My European Trip [56K warning] - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Blue Thunder · 8th June 2006, 20:17

Here are a few pictures from my European vacation this spring.

Me and my girlfriend went in the beginning of April on the ferry from Iceland to Denmark. From there we drove down through Germany and Austria to Italy and stayed for most of the time in Tuscany. We then drove back up to Frankfurt where my girlfriend flew back and I went to the Nurburgring

Here is the trip in words and pictures.

The first fuel stop in the south of Iceland

Not quite spring yet in the east of Iceland:

... not at all!!! :shock:

We managed though to get all the way to the town of Seydisfjordur where the ferry stops:

Started by changing to the summer wheels/tyres:

The Hamanns now mounted and waiting to get aboard the ferry:

Got all the stuff into the cabin and have strategically positioned myself so I can get the laptop plugged in.....:

Our first stop was in the Faroe Islands and it was kind of chilly:

Rum + coke along with some good movies on the laptop made time go by more quickly..... 8) :

The cars were rather tightly packed on the cardeck:

Here we are in Denmark and visited Legoland which was a nice surprise!! :

Amazing detail:

Here I have my new rear tyres mounted in Hamburg and have cleaned the car up a bit - ready for Autobahn:

Here is the hotel we stayed at in Dinkelsbuhl in the south of Germany, second house from the left - brilliant hotel:

The streets of Dinkelsbuhl:

Here we are driving down to Fussen - starting to see SNOW!!!!

Not getting any better....:

Houston, we have a problem!!!

These were the conditions around Fussen.

Here we decided to change plans, turned around and went to the east and then down to Austria. Here we are coming down on the Austrian side, rather steep and "Emergency roads" to save you if your brakes fail:

If they do you can steer the car up the slope and hope for the best:

Here we are coming down the Alps on the Italian side:

Here we are down on the plains - just been through snow and blizzards!!!

The next day we went to Siena. Here I have parked the car in a good spot, in the shadow and noone can give me doordings

The main square in Siena:

Another one from the square:

Inside the Duomo in Siena - marble everywhere:
Notice the heads that are above the pillars/arches.
(a bit tricky to photograph since one cannot use flash)

Here is a closeup of the heads, these are the popes....:

This church is amazing, the detail is breathtaking:

Then on our way back we drove through the Chianti wine district and its small towns:

Here we are in Castellini that is a small town that used to be a fort with constant fighting going on. The building above the car way back is a part of the old fort wall:

My girlfriend looking out of one the holes on the fort wall:

This car was in the parking lot - always liked those:

And they also had this modded one:

Here is a small video where I was having fun in one of the tunnels in Italy

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/m5/eurotrip/tunnel.wmv

More to follow.

535d · 8th June 2006, 20:42

. Nice write up, I really enjoyed reading (and viewing) it.

cableguy · 8th June 2006, 20:42

Great write-up and pictures

, its amazing how the weather and scenery change so much in so few miles but always breathtaking.

Loving the sound of those unmistakable Tubi's.

Thanks for sharing.

C.

Gustav · 8th June 2006, 20:43

Wow, great report Thordur! The weather was no joke! Wow!

Ashok Arora · 8th June 2006, 20:54

Nice report - thanks for sharing!

Clem · 8th June 2006, 20:59

Great pics Thor, Looked like a great time

Kain · 8th June 2006, 21:12

Wow, that looks awesome. I love Europe.

Thanks for sharing!

Blue Thunder · 8th June 2006, 22:03

Here are some more pics:

The village of San Gimignano - the Manhattan of the past. Once there were some 70 towers but only a few are still standing:

The streets of San Gimignano:

Looking at the highest tower:

Looking back down after walking up all the steps to the top:

Not a bad view over the countryside:

Tourists and the bell:

Those streets in the old village are rather tight:

Here I´m setting up my stickypod for some driving along Tuscany roads

Here is a clip from this drive: http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/m5/eurotrip/Toskana_sveitavegur.wmv

Here is a nice road close to the town where our hotel was (Montelupo):

The tower in Pisa - I can confirm it leans alot!!!

We wanted to go to the top but you need to book with at leas a days advance

Here we are in another city close to Pisa that is called Lucca and this is one of it´s churches. Very interesting that no two pillars are the same - each is done by a different artist:

Here we are in Florens on Easter day. Walked into big festivities in a plaza in the center of town. Everyone was waiting for something so we just waited along....:

This small "tower" on the plaza turned out to be a mean machine and now a great fireworks display started. The plaza was enclosed by walls on each side so the nose was magnfied by bouncing off the walls:

In the end it closed by the flags at the top popping out with a bang:

But after seeing the guy climb up ontop of the tower you could see that it was not small at all:

In this innocent looking icecream store they say you find Italy´s best icecream:

We of course tried the icecream and we think they are right:

Here we are at an art museum in the center of Florence where they keep old items, mostly Italian but also items from other countries. You are not allowed to take photos but we just took them when the staff was not watching (and others did the same):

Many talented street artists:

Gorgeous sculptures everywhere:

These hats the police officers are wearing are rather funny looking:

Not a bad looking car outside our hotel when we came back:

Here we were on our way to La Spezia and we stopped in Carrara. At first it looked like there was snow in the mountains but when we got closer we could see it was marble:

We went to the mines up in the mountains:

There you can purchase all things made of marble:

We almost ran out of gas in the mountains so I just coasted down again and directly to a gas station:

And since there was a wash station also the Beast got cleaned:

In the back you can see some marble:

You are not going to pick one of those up!!

Here is La Spezia - stayed there for one night. Not my favorite since I got 60+ insect bites

Just west of La Spezia there are some costal villages that sit just above the sea and are very difficult to get to - for a long time you could only reach them by sea:

Steep and the roads are narrow:

A fully armed tourist - needed to walk the last part to the village that we visited:

However it was well worth the walk. We could have been luckier with the weather for photographing:

535d · 8th June 2006, 23:26

. wow, keep going, me likes, feels like I'm almost there with you, great pics, great vid (to some point, skidding towards the truck in the end, hmm, not that), I like the pics, and y'r short succinct comments with the pics

Taipan · 9th June 2006, 00:58

Lovely trip, which displays the diversity of Europe with the weather and the different cultures. Nice and keep them coming, I have a feeling there is lots of material still left