My Europe Trip....

[Antarius]

Well, I'll make a very long and interesting story as short as possible:

My wife is from the other side of the planet so we go over there often. This time, she and the family were going to be in Southern France for about a month. I decided to fly out with a few friends and go on a nearly 2-week motorcycle ride through Italy and France, touching Switzerland a bit in the Alps.

We landed in Nice, rented three BMW's, and headed East towards San Marino (in Italy) to watch the MotoGP race. Then we headed north towards Interlakken for some Alps riding, west towards Glenoble and back south through France into Nice.

I'll post some pics as I download them, there weren't many because we clicked off a lot of miles and it rained about 80% of the time!, but it was an awesome time. Needless to say, I got pretty dang fast in the rain after 1000km's of it in the Alps.

Here was our route that we ended up running.... (not sure why it's posting so small).

 

[SergeantChuck]

Looking forward to the pictures. I lived in Italy for four years. At one point you were very near my old stomping grounds. I lived in Vicenza and it looks like you passed through Verona. Romeo and Juliet’s balcony is in that town. I hope you had some time for sight seeing.

Since you landed in Nice I'm wondering if you stopped in Monte Carlo? It looks like you rode right past there area.

I rode all over Europe when I lived there. It has been a long time but I still remember it well. Lots of hills and grape vineyards in the northern part of Italy. Not many straight roads either.

Glad you had a great time. Look forward to the photos.

 

[Old Can Ride]

I've been there, and will never forget the black beachsand in Nice and the topless beach! I still remember Marseille, where I talked a fisherman into letting me drive his Honda Silverwing. That was the first time I saw the Silverwing. We later got them in the USA. It is beautiful along the coast. Everyone needs to drive the French Riviera on a motorcycle at least once in their life. Be careful as like SergeatChuck said, you got a lot of twisty narrow roads where you are.

 

[Deleted member 1183]

I have ridden many of those roads over the years. Pity about the weather you encountered. Beautiful countryside though throughout the route you rode.

I remember one year I rode over the Furka pass in Switzerland. We got to the top, then over it, to be met with a wall of snow about ten feet high on the down side. It was early june and they had not finished digging out the road. It was a long way back to the next junction to circumvent, from there. I had not seen a small sign at the bottom of the pass. One of my mates had seen it, but for some unknown reason never said anything. I had to be restrained........

 

[drdubb]

yes, but wasn't it a great ride....

 

[Antarius]

I have ridden many of those roads over the years. Pity about the weather you encountered. Beautiful countryside though throughout the route you rode.

I remember one year I rode over the Furka pass in Switzerland. We got to the top, then over it, to be met with a wall of snow about ten feet high on the down side. It was early june and they had not finished digging out the road. It was a long way back to the next junction to circumvent, from there. I had not seen a small sign at the bottom of the pass. One of my mates had seen it, but for some unknown reason never said anything. I had to be restrained........

We did Furka pass at one point too. No snow, lots of rain throughout....

But yes, amazing trip.

I'll work on the pics later this week, Christmas stuff got me slammed.

 

[SergeantChuck]

I can't remember if I've ridden Furka Pass but I have been on Brenner Pass many times. I made several trips from Vicenza to Munich during my four years there. I don't know how it is now but when I lived there they just did not have highway traffic like we do in the US. Not the rush hour crap we have. The speed limits were 120KPM on the autostrada / autobahn if I remember right but nobody obeyed them. I rarely even looked at the speed limit signs. Just stayed with the flow of traffic.

I was headed north once probably doing about 80MPH and riding in the left lane. I had a car flash its lights at me and it was way back there. I remember thinking "WTH, your not even close to me" but I moved over anyway. About 5 seconds later a Lamborghini passed me and he was doing at least 120MPH.

I loved Europe.

 

[Antarius]

Yup. The autostrada has cameras now but we just "went with the flow." No problems. Probably did most of our highway riding at around 100mph. And we weren't the fastest vehicles out there by any means.

I love Europe too and we go at least 2-3x a year - but I still like California more .

 

[Antarius]

Okay, here's a few picture. I resized them a bit too small but you'll get the idea. If you want one in full size, or want to see more detail of one, let me know and I'll reupload.

Most of these are from the Northern Italian Alps, and Swiss Alps. The MotoGP race is in Misano, Italy.