Thursday, May 4, 2023

May 4, 2023 - Neumarkt in der, Oberpfalz, Germany

 Sooz and I had a good flight on Singapore Airlines from NYC JFK airport to Frankfurt, no problems, turbulence or lost luggage, everything went well. We left NYC around 9 pm eastern, Tuesday, May 2 and arrived in Frankfurt, Germany around 11 am local the following morning - the flight was around 8 hours long with the 6-hour time change.

Chris Knopf is Stefan Knopf's son and they both work at Knopf Tours.  They handled shipping the bike and we also stayed there Wednesday night May 3. Of course the first thing I had to do was check on the bike and make sure it made it safe and sound, which it did.  I reinstalled the windshield, mirrors, side-cases and it started right up. It's really convenient and affordable to stay on-site at Stefan's which is also where the bike was delivered.

Today, May 4, 2023 we packed up and hit the road around 11 am riding around 150 miles today.  It was a good day with no issues.  Some of the road signs are different and take a little getting used to but we did good.  We started out on local roads and then hit the highway.  They fly on the highways in the left lane - of course, I had to try it; we were cruising at 105 mph until my passenger rightly suggested I slow down, which I did, to 80-85 mph.  It was fun.  Germans are excellent drivers, always following speed limits and slowing for construction zones - I'm serious, the drive very well, just fast.

It's 9 pm here and time to sign off.  Tomorrow we will see how we feel.  Our short-term destination in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina.  It is the nearest town outside of the Schengen area. We can only stay a total of 90 our of 180 days in the Schengen area so we are dividing our time up so we don't go over 90 days.  We heard a story today that a guy's wife could not re-enter Germany because she had spent 92 days in Schengen, so she had to stay outside the area for awhile before being able to enter.  We don't want that to happen to us.



The Schengen Area



Our 2018 BMW R1200GS Rallye at Stefan's and ready to go


Stefan Knopf wearing a Florida State University hoodie, I knew I liked that guy!



For lunch today we splurged and had a nice meal. This is my plate of salmon, fresh locally-grown asparagus, potatoes and hollandaise sauce. Susie had a mixed green salad.  Tonight for dinner we went to the local grocery store and picked up a few things.


An example of some of the German traffic signs



The little German town of Öhringen where we had lunch







4 comments:

  1. So excited to follow your travels! Den

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    1. Thanks Denny, it's nice to know you are enjoying it.

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  2. schön zu hören, dass Sie sicher angekommen sind. Gehen Sie einfach auf die Seitenkoffer zu füllen. Reifendruck täglich prüfen

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    1. I'm thinking this is from Chris or Stefan Knopf, but not certain. Regardless, thanks for the comments and good advice about not overfilling the side cases and always checking the tire pressure, we are trying to regularly do both.

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