Budapest > Czech Republic > Berlin > Belgium > Eastbourne > Provence > Italy > Budapest
Google maps told us this would be just over 5000kms. The smarter ones of you probably notice that is not 10 countries, but we would drive through various others along the way, so don't be such smart arses.
On Friday evening at the end of September, after work we set off. First stop would be Brno in Czech Republic, we knew we would be arriving late. About 30 seconds after pulling away from home, the dashboard lights of the car lit up. Uh oh, only 4999.9 kms to go. Well, we have had quite a few electrical issues with our little hybrid recently, so we decided to ignore it and push on, as the car itself seemed fine and no engine trouble to be seen or heard. After a few minutes of driving, the car started to scream. A high pitched, constant beeping noise. B and I looked at each other in fear. Suddenly months of planning seemed to be in doubt, perhaps we might not be able to do this trip after all.
After a minute or so of this ear bleeding noise, all the warning lights went off, and silence. Like nothing had happened. B and I looked at each other again. 'What should we do?' she said to me. I was a little worried but this car is a complete hypochondriac, so I just replied 'Sod it, let's go for it. I don't think it will break down'. And that is what we did. The car continued to pull this trick every so often, warning lights come on, scream, and sudden silence. Each time the lights would all go off again. And each time we just pretended like nothing happened.
We made it to Brno quite late, as of course we had to stop to eat at our favourite schnitzel restaurant in Austria (see, I told you there were more countries). Landhaus is an absolute must if you ever find yourself in or around Parndorf. A schnitzel and a beer never go a miss (or almdudler, if you are driving).
The hotel had called us to make sure we were still coming as it was so late. We told them yes, and we arrived between 10 and 11pm. The lady did not seem so happy to greet us when we got there, but we were grateful they stayed open to let us in. 390kms covered in the first day, after we might not even finish 1 after the warning lights. In the morning, we took a couple of hours to walk around and explore Brno.
It was a lovely little city, and everyone was so friendly. I had to ask for change for the parking meter, and the 2 guys I asked could not have been more helpful. We repaid the favour later on when we saw 2 Japanese tourists struggling with the same problem a little later on.
Next up, we headed to Berlin to see our friends G&G (946kms on the clock by now). For years we had talked about visiting them, it was great to finally fulfil our promise. They were absolutely amazing with showing us around. G knows so much about the city, he could be a tour guide. Of course we ate some amazing food while we were there. Wurst, currywurst, vietnamese, sushi...and of course plenty of chocolate! The first night we queued for 20 minutes to eat in a very trendy looking Vietnamese place that we had no business being in. The food was excellent and the cocktails were even better.
This was my first time in Germany, and of course my first time to see the remains of the wall. I have to say, it is quite thought provoking and emotionally stirring to be there.
Pit stop, currywurst and a nice cold beer in the pouring rain:
And no trip to Berlin would be complete without a visit to the Ritter Sport shop. Ritter Sport is one of my most favourite chocolates, my excitement was palpable.
Some more sights...
Next up, we drove to see some of the fam in Vedrin, Belgium. It took a big drive to get there, around 800 kms. 1733kms was the subtotal when we arrived. We spent the time talking, eating, playing games with the kids, playing games without the kids, and getting to know the new family members (3 wild cats who have moved in). Home cooked steak and pomme frites for dinner!
After Belgium was one of the main reasons for the road trip in the first place - to visit Eastbourne and my family and our friends there. We would take the ferry from Calais to Dover, but not before stopping in Bergues to pick up some more pomme frites for lunch in the car.
It was a tad windy on the boat.
There are not so many photos from the Eastbourne part of our trip, not ones that certain friends would want me to put up anyway, but here is just a few.
After 5 nights in Ebo town, we headed south to hopefully warmer climes. We hopped on the ferry from Newhaven, to Dieppe, where we would drive on to a small French village in Normandie called Eslettes. Not much to do in the town, but it was scenic and the hotel was nice. The owner cooked us a home cooked meal in the evening, which we shared with an older Dutch couple who were also staying there. Funnily enough they knew Eastbourne and had been there several times.
This was a house in the village, absolutely stunning!
After just one night, we got yet more kilometres done and hit central France, a town called St Andre. Again, the hotel was rather lovely.
We struggled to find a suitable restaurant in the evening unfortunately, as it was a bit 'off season' and most places seemed to be closed, so we wandered around a bit before settling for a simple burger place.
The next day we headed to Provence, a town called Bonnieux. We had booked a place in the countryside so we could enjoy some peace and quiet, and it was blissful. We spent 3 nights here in total. In the day time, we would explore the small surrounding towns, and in the evening enjoy the peace and quiet of our little nook in the village. Is there anywhere more perfectly picturesque than Provence? (sorry for the image dump, hope you like pictures)
Here is the little cat from our hotel. The owner's French accent was rather thick, so I'm not 100% sure but we think his name was Joaquin.
Our final night would be in Parma, Italy. The city was a lot bigger than we actually expected, and there was some kind of atmosphere. After we finally got to our hotel, following an absolute GPS nightmare which saw me driving completely illegally up a bus lane for 2 kilometres (past the police station), before almost getting our car wedged in a narrow alleyway I'm pretty sure was meant only for cyclists, we saw one road rage incident, one near-fight between 2 teenage boys, and one full-on brawl between 2 teenage girls. I'm not sure if the second and third incidents were connected or not. However we did enjoy our time there, and it was nice to finish our trip with a good meal after barely eating anything for two weeks.
Then, a final long drive home, which would take around 10-11 hours. We had such a great time, in the end we completed more than 5000kms, and hit upon 11 countries (we 'accidentally' drove through Croatia - don't ask).
