Chapter 1: Belgium – France – Switzerland – Italy – Croatia(Rijeka)
One thing to start with: you should be aware that boots’n’all is great, but they only allow you to upload pic by pic… So it takes a while, which is why you only hear from me now. Another reason is that I found that in a about a month, I’ll be moving house; that I need to get my tax form filled in before June 19th (I guess?); and I spent a really great weekend with parents, sisters and their kids, but that’s another story.
Ok, let’s get going… just a tip: don’t make your browser window too large… pics look better if you watch each of them separately. (“So why do you put them on a blog?” I hear you ask)
Stopping in Lausanne for a lunchy break – the view is too good to just drive by!
(Oh and, in order to avoid disappointment: this is just the first post, nothing really spectacular here yet… but I need to keep some chronology, right?
Chapter 1. Belgium – France – Switzerland – Italy – Croatia(Rijeka)
In fact, I didn’t want to bother you with the few “Restaurant Where I Stopped To Have Lunch”-style pics I made in France, so the first pic is already in Lausanne, which was in fact also the first remarkable view.
Switzerland: Marvelous Mountains – or what did you expect?
Getting to the Grand St-Bernard pass, it definitely looks promising.
Passed through the St-Bernard, well… “pass”…
As a matter of fact, I accidentally took the tunnel, paying 17 for 6km! How come? Just plain hastiness, I’m afraid: I was overtaking a truck, and as I just got past it, I remember seeing a sign saying “Tunnel” that pointed the direction I was going. Most probably, at that point there was a sideroad with a sign saying “Pass”, or something like that 🙁 I’ll check next time, and let you know…
My omnifunctional iPaq 6515, playing the role of GPS here.
I know, it doesn’t look that great, but I’m a little bit “proud” of this construction, which allowed me to charge the PDA properly while driving, without its buttons being pushed unwantedly all the time (long story).
And of course, many tnx to Jelle for installing the 12V plug on my bike!
By the way, as I was pretty alone all the time I was driving, in a way it’s nice to hear that “go left, go right” voice of the GPS-girl from time to time… Well, call it pathetic, if you want 😉
Northern Italy: More Mountains, of course, and some charming cities
One thing I should mention: I’ve got no decent pics of it since I made only a few stops, but the Valley of the Aoste in north-west Italy (north of Torino) is really worth a visit.
Coming from Besanon, France, I went through Switzerland (Lausanne, see above), and then just went south through this valley – I guess it’s a part of Italy that “Us, Northern People” aren’t likely to visit, as either we go to Southern France, skiing in Switzerland, or straight on to Tuscany when we visit Italy.
Just outside of Padua…
To tell you the truth, I actually haven’t got a clue why that statue was there, but it’s a nice view, isn’t it?
And nearby, there was the perfect bench for taking a nap, escaping from the noon heat…
Montagnana City Walls
The name Montagnana brings about images of mountains, or at least hills, doesn’t it? Not here though. The funny thing was, I was just thinking that the road was getting a bit boring cuz too flat, when I saw the name of this city – and thought it was a joke, at first. However, seeing those glamorous city walls, I just had to stop.
A quick enquiry in the tourist office taught me that there was a brand new Youth Hostel, just outside the walls. Again, a bit of irony (or what do you call it): “brand new” sounds good, but later I found out that before they built the new one, the hostel was actually situated in the tower you see on this pic! Would have been a lot better, still…
Back to Work!
Of course, most of you will wonder why on earth I’d upload a pic of a coffee machine, but the colleagues at Fluxys will understand:
it’s not big deal really, but as I was just managing to clear my head from “work stuff”, it was a bit of a shock when I came to the hostel’s refectory in the morning and saw the exact same coffee dispenser as we have at work…
After my holiday though, I found out they’d been replacing the machines at work with different ones – I know where the old ones went 😉
Tags: z June 2006 - Croatia: Mountain Meets Marine
Frederik