I left Prague and headed north into Germany, then west towards the Netherlands.  It was rainy and cool, and quite gusty.  Another head wind.  Why is it that I only ever have headwinds when I'm riding?!

As I approached Amsterdam the weather became downright rainy and cold.  I found a hotel with a gated garden where I could park my bike.  And there it sat for 3 days while I donned my rain gear and explored Amsterdam.

I enjoyed walking around Amsterdam's streets and canals, admiring the Dutch architecture.  Once again there were numerous cathedrals and museums to visit.  I picked a few to see with the little time I had.  One of my favorites was the Van Gogh museum.  I'm not much of an art aficionado, but I was blown away by the collection of Van Gogh paintings, from his early works up through his finest masterpieces.  The accompanying audio guide did an excellent job of describing his life and it helped correlate his art to events in his life.  In addition, there was a special display of Manet artwork in the museum that was also excellent.

The museums were a nice warm place to escape the rain and cold outside.  But I also spent a lot of time wandering around the streets, including a visit to the infamous Red Light District.  Even in the morning it was a rather seedy place.  I couldn't believe the kinds of things that were displayed for "sale" even at that early hour!  I hurried on to more cultural sights.

Amsterdam is also famous for its "coffee" shops and I had to see one of these.  I found one that had internet access along with its other services, and I went in to check my email.  Sure enough, they sell "coffee" right at the bar, in small bags costing 12 or 24 Euros.  This bar also sold beer and real coffee.  There were numerous people in the bar enjoying the local products and the smell of "coffee" was overwhelming.  Soon I had to wander back onto the streets to clear my head.  You already know my philosophy about "when in Rome", so I might even have tried the local "coffee" that evening, but I still had to get some dinner and find my way back to my hotel, and I was not eager to do that in a disoriented state, so I passed this time.

I left Amsterdam in the rain and rode along the west coast towards Belgium.  I saw several of Holland's famous windmills.  And that day I got my first sight on this trip of the Atlantic Ocean (the North Sea actually).  It was damn cold with a stiff wind blowing off the water (another headwind of course!)

I hurried through Brussels in the rain and headed towards Brugge.  Brugge is a medieval town with an amazing number of old buildings and cathedrals.  It has been voted Europe's cultural capital several times and it's easy to see why.  The whole center of the town seems to have survived directly from medieval times.  I visited the cathedrals and climbed the towers.  It was still showery and cool here, but I ducked into doorways or cathedrals when the rain came down heavy.  And when it rained more heavily, I stopped in one of Brugge's taverns to sample some of Belgium's most famous product - beer!  I've always enjoyed Belgium's aromatic and refreshing beers and I made sure to try a few while I was there.  They were just as good as I remembered.

From Brugge I rode in more rain to Calais and caught the ferry to England.  The ferry wasn't cheap - about $150 for a round trip ticket - but it was convenient and quick.  I rode up and onto the boat, they strapped the bike to hooks in the floor, and I wandered upstairs to the cafe where I chatted with another local biker coming back from a motorcycle rally on the continent.  Very soon the boat ride was over, and I rode off the boat in England, trying to remember to keep to the left again.  Several months had passed since I rode on the left in India, and it seemed very strange once again.  At times I couldn't remember which side of the road was "right".

I fought the headwinds into London and tried to find a hotel.  As I had been warned, things were very expensive in the city.  The first hotels I checked out were close to $200 a night!  Even the bottom end budget hotel I finally found was $80 a night.  And everything else was just as expensive.  A small draft beer was $5, and dinner was $20.

It was so expensive that I only spent a couple of days in London, but I visited many of the famous sights - Big Ben, the Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Cathedral and Abbey, London Tower, Tower Bridge, etc.  It was a whirlwind tour of London, but it was nice to see the sights that were so familiar from movies.

After leaving London I headed back to the coast to visit with my friend Harvey who I had met in Delhi, and who had been so helpful to me there when I had problems shipping my bike.  Harvey and Lisa are in the process of moving back to London and I managed to spend an evening with him there.  We rode some excellent British lanes and visited a pub.  Just as Harvey warned me, we enjoyed warm flat beer in the pub.  But it was nice to see Harvey and be out of the city, and experience a little of rural British life.  Thanks once again Harvey (and Mum)!

The next day I crossed back to the continent and rode to Paris.  Paris was expensive as well, but not as bad as London.  I found another budget hotel south of the city for about $70 a night.  From the hotel I was able to ride the bus and subway into the city to wander around the streets and see the famous sights this city had to offer.  Of course I visited the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, and the Arch de Triomphe.  But I was most blown away by the Louvre, the huge museum with so many floors and rooms that I felt lost.  I made sure I saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, and after that I picked a few themes and visited those rooms.  Still, after several hours I felt like I saw almost nothing of what the museum offers.

After so much culture and cities I was ready for a change.  I got on my bike and headed for the French Alps.  It was getting late in the season for mountain riding but I was hoping to see a little of these famous mountains.  When I got to Grenoble my rear brake was not working, and it looked like the failure was caused by a leaking final drive seal.  I found the BMW dealer near Grenoble and they were able to replace the seal in a couple of hours.  While I was at the dealer I met Lars, a German rider coming back from an HU rally in Portugal.  His bike was suffering from the infamous BMW charging system failure, and so he got his rotor and diode board replaced courtesy of Grenoble BMW.  Lars is planning his own world adventure and we got on famously talking about preparation and riding.  We spent the evening plotting, and the next day we managed a short ride in the Alps.  

The weather that day started out very overcast, and quickly turned to rain.  Lars and I crossed several high mountain passes - about 8,000 feet - where it felt like the rain might turn to snow.  In fact, there was fresh snow on the hills just above us, but we never got any on us.  Even in the showers the mountains were fantastic.  There were glaciers peeking through the clouds and the fall colors were near peak with vibrant oranges, reds, and yellows.  

After our brief ride, Lars headed north towards his home in Germany, and I headed south towards the Pyrenees.  The next couple of days I rode through southern France and into the Pyrenees where the colors were just as spectacular, and the roads were just as twisty and fun.  Even on my overloaded bike I was having fun on the tight back roads with little traffic.

But the rains and high winds caught me again in northern Spain.  I tried to make my way to the northern coast which Lars had recommended, but the winds were so bad I was struggling to keep my bike in its lane.  The clouds looked heavier to the north so I changed my route and headed south.  It was a good decision as I saw on the news that they had (and are still having) snow in the northern mountains.

I wound through the flat and dry central Spain high plains and into Portugal.  Once in Portugal the landscape changed almost immediately from flat arid plains to rocky hills and scrub brush, almost like northern New Mexico.  As I got closer to the coast there were even some tropical plants, orange trees and palms.  And still there were twisty roads through the hills.  Very fun.

I approached Lisbon, then crossed the Tagus River to the south bank to visit a BMW dealer that was recommended by a local.  I set up an appointment for a bike service when I return from Morocco, and got new tires installed for some offroad riding in the desert.  After getting my tires installed I reminded myself that new tires are slippery and to be extra careful for a few miles.  Of course, life took this opportunity to give me one of its famous lessons.  As I was riding through Lisbon that evening trying to find a hotel, the car in front of me stopped suddenly.  I had to clamp on my brakes hard, and my new front tire slid out on the oily road.  The bike and I went down and the front of my bike slid under the car.  I jumped up immediately, unhurt.  But my spill was at one of the busiest intersections in Lisbon (Praco da Comercia), and I was shaken by the crash and the traffic jam and gathering crowd of people.  Several people lifted on the car bumper so I could drag my bike out from underneath.  Then they helped me pick up the bike and we got everything off the road and onto the nearby sidewalk.  The police arrived about 90 minutes later and they filled out a traffic report and we exchanged insurance information.  I was glad to have purchased that Green Card insurance in Frankfurt.  I assume that they'll pay the other driver since it was my fault.

By the time all the paperwork was finished it was about 7 PM and dark.  Great.  Now I had to ride in the dark in the city and try to find a hotel.  The couple in the car that I hit were very friendly and they led me to a local hotel, but it was full.  I rode for another 90 minutes trying to find a hotel with rooms.  I was about to give up and sleep under a bridge, but around 9 PM I finally found a room in a nice hotel.  By this time I was about an hour north of the city, but I was glad to be out of the craziness.  Thus ended the second worst night of my adventure!

I spent a couple of days in Lisbon trying to find someone to ship my bike to Buenos Aires.  I'm headed to Morocco for 3 weeks, then I'll return to Lisbon to meet Diana and ship the bike.  Next report, Morocco.

 

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