riding in paradise..

What, no stewardesses?

have not done any post on the trip as my laptop is gone south the day i landed in germany and typing on a eurokeyboard is totally frustrating so as soon as i can get the computer fixed i will report the day by day riding with pictures so far it as been better than expected
the budapest side trip was cancelled due to a family situation but i will explain later when my computer gets fixed and i can type on my regular keyboard at least i can read the keys just imagine if it was chinese;;;

..looking forward to pics and ride reports..stay safe and enjoy..

Enjoy the adventure and take plenty of pics!

here is a little update on the trip ,pictures will be posted when my computer gets fixed probably friday night

day one after arriving in frankfurt I took bus P65 from terminal to cargo area cleared custom by showing my euro insurance green card to the friendly german officer the whole process 20 minutes and was on my way out of airport
thank god for GPS there are so many ways to get lost I had no problems getting away from the madness and congestion in around this huge airport I stopped in a small town 30 miles out and relaxed by the pool the rest of the day, next morning I took the back roads to bad brukenau 100 miles east small village in green luscious rolling hills where the euro annual R3 meet takes place got there a day early and the hotel owner gave me the same rate as applied during the weekend for the riders attending so breakfast supper and room 72 dollars a night not bad considering the amount of food available
thursday afternoon 60 plus R3 had arrived most german licensed .their plates looked likes mini fridge doors, HUGE by US standard and they cannot do much mod either no german bikes were having exhaust or intake modified i EVEN HEARD THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED AVON TIRES either, in fact they all had metz mounted. two swedes one being NIK were also attending, some swiss , a super side and a pink R3 and one canadian R3 .
we partaked in some great BBQ in the garden washed with all sort of german beer, I love their wiessbeer and we all took pictures.
a parts makers showed up with his van and R3 with some very interesting pieces and sold quite a few , his crash bars are found on many R3 there and they are twice the diameter of factory bars he also makes the nifftiest belly frontpan out of steel; I still try to find his web site some body on the german site reading this post please give us the proper adress of UDO SITE
I have www.V4 .eu obviously not the right adress
pictures by friday i hope

here we go
I posted a bunch of pictures on an album called eurotrip pictures jumped around when posted so some are not in chronological order.sorry
after I left bad bruckenau on saturday I rode to munich via the autobahn and was being passed by cars while doing 90 mph yet without a high windshield it would be uncomfortable to try higher speed for any lenght of time however for five minutes I whacked the throttles wide open !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hit 240 kph or 160mph and I then I am the one passing some real fast cars
the thing though, drivers are very conscious of their surroundings on the auto bahn and would move over quickly when I came close to their rear view mirror, but nobody stays in the left lane of any autobahn unless a speed of 160 mph is maintained.
but 5 mn was all I could take i think my eyeballs were flattened in their sockets after that madness.
from munich I rode to innsbruck in austria and via the brenner pass I aimed for italy"s cortina d,ampezzo the gateway to the dolomites .

bad bruckenau to cortina 550 miles left at 9 AM stopped at 7PM .next day I rode the several mountain passes of the dolomites, it is truly heaven on earth for bikers in fact hundred of bikers from germany austrias and switzland are riding these marvellous scenic roads but italy being italy the roads surface were shall we say less than perfect unlike the german asphalt.
my average speed was 20mph in these areas but well worth the detour
then I left for milano but decided to flank the Garda lake from the west side again great scenery but the mountain is a sheer cliff into the lake so half the riding was in tunnels which was great considering the searing heat outside at 39 degres celsius! you figure it out in farenheit. I also rode the median line on that lake road for about 50 miles intunnels and outside of tunnelsit is an interesting experience particularly when you enter unlit tunnels!! that sort of splitting lanes or riding in the middle is tolerated and dozen of scooters ,bikes, and me went about passing stopped bumpers to bumpers traffic and crawling at snail pace and if I did not do it I would still be there today.
I stopped at 6pm I also had enough of the madness of dodging raw diesel fumes from trucks on the higway between the lake and bergamo so I stopped and
slept in bergamo by the autostrada

I will post tomorrow the ride to france another amazind day!!

bergamo to the french riviera via torino briancon the restefond pass and the mediterraneen sea.

got up in bergamo by the sound of semis driving by, had typical italian breakfast cappucino and cornetto. coffee is naturally the expresso , similar to rocket fuel, it wakes up the deads'

I hit the highway bypassing the industrial town of torino and continued toward the french border on the highway that leads to ski resort of sestriere I climbed the mountain pass of mont genevre around noon where the french custom border officers stands guard. again lots of nice easy switchback rising to 8000 feet from sea level where the highest town in europe called Briancon is located .old huge fortification are found in that small city it was the famous 17 century architect vauban who designed these special forts with slant walls everywhere so cannon balls would bounce off the outside wall causing no damages!!

after passing briancon ,and a quick jaunt south on the regular valley road I hit the mountain passes again going to vars a local ski resort where I stopped for lunch see the antipasti plate on the photo album then took to the very highest road in europe called col de restefond or la bonette ,last year french authorities had the road resurfaced for tourists and it is a good thing considering the twist and turns imagine you go from 1500 feet to 10 000 feet in about 30 miles from green pastures to lunar landscape in one hour but the view is breathtaking at every turn and many bicycles are found climbing this road my hat off to those who make it to the top and some riders are in their seventy. the other side of this mountain plunge through canyons toward the town of nice on the riviera after this ride up and down the restefond I do not know what you do for an encore.it is brain overload within minutes . by six pm I got to the sea and rode to my place in antibes I will stay there for a week relaxing, I will post again after the 25th since it is the day I hit the road for the truffle and foie gras land of Perigord in the heart of france. another ride in paradise.Ho Hum....meantime I am streching my eyeballs watching naked girls by the hundreds on the beaches.

meantime I am streching my eyeballs watching naked girls by the hundreds on the beaches.[/QUOTE]
Partick Pictures???

Maybe not a stewardess, but here's Patrick with the local reporter from the Bad Bruckenau newspaper (she's probably age 75

Great bratwurts



49 Rockets went for a trip



Great service at the hotel, really nice girls!



Yeah!!!



The ***** Bike



So well made!