Greg and Corinne spent ten weeks in Europe. We were delayed due to a health issue with Jim and at first thought we would not go at all. Jim had an operation (or he calls it a brief maintenance stop at Mayo Clinic) to put a pacemaker defibrillator in on April 15 and we were due to leave end of April, and initially cancelled the trip. After surgery and during recovery we went to see The Grand Budapest Hotel movie, and Jim said to Danette, "we need to go to Europe". After an okay from the doctor, we rebooked our tickets and were able to spend five weeks traveling with Greg and Corinne.
We flew into Frankfurt where we rented a van from the same company, Tour Europe, as last time we were in Europe. This time we got a 1985 VW named Hans. Hans is our grandson's name so we had to have that van! We met up with Greg and Corinne who had already been to France, Italy, and Croatia. Their van was named Ludwig.
We met Greg and Corinne in Halstatt, Austria. Our adventure over the next five weeks took us to Austria, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Litchenstein, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Netherlands. Some of the major cities and places we visited were Salzburg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Prague, Romantic Road in Germany, Jungfrau region of Switzerland, Rhein river valley of Germany, Amsterdam, Brugge, and Gent.
During the trip we were able to visit friends we knew. Tim and Ida Timmerman whom we knew from working at SC Johnson, Rob Coehorst who lives part time in Palm Coast and owns a sailboat across the canal from us, and Patrick and Magda who we met while walking the Camino de Santiago last May.
All in all it was a great trip. We found ourselves to be one of few North Americans who stay at campgrounds. We also found that having the vintage vans offered an opening conversation with fellow campers. During our time in Europe we saw various country sides, cities, churches and more churches, villages, valleys, mountains, and river streams. We got to taste the various foods in each country, drink the various beer and wines, and take in the varied culture within each region. We find that people are friendly and extend a hand to assist, help, or guide you even if we do not speak a common language.
