Plucky Survivors See Europe: From Here to There (Part 3)
When we last left off, I was up to the part where I’m in Bilbao and the end of month two. By the time I reach this part of the journey, I will have visited 11 countries and driven nearly 7,000 miles through Germany, Czechia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Spain, and Portugal. Now, I’m in the home stretch.
From Bilbao, I head north back into France for the third or fourth time (it’s right in the middle!) for a couple of pit stops, and yes that’s an intended pun for one of them.
208 miles takes me to Bordeaux for one night and there’s not a lot in the city that has piqued my interest. Although I don’t really drink wine, I will probably go to La Cite du Vin, an immersive experience all about the grape and maybe Bassins de Lumieres, a visual arts experience that looks kinda cool.
The next day I travel 277 miles to Le Mans (get the pun now?) for one night. They have long had a museum for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race but it has just been completely redone and expanded, opening in May, so that could be interesting.
Then it’s a longish day of driving into country number twelve with 323 miles taking me to Brussels in Belgium. I had originally only planned one night there but the list of things I found to do made me extend that to two. Intriguing options include the Atomium (a massive atom that you can wander through), the Fantastic Art Museum filled with weird sculptures, Beer World, not one but TWO chocolate themed attractions with the Belgian Chocolate Village and the Choco Museum, the Pinball Museum, and not one but TWO museums dedicated to Belgian fries! I don’t know that I’ve ever had real Belgian fries, but I totally want to go to the museums about them.
The final day of driving will take me 139 miles to Amsterdam, where I will say goodbye to Plucky Mobile and spend the next six days and nights hoofing it to get around. There is a very long list of things I want to see there, but some highlights are the Amsterdam Cheese Museum, the Hash and Hemp Museum, the Museum of Prostitution, the Tulip Museum, the Houseboat Museum, the Museum of Canals, and of course the Anne Frank House. I will also be there during the World Pride celebration so there will be a festival, a mass wedding, concerts, and a parade, which I will choose to believe is in honor of me completing my trip.
Then it’s a plane ride back to Atlanta and on to Savannah.
72 days, nearly 8,000 miles (or over 12,000 kilometers if you prefer), 13 countries, over 30 hotels, over 300 gallons of gas, an estimated 150 meals, over 100 museums and attractions, an as-yet-to-be-determined number of times getting lost, and, I’m guessing, countless times of me saying “I’m sorry, I’m a stupid American and I don’t speak your language well enough to understand what you’re saying.”
Sounds like a good road trip to me.
Next: The Pesky Details