TubeNet

Has anyone here ever backpacked through Europe? I'm starting to plan a trip to Europe, and I'm considering this route as an option. Please e-mail/PM me off list, I have some questions...

Thanks!

Three changes of clothes, one to wash, one to wear and one for a spare is all one really needs to travel light. My wife gifted me a Martin "Backpacker" guitar, 3 pounds, guitar and gig bag, the same kind the astronauts took into space. It has enough neck to play anything and is slim enough to stow easily. Great for remote campsites!

When hiking Germany, try out different regions. Each have their own charme.
Ruhrgebiet (Düsseldorf and northeast) is cool for its industrial heritage and features extensive hiking routes.
The Pfalz (more to the southwest, near Kaiserslautern) is great in its landscape (Hills, oak forests) and is among the main wine producing areas.
Heidelberg is close, and if you get there try out the "Schnookelloch" for a beer or the "Café Knösel" http://www.chocolaterie-heidelberg.de for a cup of coffee.
Both have been traditional meeting points of fencing fraternities for centuries.
Don´t mind all the tourists, though. Restaurants have menues written in Japanese as well as English, and for a good reason.

Franken is a great area to hike as well (That´s around Nuremberg).
In rural areas, trying out the local beer, bread and sausages is a MUST. Life is CHEAP there (the mentioned foods and beverages will be about 2/3 the price charged elsewhere in Germany).

Take the train up the Rhine valley to get south, and book a daytime ride at that. Beautiful sights. Castles every five minutes.
In case you can/want to keep a defined schedule, book trains well in advance.
The earlier you book, the more discount you get. Spontaneous train rides are expensive.

In case you meet strangely clothed guys like these http://www.rolandsbruderwk.de , hiking somewhere, contact them.
These are craftspeople who are on a three year journey after they finished their apprenticeship.
For that term, all they possess is what they carry with them. They travel to get experience in life and their profession as was done in the middle ages.
They can provide you with valuable information as to traveling techniques on a different path.

Of course, there´s a lot more to discover in Europe than just one country, but I can´t really comment on those.

the elephant wrote:Stay at Pensiones and avoid the youth hostels right now. There is a lot of anti-American stuff going on right now and the Pensiones will be calmer and probably less crowded.

This is probably true for the big cities with large immigrant populations (read:muslim 'ghettos'), but in the small towns (like Bruges) it won't be an issue.

Ride the trains. They are great. If you are biking, you can store your stuff (bike included) at the luggage counter at the train station while you wander around or look for lodging in big cities. Bikes are common on trains. There is a student discount for train fair in most places, and usually there is a group rate for five or more.

Taking your bike on the train accross Europe is unfortunately becoming a bigger and bigger problem the last few years. Be sure to do your homework when you want to take a bike with you since rules can be complicated.

Feel free to e-mail me or pm me and I'll be happy to answer any questions. To give a bit of background, I went 4 years ago and went on a circuit through western europe. It took about a month. If you still want my oppinion, I'll be happy to help.

Sou

the elephant wrote:Do not drink dark beer in Austria or you will get laughed at by the local girls. Dark beer is frequently consumed by breast-feeding mothers and not young men! (This might have been a wives' tale, but we heard it in four or five places.)

Thanks for the advice! I was in Austria last summer (Tyrol), which is part of the reason I want to go back again. Our tour guide never warned us about dark beer though! (Tubeast, any input here?)

We stayed in some small ski-towns in Austria, so I'm a little familiar with what to expect. I loved it, and honestly, I'd be fine with just going back there for a few weeks...(But there's so much more that I haven't seen yet!)

I'll already be going to eastern Austria and Hungary in 2007 (or 2008) with my band, so I may try to not go there quite yet. Maybe I'll check out more of Switzerland this time around?

Hey bort,

the deal with dark beer is this:
You can get "Malzbier" in German speaking countries. It´s really dark (sorta like Coca Cola), very sweet, VERY nutritious and alcohol free. (i.e. perfect for kids and pregnant women. Actually was used as part of an enriched diet to build up strength during reconvalescence).
It comes in the original brown beer bottles and can easily be mistaken for real beer by foreigners. The Elephant might have come across one of these.
In Austria, few truly dark beers are in the market.
In Germany, however, there are quite a few dark brands.
"Köstritzer" would be a well known sample. When you go to the Ruhrgebiet (Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, especially Düsseldorf which is an international airport, too) the beer world is seperated in two fractions: "Pils" and "Alt". The latter is dark brown.

BTW, drop me a line when you´ll be around. I live in western Austria, close to the Swiss border. We could discuss this further in person.

You don't say when you are over this way - if you are in the U.K. anytime between 14th July and 9th September and you need a fix of good music, don't forget the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London. There are some corking concerts on with some great Orchestra's, ranging from the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Ivan Fischer doing Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, to the London Sinfonietta and Oliver Knussen doing a late night concert of Hans Werner Henze.

For full details go to :- http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/

You can go in the standing area's for £5 - now that's a bargain



Andrew Murray

tubeast wrote:BTW, drop me a line when you´ll be around. I live in western Austria, close to the Swiss border. We could discuss this further in person.

How close are you to the town of Nauders? I spent a few days there last year, and it was my favorite part of the entire trip. We played a concert there too, and wow, what an amazing rehearsal facility! My college didn't have a facility that nice!

Nauders is about 100 km (some 65 miles) from where I live.
On a map you´ll find the S16 Autobahn North of Nauders, going from West to East. Go west on that one, pass the Arlberg tunnel and you´ll get to Bludenz. Bürs is right on the other side of the Ill river.

And yes, bands tend to have nice bandrooms around here.
They better, ´cause the firebrigades, tennis clubs and soccer teams all have their fine dens with built-in pubs, so the community better provided a good one for the band !!