My trip of a lifetime report...Pic heavy!!!

My bike trip to Germany, Austria and Italy was unbelievable! The best 10 days near a motorcycle I've ever spent. The following is a condensed version but you get the idea. Just know that, as usual, pics are a pitiful representation of the scope and scale of the mountains, roads, track etc. It's almost pointless to post them due to their 2d nature but here goes. Thanks to my lovely wife Stacey for the trip and to Bryan for going with me!

The ride to Germany from Boston was a long one but I got no sleep on the 8:40pm departure flight. We touched down at 10am their time a little groggy on monday morning. We took a bus to Landshut from Munich then a taxi to our hotel. The town looked like something Disney had built. Incredibly clean. Seems everyone rode a bicycle.

Hotel room view




We had a day to blow before picking up the bike's but we wanted to walk over to the bike shop and see the place and take care of the paper work so we could just show up in the morning and get rolling...but first...

a beer seemed in order.(yours truly)



We had a great meal in town later on. Pretty hip section of town so we were the odd ducks for sure.The next morning we were up early. Jet lagged for sure but eager to get on the road. They had our bikes gassed up and ready to go when we arrived. The top and side cases were included with the price. When I asked if they minded me strapping my tank bag on, Hermann came out with a brand new magnetic one from the showroom and said "just take this one, it will be easier." No charge. He also wired in a plug for my GPS. My bike already had a mount/plug for one of their GPS's in case I needed to use the GPS that Bryan rented from them but the plug was different so he wired up a lighter port so I could power mine. They also gave us a few maps just in case and let us keep our luggage there.

Ready to roll. My CBF1000F on the left and Bryan's CBF600F on the right.


These guys are a top notch outfit. I have no affiliation with them other than having an incredibly smooth, professional experience. I would HIGHLY recommend them to anyone wanting to rent bikes over there. Their prices were among the lowest we found and their email support before the trip was second to none. Thanks Hermann!

Link to their site if you're curious...++motowelt.de powered by Motorrad - Team Maier ++

The first leg was heading south towards Austria through the green rolling hills of Germany. We got off on to some pretty small roads that we had to ourselves for the most part. The scenery started to get more mountainous the closer we got to the border.



Really great, fast sweepers in this leg. We learned early that the posted speed limit was to be ignored. Anyone in a hurry was quick to make a pass regardless of line of sight. Passing in a blind corner seemed like no big deal to most.Our first stop was Uttendorf Austria. A really cool little town. Our hotel was clean and comfy and the included breakfast would fill us up for the day.

From my room, I heard cow bells.



6am. Time to eat, get dressed and get cracking.


Wednesday we headed for the Grossglockner(Google it). An amazing alpine pass that's not to be missed if you're anywhere near.

Here's an idea of the road. Zoom in really tight to get the full effect. The route is marked in Blue. Hit the arrow in the upper right of the left directions panel to get the full map...Uttendorf, Austria to Drautal Str./Tiroler Str./E66 - Google Maps

It starts out like this.



Then gets more fun with elevation. If you miss a turn here, you go down...FAR.



We left the trees behind. Here you turn, gas it, pass someone, repeat.(many, many times)




When you look through a turn up here, you often are looking over your shoulder.



A nice section of sweepers and hairpins heading towards a tunnel. Again, pics can't show the scale and depth here.



Cool little village




That was the morning. The afternoon was a pass in the Dolomites. You could spend an entire week here but we were on a timeline.

Here's part of the route. Again zoom in...SS244, Italy to SS48 - Google Maps

Some really technical sections here. not a place to be tired. Buses take up both lanes on the really tight corners. We stopped for snack at the top of one pass. There's about 20 turns in this small section.



These were over Bryan's head while we rested. I didn't hear much of what he was saying.



The stone mountains have a way of crushing you into insignificance.



This was some sort of rear engined kit car. The driver was 80 years old, minimum, and wore a bucket helmet and goggles. I bet he ripped in the thing.



We spent the night in Tereso Italy. A quiet hotel with a much needed hot tub! The next morning we were off to Lake Garda.

On our way to the lake, we passed through some serious gorge country. Still, they found a way to plunk a town with some grape orchards.


Lake Garda is beautiful. Rock mountains that dive into the water line the perimeter. A constant breeze makes for comfy conditions and great sailing and kite boarding. Not unusual to see a paraglider over head.



Room balcony



Several beers and a Margarita pizza were consumed from this seat, with intermittent dips in the pool.



After another big breakfast, we headed for the sea. Rapallo Italy was our next stop. We wanted to see some Italian coastline so we decided on a nice hotel south of Genoa. A nice town where scooters are king. They have the run of the joint and no one seems to mind. There were a few of these R125's mixed in though.



View from my balcony.



We explored some back streets and shops and found a beer or two. Exactly what I hoped for in an Italian seaside town, lots of history. We had dinner at a waterside restaurant. Fresh Prosciutto, melon and mussels for starters. Then some cuddlefish with ink risotto and spaghetti carbonara.



We had our first real rain the next morning. It stayed with us for a few hours then cleared up nicely. Porretta Terme was our next destination. We wanted to be somewhat close to Mugello without the prices and maddness. We were about 1.5 hours from the track using the roads we picked, 45 minutes if you wanted the highway. I used Basecamp to plan all our routes and sometimes it was hard to tell what the roads were going to be like but we nailed this route on the head. Curvy and devoid of cars all the way to Scarperia. We crossed 2 dams and the views were great, lots of elevation changes. It was hard to believe, we really thought we'd be sitting in traffic.

Here's the route from our hotel. Yep, zoom in tight...Porretta Terme Province of Bologna, Italy to Strada Statale del Passo del Giogo - Google Maps

The hot temps that we were warned about didn't materialize. 86 degrees with a cool breeze all day. Perfect! The track is sort of hidden in the hills. You don't even know it's there till you're right on it. Prices were steep but we expected as much. The food was pretty good with only one hiccup. The people making the food don't take the money, you have to get a ticket from someone else then show the slip to get your food. That's great if you speak Italian but I was use to just pointing at things if people didn't understand english. This setup made pointing useless since the money takers were separated from the food givers. Luckily we ended getting what we wanted after some spastic charades.

MotoGp machinery and a Heineken, great start to the day.


After exploring some of the "interesting" campsites around the track we settled in at turn one. We sat right at the peak of speed before braking hard for the turn so we got to be close to 215mph and that wonderful sound.



If you stood down by the fence, you could see them coming onto the straight at the other end and when they went by, you knew it. The race wasn't a nail biter but the atmosphere more than made up for it not being close and since Dovi was on the podium, the crowd was stoked.

A few laps from the end, we noticed people quickly heading down the fence line. We curiously followed in hopes of getting on the track. We ended up at a gate that was locked but people were starting to collect there. It quickly packed in and all around us people were singing/chanting God knows what . We were totally crackin' up. Someone started throwing water at the guards while others were shouting and waving their arms. There was a definite vibe to get on the track as quickly as possible, something I couldn't understand since the track was big and plenty of it to go around. When the gate opened, we all spilled out and a mad dash insued. People were running for their lives towards the start finish line while some stopped to kiss the pavement. Scooters and bikes were leaking onto the track from all angles. We got sucked up in the wave and ended up in front of the podium. "Ahh, that's what the dash was for, getting up front for the ceremony." There were fireworks going off, scooters reving their mufflerless engines, flags waving, it was electric.

Quarter of a mile up the straight...


Quarter of a mile down the straight...


It was awesome. I have been to Laguna and Indy but never anything like this. They went crazy when Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Dovi came out, well, actually, they all boo'd Dani, I felt bad, honestly.

Podium shot.



Where's Keldo?



We left Tuscany for Montegrotto Terme. Ate well there and enjoyed some R&R by the pool then headed up to Lienz Austria.

We had a really cool hotel. It is a couple hundred years older than the US. We picked this place cause it had it's own brewery in the basement.


Had a wonderful meal in the beer garden with a crazy view of the mountains and the city of Lienz below.
Dinner view

.

Woke up refreshed and dreading the last leg back to Landshut to turn in the bikes. Doors open for one last mountain morning.
Bed view.


The ride back was uneventful. Stayed outside Landshut the night before the flight home. Quiet hotel with nice owners. 8hr flight home was calm but it's always a bummer to tack a long flight onto a great trip. That's it for now. I have a little video of the trip, we'll see if I make a vid with it or not. If you made it this far, thanks for the patience, I was as brief as possible.

Some parting notes.Most if not all concerns I had were unfounded.

Traffic. Not an issue. We got in and out of the track easily, not the horror story I had heard about. They did say the numbers were down from other years but still, piece of cake.

Highways/tolls. As much as we avoided toll roads, they were needed at times to get where we were going and not be in the saddle for 9hrs. I thought the toll booths might be a problem. Thought I might end up in the wrong lane but it was clearly marked once you knew what you were looking for. Getting a ticket was easy and I usually paid at a lane that had a person. When I couldn't, the automated one was easy too, ticket in one slot, paper money in another. The only hiccup is when you put in a large bill for a small toll, you get all the change in coins. There was one issue when there was no ticket for me to take. It hit a few red buttons but nothing happened. Traffic started to back up behind me while a woman was trying to tell me what to do in Italian which I got none of. I decided to just pull over and go inside a nearby building. As I got off my bike, a guy in a van that was behind me held up a ticket so I ran over and grabbed it. Problem now was the arm still didn't go down and he now wasn't getting a ticket. Oh well, we were off.

Non-English. For the most part, we could get by with what little english people knew. Some knew a lot, some knew zero. Pointing and nodding alot seem to work at gas stations where there was an attendant. With non-english speaking wait staff, we just pointed at the menu. Since often we couldn't read the menu, is was a gamble which is part of the adventure if you ask me. I must say, every meal I had was great.

And lastly, Riding Comfort. This was the biggest concern for me. I'm good for 1.5hrs on my bike before it gets ugly. For years now I just assumed it was me, seeing my riding years getting shorter. I booked a lot of hotels with spa's to ease the hours of riding and make it possible to get up the next day and do it all over again. I was sure I was going to have to suck it up and fight through soreness. I'm happy to report it isn't me, it's my bike. The CBF was very comfy. Tall bars, low pegs and good seat. There were times when my back was tight but overall, it was a trip saver. When I went for a ride after getting home, I almost couldn't find the footpegs. I laughed out loud how high my R's pegs felt.

We found every hotel without an issue. My routes and Bryan's backup GPS worked great. We had some cheap intercoms that proved priceless. The trip would have been completely different had we not been able to communicate/chat.

I'll close by saying, if you can do it, go now and you'll love every minute of it.

Feel free to checkout non-bike pics not in this thread here...Bike trip pictures by hopit88 - Photobucket

 

I have to say, "THANK YOU" for the time you took to post up this amazing adventure. I believe that this type of trip is a dream of many here on the site but unfortunately very few will ever actually partake. I've recently visited Lake Garda and explored the areas south of Munich while over there for work and the whole time I felt guilty for not having my lovely wife along to share the experience. This world is full of amazing places and being able to vicariously experience you trip through these images and words is a privilege.

Thanks!

 

Thanks for sharing, your post reminded me of my trip in the 90 :frown:
Epic trip for sure :thumbsup:

 

Very well said and it hits home for me on many levels.
I was one of the people who always wanted to do a trip like this but deep down, knew it would never happen. To take a trip to another continent, spending thousands of dollars, taking time away from work and more importantly, family, seemed too much to ask of even the most understandable spouse. Shingles are falling off the roof. The furnace needs replacing at some point. Countless other financial hands are out, looking for their share. I just knew at 50 that I would never take such an adventure. Add to that, my wife has always wanted to go to Europe yet she saved money behind my back in order for me to go...without her, it's just so incredibly humbling. I too felt guilty that she wasn't able to experience just a small part of the journey. Not to mention, having the only person I would even consider doing it all with agree to spend his hard earned money as well to go along, I was truly doubly blessed.

 

The flight was around $1400 from Boston, non-stop on Lufthansa. Seats were rock hard but beer and wine was free so...

The bike was around $900 for 8 days with unlimited miles, side and top cases included, magnetic tank bag thrown in, insurance, maps, and luggage storage while we were gone. This was as cheap as it get's for a liter bike with unlimited mileage for that long.

Spending money, track tickets, gas, tolls, food, and hotels ran about $1500. This could be brought down some in the hotel department. We spent 5 nights with a single room each and 4 nights in a double. You certainly could double up every night and save a buck or two. We allotted $100 a night for hotel budget. Only a couple of places were $100 or more with the majority being $65-$80. These were 3-4 star hotels with fancy wellness centers in house. You can certainly find places in the $40 range no problem. (The Heritage Inn on the Portsmouth traffic circle has got to be $89 a night and it's stuck on the side of I95.) Breakfast filled us up so we rarely ate lunch on the road.Gas was expensive, I had several $26 fillups. In the uphill twisties, the big CBF was wicked thirsty. We really didn't think to watch our money, we were never gonna do this again so we just ran with it.

So under $4000 for everything and that's staying at nice places. An Edelweiss tour would cost you that for the bike and lodging alone, for less days, air fare not included. Not saying that an Edelweiss tour wouldn't be fun, but Bryan and I wanted to call our own shots, which made it more nerve wracking and therefore a greater adventure.

We did over 2200km's. Most days were around 5.5 hours, some of that being photo ops and stretching. We didn't want to spend the entire day in the saddle. We wanted to get to our hotel at a reasonable time to check in, relax for a second, hit the local town and get to bed at a good time. We were usually up by 6am to get breakfast and get geared up for the day. Honestly, after my eyes opened in the morning, there was no going back to sleep with the thoughts of the day to come in my head.

 

That looked like an incredible trip. Your estimated cost is not hard to swallow at all. I haven't done the math, but I think my recent trip down through the south west and into Mexico ( http://vfrworld.com/forums/usa-west/38398-adventures-canuck.html ) cost me somewhere over $5,000. Mind you that was five weeks of mostly riding, except while broken down in Vegas.

Maybe I will go back to work and save for such a trip. Tell you wife I am a really nice guy cause mine doesn't care. She won't give me any money.

Thanks for sharing your adventure.

 

What a cool trip!
I hung on every word and checked all your Photobucket flicks.
I enjoy checking out the trips that show up on VFR World and your's is certainly one the best, in fact, please tell us more.
Oh, and please tell your wife old Shamrock gives her two thumbs up for winning the "Motorcyclist Wife Of The Year Award".

 

Great everything!! Thanks so much for sharing your adventure.. My big trip plans just got more interesting!

 

I have threatened to do a Munich based trip for a couple of years now. I have friends in Munich. Your trip sounds great. Might be the thing for next Aug and the get away from all the heat. My Munich buddies say there are so many trips in/out of the alps from Munich that it's an option to use Munich as a home base. That would save some $$$ for hotels. Things to think of for next summer.

 

Nice ride, nice report! Thanks fro sharing! :thumb:

You should have payed Switzerland a visit, though!
Next time then.

 

I have to second that!

 

Not only have you built a great looking bike. You also did a great job sharing your trip. Kind of felt like I went a long. Thanks!

 

I don't want to hijack the thread! I just wanted to share the following pictures which are from the same area.
On the south side of lake Garda I found the Agusta museum! Just outside Cesto calende. I was supposed to be there for the helicopters but the bikes really captured my attention.