Through Eastern Europe and now safe in Munich

18 July 2009

So we’ve nearly made it!

We’ve had a busy but exciting last week!

Our friends Laurent and Amadine (who we met in India, crossed Pakistan with and hung out in Iran with) had a misfortune. Their car’s engine failed in Turkey and they were told the whole thing is kaput. They have been repatriated back to France from Trabzon, their car is being shipped back but they had one huge problem. The insurance company agreed to fly their darling dog back to France for them but Laurent and Amandine couldn’t find a proper crate to put her in for the flight. They look all over town, made phone calls and had no luck. They sent us an email telling us about the whole thing, and we agreed to take Gitane the dog back to France for them.

We drove from Cappadocce to Trabzon (on the coast of the Black sea) and picked her up. The Wombat had a HUGE birthday on the way there. He turned 400 000 kms old!

We told Laurent and Amandine we would take could care of their doggy, and they were off to France the next morning. We left for Istanbul. We didn’t make it there the first day, but nearly. The highways were great once we got closer to Istanbul, but there were traffic jams late at night because of construction. We stopped about 100 kilometres outside of Istanbul.

Crossing the bridge out of Asia and into Europe was pretty emotional. We spent many months discovering many sides of Asia, and we had to say goodbye.

We found the great parking stop near the Hagia Sophia that was recommended to us by our friend Flo. We had to pay 5 Euro a day, but it was safe, attended and at a prime location. The attendee was very sweet and loved Gitane. He quickly learned her name and ordered her around.

I took Gitane on some walks around Istanbul. I was thinking how crazy it is the amount of things that dog has seen! Still, you can give her the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, or the Hippodrome, and she won’t be impressed. Give her 4 square meters of grass and she’ll have the best time of her life for hours.

After visiting Istanbul for two days, we left and headed to Bulgaria. We had no insurance for Europe and had to deal with that. We tried at the automobile club in Istanbul but they could only sell us insurance for Europe (the green card) for 15 days for 80 Euro. We wanted to buy a policy for longer, and they told us to try in Bulgaria. Once we got to Bulgaria. We had to buy a minimum of 1 month for 130 Euro. You didn’t save by buying more months, they just multiplied 130...So we took a chance and lost 50 Euro. It’ll happen sometimes...

In Bulgaria we stayed the night on this mountain. Gitane really enjoyed it and so did we. We don’t normally buy meat when we’re on the road. We made an exception and bought some to cook so Gitane could eat the bones. I think she appreciated it.

We crossed into Romania the next day. We had some trouble there with exchanging money...they wouldn’t take my credit card anywhere, and most places didn’t accept Euro (or gave you a horrible exchange rate). We really felt like we were in a place where people have no interest in helping foreigners, it was a shame.

The next day, we crossed Hungary. Everything went well. There was even a nice stranger who was intrigued with our license plates. He offered us help, gave us some tips, and even gave us sweet corn from his farm! We only drove through Hungary, but that man left us a great impression :) The place was much less stressful that Romania because they accepted my credit card.

We spent the night at a parking stop on the highway in Austria. There were toilets, picnic tables, a water pump, and loads of forest and grass for Gitane to play in. I didn’t laundry and got help from Jonny to wash my hair under the water pump. I then used the solar shower outside in my bikini. It had been about a week, I was desperate!

The next day (yesterday) we eased into Germany without a problem. We called our dear friend Bahama Jon to get directions to meet him. I was so happy to give him a huge hug! It had been so long since we last saw each other. We met his girlfriend, Sandra, who quickly invited us in. We had beers and chatted. It was wonderful

Then we were offered to have a shower. A real nice hot shower. Sandra even offered me to use her shampoo and conditioner. She has no idea how happy that made me feel!

We spent the night drinking good beer and meeting friends of friends. It felt like I was home, which is strange because clearly I’ve never been here and do not live here. I guess seeing Bahama has brought back a part of home. It’s a little taste of what I’ll be feeling in the next month, and I love it!

Tomorrow: Luxembourg!

MC