Before getting to Norway

The Willkommen Höft at the Schulauer Fährhaus where the big ships are welcomed into Hamburg Harbour by playing the national hymn of the country where they are registered

Trip up north from Loulé

Volker drove alone the 2462 km from Loulé to Nordheim in four and half days, starting on July 20, 2014.

1st stop on 20.07.2014: Cáceres

21.07.2014: San Sebastián

22.07.2014: Luant

23.07.2014: Nancy

24.07.2014: arrival in Nordheim at 13:00

Julia arrived on the 25th of July, 2014, by airplane in Frankfurt.

We celebrated Tante Kätchen’s 90th birthday at the Hotel Darmstaedter Hof in Lampertheim.

28.07.2014: We drove the camper to the Iveco garage in Mannheim and had it serviced with TÜV etc. We only got it back on Thursday July 31st!

In the meantime we made an excursion with Volker´s parents, hiked a stretch of the Neckar Steig in Hirschhorn, made some shopping at the great outdoor store “Engelhorn” in Mannheim etc.

Flight to Brussels on August 2nd to celebrate Gunter’s 88th birthday on August 5, 2014, at Restauration Nouvelle Etangs Mellaerts in Brussels.

Our van stayed at the Holiday Parking close to Airport Frankfurt (59€ for a week).

06.08.2014: Overnight stay at the RV site in Hannoversch Münden which is very close to the historical town. Dinner at the Rathaus Keller.

07.08.2014: Arrival in Norderstedt. Overnight stay at the Stadtpark Norderstedt (very loud with youngsters driving mad with their cars). We had dinner at the Pizzeria La Piazza next to the cinema on the Rathausallee in Norderstet.

08.08.2014: Our car was serviced at Lundbergh Wohnmobile where a co-worker of Julia, Hasan Behmer, took care of our camper. In the evening we met with our son Mario and had dinner at Naxos Greek restaurant (still the same owner and the same good food). Overnight stay at the Stadtpark Norderstedt, but next to the big parking lot on the gravel/earth parking area next to it (much better, very quiet).

09.09.2014: As we still had problems with the radiator we called the ADAC and we were lucky as we were able to get it fixed on a Saturday at the big Iveco garage in Hamburg Hammerbrook. After doing a huge grocery shopping at the LIDL next door, we drove to the RV site in Wedel which is located at the “Badewelt” (very nice, 6€ per night, well located and with bread service every morning). We made a short bicycle tour at the Schulauer Fährhaus where the ships are welcomed with their national hymn.

10.08.2014: We rode with our bicycles to the Carl-Zeiss Bird Station and then had a beer at the Theater Ship “Batavia” with Jazz Music.

In the afternoon we met with our son Mario, his girl-friend Maxi and our sweet grand-daughter Mara at the Schulauer Fährhaus.

11.08.2014: After having our gas tank installed we drove to Bad Oldesloe and then to Kiel where we settled at the RV site in Wik right next to the ship locks with great view (in the second line: 12€ per night). And we had a fabulous Fischbrötchen with hering and matjes at the local snack bar (and a good beer as well ;)

12.08.2014: The weather is really unstable with sunshine and then suddenly thunderstorms with heavy rain. Julia did the second big grocery shopping at Famila. Our camper is filled with cans and wine. I just can’t imagine how these submarines manage to have all the food for all the crew they have to feed while they are under water during several months! After using every corner in our camper to store all the stuff, we drove with our bicycles to the Kiellinie and had lunch at the Pannekamp Cafe. In the evening we enjoyed again the simple but good food from the snack. We changed place at the site to the first line at the Nordostsee Channel and have complete view over the ship lock with all the ships passing by (these sites are more expensive: 15€ per night).

Tomorrow at 14:00 we leave with the Color Line to Oslo! We are very excited!