Austria!! NOT Australia!!

I truly had to stop and stare at it for a bit.. it's the dag gone Alps!! I'm like, holy crap!! I didn't expect to see them there.. and then the thought of riding a motorcycle over !!???

Yes.. I expected to see them in Austria.. but you can see how I was shocked. The lovely soft rolling hills of green. I assumed my clue that I was getting close to the mountains would be apparent.. apparently not!!! They go from lovely hills, to BAM!!!

Okay, shock over.. get back on the bike and carry on... I've never ridden in mountains before and they have been on mind for quite a while. But like most challenges on this trip.. it's probably not as bad as I think.. Because what I have been envisioning with big mountains are 1) High winds and 2) Icy slippery snowy roads.. what's there to worry about!!?? I can handle that! ;-/

Now I'm getting closer...

See, they are easy peasy roads...!

That is such a good looking bike.. it's just too big for me, but I like it..

And good to meet Klaus! I think he is happy to meet somebody from Australia, and I am happy to meet somebody from Austria!! (I can not tell you how many times people ask me where I am from, and I say Australia, and they say, Austria?? and I say no, Aust -ral-i-a..! OH!! You are a long way from home... yes!) Anyway, Klaus' wife not here, she has a working assignment for the weekend.

So! Follow him!

The plan is to ride to his town, Zell am See.. explore and learn about the area, and in a race against the oncoming bad weather forecast, to shoot over the Alps the following day. Being a local, he knows the weather and best route as well..

We arrive the house.. my mouth wide open, I jump off the bike and immediately start taking heaps of photos... I say, "You live here???!!! Is it possible to live in such a beautiful place?? It doesn't look real, so perfect!"

(I think I humored him a bit..)
So here are some more photos from the Rainer house!

So Klaus says, come on, I will show you around Zell am See. (I quite honestly don't know why, I can just stay in this one spot all day!) But don't pass up an opportunity to have a good look around.

Zell am See.. (did you know that See in Austrian means "lake"? So if you have a home by the See in Austria, it's like ocean front property!?)

Isn't he cute! An Austrian man, making his way around town with walking ski poles for exercise.. they are so healthy here.. seriously, I look at all the people, young and old and they all look so perfectly tan, blonde hair and really healthy! It's like southern California, except with mountains and snow!

Bugger.. road closed already!!! Doesn't look so bad to me, and I bet the people in those cars are thinking the same thing, how do we break in!?

We turn around and try a different route..

I am totally in love with the house designs here..

He decides to take me up another side for a great view of town and a coffee. Well, I don't like coffee, but I'll have a cup of tea..

While enjoying the view, we hear a motorcycle come up the hill.. the man sits at the table next to us, and of coarse we strike up a conversation about motorcycles. And then it hits him!! The man says, "Hey!! I know you!! You are the girl riding around the world! I was just reading your blog last week, you've been to Russia, Mongolia, and now here!!??"

I couldn't believe it... a strange man recognized me and knew so much about my journey!! I felt famous!! How fun!! That truly does blow my mind....

Well his name is Hans, from Germany, and he rode his motorcycle here today, so he can go skiiing on the mountain tomorrow.. wow!! What a life!

It was a wonderful afternoon.. what a great
priviledge it was to be here.. and all the much better with friends... I am a very happy motogirl!!! ;-)))

And to finish off the day, back into town for an awesome Austrian dinner.. thank you Klaus!

I quite like this place .. ! ;-)

Prague Czech Republic

 

Happy New Year from WINTER in Tuscany Italy!!  The good news after about 8 weeks, I finally have my computer back from repairs in Austria... that was a long and difficult wait.. But now I hope to get to work and get this blog updated!  I can tell you I have seen so much, met so many amazing people and had so much fun since my last entry.. so I hope you enjoy the upcoming photos and stories!

Since Berlin post a long time ago…  I have been to Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy.  So!! With a lot of catching up to do, back to Germany we go!!

After visiting the Berlin Wall, I rode out of town feeling completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of history in that one city. Which I expected to see, but I did not expect how modern, clean and fun it is as well!! And again, if I only had the time and not racing south to avoid the winter, I would have spent much more time there.  I really do intend to go back.

But as I was riding through the German countryside toward Czech Republic, there was something else that really impressed me.  I had noticed early on, that the German culture is a very GREEN culture.  There is wind farm after wind farm.  I know when I see them up ahead they must be strategically placed to catch ultimate wind, which then is my warning the wind is going to push me around on my bike. Bugger! There is nothing about my KTM that is aerodynamically designed, and the wind has picked up my front wheel while riding more than once.. even with the extra fuel tank up front!! ;-(

But I also pass farms that had every space of their huge barn roofs covered with solar panels… very expensive!!  But good for the environment!! In order for you to drive a car or truck at least in the city of Berlin, you have to have a high emissions control rating, or you get a fine.  I never heard of that before, and it is such a blessing for a motorcycle rider not to have to be breathing in black cloudy exhaust from the trucks ahead.  I really love Germany for this one point alone!  But good for them, a really impressive country I found in Germany.

Or Germania, as most other people call it.  I like Germania better, it sounds so much nicer! (Pronounce Ger like Gertrude, not like germs) Why do we English speaking people have to change the sound so dramatically? Who are we to change it!? 

I find myself crossing the border into Czech Republic.  It becomes apparent quickly they don’t have the same emissions control standards there.  But it was just exciting to be in another country!  The road signs are a different language, the money is different, here we go again! 

We were diverted off the road I was traveling due to construction onto a highway.. I’m not a fan of the highway, but I was in Prague in no time.

Luckily I had pre-planned and figured out an affordable place to stay ahead of time, so I aimed for Residence Tunich on my gps.

After the freedom in Berlin hostel to park my bike on the sidewalk outside the front door, I expected the same here.. no way!!  It was very clear from the guy at the desk that not only do I not want to park my bike near the door, but don’t park it anywhere outside, it will get stolen!  He showed me on a map several streets over a hotel that had underground parking.  I could pay this crazy amount of money and walk several blocks back to the residence.  I didn’t like that idea, so I set out on foot to knock on doors in an attempt to find somebody who could let my “little” bike stay safely in a corner somewhere.  I found a place almost directly across the street.  They were so nice, parked underground, and even gave me my own key..  Just ask!!

I finally got settled in and began my research of what I want to see in Prague the following day.. I looked at so many options and unusual for me, I decided to take a touristy tour.  I was only there for the next day, and I really wanted to take in as much as I can, as quick as I can.

Have a look at this city!  Where do you start??

From the tiny bit I had heard about Prague Czech Repubic is that it will be a dark gray depressing place to visit.  I nearly didn’t ride here because of that!  But glad I did make the effort.  I found it to be a very vibrant and colourful city!  Definitely in a different “condition” than that of the Germania I had just left.. but nowhere near as bad as I had imagined.  They’ve had their economic struggles over the last years, but seem to be bouncing back from what I can tell.

On the tour, the guide explains to us that Prague was actually the wealthiest city in Europe before the wars.  And you can see evidence of that everywhere.

The Prague Castle above is a highlight for many visitors.  It was gorgeous inside the cathedral. as this one had spectacular stained glass.

 

Now you see what they mean when they say somebody from above must be watching over us.  

Back out on to the street to finish the tour…

Away from the art and the gold and instead a good view of roasting street meat..

I spent the tour with two retired Australian couples from Sydney who adopted me for the day as they were finishing their complete tour of Europe. They were hilarious, we had a good time and it was good to be speaking English and enjoying good ol’ Aussie humor again.  And then I am on my own to explore the rest.

My fascination for the city diverted to street cars.. I don’t know why.. but I thought they were cool and a view into the more normal daily life in Prague.  I hadn't originally planned to come here, and again, I was pleasantly surprised by this amazing place.

 One last look over the city before I start wandering back

 

The good news, is I am only in Czech Republic a whopping two days.  So I have already caught up my blog for one whole country!  The bad news, as you can see, Prague is a humongous city, and deserves more time to get to know it.  And for me to get to know a country, I also like to explore the countryside more and see how people live beyond the common tourist places. But I am happy with what I saw today..  The tour guide said I was lucky to be here at this time, because the same time last year was already freezing cold and snowy.

Which was my hint to stay on course and start heading toward Austria in the morning.

Glad to be back, next blog entry coming soon!

Wishing you all an exciting 2011 full of fun and adventure!!

Finland to Berlin Germany!

Onward and upward from Estonia to Finland!

From here I must take a ferry. I started to think that this motorcycle trip around the world includes so many ferry rides.. seems like I am cheating!

But then I remembered that the earth's surface is 75% water.. and I'm on a motorcycle, what do you expect Sherri Jo??? Just be glad I don't have to put on scuba gear and ride through it!!

So this is the soon to be very frozen Baltic Sea...

I am excited to go to Lahti, Finland... home to one of my great sponsors, Rukka. But first a quick ride through Helsinki!

Wonderful Pasi from Innotesco in Australia, (www.innotesco.com.au) whom sponsored me all my Rukka riding gear, organized for me to stay with his neighbor and keen Ducati riders, Markku and Pia. Not only is it so nice of them, but it's a great way for me to get to know about Finland, and how the people live here. Due to my need to get south for the winter, it's that much better in such a short time to get a feel for the country I am in..

Yes...that's a nice layer of frost on the road and yard..lucky me...

I stayed the night, they made me a great dinner in the special outdoor bar-b-que house.. and topped it off with a nice hot Finnish Sauna.. Now I can compare this popular custom with hot springs in Japan, Banya in Russia and now Finland! This one in Finland is so convenient.. it's in the house.. walk right out of it and into the shower as a daily practice.. I want one!

Next morning I am to meet Mari at Rukka. I am so happy to be here, because my riding gear from Rukka is incredibly important. As I had mentioned before, I learned that Rukka was the best gear you can have early on in my research for this journey. And now that I have been wearing it every day for the last 5 months, I can honestly say that their advice was right!

I ride in pouring rain all the time, and the suit keeps me dry.. and I have fallen down enough to know that the protective pads do their job! And I think the gear looks great and holding up perfectly after going through so much every day, that is quality..!! I'm sorry to sound like such a sales lady here, they didn't ask me to.. but it's just the truth and if I could recommend one thing from this journey it would be to get Rukka - no question!!

While I was there, Mari gave me more gear to help keep me warm. The windstopper liner for inside the pants are a must have layer.. they have helped tremendously!! A kidney belt I never considered before, but it is positioned right where the cold wind sneaks in between jacket and the pants and keeps me super warm.. a huge help there. And 3 new sets of gloves! Nice big fat warm ones, which since have kept me from barely using my heated hand grips in freezing temperatures.. so wonderful, and another pair which I will try out in warmer weather. I am so grateful to Rukka, thank you all so much!! http://www.rukka.com/ or in Australia/New Zealand http://www.innotesco.com.au/

And to top it off, these wonderful girls organized a proper hotel room for me in Lahti. I got to stay the night in a really nice place that had it's own bathroom, in the same room! (I've been on the shared community bathroom budget for quite a while ;-) AND double size bed!! (those shared places come with little tiny skinny beds).. So! I took the time to wash all my clothes in the hotel sink.. and live in style for the night..woo hoo!! I was happy!

My route from Finland was going to be over to Sweden, down through Denmark and into Germany. However as Mari and I researched the 10 day forecast in her office, this was not going to be a smart option. Too much cold and snow on the way for the next several days.

So, back down to Helsinki which offers a direct ferry all the way to Germany. Once in Germany, it's pretty fair to say that the temperatures are marginally better, staying above 0 C.. which is good enough for me.

We sailed through the night, so not much for photos.. I arrived Rostock Germany, and set to making a new route plan. Just head straight south! The farther south I go, the warmer it will be!! Rostock had a military services thing going on.. Not sure what it was, but that commander looks the part..! I thought of 2 things.. Hogan's Heroe's (I used to love that show) ...

and with all the wars, what it must be like to be a soldier in the old days... marching through all the tall wet cold grass without goretex or Rukka gear!! ;-)

So off I went.. and got on that very fast moving german Autobahn.. It was scary at first, but to be honest, the system works really well. Stay out of the far lane (for me)... keep to the right. Those cars going 300 km-hr fly past like little rockets and I got used to it!! Ha! Sort of.. German roads are built to perfection, it was no problem.

I arrived Berlin! Here I plan on staying the weekend and getting my bike completely serviced.

I ask where to park the bike and this hostel says it fine just out front on the sidewalk - and it was! In the center of the city, no worries!

You wouldn't believe.. I found more naked men around this city.. gee whiz how the invention of buttons and zippers have changed the world.

And I can add one for the boys finally.. the beginning of women's liberation?? Notice, the man above is about to kill a male lion, and the Woman below is going for the lioness.. I wonder about the meaning in that?

I took a little tour around town and learned so much about the history.. so much that it boggles my mind.

I got a lot from visiting the Berlin Wall.. I don't need to tell you much about that one.. can't believe it was so recent history!

Berlin city really surprised me. It was so new, modern and clean.. mixed with heaps of old and history. (I quite honestly expected dreariness if that's a word and didn't get that at all!) Not being a city girl, I actually felt comfortable there. I also met some great friends in Berlin from my enquiry on the Horizons Unlimited website. Nick and his girlfriend Tanja pointed me in the right direction with lots of Berlin advice and then had me over for a MOST DELICIOUS home cooked meal with more friends.. It was such a fun and suspicious night. Berlin is a place I hope to go back to!! Thanks guys!!