Completely useless trivia: The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache on a standard playing card.
Hey Gang,
It's time again for another rousing tale of adventure and intrigue. Let's start off with the most recent event: my attempt at the autobahn! That was an experience unto itself, let me tell you.
My trip actually started out with a plan to visit a small town called Kalkar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalkar) which is about 2 hours away from here. Kalkar is a small village that is over 1000 years old, and one of the few places left largely untouched by WW2. That was the plan anyway. Turns out life had more interesting adventures in store for me.
I know understand why everyone here swears by their GPS units. There is not one street sign, highway sign, marking, or indication of north/west/south/east to be found anywhere! I have always taken for granted 401 East means I am heading east. Imagine if you will....(special twilight zone reference) driving down roads that have more curves than Gina Lollabrigida and Pamela Anderson put together, when you come to 2 exits, both for highway B34 (one going to farfrompooping, the other to gogetinzielost). Two towns you never heard of, and are not found on any map. You know you have to take one of the exits. Which one? At this point, you make a swag (sophisticated wild ass guess) and hope for the best.
Did I guess correctly? Not even close. I had thought I was heading north, when, in all actuality, I was heading west. May be an idea to purchase one before Laurie and the kids head out here in 2 weeks. I do get to see quite a bit of the European country side. I did end up in Roermond , Netherlands though (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roermond).
Ah, but you all want to hear about the autobahn, and my experience on it. There were a few things that I didn't take into consideration. Google maps told me it was two hours away (my original destination of Kalkar). That is following highways speeds in Canada of approximately 100 kph. I also found that there is a massive difference between the "A" highways and "B" highways (labels i.e. A12 and B221). "A" highways are the autobahn roads. "B" highways, if you can call them that, are restricted to 100 kph, and you will never get that fast, as they wind through every village ever built. Last on my list of things not thought of was the car.
Now, I have heard various comments about my beautiful Opel Corsa from the peanut gallery, which may have had a detrimental effect to my ego. Ok, maybe not, but my lambormini, my fuel injected 1.2 litre rocket was up to the challenge. Sure, the 8 hamsters I have under the hood were really pissed at me for even attempted the autobahn, but even the little furry beasts had to be proud to get the car up to 140 kph. Felt a little like Andy Green (click here to get the reference --> http://www.roadsters.com/750/).
I set out on the road to Kalkar, and quickly hit the autobahn. Very cool, as I was finally, for the first time, able to actually pass a car! Probably those 800cc mini cars and not a glorious performance sedan like mine. Well, 140 is probably the fastest I would want to go in this car. The actual recommended speed is 130 kph, but there is no enforcement. You can think of this as a self-correcting issue, one that I very nearly found out (as a spectator, that is). So there I am, zipping down A44 towards Düsseldorf in the slow lane (don't really want to be in the fast one for soon to be apparent reasons). The trickiest part of driving on the autobahn isn't about watching what is in front of you, but rather what is coming up behind you. As I was passing a Fiat Punto, I glanced in my rearview mirror. About a kilometer back was some lime green vehicle. I didn't give it much thought until 10 seconds later as I am pulling in front of the other car, and glance again. About 300 meters back now, and going at least 200+ was this lime green Porsche carerra. I am pretty sure that was what the car was, but it went by so fast, I felt like I was parked. Up ahead, there were two cars side by side, and I didn't think the Porsche could stop in the next kilometer in time. He did, but it was close. I have never seen someone drive so fast on a public road. It was wild!
Granted, I had to turn up the music loudly to distract myself from the engine protesting about the speed. Let's just say, it wasn't a fast climb to that speed, and I am sure that there was a tail wind.
I ended up basically doing a large loop that started in Germany , through the Netherlands , and back to Germany . Definitely getting my driving practice in. I have included a picture of a speed restrictor like I had mentioned in the last installment. Combine these with round-abouts, and you don't get anywhere fast (unless you are on the autobahn where these structures don't exist). Lime green! What kind of masochistic person paints a Porsche Carerra lime green. There really should be a law!
I did do some actual site seeing as well. I missed my window to Zurich this time, but it will probably happen again in the near future. I found that with enough planning, you can get a flight pretty much anywhere in Europe for 89 euro. After Laurie and the kids head out, I am going to fly to London to visit Mike Jennings. I am hoping to get to Prague , Munich , Paris , Luxembourg , and many others during my stay here. As I mentioned before, if you want to live vicariously through me, let me know the destination, and I will try and get there for you.
I did end up last week in a small town in the Netherlands called Valkenburg. The reason I seem to end up there a lot, is that I am only 10 km from the border. Valkenburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valkenburg_aan_de_Geul) was a very important site historically. This town has had the castle rebuilt 4 times over the centuries and is perched upon a hill that can oversee the surrounding valley. As the geography in this area is predominantly flat, it was a strategic position to be built.
During WW2, villagers were hid in the caves under the castle, which extends through a myriad of tunnels over 5 kilometers long. There were 5 "escape" exits from these caves. The caves are also used for markets during specific times of the year. I have included some photos with this email. As this area was a sea millions of years ago (I will have to take their word for that :-)), the rock that the castle is built upon is soft and easy to carve. This may be why the castle fell apart 4 times, but that is only a theory. The caves where a mine, where block breakers would carve out blocks to be used for the castle and other buildings.
The tunnels are full of loop backs and various heights in the ceiling. In some areas the ceiling is less than 6 feet high, in others over 12. Due to the permanent dampness in the caves, the drawings and art work on the walls remain in fantastic condition. I took the tour and pictures. The entire tour was done in Dutch, so it was a literal "lost in translation". Luckily for me, I did my own research before going on the tour, so I wasn't completely lost.
American soldiers are honoured in one part of the cave with a series of silhouettes and having their names engraved in the walls (with their signature styles). American and Canadian forces are generally held in high regard in this region of the Netherlands .
The town itself is very nice, with the old and new mixed together. Many cobblestone roads with lots of coffee shops and restaurants. Similar too many villages in this area. Enjoy the photos. I will actually visit some castles that are not in ruins :-). In 2 weeks time, my wife and kids are coming for a visit, so I plan to see this castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein) and with any luck a few more. That will be fun!
I also passed by Europe’s largest indoor ski hill in Landgraaf (http://www.snowworld.nl/default.aspx?ID=49&flash=true). I will have to do this sometime soon. From the outside, it looks like a very long building built onto the side of the hill. Funky!
Well that is all for now. Hope that everyone is doing well! Until the next installment...
Steve
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