Across the Pond

So. I’m in Europe now. I guess this thing is really happening.

I left Toronto in the wee hours of Thursday morning, several hours later than anticipated. This is due to the fact that some unnamed vehicle ran into the wing of our designated plane. Of course we weren’t informed of this until all the passengers were on board and settled in for departure. After unloading and waiting for all the checked bags (and motorcycles!) to be moved to the new plane, which was luckily present and available, we finally departed. Then, there was much sleep to be had. I woke on the approach to Frankfurt, had an unsatisfying airline breakfast, and then it was time to land.

Whereupon I discovered that my I’d arrived in Germany on a national day. This meant I was unable to get insurance, and therefore my motorcycle stayed in storage for a day. Luckily, my friends Paul and Silke were happy to put me up for the night, so I headed to their home. They were making the most of the day off by hosting a garden party – there were about 15 people present when I arrived, evenly split between adults and young kids. It was a great way to relieve the stress of the flight change and disappointment of not being able to extract my bike.

Paul had taken the next day off, and generously offered to offer taxi and translation services to assist me with the tasks of insurance, customs and import clearance. His help was very much needed and most appreciated!

After regaining custody, I headed off to visit Sanmi, another dear friend whom I hadn’t seen in far too long. She lives on a shared communal-style property in the woods about an hour’s ride away, through rolling pastoral hills and forests with lovely narrow winding roads. The place is so wonderful and peaceful that even though she had weekend plans away from home, I ended up staying another day, just to soak up the calm.

This morning, after breakfast and conversation with Sanmi’s sister Florence (who also lives on the property), I headed off with one goal in mind: Drink Belgian beer, in Belgium, destination Liege. Having arranged a place to stay for a couple nights through couchsurfing.org, I plotted a course and set off. I have to say, my first border crossing in the EU was rather anticlimactic: I saw a sign stating ‘Belgie 1000m’. And then I noticed that the road signs had changed. Ah, the benefits of EU integration!

Speaking of signs, it has taken me a few days of riding to start to make sense of them. For one thing, plotting a route on backroads is much easier – at least in Germany – by paying attention to the towns you want to go through rather than the road numbers. Not all signs are numbered, nor are all roads – at least not in a fashion obvious to me after multiple hours of investigation. And in Belgium I was initially confused by the snowflake-looking signs, until I realized they indicated upcoming roundabouts – which are both awesome and quite prevalent in both DE and BE.

I’m expecting my host to arrive home soon – she met me in town with a key to her place on her way to work! – and so more when it comes to me.