Reading Melnitz from Charles Lewinsky

10:48 mareku 0 Comments

Finally I came to reading this great novel about
the lives of the Meijer family between 1871 and 1945,
a wide but not unmanageable time-span. The family is
Jewish, the setting mainly Switzerland
. In eBook format this book is about 1400 pages - but reading on my iLiad is really fast - so I am halfway already. It is a very gripping story - waiting to be a movie.

One day at the high way

10:38 mareku 0 Comments


Heidelberg

10:35 mareku 0 Comments

We stopped at Heidelberg for a good (German) meal and sleep before continuing our journey home. Heidelberg is a sweet little town with a huge castle on top of a hill overlooking the city.

Almost stuck in a snow blizzard

11:52 mareku 0 Comments

Today's trip was the last of our WW I journey. But boy what a trip it turned out to be! We left Saint Die des Vosges in a little drizzle and knew from the weather forecast that riding any col to our last destination (Thann) was NOT a good idea - so we decided to take a detour. But every road out of the valley was blocked because of snow. We really had to ride 100 km or so to find an open road and at first it seemed OK and fun to drive - that is until a snow blizzard started and we a) couldn't see a thing because of our blocked visors, b) were almost blown of our bikes by the galls and c) couldn't ride the road because of the ice and snow. We had to wait for the snowplough to come through and after we followed it carefully continue our way. After hours we arrived in Thann and after a quick dip in the Jacuzzi and sauna started to feel human again. Thanks to our Rukka suits and Yamaha bikes we made it through. WE didn't see any other bikes on our way...

My own monument?

01:45 mareku 0 Comments


We are in the Alsace and the war is almost over

01:43 mareku 0 Comments

The weather isn't getting any better - but we managed somehow to keep it dry. We are now on our last part of the journey that brought us all the way from east Belgium to the coast and then back to East France again. All on the smallest roads you can find. The major battlefields are behind us. The Lorraine and the Alsace were old contested areas that were German since the 1870's and France wanted to have them back - so there was some fighting here as well. This area is getting more '' hilly" so riding the bikes is even more fun.

A (warm) welcome?

01:36 mareku 0 Comments

In the bathroom of our Hotel I found this satchel with a white/yellowish fluid in it. A gift from the previous occupant? It turned out to be bath foam - or at least I used it for that purpose...

An other day, an other couple of million dead...

01:19 mareku 0 Comments

Together with the big battles at Ieper and Hamel, Verdun has been one of the most deadliest. Every day tens of thousands soldiers died here. The French and Germans wanted to have Verdun and fort Douaumont what ever it took. In the Ossuaire the remains of 150.000 unknown soldiers are garthered (not buried, you can see the bones and skulls, just lying around). Lorraine itself is a very nice region and riding here is a joy.

The magnificent two

10:51 mareku 0 Comments

Everyday at least one guy comes up to us to admire our bikes and to ask all kinds of questions about it. It usually turns out that they wanted to ride a bike for years, but are not allowed to do so by their girlfriends or wives. Poor lads, they really look sad :-) In villages were we pass through most of the time people are waiving, like we are on a real expedition and boys ask us to do some tricks (like wheelies). It's quite something else then your usual auto trip..

On the road

10:22 mareku 0 Comments

We have now covered some 2000 KM and the Yamaha Tenere motorbikes are holding strong (so are we...) The trip is really nice and we have to thank Tom Boudewijns and his latest book (my motor trip to the first world war)

Verdun

09:57 mareku 0 Comments


We have left the battlefield where the Belgians and British fought and are now entering the French and American fronts (Oh, yeah: and the Germans of course ;-) )
Lot's of monuments in the villages still - but some big ones from the Americans - usually on a hill overlooking the surroundings.