5-28-23 We visited Ljubljana, Croatia, the capitol city, just another big town, decided to head to Switzerland. Along the way we happened upon this castle, very unique, built around a cave system. Made it as far as Tolmezzo, Croatia where we RON (for those of U not prior military RON = rest over night) at Hotel Alla Fonte. It turns out that this hotel is a biker favorite, covered parking in the rear, there were 18 bikes including ours when we got up for breakfast.

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5-29-23 Heading to Switzerland, took the long way and got as far as (yep back in Italy) Bozlano, Italy. Incredible ride but slow most of the way, lots of great stops and speeds never topped 50 MPH most of the day. We definitely visited the Hall of the Mountain King today. Snow covered mountains, narrow valley passes, no picture can do it justice. We had to deal with heavy rain in the afternoon on some very slick and narrow roads. Stopped for coffee, little nip in the air. Met some fellow travelers from Germany, they were headed home. I can tell that cost is about to double. We have gotten use to free breakfast and meals costing less than $30 for both of use. Rooms have been averaging about 70 US per night for something as basic as a room with a bed and a shower to full opulence, well that is over. Dinner tonight was at a Ristorante Meta, a roof top bistro with both indoor and outdoor seating. The hotel called and made reservations for us, we were seated outside. This place was crowded but even the places that are not busy frown on just showing up, it is much preferred that you have a reservation. In New Orleans, our favorite haute, it is not uncommon for many of the kitchens to send something special to the table if you are known to them as a thank you (lagniappe; a Cajun-French word meaning a little something extra); we were surprised this evening with a similar offering. A bit of steak tartar in avocado sauce along with a whipped avocado dressing spread covered with truffles. Great way to end a long day!

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5-30 &31-23 Zurich Great trip, put the Trike on a train ride through a long tunnel. Again back in the hall of the Mountain Kings. Snow covered mountains everywhere. Rain in the afternoon but we were good. Arrived Zurich, surprised at 1. How expensive it is, 2. How modern it is.
Expensive, the average person makes about $6000 Crowns (CHF) per month. The average apartment goes for $3000 to $3500 per month; health care is mandatory at about $1000 CHF which does not leave a lot to live on. The ultra-wealthy can afford to buy, the rest rent. No paparazzi, personal privacy is insured by the government. This is the world center for banking and insurance. Note: the rest of the Europe uses the Euro, Switzerland still uses the crown and tries not to deal with the Euro. Example, pay in Euro, you’re getting Crowns in change. They can get real snarky if you ask for change in Euro to just down right refusing, take it or leave it. Coffee at $5.50 a cup, bottle of coca cola at $6.50 and an average meal for 2 can cost upwards of $70 CHF without alcohol, people do not eat out a lot.
We settled in for the first night and went to old town, which again did not appear very old. Unimpressive. Booked a tour on the 31st which included a bus ride, walking tour and a boat ride. It again was fun but could have done better with our time. Sheila bought some chocolates which were wonderful. Dinner at the hotel which was good on the 31st.

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6-1-23 Left Zurich for Bern, the capital of Switzerland. This is more like it, very old, very historic. When we first rolled into town, there was graffiti and strange figures but that gave way to historic buildings that were everywhere. We toured the old town area, just amazing. The amount of wealth on quite display is staggering. After spending the better part of the day we moved on to Frutigen. This is the home town of a friend that owns Edelweiss Inn in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Arkansas is a very biker friendly state with some of the best ridding in the USA, Eureka Springs is a hilly little eclectic community in the NW corner of the state and is ideally situated for some really great ridding, great dinning and just all around good times. The Edelweiss is spotless to a fault and very, very affordable. Fire pit out back and the forest creatures come up every evening to graze in the grass. We tried to stay in Fruitgen but there was no hotel nights to be had. It is fortunate in that we negotiated a killer deal at Kiental, 10 miles up the mountain road so that was our layover for the night. Looking at the map of hotels in Kiental, hotels 1 & 2 have no road, a visitor has to hike to them. Our Trike parked by the Bear Hotel, lodging for the night. The windows that are open along with the balcony you can barley see on the back is our room, what an incredible view. The hotel restaurant was the local place to eat. Last picture taken from the balcony, the moon was very bright.

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6-2-23 Some days are diamonds, some days are stones; today is rock quarry.
Got up, had a nice breakfast then explored some of the mountain roads around Kiental, pretty waterfalls, lakes and streams. Off to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn; had to take a train through the mountain which was kewl. It was a longer ride than the first mountain train. On the last leg to Zermatt and the road was closed due to an accident. One way in and one way out. We hung around for a while to see if the road would open but gave up after a while. Decided to head to Germany so same train back through the mountain range and maddening traffic to the German border. Wound up at the Concorde Hotel at Flugplatz, an civil airport hotel. The walls were decorated in an aviation theme. Our room was in Terminal A, gate 128. The twin Beach aircraft in the grass is a large RC model out the window of the large bar/dinning area. Really nice place. Tomorrow the black forest.

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6-3-23 Yep, that’s the name Bad Wildbad, Germany, not only is it a real town, it is a resort area with thermal springs that people flock to for the healing waters. It also features a park dedicated to the outdoors and the reason we spent most of the day there. We climbed the 200 foot tower, I was not sure I could make it and yes, we did slid down the tube. We met a family from San Antonio on the Baumwipfelpfad Schwarzwald trails that gave us a bunch of insights on things to see. RON Hotel Alte Linde, room with a balcony overlooking a picturesque stream; dinner at the hotel was amazing. Sheila had the pork medallions in a gypsy sauce and I had the veal cutlets in a brown butter wine sauce.

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6-4-23 Lunch at Schonach then Rothenburg ob der Tauber (the old Town)
We stopped in Schonach, a very small, very local town for a real German Biergarten and real homemade sausage and German potato salad with their local beir. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. The (Zirndorfer on tap) was not cold but was not warm either, just slightly cool, not strong but very mild and good tasting. The sausage and potato salad were amazing. We then set off to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the place is a walled city. We parked outside and entered the tiny portal next to the city map, not sure if we could drive into the walled city. Later we found that you had to have a sticker/pass or room reservation, score. We went back and got the bike. There is a stone catwalk that surrounds the city and the place is unmanageable huge. The picture with the narrow passage way is the catwalk that goes completely around the city and it is about 15 feet above the ground. We spent from just after 1 PM walking the place and only had seen a small portion of it so we were able to score a room at one of the many old hotels in the walled city by about 6 PM so that we could stay and see some more tomorrow. The picture of the trike parked in front of the hotel, our room was the top two windows, upper left. As the sun started setting it started to get cool, we elected dinner at an Italian restaurant right across from the hotel in the middle of the street. I know, we are in Germany and eating Italian, ok we did German earlier. Actually the very best Italian meal we had was in England, that is a story for later. As the evening progressed, more and more restaurants took over the street with lively music and adult beverages. Fortunately we did not have far to stumble to get back to the room. The place had and elevator, a life saver.

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6-5-23 Overnight at Hotel Raeinischer, spent part of the day exploring Marienberg Fortress in Wurzburg, a city in Bavaria, the hotel we stayed at overlooked the Rhine river, the hotel restaurant was good.

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6-6-23 Spent the day washing the bike and doing clothes in Cologne, Germany. We did pass through Bonn early in the day, it was a bit disappointing in that I expected an old town, not so, very modern. Would have loved to spent more time in Cologne but rooms were scarce, so we headed off to places west. Wound up in a small farming community on the outskirts of Daun, Germany. The hotel is Landhotel Krolik, owned by lovely young, very gracious couple. We have 4,541.0 miles as the Trike sits in the parking lot tonight over 26 days. Two days were non travel days so really 4541/24 =190 miles per day, not to bad considering how much we stop. It is seldom just road time.

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6-7-23 Spent the day shopping and wandering downtown Luxembourg, place was really crowded. Evening finds us crossing into France and staying at the B&B Hotel Longway, France. I left the pocket talk, our handy little translator somewhere behind, going to feel lost without it.

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6-8 & 9-23 Warwick Hotel in Brussels, made it to city center and found the hotel, decide to stay for the night. We found the area called the Grand Place and knew we had to stay another day so made online reservations for the 9th (saved a bit of money doing that) This place is beautiful and fascinating, lots of history, lots of visitors. Chocolate shops everywhere, lots of restaurants with street side dinning. Impressive buildings.

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6-10-23 After a unremarkable breakfast in a remarkable setting in the Grand Place in Brussels, we set off for the Eurotunnel and the UK. It should have been a 2 ½ hour trip but the traffic was horrible, it took closer to 4 hours. Fortunately we had not booked reservations and planned to do so when we got closer. Got lost as we entered Calais but eventually made our way though, French customs, UK customs and vehicle check. We boarded the train for the short 35 minute crossing. After boarding, we met a group of UK bikers that shared some good information on Scottland. Remarkable, board a train in France and arrive in the UK some 35 minutes later after passing under the English Channel. It was not that many years ago that a huge (for the time) cash prize was offered for the first person to fly across the channel. We departed the train in Folkstone and went straight to Canterbury; Canterbury tales. We found ourselves in the middle of a festival so naturally we joined right in and was having a gay old time. All the shops were open, families strolling about, people laughing and having a great time, concerts going on and then we spotted the Gay Pride banner welcoming participants to Canterbury Gay Pride….ok, so what the heck. We could not secure lodging in Canterbury so we headed up the road to Sittingbourne where we found lodging at a Holiday inn. Went to the Black Pearl for fish, very inexpensive and very good.

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6-11-23 A road day; after breakfast we took care of chores, washing and that sort of thing then off to York, about a 6 hour ride with traffic. Lodging at the St Raphael Guest House, no air conditioning and the UK is having a very unusual hot spell, getting to almost 80 deg. F which is hot for them. Had dinner at Il Paradiso Del Cibo, and Italian place run by Italians, we met Salvatore, a really nice guy, cannot say that we have ever been treated better at in dinning place in the world. Before the evening was over, we were drinking shots with our new friend Salvatore, how wonderful.

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6-12/13-23 Edinburg, on the road most of the day, arrived to stay at the Yotel Hotel down town. They advertised parking, what they did not say was that parking was in a remote lot that was 14 minute drive or 10 minute walk from the hotel. Too late, already committed but did not feel like the bike was safe. Decided to spend an extra day in Edinburg and see the Edinburg Castle and a few other things. We moved to the Best Western on the outskirts of town, lovely place, should have stayed here the first night. Manager super nice guy, wanted the trike parked next to the reception entrance, under the light, under a camera, his idea. Great bar, good restaurant and food AND bus sercice right out the front door drops you off one block from the Royal Mile, the gateway to the castle. Look at the photos, if you are a Harry Potter fan you will recognize Victoria Street. It was where he went to get his magic wand in one sequel. I do not remember the name of the street in the movie but it was not called Victoria Street.

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6-14-23 Our general destination was Skye, we made it as far as Meikleour, a village just north of Perth. Along the way we visited Sterling Bridge (Brave Heart) where William Wallace defeated the British army and started the fight for Scottish independence. The bridge in the picture was built after the battle. Wallace destroyed the bridge that was there cutting off the British. We also visited the Falkirk Wheel, a very unique structure that raises and lowers vessels 23 meters from one canal to another. Because of the physics principal on how the wheel was built means very little power and not much effort is required to move the floating vessels up and down.

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