|
Introduction
Since my wife and I had our first home, we had a poster of Schloss Neuschwanstein hanging on the
wall of our living room. Schloss Neuschwanstein
is a big castle in the village Schwangau in the South of Germany.
A few houses later, I still have that poster. It is not complete anymore and it is not in the living room
but in the garage but from the first time I saw this magnificent castle, this was a place I wanted to visit.
Schloss Neuschwanstein in my garage
My original plan this year was to finish my trip from the North Cape to Gibraltar, by doing the Gibraltar
part of the trip (the North Cape trip I did in 2006 ) but again, something came up that made it impossible to do it right now so it's time for
plan B, the trip to Schloss Neuschwanstein in Germany.
Preparations
Friday May 27, I picked up the bike at the bikeshop in Ossendrecht. It has a new headgasket, a new radiator,
new tires (Michelins), a new throttle cable and fresh oil so it is ready to go now.
At a computershop in Bergen op Zoom I bought a Samsung N250P Netbook so I can update my tripreport during the
trip, use email and make on-line hotel reservations.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
At half past eight I left home, filled my tank at the Texaco station and drove to Xanten in Gemany, on my way to
Schloss Neuschwanstein.
The weather was not to bad. It was dry and not cold. Because of the forrest fires near Huijbergen, I drove on the
freeway until I took the offramp in Roosendaal. From there on, I did not use the freeway and past Tilburg I drove
in the direction of Noord-Limburg.
Just after eleven AM, I saw a sign "Terras geopend" so I stopped for a coffeebreak. At Party- and conference
Center Roepaen (Kleefseweg 9 in Ottersum) I had a cappucino and a piece of cake.
Roepaen in Limburg
From there it was not very far to Xanten and after a pleasant ride, I arrived at the hotel where I booked
a room yestarday, Hotel Fürstenberger Hof, Fürstenberg just outside Xanten. It is a very nice hotel in
the beautiful countryside.
Hotel Fürstenberger Hof
The view from my room
After I parked the bike in the garage and put my luggage in my room I walked 20 minutes to Xanten. In Xanten
I visited a flea market and I did a tour with a "tourist train" the Nibelungen Express in the city of Xanten
and past the restored Roman walls.
The Archeological Museum, a restored Roman city
The Nibelungen Express
The price of the trainride was €5 and I would not do it again. It is better to get some tourist information
and walk around and that is what I did after the ride.
Last time I was here, the central market square was a buildingsite but now it looked nice. On the market square
I bought a big sorbet in the same Italian ice-restaurant I visited the previous time.
Nice bikes on the market square
The market square and the church
Detail of the church
Very nice sorbet
Before I left Xanten, I visited the (free entrance) Schokoladen- und Konditorei Museum where you can see
the machines, used to make chocolats and sweets in the past.
In the Schokoladen- und Konditorei Museum
After this tourist visit of Xanten, I walked back to the hotel to write my weblog and to have dinner.
Officialy they had no dinner in the hotel but the offered me some "spargel suppe" (asparagus soup) with
bread. I did not want to go to the city again and to be honest, the soup was realy very good.
My dinner, spargel suppe
I also made my hotel reservation for tommorrow. I will go to Helibronn, to Hotel Urbanus, Urbanstrasse 13.
I am very happy with my netbook and internet in the hotel. It makes life a lot easier.
The rest of the evenoing, I'll read a book, watch TV and go to bed early.
Monday, May 30, 2011
A little before seven AM, I was in the shower. Then I had a very nice breakfast (I like this hotel. I must
come back some day) and then I loaded all my luggage on the bike again. After checking out and paying the bill,
I left around eight, on my way to Heilbronn where I booked a hotel for tonight.
The first +/- fifty kilometer I used secondary roads but it was going to slow so after stopping for fuel at a
Shell station in Kempen. I programmed the Tomtom to use the autobahn.
So far, the fuel consumption was 25 km on a liter.
Shell tankstelle, Otto SchottStrasse 13 in Kempen
|
