Three Weeks in Europe, Summertime! - Marc goes Traveling

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Three Weeks in Europe, Summertime!

After finishing her program in Rome, Samantha hung out for a few weeks while I finished up my job. After arriving in Italy in time for a scorching heat-wave, we set out on a three week adventure that was to include lots of motorcycling, meeting up with motorcyclists in Belgium, and some touring through France. Like all things we do, the plans and the reality were quite a bit different. In fact, if you list out the events from our vacation, they don't sound so good at all. We had, at various times:

A serious hand injury (severed tendons) requiring emergency surgery (our friend got into a fight with a metal shelf and lost)
The plague (Samantha got quite ill and required antibiotics)
Heatstroke (our friend)
Torrential downpours in Belgium and the north of France (the latter of which actually flooded).
Catastrophic engine failure in the car.
Gluttonous overconsumption of food for three weeks (eek).

16 trip report(s) total. Showing all

		2005-06-22 Starting the trip off in the Alps
		We started the trip out with some motorcycling through the Alps and Dolomites, including the famed Passo dello Stelvio in Italy. At 9300' (2800m), you get some

		2005-06-23 Hanging out on Chiemsee
		We spent a couple of days chilling and illing (okay, sweating to death) on Chiemsee, a rather large and pleasant lake just southwest of Munich. We took a boat tour this time and saw the palace on one of the islands in the lake.

		2005-06-29 Lake Konstanz and Insel Meinau
		We spent the day hanging out on the Bodensee (Lake Konstanz) and went to Insel Meinau, where there is a palace and all sorts of extremely cool gardens and interesting things to see. It was a scorcher out too.

		2005-06-30 The Annual Europrez Motorcycle Meet
		The annual Europrez meet took place in Büllingen (Bullinge) Belgium this year, and, true to form, involved lots of eating, drinking, and torrential rain. We spent the first day touring cool places in Luxembourg.

		2005-06-30 Hanging out in Meersburg
		Before driving the 7 hours up to Belgium for the motorcycle meet, we spent a bit more time exploring the lovely town of Meersburg, Germany, right on the Bodensee. Lots of historical old buildings, and plenty of beautiful sights.

		2005-07-02 Seeing the Belgian sights in Durbuy
		The last full day of this year's EP meet would be spent in Durbuy, Belgium, which fancies itself as the smallest city in the world. Oh, and we ate a tonne too.

		2005-07-03 Vintage Racing in Spa, Belgium
		After taking leave of the motorcyclists in Büllingen, we stopped off in Spa (well, Francorchamps) and checked out the vintage motorcycle races going on today. Awesome.

		2005-07-04 Through Normandie and into Bretagne
		After taking our leave of Belgium, we worked our way through the north of France, first stopping in the surprisingly cool (and dead) town of Crotoy, France, before heading to Brittany and Cancale, nearer to our ultimate goal, Le Mont Saint Michel.

		2005-07-05 The Coolest Place on the Face of the Planet
		After Saint Malo, we went to Le Mont Saint Michel, which might very well be the single coolest thing in the history of mankind.

		2005-07-05 Saint Malo
		Near to Cancale, where we were staying, is the town of Saint Malo, notable for being the place where Jacques Cartier set off to discover La Nouvelle France. Very cool.

		2005-07-07 A day of sightseeing in Amboise
		After our disastrous day, we decided to jut hang out in a lovely little French town today, so we spent the day sight seeing in Amboise, France, noted for having a large castle, and being the place where Leonardi da Vinci came to spend his last days (well, okay, three years).

		2005-07-07 More Castles in the Loire Valley
		When you're in the Loire Valley, you can't NOT go and see some of the zillion castles they have there. The only thing one can say after seeing some of these buildings, however, is that it's no wonder the peasants rose up and overthrew the ruling class in 1792.

		2005-07-07 Castles? Still more of them!
		Not being content with merely having seen the palace in Blois this morning, we spent the afternoon at the castle in Chambodrd, slightly off the Loire river, but totally worth seeing.

		2005-07-08 More Palaces in Fontainebleau
		Since the palace at Fontainebleau is supposed to be one of the more important ones in thie part of the country, we gathered our courage up for one last trip to a castle today. Fortunately, it was extremely cool, and a very popular place for weddings.

		2005-07-08 Reims, France
		Previous reports had left me with the impression that Reims, France, was a bit of a bit with a very lovely gothic Cathedral. Alas, judging from the parts of the city we saw, this is incorrect, bordering on slander.

		2005-07-09 A last night on the Road
		Our last night on the road would be in Homburg, Germany, not so far from Saarbrücken. We found an awesome hotel overlooking the entire valley in which the town lies, and had a relaxing evening.