With the words "Say, weren't you in Genoa last week?" I was approached by two boys at a highway rest stop in Seesen in the Harz. My answer was a satisfied "Yes!". I had three weeks vacation - my first long holiday since buying my Karmann-Ghia. And during this vacation I naturally wanted to get a good bit of driving in. It turned out to be a good few kilometers more than I had ever dreamed of: more than 10,000 in total. In the first week I wanted to travel to somewhere sunny in Germany and then, with my partner Andrea and Bernd Schneller and his Karmann-Ghia, on to Italy. At the end, we were planning to attend the Karmann-Ghia meeting in Karlsruhe-Knielingen. My Karmann-Ghia performed very well on the trip. In terms of gas mileage, it averaged about 12.5 km per liter (or 8 l. per 100 km, according to the German system of reckoning) and less than 1/2 l. oil per 1000 km. (All of the small images can be enlarged - just click on them with the mouse!) In the Gallery you can also find versions in large format (1280*1024).
	I left Berlin in nice weather, which continued on my route to the South. My first sightseeing stop was at Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It was nice, but not as impressive as Carcasonne in the south of France. From there I traveled along country roads to Ulm. After taking a little walk through the town, I moved on to Bad Waldsee for an ice cream. I also got a parking ticket there in half-empty parking lot because I didn't have a parking disk in the windshield. Grumble, grumble...
	I had the most beautiful summer weather at the Lake of Constance. In Hagnau, I even found a hotel room with a view of the lake. The next day began with a visit to the beach at Bodman. Ahh, the sun at last! Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the next day wasn't so rosy, so I decided to move on...
	My first visit to Freiburg - those gutters sure look funny! Somehow, I lost my way after Freiburg; I had wanted to go north and ended up in Lörrach. Oh my, oh my, my pathetic knowledge of geography...
	By evening, I had found my way north to Baden-Baden. The city center looks great but really expensive! A lot of the old apartment buildings in Berlin look similar, but few of them survived the Second War World in such perfect condition.
	I spent the following morning in the old city of Heidelberg - also a very lovely town. Around 11:00 the city began to fill up with tourists and cameras, so we decided to hit the road... Initially, I took some small country roads through the Odenwald, but drizzle forced me back onto the highway in search of some sunshine. At Koblenz, it drove me in the direction of the Nürnburg-Ring, but I didn't want to risk it among all those Ferraris.
	My search for the sun led me northwards. Having passed by Bonn. Cologne and Münster, I spent the night in Telgte. The next morning I moved on to Ibbenbühren, but unfortunately the antique car museum there has closed. After a shopping trip through Osnabrück, I found myself standing in front of the premises of the Karmann company. Unfortunately, tours of the factory are given only in the morning. So I traveled on towards the North Sea. In Norharlkingerseil I finally saw the sea, but unfortunately the weather wasn't good. So the next day I moved on to Hessen and my parents-in-law's in Bad Hersfeld.
	As we still had some time before we were supposed to meet up with Bernd Schneller, I was able to show Andrea around Baden-Baden once again and we drove along the Rhine to Strasbourg, where we went shopping. In Winnenden near Stuttgart, we met up with Bernd.
	The next day, our little group traveled in two Karmann-Ghias via Singen to Switzerland. The weather was so-so, but we decided against taking the easy route via tunnels but rather to brave the drive over the Alps.
	After an adventuresome trip up to the Grimmel Pass (2165 meters, 11% incline), we encountered some light hail. We warmed up and rested over a large cup of coffee, and then moved on to tackle the Simplon Pass (2005 meters, 9% incline) the same day. Thus far we hadn't had any problems - a beautiful and really impressive route. Of course, the driver should enjoy the drive and should not be too lazy to change gears every once in a while! The passenger should not be too afraid and should have sufficient trust in the driver when he sees a 500 meter drop next to him!
	It was really fun always being able to see a beautiful Karmann in front of me or in the rearview mirror while sitting in one myself. Lovely! Beyond the Alps, we were treated to more and more of the Mediterranean sun - we had finally escaped the lousy German weather!
	Naturally, we had to stop at the first palm tree we saw in Italy and preserve the moment on film. We were of course initially relieved to have gotten through this tricky part of the trip unscathed. Now we had to look for a hotel in which to spend our first night in Italy...
	While I was searching for an automated teller (Bancomat) in Verbania, I got a little scratch on the threshold - hardly noticeable, really, but I was angry just the same. Somehow while looking for hotels we kept on ending up driving into unmarked dead ends. Often it would start out looking like a main street and then get narrower and narrower until we finally found ourselves standing in front of a garden gate. This is something that, as a German driver accustomed to driving along well marked roads, takes some getting used to...
	But at last we found a hotel in Mergozzo. Space for our two "old timers" was graciously made in front of the hotel. And the view from the windows more than made up for the stresses of the day. While looking for a restaurant we discovered that many restaurant kitchens in Italy close by 11:00 p.m. In one, it was only still possible to order pizza. So the phrase of the day was "senza formaggio" - as I don't like cheese!
	In a stuttering mixture of Italian, English and German we managed to settle our hotel bill the next morning. In fabulous weather, we set off for Lago Maggiore, having changed into our summer clothes and with the top down. Our goal for the day was to get to Turin - but slowly and comfortably, along side roads.
	In Orta San Giuliu we discovered this lovely hotel - at first we had mistaken it for a palace or a church. Unfortunately, while backing up for a photo-op, Bernd got his first scratch of the vacation. He hadn't seen the fountain over the bulge of the canopy. A real drag...
	We drove on towards Turin via Borgomanero, Gattinara and Biella...
	I had been accustomed from southern France to there being cafés somewhere near the center of towns or on squares. This seems to be rather the exception in Italy. I had already driven several kilometers looking for a nice square with a café - most of them only had bars where it wasn't possible to sit outside. It was only after an hour of driving around that I finally found a nice sidewalk café.
	Just outside of Ivrea in Bollendo Bernd's engine stopped running smoothly. We stopped and he tried to adjust the distributor and the spark plugs, but that only made things worse. Bernd's Karmann managed to make it to the next garage, but once there the diagnosis was not encouraging: "Zero compressione" on one cylinder! Apparently the motor hadn't survived that trek through the Alps as unscathed as we had thought.
	After a day of waiting around in the not particularly interesting town of Ivrea and the final diagnosis, we moved on - this time in just one Karmann. Bernd wanted to follow in a rented car, as he had been told that the engine would be fixed in a week's time. Unfortunately for Bernd, this did not turn out to be the case: he had to make a return trip to Italy with a complete new engine in his baggage. We probable would have had better luck at a non VW garage.
	So my girlfriend and I traveled on alone via Alessandria towards Genoa. Outside of Genoa we unfortunately ended up in an enormous traffic jam in a highway tunnel - a truck had turned over it was perfect chaos. After a 3-hour wait in the tunnel and short ice cream break in the city, all we could think of was getting out of there. The next day we were able to bathe our feet in the sea, even if the weather wasn't so great.
	Outside of Levanto we had a fun time trying to negotiate our way down a narrow road along the coast with a series of unlit tunnels. We had agreed to meet up with Bernd in Levanto. After meeting up with him in his rented car, we followed small roads up and down the mountains along the coast.
	Over and over again we were treated to a breathtaking view of the seashore. We drove via La Spezia to Marina di Carrara, where we treated ourselves to one day of rest and relaxation on the beach. We were somewhat surprised by how the streets simply exploded with people after 8 P.M., as if all of Ialy were suddenly out and about.
	The plan for the next day to drive to Pisa. When I saw these lovely palm trees on the coast road, I couldn't resist stopping to take a picture. Who else in Germany has a photo of his Karmann-Ghia under palm trees?!
	One could see the dome and the Leaning Tower of Pisa from far off. The town was much smaller than I had imagined. But now I've seen it: I can go ahead and fall over...
	Let's see if I don't retouch this photo on some winter evening and get rid of those ugly other cars...
	Who says that the tower is crooked? It's everything else that is crooked - after all, everything's relative. Here we had no problem finding restaurants and cafés - the city center is perfectly set up for us wretched tourists. Of course, here as well one can buy "original" Rolex watches for 1000 lire.
	After Pisa, we headed towards the center of the country aiming for the Adriatic. Just before reaching Florence, we paused at the top of a hill in San Miniato. From there we had a wonderful view over the plains. The city itself had a lot of interesting old buildings.
	To get to the Adriatic, we had to take the Passo di Muraglione (1000 meters) across the mountain crest of the Alps of di San Bennedetto. Of course, compared to the Alps, it was practically a plain, but the road was nevertheless fun to drive on, a fact to which the many motorcycles traveling along the pass testified.
	By chance we ended up in Milano Maritima. There, to our astonishment, we straight away found a lovely hotel directly on the beach with rooms with a view of the sea. The weather was beautiful and we stayed on for a few days of rest and relaxation. I, with my white complexion and no sunscreen, instantly got a sunburn, but I didn't regret it.
	But the weather took a turn for the worse and time was getting short, so traveled by highway via Bologna and Modena towards Lago di Garda (Lake Garda). Having made it to Mantova in good time, we decided to take the comfortable route along smaller country roads.
	We stopped for a rest at Peschiera di Garda on the southern side of the lake. While picnicking on the shores of Lake Garga, we enjoyed a view of sailing schools, motor boats and fish. While there, we decided to drive around the lake.
	I would never have expected that it would take so long to circumnavigate it. One of the smaller towns on the northwest shore of Lake Garda is called Brenzone. We stopped there for coffee. Well rested, we drove towards the western shore of the lake through many, many tunnels.
	That evening, we found another nice hotel with a view of the sea on the Lago d'Iseo.
	This was our last night with Bernd in Italy, as he wanted to set off very early the next morning for Ivrea to pick up his Karmann-Ghia
	However, he had already been told by telephone that the car wasn't ready yet. We actually had some more time, but just to be safe I wanted to set off on our journey homewards (the misfortune with Bernd's car had also left its scars on me). This is the last of our photos of Italy from last summer. Unfortunately, beyond the Alps all that awaited us was more rain, so I drove straight through to Bad Hersfeld. Our only stop was at Rheinfall.
	After dropping my girlfriend off at her parents' house and resting for one more day, I hit the road again. To complete by trip, I had planned to attend the Karmann Ghia Classics meeting in Karlsruhe-Knielingen. Mine was one of 66 round type 14 Karmann Ghias and was parked approximately in the middle of the first row. Sadly, I didn't win the prize for the longest trip to the meeting, although I had driven almost 10,000 km since leaving home - all that I could claim credit for were the few kilometers from Berlin. The guy who did win had driven a paltry 1000 km - tisk, tisk.
	It was naturally nice to witness the breaking of the record for the largest number of type 34 Karmann Ghias gathered in one spot: 32 (including one prototype and two prototype convertibles). Congratulations! In others respects as well it was a successful meeting. Once again many thanks to the Karmann Ghia Club of Karlsruhe. For more information on this meeting, check my extra Website.
	Back in Hessen, we celebrated my girlfriend's mother's birthday. The trip back to Berlin via Hannover was, after this trip, a short pleasure trip. Until the next grand tour...