Cutting the corner
A quick dash across Germany and France yesterday to Lorrach (near Basel Switzerland). We had planned a fast but boring autobahn route after some google mapping made that look decent. The gps came up with a fast (and importantly) no toll road route which ran across Alsace on a very quiet Sunday morning. Last year we battled the Hal (the gps) across Europe. This year we seemed to have come to an arrangement (and an important “discovery”). We have decided to let Hal speak ( and switched to an easier-to-hear-in-a-noisy-car female voice. In the us we found the voice prompts annoying but here they are critical. We haven’t named our new friend yet but she took us on a rally nice run on two lane roads and highways across beautiful Alsatian territory.
Beautiful empty roads for Tamara to speed on. Go speed racer go!
W stopped in Phalsbourg which has a fabulous old center, very well preserved. Here is the city hall.
It was even warm enough for a cafe creme on the square.
Dad giving the kids a class on classic convertibles we think… There also happened to be Porsche and bmw convertibles nearby.
Stunning wood-timbered town we stopped off in for a quick picnic. Ive completely forgotten the name already. Nuts.
Off to Italy through Switzerland today. We met some of our rally mates last nit. More arrive on the autozug train today. It’s going to be madness with 38 cars in the group. More later!
Passing only on the left
It’s a big thing here… Passing only on the left. I wish it would catch on in the USA. Drivers, so far, do appear more competent or at least are more predictable. All is not perfect though.
Tuesday we cruised around the Moselle wine region again. Each village is a picture postcard and yet still working villages with little Fendt brand tractors running up and down the same streets that trinkets and wine are sold from.
Tamara didn’t quite know what she was in for today… The afternoon was reserved for a visit to the nordschleife, aka the groene holle, aka green monster. Car geeks will know where this is headed… All others might want to check the Wikipedia page for the nurburgring race course, specifically the nordschleife. A 12 mile road race course that they stopped using because it got too dangerous (ask Nikki lauda) but that is still a benchmark test course for auto and tire manufacturers worldwide… And, better yet, the public can drive on it!
This was my fourth visit and third lap of this amazing course. I always thought how cool it would be to run this track in my own car… A car I knew intimately, a car I didn’t have to worry about hertz lawyers chasing me to the ends of the earth because I hit the Armco with their funky econobox. It was cool to drive my own car there… But as we have 2000 miles (+?) to go I couldn’t really go for it. Plus… The spider’s handling becomes less than desirable nearer the limits (lack of a top tying the chassis together makes it a bit noodly when pushed) so we stayed to the right and watched almost everything pass us. We did pass a tour bus (really!) and a little innocenti imp. But mostly I bore right (even through the famous carousel 😦 ) and let the modern machinery pass buy.
A lot of the cars were rentals just for the track. One of the rentals took forever to pass. Tamara saw them beforehand and his wife/passenger looked less than thrilled about the journey. We laughed imagining the discussion going on in their car as the husband kept attempting passes.
Before we knew it our lap was over. I can’t wait for the next opportunity to drive this awesome chunk of road. E-ticket.
On the way to and from the track we saw several test cars rolling around… Their bodies heavily camouflaged with graphic treatments make them obvious.
Some of our track mates line up to blast off.
Entering the famous carousel… Though we had to bear right out of the carousel for faster traffic. Oh well.
Le grand depart… Gent to Bernkastel Kues
Cloudy and cool on Sunday am as we left Gent. We started with the top down but on the way to liege the temp began to drop so we put the top up. Minutes later it began to rain. And rain. And rain. Glad the wipers and defrost work on the alfa (though not quite to modern standards).
we had it easy… we saw hundreds of cyclists and motorcyclists out in the worst of it.
Lunch in spa and a quick, symbolic stop at the famed spa-francorchamps race course. It was a porsche cup race day so we just peaked in for a second.
We passed through Luxembourg on the way to Germany. Did not see Andy or Frank but did buy some “cheap” gas. Cheap = $7.66 per gallon. Preparing for the refill here in Germany where the price is $8.92. Definitely driving slower and with less bravado than at home.
Our big game for the day was second guessing the GPS. It will, at all costs, do everything it can to get you to a freeway in order to get you to your destination. Even entering a waypoint that should logically make it track you down a shorter, yet scenic, route will cause it to make you turn left, right or U toward a freeway. The best uses for it are 1. Keeping us from arguing about the route (instead we plot against our hal 9000) 2. Speed, speed limits and speed cameras (gps more accurate than a 40 year old Italian speedo marked in mph) 3. The last kilometer to get you to your destination (though the accuracy goes to shit in the last 50 meters). Touring around the Mosel today (Monday) we just left Hal in the trunk.
Safety equipment.
Europe has some odd regional auto safety rules. We have tried to meet some of them.
Newly added to the kit in the trunk:
Safety triangle
Fire extinguisher
2 green safety vests (this one I was unaware of, Geert loaned me one and then our friend vincent informed me that there must be a vest for each passenger and loaned a second, are we on a boat?) 50 euro fine in France if caught without them
I neglected to outfit the car with a replacement light bulb set (German requirement) though I saw them on the shelf at the auto parts store today
First aid kit also not in the car though this was when i dropped the car off… Stolen along with the license plates on the way over (who steals a first aid kit?)
Battery was a bit flat this am. It was along in years but worked fine until today. As noted above there was a Bosch shop in town. So let’s just pop for a new battery. The young mechanics didn’t speak any English and were decidedly cold but got the battery in quickly. I knew it would be much more than in the USA where parts like this are cheap. I guessed 100 euros. Was surprised to pay 165 euros ($237) for a $75 battery. At least they could have cleaned the windshield… Moving on!
Note the really nice single-cylinder BMW moto with sidecar in the background.
Hit the tail end of a wine fest today. Good oompa band and plentiful wine and beer
Bernkastel kues is insanely scenic. Off to the next winestube!
By the way, I’m posting more images in flickr. These should show up in the right margin of the blog page. Take a look!
girodellalfa 