today, another pet peeve of mine is people using public spaces particularly coffee shops as offices. The only reason we could not enjoy the interior of this beautiful coffee shop is that almost all the tables were occupied by someone with their laptop opened up, working on something. Most of them did not even have a coffee on the table, and a couple were having video calls. I guess I’m feeling a little grumpy today.

But because of all of the people squatting at the tables in the coffee shop, we found a wonderful restaurant a few blocks down that served great Apple Pie, which we made into our lunch. Ton and I have been looking to try Dutch Apple Pie, and when we saw a lunch special of Apple Pie and a coffee we dived in. The only confusion for me is that this restaurant was a “Belgian” restaurant, down to having a menu with a Belgian flag on it. Whether it was Dutch Apple Pie, or Belgian Apple Pie, it was very good Apple Pie.

Bicycles are everywhere in the Netherlands.

It was starting to rain, and as we were walking we came across the tram stop for Delft, so we jumped on and headed on back. It was raining hard when we got onto the train, but by the time we were back in Delft, it had stopped and the sun came out. Tons decision to stick with the original plan was a good one.