Bucharest

They say the best way to visit a place is to see it through the eyes of a local. A school friend of mine, Sharon Bey (now Beacom) and husband Mark, has been living in Bucharest for approximately the last 7 years. They live in sector one, a lovely part of the city, to the north and directly across the street from the Herastrau Park. This location is convenient because most everything is within walking distance or at least a short taxi ride. We had secure underground parking for the Suzuki and a extremely comfortable bed on which to lay our head. During our week stay in Bucharest we visited many of the local eating and drinking establishments, took walks in the park, visited the old city and took the 'Hop on Hop off' bus which took us to places like the Romanian Arc de Triumph, the People's Palace and several museums. We happened to take this tour on the hottest day of our stay, with temperatures into the 40's we fried like eggs sitting up on top of the open air bus.

What a great stay in Bucharest, Sharon and Mark were such gracious hosts, we had to tare ourselves away. It was great to reconnect with old friends, let's not wait so long next time!

For lunch, Sharon and I get ready to chow down on an awesome salad made by her housekeeper, Katy. Yummy, and healthy too!

Jump on, jump off buses are a great way to see cities and Bucharest is no different. We took an afternoon with Sharon and Mark to see the historical sites. Downfall...the temp was at least 40 degrees sitting on top of the bus.

Wearing our earphones we headed out and...wait a minute is that the Arch d Triumph in the background? No just a good replica...doesn't every city have one?

The Peoples Palace, the second largest building in the world next to the Pentagon. It was built by ex-president Nicplae Ceauseccu, starting in 1984, for the rest of the story you had better google it. Wow.

Bucharest has many beautiful facades of old buildings but I'm not to sure why they would do this...besides the fact that KFC chicken is pretty popular here.

Come on, more sights around town. A tribute to Michael Jackson even after he called Bucharest...Budapest during a concert.

Caru'cu Bere restaurant in old town Bucharest. We were served a great pork knuckle with all the fixings while Romanian folk dancers kicked up their heals. In all its grandeur, the hall was once a boarding house serving drinks and food and as far as we're concerned, still doing a great job of it today.

Here's looking up your kilt!

Downtown, July 1st, a big tribute to Canada Day!

Who's this little cutie? Sharon and I let the boys head home, after dinner, and we took in a cocktail and a dance at Il Locale in sector 1. That's us rubbing elbows with the who's who from around town.

What? Fireworks just for the visiting Canadians?

Here we are at the largest beer hall in Eastern Europe, that seats over 1000 people...

And the sausage tray wasn't so bad either! The four of us couldn't finish it off. You might think we are doing a lot of eating and drinking, but...

I joined Sharon for a Pilates class. After not being too active lately I was a little sore the next day to say the least.

Heading To Eastern Europe

After the amazing scenery and riding conditions of the Alps it was a different ballgame heading east, not bad just different. The horizon flattened out and as we left the mountains behind we ventured into rolling hills with vineyards and lowlands of fields growing pumpkins, sunflowers and corn. As we reached Slovenia the villages became not as modern in appearance and the look of the houses changed as outside walls became covered with tile and ornate wood work. Yards turned more to gardens with potatoes, peppers, tomatoes and corn. By the time we finished riding through Hungary and into Romania little benches lined the roadway with older people sitting, visiting and watching the cars go by. Many of the younger generation have left the countryside, going to the city and other countries in the EU where work is more plentiful. A growing amount of store fronts are closed up or are for sale as declining numbers in the villages demand less retail. 

The weather deserves mentioning here as temperature climb into the high 30's. We are sweating it out in our riding gear, every vent is open in jackets, pants and helmets.  The problem with the extreme warm comes extreme thunder storms which aren't that much fun on a motorbike either (really! I had to find something to complain about).

We are loving the countryside but our big destination in Romania is Bucharest. Last time we visited Romania we skirted the city on purpose but this time we have big plans of visiting friends and we are really excited about that.

In southeastern Austria we toured small roads weaving through wineries on the hillside. Like the Okanagan you could stop for a taste, a meal or if you had the time a stay. Also in this area we found kernol, a delicious oil made from pumpkin seeds, which found later to be very tasty on salads, fresh bread or toast.

In Sylvania, storks find a safe place to build their nests on rooftop chimneys.

Western Hungary boasts lakes for the fishermen. Row boats line the shores and small fishing cabins are built in amongst the reeds and islands of the shallow lakes. There are huge catfish and carp living in this small lake. We stayed a night in a room overlooking this lake and enjoyed a evening with our host and friends BBQing sausage and drinking wine.

 

Your typical Hungarian house, I liked the flowers on the bike.

Lake Balaton in Hungary, a must see according to the Hungarians but we were not quite as impressed as some. Although it is approximately the same size as the Okanagan Lake it is only 11 meters deep in the deepest spot and averages only 3 meters, thousands of people were at the lake for the weekend enjoying the 26 degree water temperature. We realized how lucky we really are living on the Okanagan Lake.

A cozy cafe/bar in Voineasa, Romania, a small town on the Transalpina. The Transalpina is a road that twists through the mountains from Transylvania to Bucharest, sometimes paved...sometimes not.

Ken buys some wild mushrooms from a gypsy along the roadside. Not a great buy as they were a little to wormy for us, but we did manage to trade them for 2 yellow peppers at a stand a ways down the road.

The Grosslockner Pass

Just another great ride, check it out. Ok maybe this is the last of many bike videos....but I doubt it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK3SeQ5FjxQ

                 

                   

                 

Klausenpass, Switzerland

You have to agree this is a beautiful spot. We think the ride was even better. Sorry for the video wind noise, but maybe just turn down the volume. My technical problem.

Just click on the link below.

https://youtu.be/MskU6ODBh2w

Hiking Hafelekar in the Nordkette at Innsbruck

Check out our hiking video on You Tube by clicking the link below. Thanx George for the your contribution.

https://youtu.be/_-8z0-6RQic

  

    

A Start to a Great Trip

After the jet lag wears off it is easy to get into the swing of things in Europe.  Life on the bike enjoying time with old friends and making new ones is always enjoyable for us.

After a great time with Franz and Sabine we took off to a Touratech rally, Touratech being a company that makes bike accessories for adventure riders. The rally attracted over 3000 bikes with riders and over 10,000 people in total were in attendance (Ken was in heaven). We camped with other bikers at the rally and checked out what new bikes and accessories all the bike companies had to offer. We also had the opportunity to test ride a couple of bikes, the Africa Twin DCT, and the new Ducati Multi-strata, Ken felt the V Storm was still the best choice for our trip. It was fantastic to meet other likeminded people who love exploring by motorcycle, including Heather and Dave from Canada/USA who were just starting a leg of their around the world trip that would take them across Russia and Mongolia...(we have to keep in touch guys).

Bike cravings satisfied, our next destination was the Fatherland, Switzerland (Ken's grandfather was from the area around Lucerne). On our way to Goldeu in central Switzerland we couldn't help but think that much of the countryside, in the northeast, was a lot like the Okanagan. We searched out and found a great, and inexpensive, campground on PitchUp.com, Buosingen Camping, nestled at the base of Mt. Rigi. There awaited us a plot of grass, nice hosts and fields that surrounded us filled with cows with bells around their necks.  The only small downside to the place was the smell of the manure the farmers were spraying on the fields, but that was all over the countryside, not just at our campsite. From our campsite we took several day trips on the bike, including one into the city of Lucerne which was nice, especially in the old part. It was nice to camp for a few nights by ourselves, just us and the cows.

Our friends Christine and George have been coming to Canada for just about 20 years and we have been to Vols, in Austria to visit them 4 times...including this stop. They welcomed us with open arms, we are so lucky to have great friends here in Europe. Both George and Christine are the active type and they couldn't wait to take us on a, hike up the Nordkette. We should of known something was amiss when George told us we would be taking a two hour hike down the mountain, we had to take a cable car and two gondolas to reach the top in what totalled at least half an hour of travel time.  Actual hiking time across the ridge and down...6 hours+. A fantastic hike with some amazing views of Innsbruck and the surrounding area. Better hiking boots would have been a plus but we needed to sacrifice some luxuries when packing the bike, and I don't think the boots would have helped the sore muscles in our legs the next two days.

One of the great things about traveling is meeting people for all corners of the world. While in Australia a few years ago we met Chris and Nadia, a young couple who just happen to live in Innsbruck. While staying with George and Christine we had them over for a BBQ, what fun. They rode their bikes over and after midnight, and a few beer, they rode them home in the dark. 

Once again, we are so lucky to come from Canada because so many people speak English in Europe. Another thing, many of the countries is Europe are great if you are active, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria to name a few all have great walking, hiking, and biking trails. So far this trip we are lucky to have hit a few but we plan on a lot more.

         

Touratech started with a guy a vision, and a lot of elbow grease, in his garage. Today it is probably the biggest manufacturer of adventure accessories for motorcycles. This is just one of the three warehouses they use today.

Yes, we were there.

Adventure means different things to different people.

Our tent was set in the middle of the field amongst many more bike enthusiasts. The majority of the bike were BMWs but a good showing was had the Africa Twin and KTM as well.

This doesn't show the half of them...really!

I've been everywhere man!  Even in the dirt.

Lupine growing on the hillside along the road, during one of our rides in the Black Forest.

Typical German countryside.

We thought this view of the Zurichsee looked a lot like what the Okanagan might look like in a few years.

Our campsite for three nights in Switzerland 

Happy Hour, complete with our Touratech lounge set, luxury adventure travel at it's finest!

Great views of Vierwaldstattersee

An amazing day ride over the Klausenpass, Switzerland 

A bit of a drop off as we look over the beautiful valley with small farms and a waterfall

The old city of Lucerne from our lunch spot along the Vierwaldstattersee

Signed sealed and delivered, with Swiss post

A new country for us, Liechtenstein, only 15 minutes to cross

The Austrian Arlbergpass, many twists and turns and also a very long snow shed.

George and Christine, George Jr and Ramona Ken and I had more than we could eat at our welcome BBQ on our first night in Vols, Austria.

We took a cable car, and two gondola's to the top of Hafelekarspitze. It was a long way up but it would seem like a longer way down on foot.

A narrow path with a step drop to Innsbruck...

and what a view. You can see all the way to Germany!

A small break before we started our decent.

Thunderstorms where predicted but only a few threatening clouds developed along the ridge

Wildflowers in the alpine

What a great idea, a 10 kg bike that folds into a backpack that you can carry up the mountain...

Put together...and ride down. No peddles, strictly downhill.

Yup, that's where we were. Boy are our legs going to be sore tomorrow!

Chris and Nadia, from Innsbruck but who we met in Australia a few years ago, joined us in Vols at George and Christine's for a BBQ. A good time was had by all.

An Easy Landing

At 10:30 a.m. local time, we landed in Frankfurt, Germany. After navigating the Vancouver transit from the West End to YVR, a bus from downtown to Yaletown and the Rapid transit from there to the airport ( all for the price of 13.50$ for the two us appossed to a 35$ taxi trip ) we departed just about on time, only one hour late on a Condor 767.  This was what looked to be a nice new plane, and totally full...has anyone else doing much air travel noticed that the seats are getting smaller and leg room shorter?  A quick 9.5 hour trip and here we are in Germany.

Good friends Franz and Sabine were at the terminal to meet us and escort us to Air Canada Cargo to pick up the VStrom. All paper work was done easily, if not also quite quickly and we were off to Franz and Sabine's house to enjoy more of their hospitality. After a little food, drink and catching up about the last 4 years since our last trip (not to mention 32+ hours without sleep) we hit the sac safe and sound and happy to be on the road again.