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(I started writing this in Bourg d’Oisans but finished in Frankfurt)…
Ah, Bourg D’Oisons!
On the tail end of our trip on the 23rd of July, I FINALLY have a chance to sit down and type out what we have been up to. As I previously mentioned, we have really struggled to find reliable and free wifi (I object to paying for it, especially in paid-for camping grounds – that however will be the subject of a new web project for me).
We’ve had a delightful time so far (with about 4 days to go – 2 riding, 2 driving) but struggled with some things, like finding Wifi, good coffee (at times), tolls (French highway robbery), and maintaining steely resolve in cooking when Heineken makes it so, so easy to go out.
So, here we go! I’ll break this down into sections, covering each distinct part of the trip.
Melbourne to Frankfurt to Strasbourg, July 14-15, 2009
The Flight
We flew over on Malaysian which was on a Boeing 777-200LR I think, which is a 2-5-2 configuration. I made sure we had the two window+aisle spots down the back.
| TIP: Make sure you book ahead and get the window and/or aisle seat on the side of the plane! |
Now I am generally a fan of Asian airlines – I’ve flown Thai a few times and my grandparents fly Cathay a lot, but I was disappointed in Malaysian for the following reasons:
- Vegetarian food was very very average compared to Air Canada and Thai.
- Very slow to get drinks out after take off; I was very keen for a Bacardi but had to wait agggges
Other than that, their service was exemplary and landings were excellent.
The Airport, Cabs
Frankfurt and EU/German customs entry was a breeze. German customs dudes looked like soldiers from the 1st Panzer Division and I can see how frightening coming up against the elite German soldiery would have been.
Getting a cab for two dudes, plus bikes and gear was a big pain. All the Mercedes taxis were mini – and I mean mini – vans. We had to get a special limo called – Mercedes Vito.
| TIP: Book ahead (perhaps via your hotel or hire car company) for a taxi pickup if flying into Frankfurt, I am not sure how Zurich, De Gaulle, Barcelona or Schiphol would be. |
Campervan
For our campervan, we used McRent – it was around $1400AUD each for 14 days. We got this badboy:
It slept 4, but there was only two of us and since we didn’t fancy snuggling up to each other…
When I return with my lovely girlfriend, we’ll be rocking this puppy or even this (if we get into a proper camp site every night).
There are pros and cons to each one, which I’ll cover over at tdftips.com [I've only just got the site up, so just subscribe to the site and wait for content - it's close] where I’m putting an ebook guide together on all this.
Strasbourg
We got on the road and headed off – without a roadmap. Lost? You bet! And right away too. We got lost trying to get onto the highway for France. I had an iPhone so cranked that up with Google Maps without thinking – whoops (note: I’ve since received a delightful $2150 Vodafone bill consisting almost entirely of Google Maps data downloads).
We eventually got on the road and we were off, South for Strasbourg. Check out the video below for Autobahn AudiSupervagon Attack Stuka bombers. Boy they drive quick.
I found Strasbourg pretty nice – big, typical of big cities, but in the centre, pretty nice. It was a little bit representative big cities for me, but it was nice to see something different – the little island in the centre of the village (or, in French, centre ville) was delightful. The town is set out in a very confusing manner and we got lost several times; with one trip resulting in about 4 hours of walking. My iPhone with Google Maps (the data roaming bill is going to be horrendous – confirmed – AUD$2100!) saved us.
The photos below are from my Ixus85S with no post-processing (I don’t get paid for this, so it’s not worth my time to spend hours touching photos up – perfect is the enemy of good) – powerlines add to the effect, no?
All in all, it was good to see but I could easily skip it. It was also very humid, which is caused by its location between the Black Forest and the Vosges Mt range, and sits quite low.
We parked up in the Montagne Verte which was nice-ish but too far out of town and it was very steamy.
We took off for a walk, which is when we got lost.
Old house near camp ground.
People grow lots of vegies!
Found some rad graff.
Train Station (“Gare”) – very large, new and awesome. Strasbourg is home to the European Parliament.
We had dinner when we were lost, met this lady who was over from Paris – Majorie – and chatted. Was nice. Apparently my French is pretty good.
The next day, we took off for Michael’s supplier’s for a meeting. It turned into a half a day thing, which was cool, as it was video security and I found it interesting.
Before that, we did a massive shop which was illuminating (and expensive) including for a new electrical supply for our van as McRent supplied us with a broken one.
Le Fromage!! They have a baffling and dizzying array of cheese. All mass produced. The good gear was down in the little towns.
Europe is cheap for alcohol. Around AUD$30 for 1L of Jamieson. Malibu was $15 for 700ML.
Anyway, after our meeting we started heading to Colmar, which is the next post.
Similar Posts:
- Colmar
- Report from Le Tour – Colmar
- France pour le Tour: tips and tricks
- Stage 13 Colmar Vittel, 2009 Tour de France
- Guide to Cycling in France ebook
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