Best of Europe - BOE2404 + GTC
Finally, it's starting. At least for Michael. Michael will soon start a guided city tour through Munich with some of our participants, with white sausage and wheat beer, while Rubin and Roland make the final preparations to appropriately welcome all participants in the afternoon at the Hotel Henry...not with white sausage and wheat beer.
But before that, we guides still have a lot to do. Like washing the motorcycles and checking that everything is in the right place, making a small drawing of what we roughly plan to do and then explaining to our participants how everything should go. 😊
Of course, the day doesn't start without a daily briefing. But we've barely got that behind us when things really get going. We're really lucky with the weather and it's neither sunny nor too hot. I think it could be worse. On the way to Rothenburg ob der Tauber we make a few coffee and photo stops and enjoy the never-ending hop plantations and romantic little towns. The highlight? The night watchman in the evening, of course!!!
Off to Heidelberg, to the oldest university in Germany. But Heidelberg has a lot more to offer, such as delicious food, dizzying trams and much more. On the way there we see castles, monasteries and palaces. It almost feels like a fairy tale. There is also supposed to be a wooden barrel in Heidelberg that can hold up to 220,000 liters of wine. Do you know the story? I do ;-)
Today we're going from Heidelberg to Ribeauville. Down from the Königsstuhl near Heidelberg we first take the motorway for a short time so that we can reach the Black Forest more quickly. We soon realise why the area is called the Black Forest. It's dark. Unfortunately we also have bad weather, which doesn't spoil our good mood. Via Herrenalb through the Murg Valley we reach the Rhine Valley. From there it's only a short distance to the French border, which we hardly notice, to Ribeauville. A wonderful little town!!!
In Ribeauville we took a rest day... to rest, of course. But only a few people took the opportunity to explore Ribeauville and the surrounding area. Apart from Paul and Roland, everyone was on their bikes and exploring Alsace. What a wonderful day!!!
It is with a heavy heart that we leave Ribeauville this morning. We are heading back towards the Black Forest, to Kandel to be precise. We continue on to St. Märgen to the Hexenlochmühle for a delicious coffee and a fantastic Black Forest cake. But we have to control ourselves because Rubin is already waiting for us with a picnic. And what a picnic it is. It feels like we are in the land of milk and honey😋. After a well-deserved break, we drive on to Schaffhausen and look at the largest waterfall in Europe. What a sight!!!
Sooo....today we're going to the high mountains. But first we drive along the coast of Lake Constance and enjoy the wonderful landscape until we finally head towards the mountains. We drive to the highest mountain in Eastern Switzerland, namely the Säntis. Here we stop for lunch and then later head to Austria via Lichtenstein. The Furkajoch is a must and so we enjoy these seemingly endless curves and then sip a well-deserved coffee. We continue over the Hochtannberg Pass to then reach our hotel.
Unfortunately we have already reached our last day. But we are going one more time! From Warth we are going back to Erding. We still had to eat a last picnic that Roland had prepared for us at the beautiful Plansee. Some of us took the opportunity to jump into the lake and cool off a bit. We are going on to our last highlight: Linderhof Castle. Linderhof Castle was built by the famous King Ludwig II in the 19th century. With its magnificent rooms with mirrors and chandeliers, it is reminiscent of the Palace of Versailles. So... the last few kilometers are coming up. We are going back to Erding. Unfortunately... a fantastic trip is coming to an end and always when it is at its best. We got to know great places and nice people. We are all going home with great memories and who knows... maybe we will see each other on one trip or another!!!