11th December 2011- Time to go home

An early starts and we left the |Hotel around 0900 and took the road back to Calais. In Holland there had been a car breakdown in a tunnel which meant they stopped the traffic for about 20 minutes which put behind schedule a bit.
We arrived close to Calais at around 1 pm and then went to a restaurant which was known to our friends and had a really excellent lunch and a small glass of wine. After that we made a trip down to the Auchan Hypermarket where we did some shopping for wine and other stuff before heading back to the ferry and again we caught an earlier one than planned.
This earlier ferry was one of P & O new large car ferries and quite frankly we don't like it. There is nowhere where you can find a quiet and comfortable place to sit, even the Club lounge and some noisy kids in it.
If we go on the ferry again we will most certainly avoid this ship like the plague.. It was so packed with coach passengers that many people could not find a seat?
We were expecting a huge delay at Dover but thank god that did not happen and although we drove in some rain we got back to Weybridge around 7.30 pm.
This was a really great trip and I think we shall do again

Sat 10th December- A day around town

We spent and excellent day around town looking at the various stalls in the Christmas Market and testing the local beer, yet again and of course the hot red wine.
The market was extremely crowded most of the day and for a change we found a tram which took us to the outskirts of Düsseldorf by the River Rheine where we walked along the river and had a breath of fresh air.
The back on the tram to the town, yet another glass of hot wine was to be had at a large shopping mall which outside had the usual bars and stands selling sausages whiulst Jennifer had a pancake.
Then after a few more beers we returned to the Hotel before dinner that night which we had arranged in a old well known restaurant for its food and beer and where we all enjoyed the pigs knuckle (Schweinhaxa) and of course the odd beer.
The male waiter who served us was married to a girl from Huddersfield which he knew quite well and then he went on about the Germans bailing out Greece and that he and many others were against this stupid policy
After dinner we wandered around the market again and it was jam packed with visitors, young and old, enjoying the food and booze that was available and no signs of a depression here..
When returning by train to the Hotel we saw a couple of paramedics treating either a very drunk young lady or someone who was suffering from a drug overdose but she was really out.
Walking up the road to the Hotel we found some huge cranes which were beginning to assemble the largest crane in Germany or something like that to change an air conditioning system on a tall building and unfortunately you could hear this all night which meant that non of us really slept well.
Oh well that's life

9th December 2011 Düsseldorf Christmas Market

We enjoyed two nights at the Düsseldorf Christmas market with our good friends Roger and Sue.

We are looking for the Red Light district Officer, can you help

It was an early departure at around 0630 on Friday morning when we left Weybridge and headed off in the dark to Dover Harbour where were able to catch an earlier ferry than planned.. The drive from Calais to our Hotel was completed successfully and we arrived just after 3 pm and in time to go for a walk and test some Gluewine  and a nice German Sausage whilst continuing our tour of the market although it did include a number of stops for necessary beers.
We had dinner in an Italian restaurant where the food was very good and then planned for the next days activities and after a brief nightcap, or two, at the Ibis Hotel we headed up to bed and slept well. The bathroom in this Hotel is smaller than the one in our caravan and is therefore not one we would stay at again.

A brief update

HI
Well we have been quite busy of late and looking forward to Christmas and also to our long awaited trip to South America.
In advance of that trip Noel has updated his camera with an all singing and dancing one which does video as well as panoramic shots which will be really great for taking photos of the Iguazu Falls on the the border of Argentina and Brazil.
In the meantime a walk along the River Wey on a lovely Sunday produced some great photos which are available at

http://noelgroves.phanfare.com/5352954

In the meantime I have added above this rather nice photo

Saturday 24th September- Its time to go home

After an early'ish breakfast we left Wiesbaden just before ten am and headed for the Autobahn. The fastest way to Calais is not direct and was due to take 5 hours and 20 minutes so we headed north to Cologne and then skirted round the outside and then followed the road to Aachen. 
When on German Autobahns it is vital to keep lane discipline because most of the Autobahns have no speed limit and so you are being overtaken by Porsche cars etc travelling at speeds well in excess of 130 mph which is quite disconcerting at first 
Then in to the Netherlands and on to Belgium and using the Brussels ring road and then via Ostend and we arrived in Calais in, yes you guessed it, in 5 hours and 20 minutes, well it would have been if we allowed for a petrol and and another comfort break.
We arrived at the ferry port at about 4pm and our ferry was due out at 6.15 pm bu they put us on the 4.35 pm and so we got home to Weybridge just about 6.30 pm. By travelling on a Saturday we had missed heavy traffic on the complete journey.
Ah, an excellent cup of tea followed by a shower and then open the tons of post and finally our own bed. On our trip we had slept in fourteen separate beds. 
This was a great trip and although we had planned to visit Southern Spain and Portugal the change to visit the lovely town and lakes in Italy was a great decision. We would certainly visit Italy again but would not take the caravan as it is far to large for the the Italian roads and also the camp sites where you have far smaller pitches than you do in France.
Well that's it for the moment and you may well notice tthat the last few days reports are being completed all at one time as during the last week their was no time for blogging let alone catching up fully on email.
I know have over 400 photos to check and sort...and also add to the blog.
Well that is it for the moment our next know journey is to the Düsseldorf Christmas Market in early December with some friends.

Friday 23rd September- Next stop Wiesbaden

We Braunfels around 10 am and drove to see our other ex Hong Kong friends who live in Wiesbaden. We arrived there about 11.30 and had a coffee and then we all went for along walk to take their dog for a long walk and so about 1.30 pm we got home and had a light lunch and then off by bus to Wiesbaden.
We toured the town for several hours and their was lot happening what with music festival, a a display of new cars where Noel viewed and fell in love with the new Lotus Evora, the only trouble is that it is so low that Noels knees may not allow him to get out. Oh well, perhaps in the next life.
We stopped for a beer in one of the squares and then continued walking the shopping area and finally it was time for dinner and we went to a lovely little restaurant which as a tourist you would not know about it and certainly hardly likely to stumble upon it.
We had a great dinner and the starter was about eight little plates of different types of starters and then we all tried something different and Noel had the Weinerschnitzle  was was excellent but enough for an army and so the dog would benefit later.
Then back to the house where we enjoyed a lovely glass or two of Argentinian Malbec wine and went in to the early hours before bed,
What a great day and its so good to see old freinds. 

Thursday 22nd September- Braunfels and Wetzler

BRAUNFELS CASTLE

A nice breakfast in the morning and then off to visit the local historic castle and old town of Braunfels. Our freinds arranged a tour of the castle with the tour leader giving an excellent overview of the history and talked about the many pictures on the wall. There were also pictures of English Royalty from many years ago when European Royalty started inter-marrying for wealth and to improve their armies . The tour took about an hour and were shown only the main rooms but were not able to go up the turrets which would have been interesting. Our friends translated the tour guides words and it was a very interesting visit. For more information see http://www.braunfels.com/
Following our visit we had a coffee in the main square and then left by car to visit Wetzler which is another old town on a river and of course much larger than Braunfels.

NOEL IN THE STOCK AT BRAUNFELS CASTLE

Arriving in the town the word 'wurst' was mentioned and so located a nice little p;lace by the river where we mutually enjoyed a curry wurst and fries and of course a beer. We walked around the town and visited the non-denominational church where at least two religions pray and meet. Could you just imagine the money that could be saved by Churches around the world if they used the same buildings. The old Police Station has been turned in to bar restaurant and looks pretty good.
The back for a shower and change and then off to a very nice Italian local restaurant where the food was excellent. Noel and Jen had the liver...excellent.
Then back to back to the house and a not to late night.

Wednesday 21st September- We did the tourist bit

After a good breakfast in the Hotel, we walked around town for about two hours taking photographs . The town was much larger than we first imagined and is more a walled city than town. We walked along the ramparts and overlooked the places where they used to kill and fight back their invaders until it was time for coffee. WE found a quiet cafe and sat down outside after ordering our coffee and what they call snowballs which is basically light pastry bits, rolled in to a ball and cooked and then covered in light sugar. Looks good but taste boring whilst putting sugar all over your trousers.
We had just received our coffee and cake and suddenly the road became crowded with arriving tour parties and their leaders carrying flags and talking in a multitude of languages. So much for a quiet cup of coffee.
We left Rottenburg about midday and headed towards north of Frankfurt where we were stay with old friends from our Hong Kong days for a couple of nights.
We arrived late afternoon and sat drinking tea and chatting and eventually had dinner and went to bed rather tired but we had enjoyed the day very much.

Tuesday 20th September-Lindau- Bodensee

BODENSEE AT LINDAU

Following a good nights sleep and breakfast in the Ibis Hotel we drove the short distance to visit the town of Lindau which is on what we call Lake Constance but known elsewhere as Lake Bodensee.  This is a very quaint and old town right by the Lake with many expensive shops and also others selling the usual tourist rubbish. We wandered around the place for a couple of hours taking photographs and stopped for a cup of coffee before leaving as we have to drive about four hours to our next stop.
We decided as we had time to drive through the countryside and what struck us immediately is that nobody uses the roads as a rubbish dump which was prevalent in Italy and of course UK.

TIME FOR A CIGARETTE

We were heading for a town called Rottenburg ob der Tauber which is a great tourist destination. We arrived on the outskirts of the town and turned the Sat/Nav it it took us through one of the main old gates and down through very small roads, and into large squares and finally it said your 'destination is on the left' well it was nearly there . We found the Hotel and the manager helped us with parking and to our room and we were surprised to see a four poster bed with a mirror on the underside.
We went downstairs and sat in the garden and had a glass of beer and then decided to eat on site and we had a very dinner indeed. We then had a short walk around town and although we took a few photos they may be to dark.
What was funny though, a group of American tourists were being shown around town by a guide who was doing his best to explain how building, which you could hardly see in the dark, and people lived in this town which has a rather violent past.
And so to bed.

Monday 19th- A Quatre Stagione of Countries

We were so lucky that sometime in the night it had stopped raining but the wind got worse and thids meant that in the morning the tent was dry, thank heavans as we did not want to pack up a wet tent or even carry a wet tent for the next five days. Breakfast or croissant and cappuccino in the site bar and then we left and headed North for Switzerland. Twenty five minutes later we arrived at the border crossing where we had to purchase our toll road sticker for the Swiss Motorways, 450 Euros and we would only be in Switzerland perhaps for two hours.

We went up the roads to the San Bernadino pass and already in Mid-September it had started snowing. Going through more and more tunnels untel we reached the top of the pass and headed down and now it started raining cats and dogs. We headed towards Chur and then towards St Margarithe and then noticed the motorway was one side of the river from Lichtenstein  and so we crossed the river and drove up through the main town only stopping briefly at the customs post and then in to Austria and towards the town where we are stopping the night called Brigenze where we have booked a room in an Ibis for the night.

We found the Hotel and checked in and the Wifi worked immediately at no costs and none of this passport nonsense and then went for a walk around the town which was very quiet and then later started looking for a restaurant of which we had seen recommendations in Trip Advisor only to find that all of them closed on Mondays and so we found a Greek Restaurant for a mofderatly satisfying meal and then back to a proper bed in a hotel, Bliss.

So in one day we did Italy, Switzerland, Lichenstein and Austria with a Greek Meal, boy that is something.

Sunday 18th September- Cannobio how lovely thou art!

Our neighbours mentioned the local market and we were in two minds whether to go or not but are w so glad we did. The market was huge and along the seafront there is this lovely part of town with lovely old houses, bars and restaurants which were packed with shoppers. Boat loads and bus loads had arrived from Switzerland with people looking for cheap but good products and the stands were of a high quality and no rubbish like Blackbush Market here. With the value of the Swiss Franc at all time high and having risen over the past year significantly it means that the Swiss are getting prices 50% cheaper than a year and so they flock to this market which is just across the border.

We went to a wayside stall and had a nice pork and onion bun before heading back to the site as it was not raining and we had decided to pack the car with all unnecessary things items and only leave the bed and tent standing and we would go out for dinner.

Around 7pm we wernt back in to town and all the market traders had goner leaving this very beautiful town where we found and excellent restaurant and had a lovely dinner.

Later back at the camp the weather had continued to get worse and it was blowing a gale and overnight ther tent was shaking and it was raining like hell and the noise from the Lake water crashing on the shores made it it very difficult to sleep, but somehow we managed.

Saturday 17th September- A trip down the coast to Verbania

FASHION PARADE OF DEBUTATNTES

Our neighbours were talking about bad weather over the next few days but this morning there was no sign of it as we left the site and headed to the main town about 40 minutes away. En route we stopped in Cannobio at the Laundry for some catching up and whilst it was in the machines we went up in to the hills through dangerously narrow roads to a little town with a Church perched on the top of the mountain,  We too a few photos and then back to transfer the washing in to the driers and in to Cannobia for a cup of coffee. From what we could see of this town there was not much to look at but subsequently proved oh so wrong.

In Verbania it was very hot and we had great difficulty parking and the reason being there was a huge market in town and so we wandered around for a while and then noticed the dirty black clouds in the sky. We also came across a group of young girls in wedding dresses and they were in some competition or other nut it was fun to watch but they must have felt quite stupid.

AND THE WIND CAME UP

By know the clouds were black and it was getting very dark and the wind came up and starting blowing the market stands around and as we were parked some way away we headed back to car after a little shopping and then back to the camping site where clearly it had rained rather a lot. We had a light dinner and then listed to our music on out IPods and went to sleep as the rain had started pouring down yet again.  

Friday 16th September – Perhaps plan C will work

Following our few days in Lake Maggiore it is proposed that we go to a place near Zurich to meet up with Noels ex-boss and then if timer permitted other people Noel met in the course of his business life.

We needed to find a Hotel which we thought in September would be easy but this was not the case as Hotel after Hotel was full and what with the Swiss Franc to Sterling exchange rate being so high, a two star hotel was going to cost about £150.00 per night which is far to high but camping is out of the question as the nearest camp site is miles away.

In discussion with another ex-business colleague we nearly almost had it sorted at still huge expense when Noels ex-boss phoned to say he was having to travel and could not make it and perhaps they would come to London instead during the next few months unless we were visiting Asia where we should stay with them in their house in Phuket, Thailand.  Oh well back to the drawing board and let’s look at plan C.

It was also at this point that we discovered that some of the emails we though had been sent had not been sent and as some of these covered our future travel plans this was frustrating. As usual when purchasing access to the internet Wifi at the camp you had to show your passport??

And the process was also stupid, you had to enter a number on your browser including your mobile phone number and they would text you the acces codes. So I waited and no text arrived and so I trtied logging on again and was rejected as quote this reference number already in use. The reply also gave a telephone number to call should you not get the text and so I called this number only to find they had printed the wrong number but after retruning to reception anc complaining and then the receptionist spent ten minutes on the PC to extract the codes and all this

this took almost thrity minutes AND it was costing 13 Euros for four hours.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and recovering from internet woes and also finalising the rest of our trip details. Dinner was chicken salad and it was really good.