Roadtrip 2012 Part II

Day 6
Berlin, Germany to Münster, Germany -- 470km

Leaving Berlin was easy and after a not so long driving in the autobahn we arrived at Münster, a small town with lots of bikes and very calm. Although it was cloudy it didn't rain so we could go to the tourism office, get a map and see around.

Münster

A few nice churches, of course, in one of them the door handle was original

Church door handle

 ...and for diner... no idea what to ask! The waiter didn't speak english, just a few words, and couldn't help with the menu so we ordered randomly and of course eat some strange things.
Now I have a smart phone so I can translate words, but not that time.

Menu in German

 One thing puzzled me -- the traffic light for pedestrians had 2 simultaneous red lights!

Double traffic red light

Day 7
Münster, Germany to Rouen, France -- 650km

After leaving Münster we crossed a bit of The Netherlands, Belgium and entered France.
Filling up with gasoline somewhere in The Netherlands. I had to ask which to select because they have 3 and no indication of octanes. Silly.
In Belgium the information panels in the highways always indicate the European number, not the country  number. Kind of the interstates in the US, but usualy no country cares. Perhaps because in Belgium we have Brussels the capital of European Union.
One of the pleasures of traveling in Europe is to find churches with beautiful stone work. Rouen is no exception.

Rouen, France

The very old city center had amazing houses like the one in the photo -- will the window doors open?

A not so vertical house

Other very old houses, just charming.

Rouen

Day 8 
Rouen, France to Nantes, France -- 530km passing by Honfleur, Le Mont-Saint-Michel, Saint-Malo and Dinan

This was going to be a full day of driving and city seeing. First stop: Honfleur. Sooo charming little village by the sea! The morning there was a pleasure.

Honfleur

Just beautiful

Honfleur

We had more kms to go so next stop: the famous Le Mont-Saint-Michel, a fortified city in a small island. A quick stop to eat something and take a photo of my CR-V. It was the only place I spoted another car with Portuguese plate.

While the CR-V stayed in a new and large and paying car park we walked all the way, not knowing that there's a free shuttle to take tourists there...

Far away Le Mont-Saint-Michel

After 45 minutes walking

Le Mont-Saint-Michel

Next stop: Saint-Malo
Near by Saint-Malo we could visit an old smalll fortress dating from the World War II.

WW II

 Saint-Malo also is a fortified city. This entrance looked solid.

Saint-Malo

We had diner in a nice restaurant and chose one of the french famous meat: Entrecôt. Tasty.
And then next stop: Dinan another fortified city reflecting the difficult history of Europe.

Dinan

Dinan

 It was getting dark so we just passed by and went to our last hotel near Nantes

Day 9
Nantes, France to Porto, Portugal -- 1350km

As I didn't expect to have time to visit Nantes I booked a hotel by the highway. Sleep a few hours and off to the final leg, a very long one.
Many hours driving! From 8h in the morning to 10 in the night. But it was the way home!

No problem at all, nor with me neither with the CR-V.
We both love road trips.
:)

All photos by me, my wife or my daughter
Porto - Berlin - Porto
Km: 6000
Days: 9
Global: 9.6 l/100km or 24.5 US MPG or 29.5 Imp MPG or 10.4 km/l

Roadtrip 2012 Part I

Road trip
A long trip always starts with the preparation. Finding routes to follow, places to see, hotels to stay.
That's part of the fun.
Also a reason, a motif: to take my younger daughter and a lot of stuff to her new life in Berlin, Germany.

We had just a week to go and return so it was going to be lot of driving and a little sight seeing.
No problem, a road trip is allways a pleasure.

DAY 1
Porto, Portugal to Bordeaux, France -- 1000km

Early rise, put things in the trunk of the Honda CR-V and off we go.
1000km after we arrived in Bordeaux, France. No history in crossing Portugal and Spain, when we arrived it was raining and night so we went straight to the hotel.
Next day it also was raining so we drove around the city, nice streets with old buildings and no time for more. Perhaps next time we go by the seaside so we can see and walk over the biggest dune in europe.

In the photo it's possible to see the rails for an electric tram, without aerial cables because it has batteries that are charged in each stop.

DAY 2
Bordeaux, France to Reims, France -- 720km

This part of France is sooooooo boring! The highway crosses la campagne, agricultural fields in a plane without end and without a thing of interest. Then Paris but only the outskirts and then Reims. Check-in at the hotel in the center of the city, and find a place to leave the car for the night -- the park by the hotel was closed. Hoping for the best off we went to see the famous cathedral, where all the kings in France were crowned. It's stone work is beautiful.

Reims, France

After dinner in a nice brasserie (beer house) we were lucky because there was a special light show there. Pretty amazing with projections of colored and animated images over the façade of the cathedral and music well integrated.

Reims, France

DAY 3
Reims, France to Köln, Germany -- 370km

As always with help of gps sat-nav system we left Reims and following the directions we went to the highway... but wait! Only a few kms after driving there I remembered I wanted to go another route, a secondary route that should be much more nice through the vineyards. Oh well, some other time.

Arriving in Köln was easy and after checking in and parking the car in the hotel garage we went see one more famous cathedral. I think is bigger and even more impressive than Reims' cathedral. Lots of people there!

Köln, Germany

We had time so we went around and saw the main monuments and went to the river side, a very pleasant area.

And the river Rhein

DAY 4
Köln, Germany to Berlin, Germany -- 580km

One day driving all the time in highway. It´s the only country in europe where there is no speed limit. That's not good for a CR-V. Three lanes, I was driving the middle one around 140-150km/h with lots of trucks to my right and lots of fast cars to my left! Way too much traffic, couldn't rest at all. Very tiring for me and my CR-V.
With no problem we arrived and could visit my daughters' apartment there and carry upstairs all her stuff.

DAY 5
Berlin

It's not difficult to drive in Berlin, just have to pay attention to the amazing lots of bikes and people all around. It's a city with large avenues and feels alive with all people just enjoying living.
One full day to see everything -- just is not enough.
Some wonderful museums.

By the wall, the 1km wall left there to remind us of the recent past.

It was difficult to take good clean photos, with so many people around.

I have to come back!

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