Travel in Europe
Jeannette, my wife, and I have always enjoyed travelling and seeing countries, and cultures, which differ from our own.
Most times, we have travelled to and around these countries using our car with a tent or caravan, nowadays we have our motorhome. We've also been to Germany, where we've spent the majority of our holidays over the last 25 years, twice on a motorcycle. The first time being in 1983 on a thirty year old 500cc Ariel and then, many years later, on my 1000cc Kawasaki.
Over a number of years, we have visited : The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Denmark, Sweden, Luxemburg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, Slovenia, Poland and the Czech Republic and, prior to their demise, Czecheslovakia and the German Democratic Republic (DDR / East Germany).
The pins in the map below give some indication of the extent of our travels over the years.
Some photographs of the transport
June 1990 ~ 14 foot Safari
Our first caravan (luxury after many years of camping) on a campsite just a few miles South of Berlin.
Although the Berlin Wall had come down the previous November, this was still the D.D.R. and totally different from the West. The Ost Mark had only disappeared a few weeks before we arrived and the police were still driving around in Trabants and on 250cc MZ motorcycles.
We stayed on this site for about a week whilst doing some sight-seeing in Berlin then we moved further South to spend a few days in Prague before turning West and heading for home.
July 1993 ~ Bürstner Studio
We're first in the queue at the Hull ferry terminal. All loaded up and ready to board for the overnight ferry crossing and another holiday in Germany.
Much bigger than the Safari it replaced, this was a 7 metre (23 ft) van with a permanent end bed and a lot more storage and floor space.
When it got to be about 6 years old, we thought of changing it for something newer. But, despite continually looking at what was available, we never found anything with a layout that suited us better, and we ended up keeping it for 12 years before buying a motorhome.
2004 ~ Bürstner T620. Bought privately in Germany after seeing it advertised on the Internet
There are many more photographs of this motorhome on the 'Burstner T620' page.
2006 ~ Weinsberg 670MQ. Bought (new) in Germany after searching in dozens of German dealers.
There are many more photographs of this motorhome on the 'Burstner T620' page.
Some photographs of the places
Köln / Cologne, Rhine, Germany
Wiesbaden, Rhine, Germany
Oberwessel, Rhine, Germany ~ The annual wine festival. The 'Rhine in Flammen' took place, on the river, that night.
Burg Pfalzgrafenstein or 'Pfalz bei Kaub', Rhine, Germany ~ A small fortress in the middle of the River Rhine at Kaub. Built by King Ludwig the Bavarian in 1326 (not Ludwig II of Neuschwanstein fame, he lived about 500 years later) to collect tolls from the river traffic. It was enlarged to its present size in the 17th century.
Ludendorff Bridge, Remagen, Rhine, Germany ~ The (railway) bridge actually collapsed into the river in March 1945. The towers shown are on the East bank of the Rhine. Those on the West bank are now a museum and war memorial.
Dresden, Elbe, Germany
Dresden, Elbe, Germany ~ What had been the residential area of the city prior to the Allied bombing raids of 13th to 15th February 1945 was never rebuilt and has been left as a memorial to those civilians who died in the resulting firestorms. Estimates put the figure at between 24,000 and 40,000.
Rheinfalls, Schaffhausen, Switzerland ~ Europe's largest waterfall, 75 ft high and 450 ft wide.
Prague, Czech Republic, Saint Vaclav (King Wenceslas) is the patron saint of the Czech Republic.
He only ruled for 5 years before being assasinated by his brother in 929 AD.
Bremen, Germany, Die Stadtmusikanten (The Town Musicians) ~ The donkey, the dog, the cat and the cockerel feature in several German folk tales
recorded by the Brothers Grimm.
Hameln, Weser, Germany. Der 'Rättenfanger' ~ Another Grimm tale. He's better known to most people as 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' and was made famous in Robert Browning's poem. Every Sunday between May and September, the Rättenfanger re-appears, with some of the local children dressed as rats, to re-enact the story of the piper who, having rid the town of a plague of rats, was then refused the promised payment by the town officials. So, 'On the Twenty-second of July, Thirteen hundred and Seventy-six', he led all the children out of the town and into a cave and neither the Piper nor the children were never seen again.
NOTE : There appears to be some basis in fact for this tale although tradition states a date of the 26th June 1284. The most poular theory is that the children willingly left to become the founders of their own villages during the colonization of Pomerania, Brandenburg, Uckermark and Prignitz in the Baltic area or Moravia and Transylvania in Eastern Europe.
