"No turn is a wrong turn"
Our 18 day trip stretched out over 10 days.
(Excerpts and comments with more details in future Backroads)
We just returned from a nice trip of about 10 days to Austria, Italy, and some of Germany…including our first visit to the unbelievably beautiful Dolomites of northern Italy. As many of you know, the last week in May usually celebrates the beginning of Strawberry (Erdbeere) season in southwestern Germany. AND, this late spring time also celebrates the season of SPARGEL (asparagus) season in Germany and Austria. We were excited to say the least! Later, we again spent my birthday in Germany, beginning by awakening in Bacharach on the Rhine and ending at AMS (Schiphol airport).
But I jump ahead to quickly…
PLANNING AROUND LOCAL HOLIDAYS DURING YOUR TRIP
Taking a trip abroad requires some basic essential planning by everyone… and we’re definitely no exception. For example, first we set our tentative trip dates and places, then we go to an international calendar to see what holidays fall during those dates in the countries we plan to visit. Simple, common sense you say? Au contraire mon ami (Auf dem Gegenteil mein Freund). To those less experienced travelers of Europe, the importance of religious holidays is seldom recognized until they are stranded… either without a place to stay because they’re all booked… or stuck in an autobahn stau … or ???
World Holiday Calendar is one hyperlink to get you started researching your trip holidays.
For example, in Bavaria, Austria, France, Italy (and most strongly Catholic regions) Ascensions Day (Christi Himmelfahrt in Germanic regions) is a highly recognized religious holiday that usually falls on Thursday, but all workers turn it into a major 5 day weekend. We knew from past experience the “full houses” to expect if we had no reservations, so we e-mailed our favorite Lermoos, Austria Gasthof - Hotel-Pension Tirolerhof. Evelyn was very happy to reserve for us our favorite corner room overlooking the Zugspitze and other beautiful, snow doted Alpine peaks.
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Austrian Alps next to Zugspitze |
DRIVING DURING EUROPEAN HOLIDAY TIMES
Driving during some European holiday weekends is not unlike being an Alaskan sled dog… ” if you ain’t the lead
dog, the view never changes…”
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Stau in Dolomites |
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On the same day, traveling now in Austria, we took the absolutely beautiful Fern Paß (Fern Pass) route from Innsbruck to Lermoos. Northbound traffic moved OK but the single lane southbound traffic from Germany was continuous bumper–to-bumper over these roads filled with countless hairpin curves and numerous switchbacks. We also met well over 500 motorcycles headed south via Fern Paß, headed to a “bike rally” to the south.
Had our planning for this day included southbound travels (with the multitudes) rather than northbound travels, we might still be stuck in some stau. Planning ahead proved to be a real trip saver.
THE DOLOMITES
WOW!!! The Dolomites are some of the most beautiful, majestic mountains we’ve ever seen! The sheer, powerful rock faces standing vertically like distant brigades of proud Roman Legions, towering above the beautiful multi-green colors of the spring trees, interlaced with snow on peaks, in rocky crevices, flowing down green slopes of the high mountains, and all under the oft pure blue skies with willowy wisps of clouds floating overhead.
Dolomites in South Tirol, Italy
Since I plan to do a future Bill’s Backroads just on our travels in this most beautiful mountain range, I’ll just
throw in a few Dolomite area pictures to get you interested:
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I won’t tell you the location of these pix except to say if you’re somewhere around Cortina d’Amprezzo, you’re in the neighborhood. And I’ll also tell you up front, our highly touted Swiss Alpine excitements now take a back seat.... to the Dolomites of Italy!
Make this quick note for driving the Autobahns in Italy, which are often toll roads. First toll road hint: When you come to your first autobahn toll station, if it’s not manned, then look for the LARGE red button on the machine, PUSH it, and TAKE THE TOLL TICKET – and keep it handy. Down the road your next toll station will be a person taking this ticket, telling you how much toll you owe, and taking your money. (If you screw up and they shout at you, don’t get nervous….. just shrug your shoulders and say, “Non campisco, NON CAMPISCO… parlate inglese??”)
There’s lots more coming on the Beautiful Dolomites of Italy.
So stay tuned for future installments of Bill’s Backroads.
Finally, the title of this article may sound confusing, but it’s simple. We scheduled 18 days for our trip. And
we usually allow for rain days (laundry, reading our books, napping to catch up on rest, etc.). However, with the
last week of the trip still in front of us, the rains were so bad we could see very little from our car. All know
that sight seeing while in wet, drenched clothing is never fun, and the weather bureaus promised continued heavy
rain over all of Europe for each day remaining in our trip. So we decided to save those remaining travel days,
tack them onto our fall vacation, and return home early. None-the-less, we had an extremely wonderful and exciting
10 days, and celebrated many newly found travel favorites. That’s why we so love the independent travel we share
with you in Bill’s Backroads!
Update on previous BILL’S BACKROADS #19 –
--- putting “Benzin” (regular gasoline) into your diesel engine rental car?---
I’ve had numerous e-mail responses from many of you to this Bill’s Backroads subject. Your comments varied from “thanks,” to questions, to personal experiences.
Only a couple of days ago, one reader e-mail me of her own harrowing experience, having just moved to the Czech Republic. As she explained, her BMW X5 gas cap was GREEN (the BMW X5 is made in the U.S.) so she picked up the green gas pump handle on the CZ “Natural” pump (this fuel name or type was unknown to her), stuck it into the car and began to pump, putting CZ “Natural” fuel into her diesel BMW X5. For reasons unknown, this resulting in the car immediately exploding into flames (for logic and reasons unknown). She related how she saved her small child in the back seat, but the BMW was destroyed by the fire. As it turns out, she later confirmed to me that the “Natural” gas in the Czech Republic was a “high grade gasoline.” I share this with you because this CZ gasoline (benzine) term is new to me also and I, like many of you, plan to visit Prague in the very near future, and we don’t like those surprises, do we?
Two more diesel / gasoline caveats:
In Italy, I happened to notice a number of their gasoline stations still use “gasoile” as their pump name for diesel fuel. Some of the pump handles might have the term “diesel” on them, but some do not, so don’t count on it. Look carefully or ask questions.
In the U.S. more and more new service stations are now installing multi-gas pumps with a gasoline pump handle on one end (black handle we hope) and a diesel handle on the other end of the pump (green we hope). To those of us who are totally engrossed in thinking about our offices, dates, or cell phone conversations, and who habitually just “grab the pump handle and start pumping” – maybe we should start paying more attention at the pumps at home, too. What could be worse than filling a tank with $100 worth of the wrong fuel, only to then pay $400 to take off the tank and empty out the wrong fuel, as well as kiss good-bye that $100 just paid for the wrong fuel. Been There – Done That!
One final note: We again drove an Avis 6-speed diesel on this trip. The little Opel Corsa was a great car, fun to drive, and thrived on its specific and singular diet of DIESEL FUEL I fed it this time. Yes, every time I filled it, I flinched, read and re-read the pump before inserting the handle.
Try to remember the next you’re cruising down that
Autobahn and see this sign… take it! Only then can you experience the wonderful world of Backroads Travel!
Here’s wishing you Wise, Safe and Healthy travels on the Backroads of the World.
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