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Published: September 3rd 2007
We´ve been on the road for 3 weeks or so and there´s been no time for blogging. However the rain has started falling again, so here we are.
The trip started off well with a visit to Dan´s cousins in Edinburgh. Great city full of fringe festival. However things took a turn for the worse as we headed up to north Scotland in our wee rental..... We arrived on the west coast to find it the home of the Midgy. We had been warned, however we underestimated the buggers. To understand the midgy - take one sandfly and mix it with a mosquito, shink it down to microscopic size and clone it a billion times. The tenatious little bastards really tested our patience. Between them and the fairly cold wet weather we were driven from the picturesque campsites in to the public houses.
Rant over... Scotland was fab. Spectacular hills, big skies and castles all over the place.
Stayed with friends in Ayre and Newcastle before departing the UK for Paree.... and with more friends in Paris in a beautiful pad with a view of the Eiffel Tower. Nice way to start our time on the continent. Our
first few days in France involved several trips underground... one in to the disturbing Catacombs where they shifted everyone from the city´s graveyard in the 18th century because it was so plague ridden and dumped them 20m under the streets of Paris where you can now see piles of skulls and bones laid out in garish patterns.
We then met up with our travelling buddies Paul and Michaela Hobbs, picked up our petit voiture, whizzed around the LÁrc de Triomphe (honestly!) and drove to Champagne. There we yet another trip underground, in the 26km of cellars under the Moet et Chandon brewery, 20 metres or so below ground level.
After a couple of lovely days in Alsace (sunshine, castles, cute medieval towns and cheap, good wine), we headed to the land of the sausage and senior citizen; Germany. The Black Forest should have been named the grey forest for all the rain and octagenarians in the place. To top it off we took a half hour walk beside a motorway in the rain to see the "world´s largest cuckoo clock". It was so lame it brought Dot to tears.
Our impressions of Germany greatly improved once we
hit Heidelburg. Being Germany´s oldest university town it is a beautiful small city with a grand castle on the hill. Despite being an ancient city it had a very modern feel to it with brilliant pedistrian areas and cycling lanes everywhere.
The Romantic Rhine (better than it sounds) was filled with castles, but also the ubiquitous old bastards. However we had a great bike ride up the Rhine, checking out dozens of castles and medieval villages.
We are currently camping just out of Bamburg, avoiding the rain by dashing between beer halls. Life could be worse I suppose.
Off towards Munich next....
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Kimmmeeee
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It's much more exciting here...
Yes, that's right, it's crap spring weather in Wellington and to make you more jealous I'm about to take Zoe off to buy a potty. For her to look at and play with, you understand! And then to the Doc for some jabs. Fun times ahead! Miss you guys - have an awesome time and gosh you look fantastic Dot! The others of you are far too small in the photos to comment, but I'm sure you look fantastic too... Lotsa luff Kimmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeee