Five Countries in Eight Hours
I drive through countries like Americans drive through states. On Tuesday I drove from Switzerland to Belgium (about 8 hours in the car), which for the geographically challenged enabled me to see three other countries (although the most direct route would have only put me in one more). After leaving Switzerland, I made my way into France but I soon realized I was heading for the motorway which would cost me an arm and a leg (in France you can figure the tolls will cost you about 10 Euro for every 100 km, or around $13 every 60 miles) since I would be in France for about 300 - 400 km so I quickly took to the country roads on the most direct route to the mothership...Germany. The best part about Germany is the Autobahns (which is really just a fancy German word for highway) which in most places aren't limited by speed. Although this guzzles the gas, it allows one to traverse large distances over short time periods (provided you aren't freaking out the whole time about getting run over by a supercharged German sports car).
Since our car is currently in winter mode (normal tires swapped with snow tires...not so good for traction at high speeds) I never went faster than 140 km/hr (more math fun... 1 km = 0.62 miles). Nevertheless, I made great time en route to Luxembourg, a parliamentary representative democracy with a constitutional monarch ruled by a Grand Duke. I have no idea what this form of government entails, but it kind of sounds like a fraternity of aristocratic country club types that vote for their favorite type of after dinner cognacs while debating the finer aspects of 1000 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets. Whatever it may be, it appears to be a nice little country (and by little I mean even Rhode Island makes fun of how small it is) although it was rainy when I made it so I didn't do much (I was probably in the country for less than one hour).
After leaving I toyed with the idea of trying for six countries by driving up to the southernmost part of the Netherlands, but I decided I wanted to get to my hotel before 6 pm so the Netherlands would have to wait until Friday. I spent the remainder of my drive in Belgium, which quickly transitioned from hills and valleys to flat plains and canals as I approached the coast. So I managed five countries in eight hours, that has to be some kind of a record...for me.Where's Mark this Week?
Starting Tuesday, I will be traveling in Belgium via Luxembourg (purely for bragging rights at cocktail parties...I've always wanted to go to one of the tiny European nations just so I could appear more attractive to members of the opposite sex. Alli will let you know if it works). I will be staying in Bruges (Brugge if you're Flemish) for three nights, and then driving to Frankfurt, Germany where I will spend one night (I will probably have to do a beer taste comparison here as well, um, for research purposes).
