Our Overseas Experience Pt 1 - Europe

Our Overseas Experience Pt 1 Europe - The Adventures of Two Wheelchair Travellers in Europe

Preparations

Our passports finally arrived from the French embassy in Wellington, a few hours before our flight out of Napier. The French attack on the Rainbow Warrier had taken place a few months earlier, and the French agents responsible were being held in a New Zealand prison, hence the hold up with our documents.

It all started with a dream of mine when at primary school in Invercargill. I had an inspiring teacher who awakened a desire to travel to Europe, and in particular to Greece to see the "birth of civilisation". This dream eventually came true when I was teaching in Hastings. My wife and I were both in wheelchairs and I had convinced her that we could cope overseas as long as we had accessible sleeping and toilet facilities at our beck and call, ie an accessible fitted out camper van.

After a search covering Europe and the UK, we finally found a van which with some small changes, could be made suitable. This van was owned by a firm based in Aberdeen. After some negotiations we finally secured use of the van for one year, 1987, during which we could travel throughout the UK and Europe, everywhere except Ireland.

We talked to some of our friends who had done "their OE" and read travel books, coming up with a rough plan of places we which to go. We now felt that we were prepared and ready to go.

The trip to Europe

We were a bit paranoic about losing our wheelchairs envisaging being stuck in borrowed chairs at some foreign airport  while the airline tried to track down where our own chairs had been sent to. So when we boarded our flight from Auckland to Fiji and Hawaii we argued that our chairs stay in the cabin with us. This was fine until we got to Honolu and changed planes now with Canadian Pacific. They flatly refused to entertain the idea, so we gave in and trusted our chairs to the airline company.

We stopped in Vacouver for two nights, and enjoyed wandering around this fair but cold city. It was a novelty to watch a film being shot and to ride on a driverless train. It was our first time to travel on this fully accessible means of transport and we made full use of our unlimited mileage ticket.

Our next stop was in Toronto where we had a short toilet stop. However the planes was held from departing leading to a an extra hour added to this longest leg of our journey. This delay caused an uncomfortable period for Yvonne.

Our landing in Amsterdam intrigued me when I realised that we were Landing over the motorway. The usual problem of finding our chairs occurred, with the airport staff blaming Toronto, a excuse we were getting used to. We spent two hours wandering round this very large airport, and finally meeting up with two ground staff who had been assigned to us to make sure we got on the correct plane.

This started a hilarious chain of events. Because we were. Boarding a small plane we could not use the usual air bridge, so we were loaded into a truck which had a cabin on the back . This could be raised and lowered presumably for putting luggage etc into the plane, it contained no windows. We set off round the Tarmac, which involved several stops, but we were left in the dark. Finally one of our hostesses got out to see what was going on, only to return saying the driver could find out plane. This was a little disconcerting to two weary travellers, but the mystery was eventually solved when it was discovered that our original plane was out for servicing, and that another leased plane was being used which had the wrong name on it.

Our trip to Aberdeen was uneventful, with nice views of England as we were flying lower that the jets usually do. Our arrival in Scotland  showed that we were right to worry about our chairs, as though they arrived OK, half our luggage had disappeared. We were met by a friend, Pat, that we had met back in New Zealand, and Colin, the guy who was renting us the camper an. We were anxious as you can imagine, to see the van, so we arranged to meet Pat at our hotel for the night, while we travelled in the van with Colin.

The van had a wheelchair hoist at it rear, and Colin lowered it for Yvonne. But when he went to raise it it stopped halfway up. Colin managed to heave the lift up by hand, get Yvonne it, and close the door which held the lift in place. I got in the side door and we loaded my chair the same way. Then off to the base to get another battery, which Colin assured us was the problem. Colin now broke the news to us that the van we were getting was presently away having the hand controls fitted and it wouldn't be ready for some weeks.

Once at the base, Colin opened the back door, only yo have the lift leapt out, hitting him on the head and causing us some alarm. However he rose undamaged, and proceeded to swap the battery for a freshly charged, bigger battery. We then set off for our hotel, which was the Skian Dhu, where we were to meet Pat and. To sign in. Unfortunately, there were two Skian Dhu hotels, both near the airport (don't ask) and we went to the wrong one. By the time we got to the correct hotel, Pat was thinking of sending out a search party. Anyway we gave the van hoist a good workout.

Arrival in Scotland

We had a good night sleep albeit without all our luggage, and once waking the next day turned on the radio to hear the latest news. We were surprised to hear, after having been told that we would hear nothing from home for the next year, that the first news item was concerned an earthquake in the Bay of Plenty (where Yvonne's family live) and that there was loss of life. We lay in bed completely bewildered by the events over that few days, waiting on the next news bulletin. Howevever the BBC never mentioned the incident again.

The view from Colin's window where we saw our first Robin

We rang Coling who had offered to put us up until our van was ready, and arranged for him to pick us up. Our luggage had arrived at the airport, so we were off to Colin's place to meet the family. Once there we rang New Zealand to find that the earthquake had killed one person, unknown to us, and that there was no harm or damage to people we know and our belongings.

Our stay with Colin and his family was enjoyable and where we recuperated and prepared for the next part of our holiday.

Yvonne relaxing in the van with a cup of coffee

 Eventually our van arrived and I spent the next few days learning how to drive it round the back roads of Aberdeen. We set off in the cold, there was snow falling in England, to meet up with Roy Thomson, who lived in Reading. We had heard about Roy and his wife Heather through an organisation in New Zealand which supported a group of paraplegics who were rowing across prominent bodies of water around the world. One such crossing was the English channel, and Roy had been involved in the organisation of it.

We had a great reception from the Thomsons, who convinced us to say with them for a few days while we prepared for our crossing to Europe. They wined and dined us, and arranged for help from the Aa, of which Roy had been area manager of the Thames Valley. I had been having trouble with The clutch, and we found that the trouble was a sticking valve on the servo assisted controls. We had that fixed and driving using the manual controls became much easier.

During this time we heard that the ferry from Zeebrugger had overturned with considerable loss of life. We consoled ourselves that the ferris travelling over the next few weeks would be extra careful to make sure that the front doors would be securely closed before venturing out into the channel.

Setting off from the Thompson's place in Reading

The day arrived when we set off for Dover to catch our ferry. We stopped at a camping ground in this port city, to find that this was the off season and the ground was deserted. We stayed anyway and awoke the next morning to a storm where the winds were stronger than I had expected over here. The van was rocking, and when I tried to get out the side door, it blew in and got stuck. The camp manager came too the rescue, and we got off to the ferry terminal , where I expected the ferry to be cancelled, but no, it arrived after spending three hours trying to dock. I am not a good sailor, though Yvonne was looking forward to real sailing.

Arrival on the Continent

The trip to Calais was pretty rough for me, though Yvonne decided to eat a plate of chips in a lounge which quickly emptied it. We drove off the ferry past the customs who were looking at the number plates on the vehicles, and as our van was English we were not stopped. So we never got to use our French visa which had caused so much trouble. I found driving on the "wrong" side of the road not as difficult as I expected.

We were amazed at the rural countryside with its lack of stock and fences, so different from home. We made our way down to Paris, stopping for supplies and petrol. I found that the schoolboy French that I had learnt was of no use, and English with some sign language was the best method of communicating.

We arrived at The Louvre in the early morning, in order to get a park nearby, but unfortunately we chose the wrong building. However the Louvre was nearby. We set off, but it started to rain. Yvonne sheltered under an archway, beside a Scotsman who was playing the bagpipes. I arrived at the main door rather soaked. There were steps so I left the chair, crawled up the steps and to the reception, where I spent some time trying to explain that we were two people in chairs and that we needed help getting up the steps. She eventually rounded up six guys, far too many, while I returned to get Yvonne. Once at the entrance, two of the helpers lifted the footplates, two on the armrests and two on wheels. Well of course the wheels turned, the armrests detatched themselves and the footplates held, tipping the chair backwards and poor Yvonne ended up on the ground. This caused muched consternation among the helpers, a lot of talk of which I understood nothing, but finally they worked it out and off we went. By this time I was soaked, so I spent most of our time in the art gallery sitting over one of the heating vents drying out. We did see the Mona Lisa, albeit from afar and other famous paintings. I had a list of 100 art works which we should see, but I missed most of them.

After the Louvre we visited the Notre Dame, was suitably impressed with our first European cathedral, then we decided to take the van down the Champ Eleesey to see the Arc de Triumph and the Place de la Concorde. The traffice proved to be wilder than I expected, and as we travelled down this famous street, a gendarme was unsuccessfully trying to stop the traffice. Being a good law abiding person I slammed on the brakes, only to hear a bang from the back of the van. Our gendardarme walked back to us, shrugged his shoulders and waved us into a side street. On inspecting the damage I found very little, but the Mercedes was a different story. The driver was German knowing little English, and of course I knew no German. After inspecting each other insurance policies, we gave up and left him rather unhappy and continued othe rest of our journey round the Arc.

  After a night in a camping ground, which was so near the airport that we got little sleep we set off to see the Palace of Versailles. While here, we were in the Hall of Mirrors, along with what seemed like thousands of other, I was most surprised to hear someone call out "Mr Cox". It was one of my students from school, and so after the usual catchup, we treated them to wheatabix in our van, something they were sorely missing.

We then had a quick trip down the Loire valley, and on South to some warmer weather. On our way past Carcasonne, we struck some strong winds which blew out one of our side windows. Of course we stopped on the roadside while I set off back up the roads looking for our window. I finally found it, almost completely undamaged, it was made of plastic, and after a bit of taping we managed to get it back in place.

Spain

The weather now got a lot warmer which helped our sprits a bit, a we reached the Mediterranean, our first sight of this famous sea. Then over the Pyrennes and on to Barcelona, where we found a camping ground. While manoeuvring the van into the site, I hist an overhead light. This understandably upset the manager, but a fellow Swedish traveller calmed things down and helped get the van safely onto our site. We really enjoyed our time in Barcelona, and decided that Spain was our favourite country, a view which never changed. Our Swedish friend lent us a map of the city and at night regaled us with his adventures he had while travelling around Europe. He convinced us that we must see the art gallery, the Prado, in Madrid.

A view of the old town of Peniscola

After leaving Barcelona we travelled down the coast eventually ending up at a charming place called Peniscola. Here we saw a number of camper vans lined up near the port, so we joined them. They were all lovely people and looked after us while we spent several days here. One English couple in particular became friends of ours for many years after. We were intending to travel on to Gibraltar, and we're urged to ignore the police when they said that there was to be no overnight camping in our van.

Our free camping spot in Peniscola

On our last day here, the police arrived and said we had to move on. Our friends convinced the police that we should spend one more night here so we could get an early start the next day. The other campervans all left. We then continued our way down past other famous cities such as Valencia where I had some of the nicest oranges I have ever tasted. We arrived at Altea, famous for its pure water, of which we had trouble finding, we parked near a group of several German campervans. They spoke English and so we spent some time with them. When they heard that we were proposing to free camp that night, they insisted that they should all camp together so they could protect us. So come the evening we all set off for a maintenance area on the local motorway above Bennidorm. Here they arranged their vans in a circle round us, much like a Western corral and next morning they had all disappeared, we are late risers, but were thankful for their concern.

We travelled on stopping at places along the way, and a few days later ended up at Granada on Palm Sunday. We found a big procession underway which we watched, then instead of waiting on the traffic to cleat, set off to find a place to stop the night. Next thing we know we are caught up in traffic and heading for ever decreasing street widths. Finally we got to a street which the van would not fit through, and no way to turn around. By now traffic was backed up behind us all tooting. We sat there not knowing what to do, when some guy turned up to see if he could help. After a while we eventually convinced him that we could leave the van and needed to be able to back up. He then convinced all the cars behind to back up to the last intersection, so enabling us to escape. We found our way out of town, parked on the roadside and turned in.

The next day we set off to find the Alhambra, being very careful to avoid any narrow streets. Once there we went exploring, and really enjoyed looking around this famous building and grounds, about which I had read so much. However after a bit, my wheelchair got a puncture. Not wanting to ruin the tyre, I swapped chairs with Yvonne, leaving her to sit in the one place, I set off back to the van and got a pump. Back to Yvonne, swap chairs again, pump up the tyre and continued our visit. I soon got sick of pumping up the tyre, so went back to the van and mended the puncture.  I had trouble getting back in to the castle, as they wanted to charge me again. Of course I wouldn't do that, so got a guard to get Yvonne  to come out, and we left.

Our table in the van with washing drying on the right.

Next day I visited the Royal Chapel. As it was up steps I had to vacate the chair and pull it up behind me. Needless to say, Yvonne never followed me. I saw the memorials to Ferdinand and Isabella, about which I had done a lot of reading. we left Granada, on the wrong road, but found our way, then down a steep road off the Sierras and back to the blue Mediterranean. We spent the next few days driving to Gibraltar. Along the way I found that going into a flash hotel and asking to use the toilet was a good way of doing things. About this time we also discovered a way of washing our clothes, we would put them in a bucket with soap powder, stand the bucket in the shower in the van, drive for a few hours, rinse, repeat, and hang then to dry on a line strung across the van. The driving provided the agitation and the drying breeze. 

Arriving in Gibraltar  we were met by a very English looking policeman, who reminded us that we were to leave before nightfall. We had been told to expect this warning and to take no notice of it. Our first stop was to empty our chemical toilet, always a chore. We found some public loos, but unfortunately there was no park outside them, we ended up parking opposite and up a fairly steep hill from them. I very carefully got the wheelchair out, but while getting the toilet, the wheelchair took off down the steep road, through all the traffic,  miraculously missing all vehicles, finally coming to a stop on a busy corner. All the traffic seemed to come to a halt as I was calling out to all in sundry, and some king passer-by rescued the chair, bringing it back to the van. I now used our clothesline to secure the chair to the van before getting into it and balancing the rather full toilet on my knees, setting off down the sloping road. All went well and we set off down to the wharf for a look around.

That evening after a feed of fish & chips, a real treat on our limited budget, we watched a procession of stations of crosses. It all looked very English, and quite out of character to what we had been used to in Spain. That night our van was surrounded by other free campers which annoyed us as we thought there was more chance of us being moved on, however we had no trouble. The next day we had a trip by taxi round the peninsular, looking at all the touristy things like the apes, and the rainwater catchments. After filling up with petrol we set off back into Spain after crossing the airport runway, a novel experience with its railway type lights and gates.

After by-passing Cadiz, just another big city we thought, we travelled to Seville. In the city centre, we found a lot of camper vans parked by the gardens. It all looked very attractive, but on entering the park a very officious parking attendant wanted payment for the privilege  We relented, paid our money, but he ended up putting us in a park where we couldn't get the lift down, which meant Yvonne couldn't get out. Arguing with the Spanish attendant, in English proved to be fruitless so we accepted the situation and I set off to explore this magical city. Later I was able to reposition the van and went for an evening wander, but when I returned I was met by a very distressed Yvonne who had just witnessed a bag snatching right in front of her. We decided to spend the night here, but we used our trusty clothes line to tie the front doors together.


Next day we visited the cathedral, absolutely enormous, found that all the Flamingo dancing displays seemed to be down stairs, so decided to give that a miss. After getting lost once again, we finally made it to the Portuguese border, where we crossed the river on a ferry, actually had our passports stamped, and continued on to Faro. 

Portugal

At Faro we spent a pleasant evening listening and watching a parade across the water.

The following days saw us at Paraia, Lagos, Fortaleza, out to Cape Vincent (the South West corner of Europe) and Sargres. At Paraia de Luz when stayed at a camping ground that was meant to have facilities for disabled. However the building was not accessible and the paraplegic toilets were locked. We did manage to get some washing done, though there was no washing machines, just concrete tubs. However the clothes did look a bit cleaner than they had been so we thought we must have done some good.

Back in Lagos we decided to drive around the town, not a good idea. The roads got narrower and the balconies lower, till finally we were forced to turn around, after much advice from the locals, and made our way back to where we came from. We did though, get to wander round this small town before we set off for Lisbon. The road had deteriorated to such an extent that we couldn't travel over 30 mph, and even then could make ourselves heard over the noise. 

Once in Lisbon we promptly got lost, the camping ground that we stayed at was on the edge of our map, but found a young couple who offered to show us how to get to the town centre in return for a ride. Our friendly couple then wanted payment, c'est la vie. We spent a few days here seeing the sights and meeting up with friends we had made earlier in Spain. Finding parks near the museums and the shopping centres proved a problem and unlike Spain the police were not much help.

Next stop was Alcobaca where I had read about the famous monestary. On arrival we were confronted with a lot of steps up to the main door. I was able to slide up on my bottom dragging the chair behind me, and we convinced a fat middle aged policeman to pull Yvonne up in her chair. The policemen was the only person we could find. Halfway up he was puffing so much we thought he wasn't going to make it, however as there was no one else around and there was no place to rest the chair, he had to continue. I was having visions of a dead policeman and us in a Portuguese jail, Yvonne said nothing. Much to our relief he finally made it and we got to see this enormous building and the tombs of Ines and her husband whose gruesome story we had read about in the Michellin Guide. We were determined not to get the policeman to take Yvonne back down the steps, so waited inside till a friendly American arrived. We noted that our policeman had moved to a distant position, no doubt to avoid any more exertion in the hot Portuguese sun.

Our next stop was Batalha, the old capital, which was wheelchair friendly. We saw the sights, then on to Porto where we passed a pilgrimage on their way to Fatima. Then to Bianca and on to Valenco dos Minha on the Spanish border. Here we roamed around doing some shopping and having what we thought was a Portuguese meal. We had no idea what we ate, but it certainly wasn't what we thought we had ordered.

Spain

Back in Spain things seemed much more familiar, with better roads and signs we could follow. It seemed like home. We set off for Santiago de Compostella, through green pastures and forests, like farmland should look like. At Santiago I was looking forward to visiting the cathedral that I had read so much about. Yvonne had had enough of sights and decided to do some housekeeping. Out of the van while I was looking at all the steps up to the cathedral, a bookseller plying his trade nearby, offered to show me an entrance which was flat. All worked well until he wanted money, and then more money. I finally got rid of him and was able to get on with looking at the sights. I first went to the treasury and then the library admiring the many silver ornaments, tapestries, decorated ceilings and richly decorated books.

Then off to the nave which was set out in the normal manner of such buildings. Behind the alter there was a place up steps, where you could pay homage to St James, the object of the pilgrimage to this famous place. Of course I was anxious to see this, so I left my wheelchair at the bottom of the steps and crawled up them. Unfortunately, once up there a line of tourists arrived also wanting to visit. They would pass by going down steps on the other side. I of course had to go back the way I had come, to get back into my chair. I decided to get up onto the seat partly occupied by a fat Spaniard, whose it was to pass out little certificates to the tourists, who paid their money and kissed the back of the statue of St James. The old boy never looked or spoke to me. After sometime there was a break in the tourist line and I was able to crawl back down the "upstairs", much relieved to find my chair still where I had left it.

Next followed the service proper, during which six men brought out an enormous incense burner which the priest proceeded to fill. The container was hung on a rope from the rafters and was set swinging by the six men rhythmically pulling on the rope. It was swung across the transept, so high the the burner almost reached the roof, and was really travelling at speed at the bottom of the swing. The organ was playing and tourists were jumping into the path of the burner, taking photos and jumping out of the way as it came flying back again. All very spectacular, very touristy and quite dangerous it seemed. Of course I also wanted a photo but I got caught up in the rush of people which gave me a few scary moments.

After leaving Santiago, we travelled on to Lugo, then on towards Madrid, admiring the green countryside, the meseta, huge plains surrounded by mountains. It was very windy and we ended up having to tie the back door to stop it from flying open. Also crossing the Sierra Guadarrama, we had trouble with the vacuum assisted clutch which we put down to the low air pressure. We stopped at the El Escorial but I was a little disappointed here after having read so much about the building and the art works it contained. There was a very good painting exhibition on in the chapter house containing some El Grecos which we enjoyed.

We rose early, and after a quick look in Madrid, where there appeared to be no parks where we wanted to stop, we set off to Toledo. The city was too hilly for Yvonne so I set off to explore this famous place with its churches containing well known art works. I found myself stranded in a particularly steep street, but some young lads helped me back to our van.

We set off for Madrid at 1 AM, found a park outside the Prado, and went to bed. After a noisy night, we rose and found a public phone where we rang home. We had a pile of coins, but the phone was gobbling them up so fast, we couldn't keep up feeding them, so it was a brief phone call. Then off to the Prado where we were most impressed at the number of famous paintings there. In particular I was quite moved by Goya's Execution, which I found so powerful, I could only look at it for a short time, so much more impressive than looking at reproductions of it. We had a truly wonderful day here and could easily have spent days in this great gallery. However time was pressing, so off we went making our way through gorgeous scenery, towards Zaragosa, and then Taragona and to Barcelona, having completed our circuit of this wonderful country.

France

Once again our entry into France was disappointing as no one wanted to see our visas that we had spent so much effort getting. We travelled along the coast towards Italy, stopping at various places along the way. I enjoyed seeing the bridge at Avignon. Entering the picturesque Provence, it really was, we spent a night near St Tropez. Its all very touristy round here, and the traffic was particularly bad at Cannes and Nice, however the Mediterranean was very blue and we enjoyed the drive, albeit rather frustrating at times.

After Eze we set off for Monaco, but the closer we got, the more signs we saw saying no camping. We got the impression that campervans were not welcome, so we decided to backtrack a bit, and spend the night on a bus stop just outside Eze.

Monaco

In the morning we drove back to Monte Carlo and tried to get in to see tyhe palace. from a hill we could see the palace and a paraplegic car park. However it was in an area designed for cars and the roof was too low for our van. Next to it was a bus park with a much higher roof, but after a long argument with the parking guy (he started shaking his fist at us when we were just pulling in the entrance) in his restricted English and my almost non existent French, he refused to let us park. We were a bit upset over this, so ended up driving round the racing car circuit and looking at the Casino and waterfront, then off to Italy.

Italy

We drove down the West Coast of Italy, through Genoa, travelling mainly on small roads but occasionally getting on the motorways. We had coupons to pay for the tolls on these amazing roads, which seemed to be all bridges and tunnels, resulting in straight flat highways. We stopped at Pisa and did the touristy things here, in particular making sure I saw Galileo's pendulum in the cathedral.

Next day we were off to Florence, where we could not find a suitable park, so made do with driving round looking at these familiar sights. We then set off to Sienna, which we could not drive into, so Yvonne guarded the van while I pushed into this largely inaccessible city (for wheelchairs anyway) over their cobblestone roads and over their many hills. I made it to the picturesque centre, the famous Plz del Campo and wandered round the cafes and fountain. Returning, the hills got too steep, but luckily three youngsters helped me, and back at the van we looked for a car park and went to bed.

Next stop was Cititavecchia, the port of Rome, where we spent the night. Two days later we arrived in Rome at 5:30 AM, and found a park near a corner (so the back door wouldn't get blocked) on the road leading up to St Peter's Square. Later I set off for a wander and on returning found that someone had squeezed their car in behind our van, and someone else had double parked by our side door effectively cutting off all access. We thought we were stuck for the day, but later the car behind moved and we were able to back the van closer to the corner and all was well.

The steps up to St Peter's had been cemented over in an attempt to make a ramp, but of course it was too steep for us. However some kind tourists pushed us up. The interior was all I expected, especially Michael Angelo's Pietre. When we arrived there was a service for disabled in progress, and afterwards they all queued up near the front of the basilica and I thought they were going somewhere special, like seeing the Pope. So of course I joined the queue,only to find it led to a ramped entrance, at least we now knew how to get out.

After going on a wander round the old centre of Rome, looking at the sights as you do, we returned to the van for a meal. There seemed to be too much noise here for a good nights sleep so we drove the van up the side of the square, coming across a truck park with some camper vans in it. This seemed too good to be true, we promptly found ourselves a park and closed down for the night.

That night just as I was getting into bed, we heard a bus backing up towards us. It got so far, then stopped, went forward and tried again. This time there was an almighty crash, and the bus took off. I went outside to have a look around, but there seemed to be no damage to us, just glass all over the ground, which looked like the remains of the bus back window. The next morning, we awoke to the sound of someone outside sweeping up the glass. We stayed in bed until the sweeping stopped, then got up and looking outside, found that all the glass had been swept under our van. Fearing a puncture when we next moved the van, I made two tracks through the glass for out wheels. Our tyres survived after we moved.

We spent the next few days here, going on short trips around the Vatican and into the city. On one of our wanderings, I got a puncture. Yvonne waited for me under some trees by the Tiber while I pushed back to our van, mended the tube, but by the time I returned to Yvonne, it was flat again, and Yvonne had been caught in a heavy shower. We decided that we were not meant to see the Trevi Fountain that day, so retreated back "home".

We wanted to see the Vatican museum, especially the painting of the School of Athen, and the Sistene Chapel, that I had read so much about. After waiting in the queue, we found steps into the building, however there were plenty of people around to help. Once inside we took the lift up to the next floor, then more steps. I was getting concerned at this stage wondering how we were going to get down. Later, many paintings and statues later, we arrived at a steep stairway down to the famous chapel, where we were told we would have to go all the way back, and approach the Sistene from the outside. Luckily we were rescued by the party of American and Italian priests who were able to carry us and our chairs down the very awkward stairs, and we admired the famous wall and ceiling paintings by Michael Angelo. After mailing the postcards from the Vatican post office, we left Rome, stopping at a supermarket on the way out.

Arriving back at our van after shopping, we found that we had been broken into. They had levered open the side door, which wasn't very strong, but was even flimsier now. The thieves had gone through all our things, luckily all out money, passports etc were with us, but had taken our camera with 23 photos on it, covering most of Spain and Italy. Once we had got over the shock, I tried to find a police station so I could report the theft and get some documentation to claim the insurance. This proved much more difficult than I expected, but after asking lots of people, we finally found the Cabernize in an inaccessible  derelict looking house. I yelled until someone heard me, and after much discussion, they couldn't find the appropriate form and that I should report it to the "other" police if I wanted to. I didn't want to so we set off for Assisi.

We enjoyed looking around this town, doing the tourist things, in spite of the hilly terrain. I enjoyed the frescoes by Giotto, which were later destroyed in an earthquake. Next stop was Venice, where we were surprised to find a disabled car park in the Pl Roma, and a ferry which catered for wheelchairs. We travelled down the Grand Canal to St Marks Square where I got hay fever and sinus, so I spent the day sitting in the Square feeling sorry for myself. Yvonne explored the parts of Venice she could see without having to cross a bridge with steps. Everything looked so familiar, it was like we had been there before.

We travelled through Padova, then to Verona where we visited the touristy places, the Roman Forum and Juliet's Balcony among them. Heading North, we travelled up the West side of Lake Garda (many tunnels, some which didn't leave much headroom for the van, and bridges) and through the Alps. Then to Moderno and Bolzano and over the Brenner Pass. Our poor under powered van struggled along in second gear as we passed the Dolomites.

Austria

Bryan relaxing in the van

We enjoyed the nice views as we made our way down to Innsbruck and lo & behold we found a paraplegic carpark. Here we went shopping and among other things bought a camera, which we immediately used taking photos of the inside of our van. The people here were very friendly, always wanting to help us. I have to keep telling people that I can manage on my own which was a pleasant change from what I was used to. The tyres on my wheelchair have worn through, and I ended up buying white walled ones.

Yvonne having a coffee, a common sight

Our next destination was Berchtesgaden, in Germany. Crossing the border was a non event. We drove around this nice, but very touristy, village, admiring the murals on the walls of the buildings and the statues. We found a car park where we spent the night. Then we were off to Salzburg, intending to return at a later time, with our friends from the UK.

We had arranged, while in the UK to entertain two friends in Austria, for a few days, Pat from Scotland, and Kit from England. We drove to the Salzburg airport to pick them up.

The square in Berchtesgaden

Our van at the car park in Berchtesgaden where we spent the night

Collecting water from a fountain in a
village outside Salzburg

Kit & Pat helping fill up the water tank

The blue/muddy brown Danube

Next day saw us on the road East through Austria. We stopped in a small village to fill up our water tank from a fountain in the square. After passing through Leime, I got my first glimpse of the Danube which much to my surprise actually looked blue, though later as we got closer, it turned to a muddy brown. We followed the river, spending a night beside it at St Nikola. We stopped at Krems, where we wandered around looking at the murals on the buildings.

Yvonne outside the closed
equestrian centre in Vienna

In front of a theatre in Vienna

 Arriving in Vienna, we found the centre without getting lost, a surprise, where we stopped to do some sightseeing. Yvonne had wanted to see the famous horses, but unfortunately they were not practising till another three days, too long. We wanted to see the famous buildings in the city centre, but after driving around, we could find no parks. Finally we stopped a policeman who said all the paraplegic parks were inside the ring road, but campervans were not allowed to park there. Finally we found a park outside the ring road but opposite the opera house. Then I had trouble getting back inside the ring road as all the pedestrian ways across the road were under passes with steps. I ended up crossing at the lights, dodging the traffic, a desperation measure I would not recommend. I enjoyed St Stephens cathedral, but gave the catacombs a miss as there were too many stairs. Vienna is not a good place for wheelchairs.

In front of the Palace in Vienna

We travelled out to the Schonbrunn, a large palace, where I enjoyed hearing a youth orchestra from Sweden playing in front of the main building. The palace looked inaccessible so we roamed round the gardens, the zoo and the large fountain.

The Gloria at Schonbrunn

Kit in front of the Museum of Fine Arts

The girls at the carpark

Our next stop was Gmunden on the shores of lake Trausee, then on to St Wolfgang, through Salzburg and then Berchestgarden where we spent the night. Next day saw a trip up to Kehlstein House, Hitlers Eagles Nest. The slope was 24% which I knew would be a problem for our under powered van, so we set off in first gear. The queue of vehicles behind us got longer as our revs got lower, and I was expecting it to stall at any moment. Luckily we came upon a parking area where we could stop to let the engine cool. The girls got out and checked the remaining part of the road to the top, which luckily wasn't too far, but was steep. I revved up the motor and once there was no traffic, set off as fast as I could, getting to the car park without further problems. Once there we transferred to a bus for an even steeper section, then into a lift which took us to the Nest.

Me at Kehlstein House

The view of Berchestgarden
 from Hitler's Nest

However the my excitement at visiting the den of inequity was lessened when I found that the original building had been destroyed by the Allies, and this was a reconstruction.

Me in front of the marble fireplace
 given to Hitler by Mussolini, the only
original part of Kehlstein left

Returning turned out to be a series of queues, first at the lift, then the bus, and followed by a long grind down the hill in first gear.

We set off back to Salzburg stopping by the salt caves. These proved to be inaccessible so we continued on to the Unterburg cable car. Entry was up a flight of steps which were carried up, not something we would normally allow. At the top we enjoyed the spectacular views of the snow capped mountains and Salzburg spread out below, on a warm clear day.

The girls and me at Untersberg

The cable car up Untersberg

We spent that night in a camping ground where I met a New Zealander from Tauranga . He and his wife were travelling around in an older camper van which had broken down and repairs were going to be expensive. They had little extra money and he was quite dispirited saying the whole trip had turned into a disaster. A salutary lesson.

Yvonne in the Abbey Church of St Peter

Next day we decided to see the sights of Salzberg. Arriving in our van at the city centre where the disabled car parks were, I had an argument with the policeman who said that I was fit enough to push myself around. I found it difficult to convince him that Yvonne was also in a chair and was not as fit as me. Finally I got him to look inside the van to see the other wheelchair, and then he let us into the centre.

Yvonne in the Abbey
Church of St Peter

We spent a very pleasant day wandering around the city, finally ending up at the famous graveyard where they filmed part of "The Sound of Music".

Yvonne at Horse-pond Sigmundsplatz 

Pat Kit in our van before they left for home

That evening we dropped the girls off at the airport, and drove into Germany

Germany

Bryan in one of the "shower"
 rooms at Dachau

We now entered Germany proper, heading for Munich, to see Yvonne's cousin. We had to phone her, so it seemed a good way of doing that was to go to the airport, where the route was well sign posted. On arriving there we looked for a disabled car park  as you do, but once parked we were approached by a burly German who ordered us to move on. After some arguing, I got him to look in the back of the van, to see the two wheelchairs. He then let us stay. After contacting Margaret, the cousin, we arrived at her place where Yvonne had her first bath for some months.

The ovens at Dachau

The statue erected by the Jews

Next day we set off for Dachau. I went in, Yvonne didn't want to, and visited the museum, the hut foundations, and the crematorium.It all seemed vaguely familiar, very spooky and most sad. By the time I left I was in a very sombre mood, especially after passing the statue, erected in memorial of the Jews were were killed here.

Bryan on the set of Das Bute

In the afternoon we visited the Bavarian studios where we saw exhibits of past films made here. In particular I enjoyed seeing the set for Das Bute, where I managed to get inside the sub, getting very muddy in the process. We were treated like royalty, and had our own escort, Kathryn, who we kept in touch with after our return to NZ. The staff gave us coffee and then we were on our way back to Margaret's  for clean clothes and to see Dallus in German, on TV.

At the Bavarian Studios

Next day we drove around Munich, the Mittlere ring road, in the rain, were impressed by the outside of the Olympic Stadium, then decided to leave this city, and set off towards Garmisch. At Oberau, we turned towards Oberammergal where we stopped to admire this attractive, though very touristy village with its building walls covered in paintings. We saw where the passion play is held and were amazed at the amount of wood carving around.

Bryan  at Linderholf

We then set off for Linderholf to see the palace. It was quite small but the most impressive part was a gildered statue in a pond in the palace grounds. Apparently it was all one of mad king Ludvig's follys.

The church at Weis

The entrance to Nordlingen

Then on to Fussen to see the famous two castles, Schloss Neuschwanstein and . We just looked at them from the van as they looked completely inaccessible to us, however we achieved our objective which was to see them. Next stop was the famous church at Weis which I had read about. Unfortunately the interior was being renovated and it was all covered in scaffolding, however it was still quite spectacular. The road north from here was called the Romantic Strauss and we had read much about the villages along the way. We stopped at a spot over looking Donauworth, a small attractive place on the Danube. Leaving here we were diverted from the main road by roadworks, and ended up driving through small villages where some streets were too narrow for our van, but eventually we made it back on to the S25. We stopped at Nordlingen and admired the huge meteor crater in which this place is situated. These villages were all very attractive and still preserved their medieval past, obviously making most of their income from tourism.

Dinkelsbuhl

Bryan at the statue
of the children appealing
to the Swedish king to
save their town

Then on to Dinkelsbuhl, another quaint village surrounded by a wall and moat. The houses were all set at angles to one another, apparently in order to scare away the spirits. Our next stop was Rothenburg ob der Tauber where we spent sometime in the village centre. When we arrived there was a group of tourists all looking at the town clock, so of course we did too. On the hour a pantomine played out showing the mayor drinking a large amount of beer, a feat he had to perform in order to stop the town being devastated in one of the many wars which occurred in this area over the years. Here we tried to make a collect telephone in a local hotel, call back home to Yvonne's mother, only to find this was not allowed. We rang then asked them to ring back, which worked OK. We then looked at the sights, a Christmas shop ( a real tourist trap with a leaning towards teddy bears and cuckoo clocks) and the historical vaults. The pamplets were more interesting than the displays. We enjoyed ourselves here, which may have been more to do with the improvement in the weather than anything else.

Rothenburg, the town hall where the pantomime played.

Yvonne at the Christmas shop

Heidleburg

Yvonne in the main street of Heidleburg

We now left the Romantic Strauss and set off for Heidleburg. Once there we found a disabled car park near the town centre and roamed around this attractive town.In particular we enjoyed looking around the old bridges and reading the history of them. While sheltering from the rain, we bought gyros (spiced pork roasted and placed in a bun), but the spice taste was so strong I couldn't taste the pork, which was a pity as meat was a rare treat for us. We were also attracted by the red colouring of the buildings which stood out in the watery sunlight. On returning to the van we found we had a parking ticket. I guess no-one believes that wheelchairs and camper vans go together. We found some policemen who said they would fix it up.

Yvonne with the mice by bridge gate in
Heidleburg

The artistic castle now in ruins

We then set off up the hill to visit the castle, parked in a disabled park, and I set off for a wander. There was a great view over the city, but the castle was in ruins. We heard a story that some prince had torn down the fortifications and replaced them with a more artistic building in order to impress his future wife. Unfortunately the castle was the attacked and all was lost.

After Heidleburg we set off to see the Rhine at Mainz. At an info centre we discussed taking a trip down the river and a train ride back. However this proved unrealistic, so we decided to take a short cruise from Rudesheim, but before setting off we decided to visit the Guttenburg Museum, as I had always wanted to see the original printed version of the Bible. We got to see one of the originals which had to be retrieved from a safe, it had been bought back from the Americans for some large some, which was quite a thrill for me. The rest of the museum was on the history of paper making and printing, all of which I found very interesting.

Yvonne looking at our ferry
for our Rhine trip

Once we arrived at Rudesheim we found a para park in a big bus park near the centre of town which suited us fine. We enjoyed roaming around this small town in our chairs over the couple of days we spent here. Our trip on the Rhine, called a rundwharten, (a round trip) much to our amusement, started at 3:15. There were steps into the ferry so we had to be carried up the gangway. We had an enjoyable trip with the peace and quiet of drifting past castles, vineyards and towns with unpronounceable names. Back on land, we visited Drondgasse, a small lane with lots of restaurants.

On a chair lift above the Rhine

We decided that we wanted to see more of the Rhine, so we left Rudesheim and travelled down the Eastern side to Koblenze, across the river and back up the Western side. Along the way we stopped at a part of the river called horseshoe, where there was a chairlift up a hill. I took a ride up, and admired the view of the Rhine. The trip was like sailing over trees and I really enjoyed the open-air feeling it gave me.

Horseshoe on the Rhine

We passed St Goar where the Lorely legend came from. At Bingen we turned off to travel up the Mosel Valley, and spent the night at Bernkastel-Kues. Next day we continued up the valley looking for a vintner we could visit, however they all seemed to be closed or inaccessible.

Leaving the valley, now in the rain, we continued on to Bonn, but didn't stop. We then passed Cologne, looking at the famous spires from afar and continued on to Holland.

Holland

We entered Holland near Arnhem, and spent the night near Ede. Next day we headed for Amsterdam via the National Park de Hoge Velune (travelling through a canopy of trees) and Apeldoorn.

Once in Amsterdam we found a park opposite the railway station, by a canal, which seemed central. I set off in my chair to explore, coming across the red light district which was in full swing in the afternoon, much to my surprise. I thought that I should see more of this as I had heard so much about it. I was amazed to see so many women in various states of undress sitting in windows, offering trade. So surprised was I that the chair veered over the curb, tipping me out. To my surprise and embarrassment, one of the prostitutes rushed out to help me. However I leapt into my chair faster than I would have thought possible, and took off down the street. I did notice though that she was more attractive than I would have expected. There were many windows unoccupied, so I resolved to return later.

In the evening I set off once again to the district, and now all the windows were full with less clothes on the women, but more make-up. It was interesting to see the number of taxis cruising slowly through the district, full of sightseers. The lights from the city reflecting in the canals made a magical sight.

Yvonne admiring the diamonds
 at Costers

Yvonne getting on our boat for
the canal tour

Sights on our canal tour

Next day we visited museums, and Costers diamond factory (we were carried up the steps here) and did the usual tourist things here. Then off to do some sightseeing on the canals. We found a boat which would take wheelchairs and set off on our tour. The one hour tour was fascinating as we drifted through the maze of canals, past old houses built right on the water's edge. Our guide pointed out buildings of historic interest, such as the narrowest house in Holland, and Captain Cooks house (which puzzled us as we didn't know he had lived here). We returned via the harbour, then off back to the van and drove out of this interesting city.

An iconic bridge over a canal

The Edam church with the
famous windows

Our next stop was Edam, which as far as we were concerned, was famous for cheese. We did as the brochures said and visited the church with the famous stained glass windows. I was not that impressed, after what we had seen in Southern Europe, but did enjoy the one of ships. I looked at buying cheese but it was too dear, cheaper elsewhere. We drove on towards Alkmaar, looking at all the windmills  but not finding any roads leading to them. The countryside was very lush with lots of cows in paddocks surrounded by ditches full of water.

Bryan in front of de Valk
now a museum

Yvonne by the Egyptian
temple in the Leiden

We then drove on to Leiden via Harlem, and stopped for a look at a real windmill, now a museum. Then off to see the cultural and history museum where we saw an Egyptian temple brought over from the Aswan dam area block by block and reassembled here. It turned out to be one of the best museums of ancient artefacts that we have seen. We had to leave at 5 pm having missed seeing one floor.

Yvonne in Leiden

We then drove on to Den Haag and visited Maduradan, parking in a loading zone right outside the gate. This model village was a bit disappointing at first covering less area than we expected, however as we roamed around it, we were more impressed. Some of the detail in the buildings was extraordinary. As we were there in the evening we were able to see the lights turn on in the buildings and heard the music coming from some of them.

We spent the night in a car park in Gouda where we woke to find that we were surrounded by cars, so we quickly left. We roamed around the centre of this attractive city admiring the square, church and other nice buildings.

Next stop was Rottendam and on to Europort where I was stunned at the number of oil refineries and chemical plants. After driving around here we set off to Goedereede then passing over the worlds biggest locks at Haringvlietdam. At Brouwersdam we drove along a large flood bank covered in tarseal. It was a little scary and we wern't sure whether we were meant to be upthere or not. Anyway we survived, then on to  Zierikzee and across a toll bridge 7 km long. The high winds and large trucks made for a scary crossing.

Bryan in the Notre Dame at Brugge
with the Michelangelo statue of the
Madonna

We continued on next day to Vlissingen where we boarded a ferry, much larger than I  expected, to Breskens and on to Brugge. Once there we roamed around the beautiful city centre admiring the facades on the buildings. Contiuing our search for Michaelangelo art pieces, we visited the Notre Dame to see their Madonna. Then on to the Groeningemuseum to see works of Flemish painters. We then drove around looking at the canals on the outskirts.

After Brugge we set off for Zeebrugge to catch the ferry to Dover, but it was full so continued on to Ostend where we did get on a ferry arriving in Dover in the early morning after a smooth crossing.


Part 2 of our OE, touring the UK can be found at this address