Fergy's Rambles.

I really should have stayed longer.

10th June, Bergamo.

I know this will sound like yet another ludicrous exploit in what was becoming a somewhat absurd trip but, attractive as Bergamo was, I was heading to Rome and then a vague notion of Napoli and Sicilia which I have long wanted to visit. As always only a vague outline plan but it needed to be done as I had a hotel booked. I had already checked and the trains were regular with a slow train first to Milano and then one of those whiz-bang intercity type things that virtually flies to Rome. However, more of all that later. Continue reading “I really should have stayed longer.”

Moving again, albeit regretfully.

I quite liked Innsbruck and so I thought I would day another night and so I went to the reception to be told the price had gone up from €65 to €70 without any reason given. Sorry, I was not going to pay that kind of money for that kind of room. I can do better in London. Frankly, I can do better by getting myself slung in jail! Thankfully, I had arisen pretty early and so didn’t have to dash immediately so I took to the internet in search of options. Continue reading “Moving again, albeit regretfully.”

Who knows where the time goes?

7th June.

There is now a gap of about a week in this blog series as there really is nothing of interest to report. I went for daily rambles round Kempten, spent much more time in the hotel bar that I probably should have, made friends with the staff at the excellent Peterhof Hotel, relaxed, caught up on this blog a bit in it’s previous incarnation and generally got my travel head back on. I could have stayed there for a long time as it was still early June and Canada would not be “in season” for a while so all was good. Continue reading “Who knows where the time goes?”

Did I tell you about travel inertia before?

This is going to be another “multi-entry” as there is no point in having you skipping pages every minute, you’ll all get RSI!

The 28th of May came around with me in my fourth hotel in as many days and I needed a chill out which I apparently had as my images indicate that I didn’t do a whole lot despite the weather being very summery.

I awoke in my very pleasant hotel room, showered etc. and made my way downstairs for a smoke as it is a completely non-smoking establishment although that was no major hardship as the enclosed garden area to the rear was not only a proper suntrap but also extremely pretty and immaculately kept. The water feature is particularly worthy of note and I hope the image does it justice. Continue reading “Did I tell you about travel inertia before?”

The fun continues.

I have mentioned the “travel Gods” before on this blog which is unusual for an atheist like me and perhaps I am just lucky but I woke up on the morning of 27th March in what we call at home a “garret” room, the garret being basically the attic room where the serving girl lived. My first place away from home was a garret room with a great mate called Kevin (who incidentally taught me the rudiments of whatever culinary skill I may have, he having learnt it in the Merchant Navy) in a similar billet adjacent. I woke up this day with a slanted roof above my head, sunlight coming in the window and looked around to see a room that was certainly much better appointed than my 1979 version but I just got a feeling that the travel gods were on my side that day. Continue reading “The fun continues.”

A great day out.

I woke up in my rather lovely hotel on the morning of the 26th of May, hugely happy about the previous day’s events (if you do not know the full story I would urge you to have a quick wade through the very many previous entries in this journal if you think you can stand it) but to summarise briefly I was in Kempten im Allgau for what I though was to be the last of the Virtual Tourist meets, given birth to by the eponymous website. They were an annual and very well attended event and I was hoping they could continue with TravBuddy friends joining in and that is a theme I shall return to later. TravBuddy was the site that many of us had jumped to when VT was shut down but it has sadly also closed now as well. Continue reading “A great day out.”

I got there at last.

If you have been following this blog from the outset then, firstly, I thank you (not to mention sympathise with you for my inane ramblings) and secondly I will give a very brief explanation for anyone who has stumbled upon this page in search of information about Memmingen or Kempten. I had started off in very early April on what was meant to be a four day trip to visit a friend in the Netherlands and here I was nearly two months later in Bavaria and heading to meet a whole bunch of other dear friends. That is the potted version, the rest is fully explained in earlier blog entries here (and later ones hopefully) if you care to wade through sixty plus of them. Yes, it had gone on that long! Continue reading “I got there at last.”

I’m getting closer and find a little gem.

I finally alighted from the bus very early on the morning of the 24th and thankfully it left us in a fairly central location which is not always the case as their pick up and drop off points tend to be public carparks on the edge of town which I suppose saves time with traffic on day runs and no doubt keeps prices down by cutting costs for bays in “proper” bus stations. With my huge distrust of technology, which the reader is probably sick of hearing of by now but which fairly much defines my travelling and subsequent writing, I had taken the precaution of writing down directions to my hotel. I like old technology like a map or pen and paper and even have my own shorthand for directions. I’ll teach you it, if you like! Continue reading “I’m getting closer and find a little gem.”

A turning point.

22nd of May.

The 22nd of May was somewhat of a turning point in the trip and I do not have a single image to accompany this particular day but I hope it will serve to explain the (many) journal / blog entries that follow this. Continue reading “A turning point.”

I get a lovely gift.

The 20th May ran seamlessly into the 21st as days tend to do. Normally I consider a day to be over when I go to sleep and a new one begins when I am awake again but, given my ridiculous sleep patterns, that seems a touch redundant as one day can easily run into three. Yes, I sometimes do not sleep for three days which is ludicrous but that is just the way it is.

If the reader has read my previous journal / blog entry here they will know that the 20th had been an utterly fascinating day hanging round the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon where I was staying and celebrating Cameroon’s national day in a Cameroonian bar amongst other little adventures. Eventually I made my short way back to the hostel without even getting lost despite the rather copious quantities of beer that had been consumed. Continue reading “I get a lovely gift.”