My travel to WDW - pictures

[stopintime]

It was long. It was hot.
2,200 miles. +/- 100F.
It was great.

I saved about 2,200 miles by taking the Gothenburg/Kiel ferry and the AutoZug Hamburg/Italy.
I arrived and was welcomed this way
Swiss flip kissing

French village of.....
  Typical bar/coffee shop

Italian Coll Maddalene


Swiss Furka pass seen from Grimsel pass


If you're in the area, you're supposed to go up to Stelvio pass. Countless hairpins and not really very interesting - just a mythical goal for many travellers. The real heroes of the Stelvio are the cyclists going up there


Random English group at Stelvio
  40k kms at Stelvio


After all the Ducati celebrations, new friends, arrogant people, friendly people - I sat down on the return ferry and took in the beautiful sunset. Last night of my journey and a suitable finish...

[Turf]

I'm loving these, keep em coming if you've got anymore

[ArguZ]

Very nice, thanks

[fastwin]

Awesome pictures!! Reminds me of the one and only trip I have ever made to Europe. Back in 1989 my first wife and I did one of the AlpenTour rides. It went out of business a couple of years later when the owner absconded with all of his customer's prepaid tour money!!! Bad ending to a great venture.

We flew to Switzerland, took a train to Horgen, picked up our rented Kawasaki Concours and had the time of our lives!! The trip went through the Alps of Switzerland, into France, hit Nice and Monte Carlo on the Med coast, then into northern Italy and ended the three week trip in Interlaken, then turned the bike back in at Horgen.

Stayed in small, usually family run hotels and never in the big cities. Always smaller towns. Had awesome home cooked meals at the hotels, the food was GREAT!! Rode 90% of the time on small, narrow twisty back roads. All you had to do was get from one hotel to the next hotel. No controlled "group" ride. We rode 75% of the time all by ourselves. Took whatever route you wanted to. Along the way we'd run into some of our group at a restaurant, coffee shop or bar. Sometimes we'd stop and the rest of the time we'd just honk and wave. Very low key. The tour even had a sag wagon truck that would haul all your luggage to the next hotel. You didn't have to haul it on the bike! Only had a tank bag for rain gear... that's it!

We'd have a group dinner at the hotel then kick back, have a few drinks and trade stories from that day's ride. Some really funny stories!! The owner of the tour would then talk to us about the next day's destination. Tell us of roads to avoid and which roads were the best. The best places to stop and eat lunch or have a local beer. Neat castles to tour along the way. Just all in all the coolest motorcycle riding experience in my entire life! I can't imagine ever topping it. All of your pictures of the twisty mountain passes brought it all back to me. That's exactly how I remember it. Thanks again for the pics, you've made my day!!

[stopintime]

Awesome pictures!! Reminds me of the one and only trip I have ever made to Europe.
.....................

 That's exactly how I remember it. Thanks again for the pics, you've made my day!!

Glad to bring back good memories

Next time I'll try something like that, because going that long without much planning wasn't ideal. I probably missed some nice restaurants and sights. I think I managed to cover many/most of the higher passes, but I really think the lower passes had the best roads - hairpins which usually brings you over the highest passes are boring.

Tell me when you go next time

[stopintime]

I'm loving these, keep em coming if you've got anymore

Thank you, but that's more or less it. Maybe next year  [moto]

Very nice, thanks

Different than Denmark   If you haven't already been there..... do it

[fastwin]

Glad to bring back good memories

Next time I'll try something like that, because going that long without much planning wasn't ideal. I probably missed some nice restaurants and sights. I think I managed to cover many/most of the higher passes, but I really think the lower passes had the best roads - hairpins which usually brings you over the highest passes are boring.

Tell me when you go next time

Yeah, the owner of AlpenTour had already been doing these rides for 11 years when we did ours in 1989. He had some business in Hawaii, sold it and went to Europe to screw off for a few months on a bike. That's when the idea hit him to offer semi-organized tours of Europe to Americans. He spent the winter months in Denver, Colorado and six months in Horgen. He had two tours: East Alps (Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Liechtenstein) and the West Alps (Switzerland, France and Italy). He would rotate them on the schedule. One, then the other, then repeat again. Each tour was right at three weeks in length. All of that time riding these tours really gave him some great knowledge of the towns, restaurants, tourist sites, the roads and the mountain passes!

You are right about the tight hairpins on the mountain passes. Loaded down on that big ass Concours mile after mile of full lock first gear hairpins got really old and tiring. It's not nearly as much fun as you'd think. Beautiful scenery but I have to agree, the lower passes had better, more entertaining roads. You wanted to ride them fast (well, as fast as my wife on the back would let me go! ) but the countryside was so unbelievably gorgeous you didn't want to ride so fast that you would miss the scenery. I learned to slow down and enjoy both the roads and the view. Beats the hell out of North Texas roads!!!

[mstevens]

I finally figured out you didn't ride to Walt Disney World.

[geoffduc]

Who needs Disney anyway when you've got all those roads in europe a ducati motorcycle and the Party on the Red Planet at WDW as your final destination, so come on guys get saving its only three years before the next WDW and I guarantee you'll enjoy it, as I've said before just ask Grifo...

 

[mstevens]

I soon realized the photos looked like way too much fun to have been a ride to Walt Disney World from anywhere on the continent.

[MotoCreations]

Added to my "bucket list" -- riding this on one of my own motorcycles as well as bicycling it!

Swiss Furka pass seen from Grimsel pass


If you're in the area, you're supposed to go up to Stelvio pass. Countless hairpins and not really very interesting - just a mythical goal for many travellers. The real heroes of the Stelvio are the cyclists going up there

[IZ]

Added to my "bucket list" -- riding this on one of my own motorcycles as well as bicycling it!

I'd love to hear a bike with a boomtube system going up & down those switchbacks!

Let me know when you're going Mark!