30th July - 2nd August 2009: Day 1 - Road Trip!!

As you have probably guessed I've made it safely home from my travels! I missed Blogger, how silly I know, but I did! Am really looking forward to catching up with everyone's posts :)

As for my recent travels, wow, what an amazing experience from start to finish... I don't think I've laughed so much or felt so insanely HAPPY for months - some of my favourite people ever all together makes a very happy me!

I've decided to break the weekend down into different posts as otherwise there would be just too much for anyone to read ;)

Firstly, Gizmo cat was a very good boy when I took him to the Cattery last Wednesday and I got him into his travelling basket without any fuss. Actually I was a bit sneaky and managed to disguise the procedure by scooping him up and giving him a big cuddle, then carried him into the kitchen while he was blissfully purring and just popped him into the basket. It took him a couple of seconds to realise where he was, by which time the lid was down and securely fastened! Result - no stressed cat and no stressed me!

Thursday. I was up at 6am and due to my good preparation the night before I was soon ready for Jen and Adrian to pick me up at 7am. They were running a wee bit late and arrived at 7:20am. Why is it that when you are given a time for something people are always stupidly early or running late?! It's no biggie, I wasn't annoyed as these things do happen... just mildly irked I suppose as I HATE waiting! Oh well, at least I was ready :)

Then we were off. It was a lovely sunny morning and everything went well until we got caught in traffic on the M11 past Cambridge, and then we hit traffic again on the M25. There was an accident on the opposite carriageway which resulted in 16 mile tailbacks, and then people on our carriageway were inevitably "rubbernecking" which caused jams for us, but after about 30 minutes we were on our way again.

It didn't take long to reach Folkestone and the Channel Tunnel, and there was time to buy some drinks and magazines etc before we were called to start boarding, yay! (Inevitably we had already eaten our packed lunches and most of the sweets!!)

It was VERY strange crossing the French border while still firmly on English soil!

Boarding!!

This is a bit of a strange observation, but we were all surprised that the crossing was not as smooth as we were expecting. It was just like a normal train track (duhhh!) and bumpy in places - we were all expecting a super smooth ride, especially as we weren't aware that we were even moving until we looked out of the window! It was pretty cool too when the announcement came that we were exactly half way under the Channel between the UK and France :)

Leaving the Channel Tunnel in France presented us with our biggest problem of the whole trip. We got right royally lost. Yes, on the very first roundabout to exit onto the French road network!

We quickly learnt that the French roadsign system was total and utter pants. Never have I been anywhere so confusing. We needed to get to Brussels via Calais but two exits on opposite sides of the roundabout contradicted each other - the road numbers were the same on both so which one to take??!! Our travel directions were no help so after going round and round a few times we decided to take the one with the biggest [no local route] sign, hoping that it would be the one pointing tourists in the right direction... WRONG.

To cut a long story short we realised that we were heading down towards Paris rather than making our way across to Belgium, and finding somewhere to exit the motorway proved a problem too, especially as we ended up paying several toll charges to get back onto the right road! An hour later we ended up right back where we started...

In the middle, the green dome of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Brussels

Flanders fields

Tea dilemma somewhere in Belgium: we were desperate for a nice cup of tea but of course no British tea was to be found at roadside service stations. Jenny solved the problem by getting some teabags from the car! They still charged us 2.99 Euros each for a cup of boiling water though...

Filling up with diesel was amusing as we didn't realise that you have to pre-pay in Belgium. All three of us were out of the car trying to figure what was wrong with the pump haha! Very good idea, I think, as it solves the problem of fuel theft and plus you don't have to search for change if you go over 20.00 :D

We then drove through the bottom of Holland (which took 22 minutes!) and into Germany. Holland was very strange. We live in an area called The Fens and have grown up knowing that the Dutch drained the Fens in the 1600's, but actually seeing Holland was surreal as it was exactly like being at home. Crazy, crazy similarity!

We realised that the 8pm eta was somewhat optimistic thanks to our "detour" in France and stopped at another service station in Germany to eat from the Burger King outlet before preparing ourselves for the long drive to the Stuttgart area.

Rhine Valley, Germany: I loved this. A solitary white Church on a HUGE hillside. (I've cropped the photo) The cross is just about visible on the summit. Beautiful scene.

The German leg of the journey went pretty quickly considering that it was the longest part by far. The Autobahn system was brilliant and put British roads to shame. It was a little disconcerting at first as there was no strict speed limit (they have suggested limits for wet and dry conditions) and some very nice cars sped past us like F1 cars!! Speaking of F1, we drove past the Nurburgring and Hockenheimring!

We were completely blown away by the beauty of the Rhine Valley. Absolutely stunning. I shall never forget it. We amused ourselves by wondering if a place called Ludwigshafen actually existed? We had seen this place signposted ever since we crossed the German border and hours later we still hadn't passed it!! [it does exist, I just googled it haha!]

Sunset in Germany :)

It was only really when darkness fell that we started feeling a little fed up and tired. Luckily we were about an hour away from our destination by this point, although strange roads in darkness always seem never ending.

We eventually left the Autobahn and made for the small town where Louise and Gerhard live, and I was pleased that I could remember some of the streets from my visit last year. We finally reached our Hotel, the delightful Hotel Schober, and received a wonderful warm welcome from one of the lady proprieters (two sisters run the Hotel) who had been very concerned as we were so late... our 8pm arrival had turned into a 10:45pm check-in!

If you are looking for a nice, friendly hotel in Germany, look no further! It was great, although a travel kettle is highly recommended for dedicated tea drinkers :)

11:45pm and bed. Sleep was difficult despite exhaustion as it was soooo hot and humid, and nerves were beginning to jangle somewhat! Next installment: wedding!!!!