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04/07/07The night before we left Innsbruck it started to rain and continued all night. At 9am it stopped so we decided to pack up before it started again. We left Innsbruck just after 10am and it rained the entire way to Kisslegg, a town in Germany of about 7000 people. Just before Arlberg we hit a traffic jam where there had been an accident a few tunnels about 8 kms in front of us and the traffic was at a dead halt. Fortunately for us we joined the queue in a tunnel so at least we were not in the rain but it was cold – about 11 degrees. We stayed in the queue for about 15 minutes but noticed cars going off to the exit to the right. I hopped off the bike and walked to the end of the tunnel to reconnoitre. We decided to follow the cars because we figured they were all going in the same direction. Hmmmmm, a good idea to get passed the traffic jam, but we climbed and climbed into the Alps on the small secondary road. As we climbed higher, the temperature fell lower – down to 5 degrees and still raining and we were dressed for summer! We went through St Cristorph passed the Austrian Ski team’s headquarters and on to Arlberg. Should have had our skis strapped to the trailer because we were above the clouds and in snow! Summer? Don’t think so. We arrived at Werner and Gundel’s home in Kisslegg at about 4pm to the most wonderful welcome ever. What delightful people. We were shown our room and made to feel at home as if we were part of the family. Ahhhhh, a bed to sleep in and no wind blowing our room about. The next day they drove us in sunshine to Lindau Island where we saw Germany’s foremost and first beauty clinic. It looks out on the Bodensee with a beautiful vista to aid recovery. We climbed the lighthouse and walked through the town.
We then drove on to Wangen (in rain) and back home. I helped Gundel make Kässpätsle (well, just a little bit) and learned how to do it so when we are back in New Zealand expect that on a dinner menu, delicious. The following day we met more of this wonderful family and in the afternoon were taken to a car museum which was most interesting to see one man’s collection of all sorts. BMW cars and bikes, fiats, porsches, NSU, jaguars. It was very well done and Ingel was in his element. We left Werner and Gundel to head towards the BMW rally in Garmisch. It was quite sad for us to go because they are truly two of the kindest people we have met. Thank you Alex and Gerda for letting us borrow your parents for a few days. They are a fantastic couple. Gundel did a marvellous job cooking and translating, Werner did a marvellous job in trying English and using the dictionary, the men did a marvellous job drinking beer and wine at night, we loved the photo albums and Oh Alex, that moustache!! We had lots of laughs and this confirmed humour is similar all over the world. Thank you so much Werner and Gundel for opening your home to us and showing us such wonderful hospitality. You are a great couple and ‘Thank You’ is not enough to express our gratitude. We want to return the hospitality one day.We were the 50th bike to arrive at Garmisch-Partenkirchen after having ridden all day in the rain. The site was nowhere near finished but they let people in to set up tents anyway. We managed to get the tent set up in a break in the weather. People were already at the bar drinking in the afternoon as bikes were dribbling in. What a site! The facilities were outstanding. The toilets and showers were in 8 containers – 4 on the ground and 4 above them. The ladies had roses in vases and women’s personal products supplied free. The water was hot and plentiful. There was everything there a biker could want and even some things maybe he didn’t want. Every taste and style was catered for in terms of food, music, bikes, accessories, company, clothing – and yes, there was a summer jacket there with my name on it! Fancy that. For the first whole day we did not hear any 1st language English spoken but plenty of English spoken as Turks tried to converse with Italians, Czechs with Swedes and Finns with Chileans. The common denominator was BMWs and riding. People were able to test new bikes and test their own skills, or learn new ones on the x-track and the enduro course, all on provided bikes. At night the place just jumped with live bands until 2am, a salsa group until 11pm in another venue and live guitar music around a camp fire until 11 or 12. Our tow bar and trailer were a talking point and the Germans around our tent all stopped to talk about it in their limited English. We hope we translated correctly. Most were staggered that we had come from New Zealand. I had my shirt signed by Chris Pfeiffer, the world champ freestyle rider. It is incredible what he can do with a bike. Lots of LTs, most with racks on the top box. The Saturday was beautifully hot and sunny but the other days all presented us with rain and/or thunder and lightning storms. It is incredible watching the lightning in the Alps and hearing the thunder roll along the valley between the Tirols on each side. When it wasn’t raining we could hear the cowbells jangling on the hillside as the cows wandered about their fields, lovely. Here again people mentioned how many sheeps we have in New Zealand. Ingel went on the korso – a 110km ride through the area and into Austria. The ride was led and supported by police from both countries, all riding beemers. On the Sunday morning he and I rode through to Oberammergau which was only 23km away. What a very pretty little town and one that I am sure is wonderful to visit during the time of the Passion Plays. We were one of the last 40 tents to leave on the Monday morning and we packed up a very wet tent and rode all the way to Luzern in cold and driving rain. Luzern was not our next intended stop but it is 25 minutes away from a company who makes back rests for riders. Ingel saw them at the rally so we made the detour – as you do! We rode the same road we took to Kisslegg last week. The one that we had to detour off because of a crash in a tunnel. This time, no crash, but what a tunnel! It cost us €8.50 to drive through it and it is 14km long. Whew just amazing engineering. We put the tent up in pouring rain and survived another storm with thunder and torrential rain. This is supposed to be summer! Fortunately our tent keeps us very snug and dry. We have been told the weather will improve by the end of this week. Hope so because it does make sightseeing unpleasant. A lot of the countryside on our way here, Luzern, has fruit trees growing and houses on hillsides. Our camp site is again amongst the alps and beside a lake. The clouds hang very low over the mountains and at times look quite eerie. As I type this I am looking straight out our lounge (oh yes!) door at an alp with houses dotted very high up and I can almost see Heidi following Peter and his goats. The wood stacked beside houses and barns is at times a work of art. It is so neat and tidy and often forms lovely patterns. Today we saw cows being milked in their barns and I think snuggling down for the night. I have been told that in some areas the cows do not come outside all year round.
The road into Garmisch-Partenkirchen from Austria wound through an alpine valley next to a milky green river. Several bikes were in front of us and we were the 50th bike to arrive so were able to park near all amenities as opposed to down in the fields. We arrived Thursday afternoon as they were still constructing the site. A purpose-built X track was being constructed with diggers, trees, hills, log ramps and stone banked bends. The party tent was the size of a football field with stage lighting, an 8m sq screen, projectors, bars, snacks, cold food and hot food counters. The toilet block consisted of 8 containers of showers and toilets, 4 sitting atop 4. They were spotlessly clean with cleaners working throughout the day every day to keep them that way. The ladies’ had roses in vases and women’s personal products supplied. There were fast food trucks, a cinema showing bike travel films, BMW gear for riders and bikes of every type, a service centre, a tyre centre, a barber, after-market accessory tents and showrooms for Touring, Enduro, Urban and Sports bikes. There were even some caravans and campers for sale that were made especially to take bikes inside them. The whole weekend ran like a well-oiled machine, as all BMWs do. As far as we are aware we were the only New Zealanders there. I apologise to any other Kiwis who were at Garmisch. We wish we had seen you so we could have flown our flag together. There were Austrians, Australians, Chileans, Czechs, Dutch, English, Finns, French, Irish, Italians, Malaysian, Norwegians, Russians, Scots, Slovakians, Spanish, Swiss, Swedes, Turks, and of course thousands of Germans and us. English and “BMW language” were the lingua franca with everyone looking at and talking about other’s bikes. Most were astounded to know we had come from New Zealand. There were no official numbers but the locals were expecting 40 000 people.The first morning everyone was presented with a programme for the weekend and each morning delivered to our tents was a coloured newspaper with interesting articles as well as happenings from the day before. Full and half day tours were provided each day around the region, any new bike could be trialled for 90 minutes on guided runs, those who wanted to try could ride GSs around the x-track and there was also an enduro track for first timers to try, fashion shows daily of all the latest BMW gear, kids demonstrations of those in training for x-tracks, the German x-track champs put on 2 shows daily and Chris Pfeiffer put on a freestyle show 3 times a day for all 3 days. There was also a children’s playground with trained staff to look after the children while mum and dad did their thing. At night there was any number of food styles to choose from and after an hour of welcome the first night, and raffle drawing the second night, the party tent hosted a live band until 2am, the US Lodge provided a salsa band and there was a German/American outside around the campfire with his guitar and amp until 11 -12 midnight for slower and more romantic songs. So several tastes were catered for. On Saturday afternoon more than 1000 bikes left the town centre for the motorrad korso (parade) of a 110km ride through the area and into Austria. Police from both countries escorted the parade and stopped traffic where necessary. It took 50 minutes for all the bikes to leave the camp area and make their way down to the town. On the Sunday there was a parade of vintage bikes (of which there were several) through Garmisch-Partenkirchen. There was also the opportunity to do as you wished in terms of riding in the area and going up the mountain on the cable car to the ski slopes and bier gartens at the top. Despite the rain most days, only Saturday was very sunny and really hot, and the thunder and lightning storms it was a great weekend and a grand experience. Last year 28 000 litres of beer were consumed and judging by the performance of some of the folk we saw there, this year would not have been less. There were wonderful people to talk to and great sights to see. Definitely a must for BMW bike fans.
01/07/07Innsbruk and extremely hot still. Nice.We noticed the Italians do not seem to be sun-smart as many of them were VERY burned at the camps and still out in the sun. No children in cover-up rash shirts and no-one wearing hats. There must have been some very sore bodies those nights.As we left Venezia and travelled west towards Verona the landscape changed yet again to mainly orchards with some vineyards amongst them. We pulled in to a service area beside the toll road and it was bedlam. Queues for the car parks, queues for the gas, queues for the loos and queues for the food. People were elbowing others out of the way and yelling out what they wanted. It looked like the beginning of a massive store sale. Crazy. We saw two more services just like this. We were in 5 traffic jams caused by who-knows-what before we hit Trento. After that the Italians disappeared and the roads became more driver-friendly. 100km on the Italian side of the border the houses took on the look of Austrian houses with balconies and flowers out the front – typical chalet type, and the sides of the alps were covered in pine trees.Going through the Brenner Pass was a breeze and did not feel at all that we were climbing, although the temperature did drop to 20 degrees – cold for us! There was even some snow on some of the mountain tops.The lady at the toll gate was very pleasant and the one at the end of the Brenner Pass toll smiled and was very nice. Wow, way different from those who obviously do not enjoy their jobs in Italy.Our campsite in Innsbruk is at the foot of (and in fact part way up) the Alps.
It took a while to find a campsite that had only a slight slope to it. Staying in bed at night is interesting as we tend to slide towards the foot of the bed! Wow the scenery is just amazing. I love the mountains. As soon as we arrived and had not even taken our jackets off, we were pounced upon by an English couple also on a BMW. They told us all about their 2 week trip, where they had been, where they were going and she even rushed back to their tent to get the camera out to show us photos of their trip! We were hot, tired and wanting to get the tent up and get to a supermarket for food. Ingel excused himself and left on the bike for the supermarket and left me there to say perhaps it would be easier if we spoke with them again after dinner. While Ingel was gone I thought I would try and get the tent at least part way up. Have any of you put up a very large dome tent on your own? Great fun, because as soon as you get the expanding poles in one side and rush round to do the othe, the first side pops out. I was giggling away to myself thinking how silly I must look when a man from a neighbouring camper came and in very little English offered to help. He was great at holding all the right pieces and I had it almost pegged down by the time Ingel returned. The lovely man said to say I did it all by myself! We went in to Innsbruk and walked around the very beautiful city. It is very small (only about 130 000 pop.) and easy to get around. Lots of souvenir shops but not tacky. We saw the triumphal arch built by the Tyrolians after they thwarted the take over from Bavaria. We then rode out to Wattens to go through the Swarovski crystal exhibition halls.
It is truly amazing. I have never seen anything quite like it. Thirteen rooms all showing different crystal art works. Some of the art has been done by Dali, Picasso and Warhol. It is all dark and you wander from room to room each with a different theme to it. We saw a crystal of 300 000 carats and one in its raw state of 5 500 000 carats.
It was really worth the visit and we both enjoyed it immensely. Something quite different. This has been a highlight for Ingel. 26/06/07The camp is also just along from the port and we have MASSIVE container ships being tugged in and out just 20m from our tent. We have enjoyed some really great sights of some wonderful ships. Ingel was away early to get to his pre-appointment appointment on time. He was told they were booked up until August! Then the head mechanic asked if we were going to the rally in Garmisch. On hearing we were he said they would squash the service in between jobs that day!!!! He said he could understand how difficult it must be trying to get work done in a country when you don’t have the language. He was also taken with Ingel’s BMW shirt with our bike on the back from our BMW club in Auckland and asked if we would be selling them at the rally. Hmmmm, a thought for next year maybe. Ingel bussed and taxied back to BMW at 3.30 in the afternoon and rode back a happy chappy as the service was all done and nothing wrong.The next day we woke to tremendous winds and I wasn’t looking forward to the boat trip across to Venice but it was no problem and the day turned out to be very hot and sunny. We wandered around all the little back streets and I really enjoyed it. Venice has always been my favourite Italian city and it still is. The outside of St Marks basilica is stunning with its painted frescoes.
We had a lovely day just wandering in and out of the alleys and streets and over the bridges and canals. 
We found the Danieli hotel where Dad had 10 days leave during the war. We went inside and took some photos of the magnificent décor. We also took an hour’s boat ride round the Grand Canal and back to our station for the boat back to camp. As the afternoon wore on the sky became progressively darker and on the way back to camp on the boat, the heavens opened in the most spectacular lightning and thunder storm. The lightning display lasted for about 20 minutes and we were absolutely drenched by the time we reached our tent. The wind had also blown the awning poles down and we had small puddles of water in the front sunroom and between the tent floor and the tarp underneath. Mopped up the puddles inside and went to bed for a very comfortable night’s sleep. We also came home to see our neighbours (Australians) from Florence had parked their campervan next to us again. They had been driving round the camp looking for a site and spied the bike so pulled in next to us. Yay, friends. We spent the next couple of nights drinking and chatting with them and sharing travel stories. We also met an older Kiwi couple from Tauranga who have done this most years since 1999. They were great to talk to and pick their brains. Good ideas for work in the UK as well. The weather was so lovely and the camp in such a great spot that we stayed on another 2 days.22/06/07
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We left Roma about 7.15 to ride most of the way before the heat crept too high. We were headed to the east coast. From the vineyards of the west coast, olive groves became the prominent crop. Kilometres and kilometres of olive groves then kilometres shared with wheat fields and these then gave way to bush covered hills and mountains. At times, apart from the different vegetation we could have been riding through the Karangahake Gorge. In many places, buildings stand shoulder to shoulder for physical and moral support as they cling precariously to the mountainsides. Once through the mountains, we saw field after field of newly cut or baled hay. I am curious to know - are the animals inside being sheltered from the heat? Are they underground? Are they on vacation? Are there any? Is the hay used for another purpose? If anyone can enlighten me, I would be grateful.We booked in to a lovely (facilities and price wise) campsite packed with people, mainly families with small children. However, it is a bit like a resort or Hi-De-Hi camp. Again we are the only native English speakers in the whole camp. The numerous numbers of Dutch in France and Northern Italy have given way to numerous Italians all in campervans. We have caused quite a stir at this camp with our bike and trailer. The camp has its own beach on the Adriatic Sea with rows and rows of umbrellas and deck chairs for our use. The sea however, is very dirty with lots of rubbish floating in it. The pool is a much better bet. Bars, restaurants, entertainment and a very good shop. All this at the cheapest price we have paid yet. However, a bit like a Butlins with organised entertainment like aerobics in the sea and on the stage, talent quests and a shoe tossing (?) competition by the pool. The pool opens at 9.00am every day so Sunday Ingel and I sauntered down about 9.30am confident of getting some chairs in the shade only to find it closed until 10.30. This, because in the stage area next to the pool the local priest was holding his church service for about 100 people. He had his alter set up with chalices, wine, wafers, candles etc. Religion continues even on holiday. The bike is going much better with the new tyre and Ingel says it does not sound like a tractor now.Every major tourist town we have been to has had very dark skinned (I assume African) men selling their wares on the streets, beaches and even into the restaurants (until they are moved on). In Pisa we were offered Rolex watches by the hundreds.Speaking with couples from Germany, France and Australia we found they have all had the same experiences as us with people in the tourist industry in the cities. We have found them rude, impatient, sour and most unhelpful. Locals in the shops and those at the camps have been much more pleasant. Someone needs to tell those in the tourist industry that their job is to deal with tourists and their questions because it gives a poor impression when they don’t and those are the memories we all go away with.One of the guards at this camp has excellent English with a very extensive vocab. He loved the fact that we were from New Zealand but did not know much about it. E.g. what money did we have? Was it America’s dollars? Australia’s? But he did know we had more sheeps (sic) than people. “How many people in NZ?” We replied 4 million and he said “And 20 million sheeps”. No, we told him more like 60 million sheeps and he laughed uproariously.Coming to Venice from Guilianova was a mission. We took the coast road all the way to Rimini then inland to San Marino. It is beautiful. It is the oldest surviving republic in the world having been set up in 300AD and only covers 61 sq km. It is set on top of a rocky outcrop with amazing views of the surrounding mountains and all the way to the coast. Quite incredible. The bike and trailer caused quite a stir there as well.On leaving San Marino we decided we needed to make up time so took the toll roads. Just out of Bologna we hit a 15km traffic jam. It took us 50 minutes to get through it in 46 degree heat! It was really most uncomfortable and we had to stop on the emergency shoulder to get cold water out to drink and pour down inside our jackets to cool down. I can definitely hear a BMW summer jacket calling! We passed through that jam and were heading to BMW Venice in Mestre (on the mainland next to Venice) to book the bike in for its 20 000km service when we hit another traffic jam. This one was caused by a truck losing its load of washing machines and driers onto the autostrade 12 metres below! It had come round a bend in the on ramp high above the autostrade and the whole front truck load of the truck and trailer went through the retaining wall crashing to the road below. It is a miracle no car was passing there at that particular time. We managed to find BMW (just as they were closing) and book in at 8.30am the next day to make an appointment for the service. So we have an appointment to make an appointment! Coming back from there we again were caught up in the traffic from the bridge incident and Emily took us on a detour. Unfortunately, every other Venetian was on the same detour. Again nearly an hour had passed when Ingel thought he could see on the GPS a road that may have cut out some of the traffic. Down it we went and nodded friendly like to a very nice Honda Goldwing parked on the side of this small road chatting with other bikes. Round the corner and sitting in traffic, yet again, when the Goldwing pulled up alongside and asked us where we were from and where we were going. Told him the name of the campsite and he said “follow me”. So we did and we were here within 15 minutes. He shook hands with Ingel and rode off into the sunset. So we booked into the camp ground at 8.20pm – 12 hours after setting off in the morning! We have chosen a site here that our lounge window looks out across the water to Venice where we can see the spire of St Mark’s and all the lights of the city and the cars going over the causeway to Venice. Very beautiful.
