Note: Many who read this will realize this is our first trip to Europe. Therefore, there will be instances which we found amazing and/or remarkable; instances considered mundane by the frequent traveler.

Thursday, June 9th

This was a day from hell. The airport shuttle was to arrive at 5 pm , but there was a lot to do before I was ready for him. I hadn't even finished all the work I had promised to get out before we left. I got that bit of work done pretty quickly, but then came the hard part. While we are gone, we had this brilliant plan to have the inside of the house painted. What a great idea. By the time we get back, we will have missed the chaos and drama of the painting crews. The only problem is that we had to get ready for them. Not only did we have to do the ordinary tasks of putting away all the small valuables and breakables, but I also had to break down my office which includes about 60 lineal feet of book cases and a computer with just about every USB attachment known to modern man.

I knew Nancy didn't think I would get it done (she later admitted as much), and I was concerned. I had the bookcases broken down by lunch and the office stowed away by 3 pm . Now, finding everything when I get back will be a different matter. Did I mention that I hadn't packed yet? There's just something about packing and Christmas shopping that makes them have the same "feel".

Nancy had her challenges as well including getting that last mega-order in for data processing and taking our beloved pups to the pet lodge. Little did they know that this would be the longest time they've ever been separated from "Mom and Dad". Nancy made all of her deadlines as well and returned home to finish packing.

The airport shuttle arrives 10 minutes early, but we are ready for him. We arrive at LAX by 7 pm , in plenty of time for our 9:20 pm flight (which turns into a 9:41 flight),

We soon start asking ourselves about the packing we did. We have four large bags, two for motorcycle gear and one each for our clothing. Running around the Bradley Terminal looking for a vacant X-Ray station was quite an exercise. We finally get screened and get our baggage checked in.

We board the 747-400, and immediately know what the sardines feel like. The flight is completely sold out and we are packed into an aisle and middle seat in Economy Class. I really never paid attention to the phrase "31 inch pitch" until today.

Nancy sleeps nearly the entire 10 hour flight and I am truly envious. We arrive at Heathrow Airport in London with plenty of time to find our connecting flight to Munich . Although it's a mere 2 hours to Munich , I've had enough flying for a while. I think about my friend Mike Davis who used to work for a company that flew him to places like Paris , Tokyo and Dubai at least once a quarter. I don't know how he did it (I'm sure flying business class helps) and I now understand why he flinches every time he hears the phrase "now boarding" and has developed a disdain for the airport hotel.

We arrive in Munich and take the long (55 Euros) cab ride to the hotel. The cab ride is our first experience on the Autobahn. The driver moves into the number 1 lane and I watch as his speedometer reaches 160 kilometers per hour. I do quick conversion in my head and realize we're doing almost 100 MPH! He has to move to the number 2 lane because faster traffic is approaching from the rear. A couple of cars pass us (almost) like we were standing still. In Germany , there is no speed limit, although there is one in Austria (130 KPH or 78 MPH). We get checked in by 9 pm local time (9 hours ahead of California time). After dropping off our bags at the room, we walk down the street to find a place to get a bite to eat. We return to the hotel and are asleep before midnight . That has to be one of the longest days in my life.

Saturday, June 11th

We sleep until almost noon. One of our first thoughts was that we were glad that we decided to come a day early. We knew we wouldn't be ready for a motorcycle ride after a flight like that.

We have a very nice hotel room  (Le Meridian). This is the first place we've ever stayed where there is a scale in the bathroom. I immediately like the metric system when I find that I weigh a mere 96 kilos.

The Concierge helps us find a day tour (can you believe it's a Gray Lines tour?) and we're off to play tourist. We get back in time for dinner and find a Burger King. We're grateful that we will be having something we recognize. This was not the case with the dinner we had the night before (That's a salad?).

After we eat, we reconnoiter the train station (conveniently across the street) which we had planned to take for the two and a half hour ride to Innsbruck. We don't see anyone boarding or debarking with the quantity and size of luggage we have. Our concern grows. How do we get our luggage to the station? Where do we stow it once on board? All of the offices are closed since it is after 7 pm. We go back to our hotel to search for alternatives. The Concierge gives us two options; taxi  (220 Euros) or car rental  (230 Euros). Back in the hotel room, I contact the service providing transfer from Innsbruck to Munich at the end of the tour. He gives us the data, but we have to go back to the Munich airport to catch it. We spend the rest of the evening discussing the various alternatives  (and checking e-mail).

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Sunday, June 12th

We're up early; shower and pack quickly. We go across the street to the train station and are able to ask a representative about room for our luggage. When we tell her how much luggage we have (four large bags plus two carry-ons), she asks "How long are you staying in Europe?". I tell her almost two weeks, but I didn't want to go into detail and tell her that two of the bags are carrying our motorcycle gear. We feel much more comfortable with our accommodations especially since our travel agent was thoughtful enough to reserve seats for us (in First Class no less). We check out a train which will be similar to the one we will take and realize there will be adequate room for our gear.

Today is totally overcast and the air is damp. This is one of three days predicted to contain some moisture. I think of it as God getting our riding surface ready for our adventure. We return to our room and prepare to check out of the hotel.

The train ride is slightly adventuresome in that the coach we are on is Italian and not German. In other words, according to our German compartment-mates, it's not as nice. There is a lot of nationalism here. The Germans point out how much better their solution is than the Italians and the Austrians do the same with the Germans. Fortunately, the train is not full and we are able to get all of our gear in our area. It would have been nice to have a porter, but we survived. The ride through the countryside was well worth any inconvenience and apprehension. Once outside Munich , we only see small village separated by beautiful countryside. The couple sharing our compartment is German from Ramstein who are taking a short trip to Milano ( Milan ). They speak pretty good English as do many Germans and Austrians. This (the language barrier) was one thing I had a lot of apprehension about for our first European trip. Fortunately for us, the places we went served English speaking customers on a regular basis. The train ride was about two and a half hours. We arrive in Innsbruck shortly after 1 pm.

Edelweiss Tour - Alps Touring Center

We successfully get our luggage off the train and are quickly greeted by our tour guide, Christian. Fortunately, we remembered to attach our Edelweiss luggage tags and are easy to recognize. Christian helps us with our luggage into the van and we make one trip to the airport looking for one remaining couple who has not arrived nor has called. We make the drive to our hotel, just west of Olsteig, a village about 40 minutes west of Innsbruck. We get settled in and have a rider's meeting, reviewing the motorcycles we were to spend the week with and processing the necessary insurance paperwork. We have dinner together and then have our first rider's meeting. The meeting consists of going over European traffic rules and signage. Christian also goes into great detail about the importance of safety. About halfway through the rider's meeting, the last couple to arrive, Gil and Susan, walk in looking totally exhausted. They apparently missed their connecting flight in Frankfurt.  We finish the rider's meeting and begin to get to know the other members of the tour which included a pair of single riders from New Jersey, Mike and Bill, as well as a pair of single riders from Toronto, Carlo and Manny. The eight of us plus our guide Christian will spend the next five days exploring the Alps.

Sunday, June 12th

We unpack into our new home for the next five days. The hotel is quaint and isolated. The hotel is also featured as a "wellness" facility for the other guests. Of course, it's a wellness facility for us and our (only) cure is an incredible amount of twisty roads. The room is large and comfortable. We however do need to adjust to the fact that there is only a mattress on the bed (no box springs) and apparently the management feels that washrags or hand towels are not part of their wellness program. Another difficult adjustment is that there is no Internet connection in the room. There is a publich computer in the common area, but the connection is slow and does not have the facility to print or to burn CDs. As most who know me know that I would rather give up TV than my Internet connection. It's a struggle I will face for the remainder of the trip.

Monday, June 13th

We begin what will be our daily regimen of breakfast at 7:30 and rider's meeting at 8:30. The first day riding was pretty mild. We spent the day getting used to the road signs as well as the machines. Also, we were riding in a group of riders with various riding skills and experience. All of the riders are fortunately experienced, but none of us had ever ridden with each other. The day was spent getting used to the subtitle nuances of each rider. It must have been particularly demanding for Gil and Susan (the couple who missed their connecting flight in Frankfurt) for they had little sleep in the past 30 hours. I'm certain that, if this had happened to Nancy and I, we certainly would not be riding on Monday. The weather was fairly nice. It started off a little cool in the morning (although I did not turn on the electric jacket liner), warmed up in the middle of the day and we actually experienced some light showers in the afternoon. Although light, they turned out heavier than I expected. Thinking that the sprinkles would stop "any minute now", I never did stop to put on my rain suit. By the time we get back to the hotel, the sleeves on my long sleeve shirt were damp. We are all glad that we successfully get our first day under our belt although some of us regret not spending some time at one of two of the German castles we pass on our route.

We get together for dinner at 7:30 and revel at our respective motorcycles skills. It's early in the week and there is still some "chest thumping" going on. By the end of the week, all that will be gone.

Tuesday, June 14th

We start again with breakfast at 7:30 and rider's meeting at 8:30. The ride today is more ambitious as we tackle our first hairpins. Gil's riding skills improve dramatically. It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do. It becomes obvious (to me) that both Carlo and Mike are probably the best riders in the group, although they learn quickly that there is no hope of keeping up with Christian, particularly in the hairpins. This is no insult to Carlo, Mike or anyone in the group. Christian is a former pro motocross and road racer who grew up in these "hills". Not only are his skills well honed by his racing days, but he's riding on roads with which he's extremely familiar. Manny, skill wise, is not far behind Carlo and Mike (if behind at all) but exhibits more caution since he sold his ride recently and it's been a while since he's been "in the saddle". Bill  (from New Jersey) consistently was the cautious rider of the day; never forcing a pass. His riding matches his personality; quiet yet calculated.

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Wednesday, June 15th

Christian has moved Passo Del Stelvio up to today. He says that we are ready for it. The girls, Nancy and Susan, decide to take a "tourist day" and take the bus into Innsbruck. Although I would rather ride with Nancy on any day and on any road, this decision is probably a good one.

We take the route riding from East to West and take the 49 hairpins on the uphill route. Fortunately, I spent the previous day practicing my hairpin skills because they are definitely needed today. I'm riding a new R1200 RT and, while I enjoy the additional power and broader power band, I had not developed an appreciation for the redesigned, smoother shifting transmission. The transmission on my R1150 feels much more positive and the infamous "clunk" never bothered me. One thing that bothered me more than the transmission was the abrupt throttle. It seemed to me to be "instant on" as soon as I rolled the grip. This was not an appreciated feature going down deep in a hairpin. I compensated by using the clutch to "feather" the throttle. I'm not sure if this is a characteristic of the new electronics or due to the fact that the bike has not yet had it's first Level 1 service. The power brakes are not as sensitive as mine, but I believe this adjustment was made in 2003.

The guys were good enough to let me ride second behind Christian. There I was able to watch what an amazing rider Christian is. There would be times he would pass us on the outside, while standing up! He never was "showing off" or doing anything unsafe. To the contrary, Christian was always talking about safe riding and offered every day to start the day with exercises which would improve our confidence on the bikes. Early in the week he suggested that by pushing the bike down in the hairpin while remaining fairly erect could/would yield more confidence. I recall this exercise from the ERC (Experienced Riders Course sponsored by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation), but had failed to apply it until Tuesday. On Wednesday, on our ride to Passo Del Stelvio, I took him up on his offer in the parking lot at the walled city of Glearns. He had said that an exercise consisting of doing circles with the handlebars at the steering lock position would be a confidence builder. Most, including myself, expressed reluctance in doing this offering the fact that we were on strange bikes and risked the loss of the insurance deductible. Of course, this excuse was without basis since it was even more important to do this exercise on an unfamiliar bike. Once in the parking lot in Glearns, I fined that turning the RT with the steering at the lock position is effortless, even going in my "weak" direction, clockwise. I have always attributed this to the fact that I'm left handed, but I'm not entirely sure that's the reason. Regardless, I guess the exercise helped because I felt confident on every one of the 48 hairpins getting to the top.

Just as we reach the summit, the fog rolls in which actually turns into "low" clouds and a light rain joins us for the decent. This environmental condition not only increases our care and caution but also increase our confidence riding on wet roads. Yes, I'm wearing my rain gear today. I just wish  the "squeegie" on my glove was a little more effective.

Due to the extra adventures (we experience two more passes subsequent to Passo Del Stelvio) we don't arrive at the hotel until 8:30. Susan and Nancy are relieved to see us pull in. In retrospect, we should have called the hotel at the last gas stop. Dinner is shortly after we remove the helmets. There is no difficulty sleeping that night.

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Thursday, June 16th

Today I want to take a break from riding in a group and I want to take Nancy to two of the destinations we visited on Wednesday; the walled city of Glearns in northern Italy and St. Moritz in Switzerland. One thing I didn't realize is that the area known as Tyrol, particularly South Tyrol, is a fairly homogenous region where people have lived for generations. Of course, this practice is fairly common in the area. People don't move around like they do in the U.S. South Tyrol was "taken" by Italy in, I believe, WWII. Regardless, they still speak German there, not Italian.

We have a nice ride and spend some time playing "tourist". Even so, we ride about the same as our average day; about 400 km. Something about distance. The distance we rode this week, slightly less than 2,000 km, is certainly not significant when compared to some of our other rides. Even our more "sedate" touring days in the U.S. is over 300 miles (500 km). The difference between riding in the U.S. and riding in the Alps is that there is very little time to "relax" between demanding sections of the roads. I believe I encountered more hairpins on Wednesday than I would encounter in a typical year riding in California , which has it's share of challenging roads.

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Friday, June 17th

Our passion for riding in lieu of sightseeing pays off today and Christian offers to take us to the Dolomites. The Dolomites are a spectacular rock formation apparently as a result of the intersection of two tectonic plates pushing the rock vertical. The geology is spectacular, but so are the roads. Christian takes us over a pass he claims is his favorite. I soon find out why because the road is nicer, wider and the views are spectacular. We get to the top and it's motorcycle central; much like the Lookout or the Rock Store are in Southern California . I haven't mentioned the motorcycles. We see a LOT of motorcycles. Mike estimates that the total traffic on the road at any given moment is 20% motorcycles. No one disputes this statement although I want to simply because he's an attorney from New Jersey . After all, I challenge just about everything else he says during the week. Why should I let that one go by? It's probably because I feel the same way. Not only are there a lot of motorcycles, but the car drivers, who categorically are much better at reading and responding to motorcycle riders, accommodate them very well. Later that night at dinner I make the declaration that I probably would own a motorcycle if I lived in Bavaria , Austria or Tyrol . A few seconds pass and once my statement of the obvious is realized there is a burst of laughter.

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I wish I could be more detailed in writing where we went and what roads we took (like I do for our local adventures), but it's difficult when you not only don't recognize any of the towns on the maps but can't even pronounce them. It's also difficult when I don't journal every day, which was difficult since I was exhausted every night after dinner. About the best I can do is to summarize the riding by saying that we rode at least five different passes, encountered more hairpins on either Wednesday or Friday than I would expect to encounter in a year of riding. My current fear is that I might find riding in the Sierra Nevadas sedate, although I'm sure I will enjoy them.

I don't believe there is a single person who at dinner on Friday evening feels that they missed anything or could/would ride any more. My only regret is that we didn't do enough sightseeing, but I would not have traded a riding day to accomplish that. Since we depart at different times, we say our good byes that night, pack up and go to bed.

Saturday, June 18

Christian takes us to the Innsbruck Airport where the shuttle takes us to the Munich Airport . We board our plan and prepare for the third phase of our adventure: London .

We arrive at Heathrow Airport and take that long (and expensive) cab ride from Heathrow to the hotel, the Thistle Victorian adjacent to the Victorian Station, the train station for London . We get in early enough to take a tour tracing Jack the Ripper's five murders which are unsolved to this day.

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Sunday, June 19th

We are up and out early to catch a bus for a tour of London (including London Tower ) and short cruise on the Thames .

Later that afternoon we find that Sunday is not a good day for shopping in London as most of the stores are closed.

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Monday, June 20th

We are up and out again early ( 8 am ) for a more ambitious touring day including Windsor Castle , Stonehenge and the town of Bath . I recall reading about the history  of London , but it really had no significance until we were able to see buildings built thousands of years ago. This is a full day of playing tourist as we do not get back to the hotel before 8:30 pm .

We finish our touring still not able to find a restaurant serving fish and chips (I'm sure they are all over the place, we just weren't looking properly). We also realize that we have to go back. We could easily spend a week (or more) just going through the (free) museums. Maybe I can package that with a trip to Isle of Mans. To successfully promote an idea to Nancy , the packaging is critical. But I think, after 25 years, I'm getting better at it.

It's amazing being in such a northern city as London on the eve of the Summer Solstice. It was light at nearly 10 pm and was light before 5 am .

The biggest complaint I had about the hotel we stayed in is that, even though there was an Internet connection in the room, I never could connect. Yes, I called tech support. Yes, I checked my settings. Tech support finally blamed it on the weather ( London was in the middle of a heat wave with temps as high as 32^oC). I never could download a 320 kb pdf file. Considering the price of the hotel (don't ask!), I expected more. I resolve to search for a GPRS solution when I get home.

Tuesday, June 21

It's another day from hell. From what I understand, jet lag is worse flying east to west. After today, I'll be able to say with certainty. We left Heathrow at noon and arrive in Los Angeles at 3pm local time or midnight London time. I'm writing this on the 11 hour flight. We still have to collect our luggage, go through customs (Nothing to declare. Honest!), catch the shuttle home and then pick up the dogs.

Oh, yeah. We have to see what the painters have done with our house. With all the chaos Nancy and I had getting business affairs in order, we gave them some rather vague directions. Maybe the adventure isn't over but just getting started.

Epilogue

I had basically two fears about going to Europe . The first was traveling in Europe as an American. We even considered buying tee shirts that say "I'm Canadian". Of course, that might have been a little too obvious In retrospect, my concerns were unfounded. While I wish I spoke German, the people in general were very friendly. My other fear was that, since I'm not much of a dining experimentalist, I would starve to death before the end of the vacation. Amazingly enough, I did not die. I'm not even sure I lost weight. I don't think Austrians know the meaning of "diet" <fill in the blank>. They do have "light cola", but I'm sure that's just for Americans. Austrians do not need such devices. They live in 3 story houses and ride bicycles in a countryside that is definitely not flat. They must laugh at "half and half". Another culinary observation. I did not have a bad cup of coffee. I don't believe Starbuck's would be successful in Bavaria , Austria or Tyrol . There is no mistaking coffee for tea in these regions.

At the end of the trip, Nancy and I agree on a few things:

We're ready to go home.

We want to go back (both to the Continent and to England , but not necessarily at the same time)

We're glad we did this.