Date:         Mon, 21 Feb 2000 19:01:26 +0100
Reply-To:     Robin Oomkes <robin.oomkes@SWIFT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robin Oomkes <robin.oomkes@SWIFT.COM>
Organization: S.W.I.F.T. sc
Subject:      Trip Report - Belgium/France/Germany - churches/snow/wine
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Hi all,

Just got back from a week's vacation in my 90 Vanagon Westfalia - its maiden
trip for me. Triggered by last Fall's discussion of winter camping, I decided I
wanted to test the van in the snow. The closest snowy, mountainous area to
Holland were the Vosges mountains in Northeastern France. I also wanted to try
some crosscountry skiing, and buy a lot of wine. Another thing on the 'to-do'
list was to pick up the van's jack in Bonn in Germany, which the PO had
forgotten to hand over to me when he sold me the car. BTW: sorry for the little
Vanagon content, but absolutely NOTHING malfunctioned on the way.

Itinerary:
11 Feb    Holland-Brussels-Lobbes. Spent Friday at my company's HQ in Brussels,
picked up my trip companion Marcel from the station and left for Lobbes. Camped
outside the city swimming pool.

12 Feb    Lobbes-Tournai. Lobbes is a tiny village in Belgium's former coal
mining area, which has the oldest church in the Low Countries: it dates back to
Charlemagne - 800 AD! It's a strange sensation to be in a building that old. As
no tourist ever visits Lobbes, the church is not geared to visitors - in fact
it's more or less in a state of disrepair, as the local parish is both small and
poor. But heck, it's been there for 1200 years, it'll probably be there for
another 1000. Then drove to Tournai. Tournai is significant because the first
Christian King of France was baptised there around 500 AD. Showered in the
city's bathing house for the poor (ha ha), for $1 each, open only on Fridays and
Saturdays. One wonders what the poor do the rest of the week. Camped in the
courtyard of the 17th Century City Hall.

13 Feb    Tournai - Laon - Reims. Sunday - Cathedral day. In the morning, saw
Tournai's Gothic cathedral, then afterwards drove through the rolling
countryside of the Champagne region (many UK and American war cemeteries from
WW1), to Laon. Magnificent gothic cathedral (1200 AD) built on a steep ridge of
about 600 ft in the otherwise relatively flat countryside. Can be seen from 20
miles! Then on to Reims, capital of Champagne and home of Reims cathedral. This
is where all French kings have been crowned. In Reims' bars, you can try
different types of champagne by the glass. Camped right outside the cathedral's
front door, under the famous statue of the smiling angel.

14 Feb    Reims - Epernay - Vosges Mountains. In the morning, checked out the
interior of Reims cathedral. They have very nice multilingual display boards
telling about the architecture, history (Joan of Arc was there when they crowned
Charles VII) and religious aspects. One of the stained glass windows is by
French artist Marc Chagall. Beautiful. Then on to Epernay, the capital of
champagne (the drink), along the 'Route Touristique du Champagne'. In Epernay,
there is an 'Avenue du Champagne', where all the famous houses have their
headquarters, usually in beautiful mansions. Laurent Perrier, Pol Roger,
Mercier, Moët & Chandon... We visited Moëts cellars. They have a great tour &
tasting. You get to see the subterranean 'caves' where the wine does its bubbly
thing. 18 miles of corridors. Millions of bottles. Then drove across
Northeastern France to the ski resort of La Bresse. No snow. Camped outside
tourist office/sauna/swimming pool.

15 Feb. Vosges. Drove up a mountain. Enough snow for cross-country and alpine
skiing. For this skiing newbie and his friend, cross-country was exciting
enough, especially as we took a route which went pretty high. The downside was
that you have to get down again - and you can't steer on x-country skis. After
tasting the local snow a few times, we made it. Took a sauna afterwards to nurse
aching muscles - big disappointment: the French wear bathing suits in their
saunas. Unthinkable to us liberal Dutchmen. Camped on top of the 'Markstein' -
1200 m/3600 ft. Until then, one of us (me) had slept in the upper bunk, and the
other downstairs, running the heater on a low setting to keep things comfy. Left
the poptop down this time, and left the front left quarterlight open for
ventilation. Big mistake. In the night there was a blizzard, and in the morning
of...

16 Feb. Vosges - Alsace - Speyer ... there was a mountain of snow on the dash.
Tried to throw it all out but the door rubbers were frozen. Eventually got rid
of it through the sliding door. Part of the snow melted into the speedo and
various switches but nothing malfunctioned and things dried out pretty quickly.
Drove off just like that - after the Eberspächer diesel heater had been doing
its thing for a while, most of the snow had melted off the windows. Where other
cars (probably on summer tires) had to resort to chains, the Vanagon, which has
Conti Contrans winter tires, moved off without any wheelspin at all. Felt very
secure. Descended into the picturesque wine-growing region (mainly whites) of
Alsace. Saw the Romanesque abbey church of Murbach. It sits in a little valley,
beside a stream that descends from the mountains, and is absolutely stunning.
You expect large cathedrals in cities, not in mountain villages... Got myself a
few (well, about 10) cases of wine and loaded up the rear deck, leaving half of
it free for Marcel to sleep. Drove in with a Vanagon that was a bit more
tail-happy... Would have liked to have eaten at a favorite restaurant of mine
(great Sauerkraut - Alsatian specialty) but of course it has its weekly closing
day on Wednesday. Murphy doesn't stop at cars, he does restaurants too. Drove on
northwards, roughly along the left bank of the Rhine, to Speyer in Germany.
Camped in the parking lot of the cathedral.

17 Feb. Speyer - Bonn - Holland. In the morning, viewed the cathedral, which is
Romanesque - very simple and elegant in design, but huge. Dates from 1040. In
the crypt, all German emperors from 1040 - 1400 are buried. Again, a very simple
and elegant room. Then drove north along the autobahn, happily passing trucks
laboring uphill at a steady 110 km/h (65 mph), where in my old van, the
non-turbo diesel, I would have been stuck between them. Picked up the jack in
Bonn, and drove home to Holland. Got there at 8 pm and opened the first of the
bottles from the back of the van.

total distance: 1900 km / 1200 miles
fuel consumption: 10l per 100 km or 24 mpg, including diesel used by the heater
wine consumption: 8 bottles
nights spent in campgrounds: 0

Happy camping,
Robin / Holland
90 Vanagon Atlantic TD
84 Westy Joker D (still for sale, hoping for the spring)