Still, we did 6 kms (3.7 miles), in an hour, so not a bad pace.
In the afternoon, we watched the boats go by...
Wood chips?
This one is sitting high, so it must be empty.
Lots of pleasure craft too.
In the morning, they had said it was going to start to clear around noon and the sun would make an occasional appearance. But as noon, and then one, and then two o'clock went by without any sun, the forecast kept putting it off.
We didn't see the sun until sunset!
At one point, we saw this hole in the clouds.
Blue sky!
While we were sitting watching the boats, we were figuring out our plan for this coming winter.
Due to the Schengen visa rules, we are only allowed 90 days in the Schengen visa countries (this includes most of the European Union) out of any rolling 180 day period.
We have been in Europe since June 11th so by the time we leave we will have used up 64 of our 90 days. That means that when we return October 1st, we will have 26 days to get out of the Schengen zone.
It will be starting to cool off by October 1st, so we will head south right away. We want to stop at the Adria motorhome factory in Slovenia to see where Max was born...lol.
From there, we will head into Croatia, although Croatia campgrounds are typically expensive and it may not be that easy for free camping. I expect it's more difficult on the coast, but we are happy to remain inland. Obviously the weather at the time will have to be taken into consideration as well.
From there, we will head to Turkey. What route we take will again depend on the weather at the time, although we hope to take Max through Albania. We can also do over three weeks in Greece in December, and still be able to reset the Schengen days to the full 90 once we head back into the EU in the spring.
Then we will do three months along the south coast of Turkey. And probably pop over to Cyprus for some time there as well.
Then next spring we will head first to Germany and decide what to do with our possible residence permit and then north to the Scandinavian countries which was what we had originally planned to do this summer, but we got too late of a start due to Covid restrictions and not being able to get into Max.
Of course all of this depends on what is going on in the world at the time!
See the blue thing on this barge?
It's an inflatable swimming pool!
As I said before, many barges are owner operator and they live on the barge, so often the family is with them and they have bicycles and other recreational things with them.
Before sunset, we saw a couple of hot air balloons going up.
Finally, there's the sun.
Ruth made a delicious lasagna for dinner.
Yum!
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And in Canada...
What's your opinion of the pull-down bed? How much of a problem is it to have to crawl over your partner to get out of bed?
ReplyDeleteIt's actually an electric drop down bed. I only make the distinction because there are some motorhomes that really do have pull down beds. We only bring ours about half way down. This way, we don't have to move any of the lower seating cushions out of the way, and your partner doesn't have to crawl over you because they can still get out their own side and there is room to walk under the bed, crouched down.
DeleteI am curious to know how anyone knows you are even in the country seeing that you just drive in. Is it an honor system to keep track of the 90 days?
ReplyDeleteOnce you are in the Schengen zone, it's true, you can go from one country to the next and nobody cares. However we are kept track of in the zone itself. We entered in Warsaw, Poland, and if we exit from Dusseldorf, Germany, the German border police use the same computer system as all the other Schengen zone countries and our time spent in the zone will be accounted for. They know exactly how many days you have been in. There are many stories out there of people being fined for overstaying.
DeleteYum, yum - your dinner looks delish!
ReplyDeleteI agree! Yum! Yum!
DeleteThe lasagna turned out great, I am really happy with the performance of the oven in Max. Our only issue seems to be getting it to spark so that the stove will light.
DeleteI thought about Ruth yesterday as I put our groceries away. I moved a package of gluten free lasagna noodles. :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, you can just use those noodles up you don't have to wait for us to come for a visit! Thanks for thinking about us, lol. :-)
DeleteHere in the States, there is a lot of news about the COVID variants, specifically Delta. Are y'all hearing anything about that or is it more of a North American issue?
ReplyDeleteNo, we are hearing about it here too! The numbers have definitely gone up but the number of deaths hasn't changed and the number of hospitalizations has gone up ever so slightly.
DeleteDon't rush through Slovenia! It is a beautiful and welcoming country. From medieval Piran on the coast, through beautiful Ljubljana in the center, into the Julian Alps via Lake Bled - you won't regret spending time there. And it's less crowded than Croatia.
ReplyDeleteWe don't want to rush through Slovenia but it is part of the Schengen Zone so we don't have much time to get from Germany to Croatia which is not a Schengen Zone country. This is the issue that we are having to be very mindful of. We would love to spend lots of time there and we know we wouldn't regret it but we only have 26 days to get from Germany to Croatia before our time in the Schengen Zone is used up. No worries though, we will be spending a number of years here in Europe so we will definitely be back to Slovenia to see a lot more of the country then. Plus the weather will be starting to get quite a bit cooler in Slovenia in October.
DeleteYou had me busy today, tracing your winter trip from Germany to Turkey! My world atlas has gotten lots of use, thanks to you-and others. I have been surprised at how clean and neat cities appear with most having pedestrian plazas. Perhaps you have highlighted them? Thank you from all of us for so much information, past and present, of the places you go. And the PICTURES!
ReplyDeleteIt is going to be a fun trip this winter and we are looking forward to seeing all these different countries with their cities, towns and countryside scenes.
DeleteYes, it does seem like many of the cities in Europe have a lot of pedestrian plazas and streets around the core of the city, we really like seeing that and yes, they all seem very clean and neat. The Netherlands in general is a very clean and orderly country we are finding.
We are glad that you are enjoying our adventures and our pictures, we will certainly have a lot more coming your way. :-)
If you get a German Residence Permit will that change the 90 day limit?
ReplyDeleteFollowing the exact rule of law, I'm not certain. However in real life, once you become a permanent resident of a Schengen zone country, there is nobody to stop you or keep track of you within the zone.
Delete