Travel day today after starting the day in Furth, up and got the car to the garage recommended by Sonja's father, Franz, for an oil / filter change and service. My appointment was for 9:00am, just after breakfast, and I got there a few minutes early. The car was on its way to the hoist at nine precisely, and I hiked the three blocks back to the hotel. At eleven, the pickup time, I was back and the car was ready, fully checked over and serviced, fresh oil and filter and a full tank.
Back to the hotel, loaded our bags, and on the road in strong and steady rain, to the Czech Republic about four kilometers up highway B20 that runs through Furth. Eventually, B20 joined up with the main motorway, and we rolled past Plzen (home of Skoda cars and Pilsner Beer) down toward Praha (Prague to us foreigners). Very light traffic, easy drive, Hal very much on his game today and getting us into the core of the city with ease. Light traffic in the city (that is, compared to other places we've been recently) and easy directions by Hal that led us to the hotel without incident. Under bright blue skies with hardly a cloud, the weather changing for the better as we approached the city limits. The weather gods like us again after a grumpy start to the day. Into the underground parking, Jan and I checked in and we were safe in Praha.
Called Mark, who had handed us the keys two months before in Calais, and made arrangements to bring the car to him in the city. After bantering about options that included the possibility that we might deliver the car to Nurnburg to an associate of his, we agreed to complete our arrangements tomorrow. Which was fine with us. Meanwhile, we were completely cleaned up as far as our belongings and the car, and the final disposition of things was all that was left for Mark to determine.
We were very low key after that, resting and relaxing, planning a tour of the city tomorrow. For now, R & R. The car was a wonderful idea, thanks again Jonathan, and it got us to places that we would not have been able to reach by train. The small villages, the out-of-the-way places, the whole Algarve coast of Portugal, and afforded us accomodation options that we wouldn't have had if we had been only looking around the train stations. And our schedule was our own, we could choose our times and travel distances based on how we felt on the road. Most of all, we carried very little into the hotels with us. All the heavy stuff was left in the car, we only took our computers and a change of clothes in with us. So overall, in spite of my tales of the race track of European highways (some of which was a bit exagerated for the fun of it), the road experience was excellent and the very best thing we could have done. With great good fortune, coupled with a lot of diligence on our part, the journey passed without a problem or incident involving the car. So, goodbye to the big green Mercedes today, it has been a blast.
