Europe

We never did any RVing in the above places. However we did them all on bicycles and learned how to camp European style. These people know how to do it, believe me.

Do not look for electricity or picnic tables although you will find an occasional, very occasional swimming pool. You will instead find a cantina or beer garden which is the nerve center for the campground. Folks from many countries gather here evenings and share the moments of the waning day. Showers and restrooms are just there. You go take your shower. As you enter you might see a mother changing her baby's diaper, you might see a couple sitting and talking, there could be a lady waiting to use your shower as soon as you are finished. This is normal and privacy, regardless of the first impressions, is of the utmost importance.

The Europeans do not travel long distances in a day. At 7:30, everyone is gone. At 9:00 they start coming in. They travel an hour or so and set up in another campground. They are there at 9:00 and have the rest of the day to themselves. There are no sites per se. You find spot and get settled. Stay as long as you like.

Now then, we did RVing in the above places, and many more. It was most likely the best camping that we had ever experienced. Once we got used to the local ways of doing things it was a real joy to be able to have a beer or a bottle of wine in the evening at the cantina, exchanging conversation with folks from all over the world and the lack of stress of Interstates, city traffic and wondering if we would get a nice site that evening.

So far we have camped in France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. We did not use campgrounds every night, as many times they were filled or we had stopped at place and liked it so much that we just stayed there. I remember one afternoon that we had spent swimming in Lake Maggiore (sp.?) in Italy and we had found a shower and there was a small canteen on the side in the parking lot. We spent the evening with some local people, had wine and pizza and slept there. The next morning there were six more small campers around us. Another morning found us in an apple orchard; another one in front of a church after a wine festival in Alsace; still another high in the Austrian Alps on a lakeside, at Achensee, where the water was turquoise; and the time we spent in Lauterbrunen in Switzerland where the Alps rose to 11,000 feet on each side of us. The lift to Murren, alt. 6000', was full of people, some had skis, some had mountain bikes, some were hikers and we were ........tourists. Same thing for Wengen across the Lauterbrunen Valley.