Day 112 4 Countries 1 Crazy Rd Trip!

Wednesday 11/07/2018 (Day 26 SZ) Weggy Apartment 23 Via Weggenstein piano 4, Bolzano, 39100, Italy -

We leave Slovenia today, and have over 700ks to get done.... In Australia you would have no worries about a trip of 700ks not taking all day + but over here it does... The traffic is the main problem.... and to top it off it’s raining today...which made the mountain roads that bit more tricky to drive on!
So where have we been started in Slovenia, drove through Austria having to buy the vignettes to use the roads then they hit us for tunnels as well... then into Bavaria Germany, drive to Schliersee grabbed our parcel that was waiting for us since just after we left there 7 weeks ago, had lunch on the Hwy and headed to Italy, where the costs are mounting, tolls, tunnels, costs a fortune plus fuel... it is heaps dear than Montenegro and Croatia...
So where have we been today, Slovenia to Austria, Austria to Bavaria Germany, the Germany to Austria, Austria to Italy.....Plus the amount of tunnels, from small ones to going through a Tunnel just at border of Slovenia to Austria....it was 7864m unreal then not to far up the Hwy there was another 7900, and another 6500m... Tunnels are a frequent occurrence over here you go through tunnel after tunnel, but to see them this big is unreal....

Being on the Autostrada is very boring not much to see, so getting off it where we can is great, gives you a look at how others live... only downside is off the Hwy and into the real towns especially in Italy where hardly anyone speaks English it does make it difficult when you try and order black coffee with hot boiling water on the side... so I have had to turn to google translate for help from now on.. I find especially in Italy their coffee is just too strong so hot water tones it down a bit... but it’s a challenge asking for it different... Croatia, and a Montenegro were sometimes a problem, but so many spoke English.... not so in Germany or Italy very similar insular way they view the world... they don’t actually view anything outside there little world, they are so focused on themselves, it’s so evident.... the other countries teach their children to speak English not Italy.... you do get people who are willing to learn it and do try, but on a whole not as many as the other countries we have visited...

We finally diverted off the Hwy going through what looked like some unreal looking mountainous scenery.... The Dolomites are a sight to be scene... huge an over powering as you drive along next to them in the highways.... running next to the Dolomites is a river a pretty mint green colour... sadly the greenery was so thick either side it was too had to see.

We had a little stop at the base of the Dolomites next to the river, then headed off towards Bolzano Bosen our home for the night.... by now the Dolomites had gone just like that..... unreal to see such huge, huge mountains slowly peterout to just nothing.... then all the grapes vineyards started to appear in huge volumes....

We thought we were staying in a little village, it’s a village alright with 108,000 people.... a massive village.... it was a bit unnerving driving into it with one way streets here there and everywhere... plus the fact we had park somewhere to access our key... we ended up in an a restricted area again like we ended up in Florence a couple of years ago.... 12 months after 2 bills arrived for us to pay fines over €100.... we paid it thinking we might at some stage need to go back to Florence, then another one came for another town near Verregio where Jess Godwell’s wedding was... we apparently drove into a wrong area....we didn’t pay this one... now I am expecting 2 lots from this city... we had to park in an area that yes was restricted and John still had to walk quite a way to get the key... the guy who gave us the key said he would fix the problem, but we will see.... there was no mention of any of problems to pick up the key.. or the restricted areas you need to go through to get to it...on the booking site, this should be on there to warn you not to park in restricted zones... the issue is like one way streets they are everywhere...

So we finally get to our unit.

Step 1: Accessing the unit... what we go through... to then we discovered you weren’t supposed to put you car near the unit... it was top floor, 65 steps to go up... inside on my side of the bed the roof came over on an angle so I had to nearly lie on the bed to get past it... making sure I didn’t put my head up at all or I would have knocked myself out... as we are self catering we have about 6 bags of gear we take in and out of ever place we stay..... this inself is a bit tricky fir some units that aren’t on the ground floors. We need this gear to be able to use for cooking and cloths etc... so every time we get somewhere we have about 3-4 trips to the car to bring it all in... 65 steps up and down is not fun....

Step 2: then poor John had to take the car away to park it... parking is a criteria in our search engine... this had parking yes... nearby... didn’t mention it was 500 m away up an alley he could barely find...
Plus unlike all our other stays this one wasn’t free... there was a cost of €10 over $10 plus you get the exercise to and from free bonus apparently....

Step 3: power goes out as preparing dinner... so we text the guy who looks after then unit... it took him about an 1 1/2 hrs to get there but instead of him to see us he sends his sexy looking secretary to sort it out... but being kind he was on the lower floors reloading the power....

Step 4: don’t knock they self out from the slanted roof during the night when you go to the loo....
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It’s all about making us more resilient apparently....and all part of travel...Read more