Paris to Nth Cape, Norway & return, by hire car, May/Jun 2010						File=NthCape.htm
Introduction.		We had planned to do this trip
about Jun/Jul 2007 but had to cancel at the last minute
due to a medical emergency. Therefore, the planning for
this trip was already done. Also, I was familiar with this
area as I had done several similar trips on motorbikes,
15 & 20 years ago. We chose Paris, France as a start
point as they had very good deals for car "rental/lease."
We wanted to see Holland, Yollies birthplace etc., then
travel up the west coast of Norway to North Cape,
the most northerly point in Europe. Return via Finland,
Baltic States, Poland, Germany and France. Until just
recently, it was not allowed to drive rental cars through
Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. However, Global Cars,
which handle Renault, Peugeot and Citroen, now allow
"insured" access thru these countries.
We planned to be away for 7 weeks, which is our limit
for enjoying trips overseas, no-matter how good the trip
is. This included 6 weeks driving about 12,000 km., and
allowing 5 days at the end to explore Paris by foot/bus.
The VOLCANOES in Iceland caused cancellation
scares, even closing many airports in Europe, a week or so before departure. This cleared up, to be
followed by severe flooding in Eastern Europe, particularly Poland. Turned out all OK in the end !
Airlines	Singapore airlines allow you to do your own seat allocations online, at the time you book
your flights. Therefore, we book about 6 months ahead, to secure double seats beside the windows.
These are available where the plane narrows at the rear, or on the upper deck of the A380, where
there are 2 seats only (instead of 3). Also, the A380 which flys between Singapore and Paris, has
more space in the seats and plenty of room for carry on bags, coats etc. It is NOT worth while to go
for "cheap" flights or airlines, as any "unscheduled" changes could find you stuck with no new flights.
Car Rental/Lease		In France, it is possible to get a GREAT deal on brand new Renaults, Peugeots
and Citroens, for periods of more than 17 days. In effect you own the vehicle for the period of the
lease, and they buy it back at the end. Our lease costs were about $AUD 68/day, which included
24 hr. roadside assist and full accident/theft insurance, with zero excess !! Our car was a Clio 3,
with auto transmission, aircon., Sat. Nav., The car was superb, the size and space was more than
sufficient for 2 people, top speed was in excess of 190 kph and petrol consumption was between
12 to 15 km/lt. You appreciate the small external size in some of the narrow roads/lanes in Europe !
Also, paying by direct debit, we seemed to avoid any speed camera and toll-road fee evasion fines !!
We carried 10 lt., of spare fuel in the boot after nearly running out 1st weekend in France. This,
together with other goodies was appreciated by our Renault dealer on car return, as they did not
forward any toll evasion or speed camera fines. Some roads in Finland had speed cameras about
every 2-3 km ? I guess they are all trainee rally-car  drivers there ?
Renault Clio 3, superb car, fast, economical.					As good as a VW Golf, superbly engineered.
	Hotels, Motels, Accommod'n			The only accommodation we pre-booked was our hotel
in Paris for 5 nites towards the end, after we had returned the "hire car". As usual, it was far more
difficult to secure suitable accommodation while travelling in Europe, than in Australia or the USA.
Europe has NOT generally adopted the Motel concept, where you can get bed, food, booze and
secure parking. In the centre of many large towns, it was very difficult to find hotels with secure car
parking. They often wanted you to park in the open or street, some distance away !! ( too risky ! )
Therefore, we spent a lot of time looking for suitable hotels. Also, our Sat. Nav., with the hotel find
facility was about 5 years old, somewhat out of date ? What we found quite acceptable was the
CABINS available in Caravan Parks/Farm stays, in some countries. These were quite good, with TV,
bedding, cooking, secure parking and occasionally food. Booze was quite cheap in supermarkets so
we kept a good stock in our esky, for such occasions. Getting ice was often a problem, until we
discovered McDonalds or good hotels could supply sufficient for our needs. (servo's seldom had ice)
Hotel at Zandvoort, Holland.			Hotels in Norway, all expensive.			Farm stay cabins, excellent.
Great cabins, cooking, TV, no noise, also					Hotel Viru, Tallinn, best we had. Shopping
with secure parking. Motel quality inside.					arcade below, secure parking, close to all.
	Navigation, Maps, Sat Nav's, Tolls…hwy's, bridges, tunnels, ferries.
You need decent road maps for overall navigation and planning, and to enter destination town names
into your Sat. Nav. We used our trusty AA Big road atlas, Europe 1998. (getting old but still OK)
A good Sat. Nav., is almost mandatory nowadays, for overseas travel. The lease car was provided
with a built in Tom Tom, which only covered France. (cheapskates !!) Luckily, we took along our
trusty Garmin Nuvi-310 and Nuvi-255W as back-up. These were stuck onto the dash via a 10mm
plastic plate, using 4 blobs of blue tack. Our Europe "chip" was 5 years old, but still provided useful
guidance for routes, accommodation, petrol, attractions etc. The Sat. Nav proved its worth again and
again, especially when we got accidentally separated in Amsterdam. I fed in the last selection after
getting "forced" onto a freeway without Yollie, so found my way back to her, with some effort in a
strange/unfamiliar town. The big cities proved the biggest problems, especially for & after hotel stays.
It was an easy matter to Navigate your way out, by targeting your next destination into Sat. Nav.
Some of the TOLL procedures took some getting used to, particularly in France. In Norway, they
had an "auto toll" system, which uses a device in your car to register/deduct tolls, otherwise you
were photographed and fined. It seems they don't chase foreign tourists too hard, as we never heard
from them, either directly or via our car lease agents. Same applied to speed cameras, thank Christ.
Perhaps paying for our rental/lease car by direct debit helped here, or the fact that we gave the
Renault agent in Paris a hefty gift/bribe when returning the car, may have helped ? The numerous
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ferry crossing and tunnel tolls on the west coast of Norway were expensive, but well worth while.
The tunnel/bridge joining Denmark and Sweden and the Ferry between Finland and Estonia, were
particularly scenic and memorable. All the car ferries were very well organised.
	Currency, ATM's, Banking			There is NO way of avoiding ALL the hefty fees charged
overseas to obtain LOCAL currency. We found it best value  to withdraw the maximum amount of
cash allowable from ATM's located near Banks (not shops or Service stations) to keep fees down.
In hotels, we always used cash, which generally attracted a discount and avoided identity fraud.
We refused to use credit cards as far a possible, and never for minor amounts such as tolls etc.
Also, we carried around about EUR 1000 for emergency use, which proved worthwhile. We had
nearly run out of petrol in France, and the un-manned service station we found did not accept any of
our 4 Ozzie  credit cards. A friendly Frenchman accepted EUR 50 from us, and used his credit card
to get us emergency petrol !! (who says Frenchmen are hostile to English speakers ?)
TRIP REPORTS		Refer to the Map at the front of this report.
		Paris to Amsterdam		After landing at CDG airport, Paris, we headed straight
to the Renault car depot nearby. The car pickup was straight forward if un-helpful, as they were too
busy to give us a decent introduction to the car. This would not have been a problem if the users
guide had been in English. Took us several days to work out all the good features of this car, mostly
by trial and error or suck it and see ! As it turned out, the car proved excellent in all respects.
We headed south initially as Yollie wanted to see Chartres cathedral, then headed for Belgium, via
the old WW1 western front, where the cemeteries and war graves, near the Somme and Pozieres
were a sombre reminder of the stupidity of mankind. Made a short stopover in Ghent, a beautiful
town, then the Dutch Atlantic coast to Amsterdam, to visit Yollies birthplace and origins.
Chatres cathedral.			WW1 graves, near Somme.			Ghent, beautiful Belgium town.
Royal Delft porcelain factory.			Keukenhof tulip display. Great !			Near Schipol, Yollies birthplace.
Yollies birthplace, Amsterdam.			View of Amsterdam.			More Amsterdam. Lots of bikes.
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	Amsterdam to Copenhagen, DENMARK, then SWEDEN via new Bridge/tunnel
We headed for the Ferry at Putgarden, GERMANY to Rodbyhavn, DENMARK, instead of going up
the Danish Peninsula, via Flensburg and Odense. Yollie had earmarked quite a number of Viking
museums and sites in Denmark, as well as a tour of Copenhagen. We were keen to cross the new
Bridge/Tunnel/Causeway, joining Denmark to Sweden, recently completed and over 20km long.
Ferry, Germany to Denmark, about 1 hr 15 min.					The Mons cliffs, rare high area in Denmark.
Viking longboat, near Roskilde.					Viking longboat, in museum. It was huge !
Copenhagen, Yollie with statue			Another Viking Museum.			Bridge, joining Denmark with
of Hans Christian Anderson.			These boys got around a bit !			Sweden, approx. 20km. Long.
Another bridge view, somewhere			Old Viking hut, in museum.			Another Viking longboat, in Oslo
in Sweden, west coast.			somewhere in Sth Sweden.			museum. Bloody hooligans !
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	Goteborg, SWEDEN to Preikestolen or Pulpit Rock, near Stavanger, NORWAY.
Drove North to Oslo, via several old castles, then hugged the south-east  coast  to Stavanger.
Had a brilliant hotel beside the sea at Holmestrand, with a terrific view of sea from the top floor.
The Preikestolen or Pulpit rock near Stavanger, was one of the highlights of our trip. It involved a
horizontal walk of about 4 km., and a vertical (proved quite difficult) climb of about 330 m from the
parking lot. We had seen photos of the rock and climb trails, so we toughened ourselves up at home
with extra walking and cycling..Just as well ! Put this on your "bucket list." Walk took 2+hr each way.
View from good hotel, on Norway coast.					Start of Preikestolen climb, looking happy ??
The easy bit, can see basecamp carpark.					About 1/4 way up, getting tired !
View of top, weather was bad, few people !					Well we made it, here's the proof.
There were some scary bits !			Don’t look down now Parj !			Sleet and snow on way down !
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	West coast of NORWAY, cross many Fjords, via Arctic Circle to Nth Cape
From Stavanger, we followed the west coast of Norway across numerous Fjord crossings, tunnels
and spectacular views. On the way north, we saw numerous motorbikes heading to and from the
Nth Cape, so we decided to go there as well, instead of turning south at Tromso. Good decision !
It was amazing the number and size of the villages and towns, this far North. Obviously, the mighty
Gulf Stream makes life more bearable at these latitudes. The Flamsbana railway, Arctic Circle, Tirpitz
museum at Alta Fjord, and Nth Cape were all memorable and spectacular. Got caught behind a
military convey of NATO vehicles, heading for exercises near the Arctic Circle. All very impressive.
Hard to overtake in some places.			View from Flamsbana railway.			Flamsbana railway, spectacular !
Gets some snow here ! This is May, in summer.					Heading towards Arctic Circle.
On the ARCTIC CIRCLE.			Give us a kiss, baby ?			Seen only in museums now, sad.
Visitor centre, Arctic Circle.			NATO convoy, hard to overtake.			Don't argue with these mothers !
Much milder than in Alaska.			Stretched out many kilometres.			NATO tanks on exercise.
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	On the road towards Nth Cape, NORWAY
First of many reindeers. Saw large herds, later.					Lots of motorbikes, many were from Holland.
Ancient rock art, near Alta Fjord.					Numerous tunnels, some good, others bad.
Getting close to Nth Cape. Weather still					Nth Cape marker. We were surprised at the
quite mild, but windy. No ice on road !					number of visitors here, bikes, cars, busses.
Nth Cape visitor centre, very impressive					Another view from Nth Cape. Many WW2
displays and facilities.					naval battles were fought near here.
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	Nth Cape southwards, to Tallinn, ESTONIA, via FINLAND and Baltic Ferry.
After the spectacular and memorable Nth Cape, we headed south, into Finland. The number of speed
cameras in this country was staggering ! They were everywhere, every couple of km ? I saw plenty
of "flashes" but never ended up with any fines ? Maybe they don't prosecute foreign drivers. I  also
seem to remember some unpaid speeding tickets on previous motorbike trips, in Finland ?
The ARCTIC CIRCLE centre in Rovaniemi was grossly overdone, verging on Disneyland, USA.
Helsinki was a very pleasant and well designed city. Pity we could only spend 1 nite there, as the
city was booked out the following days, the only accommodation was about 20 km, from the city centre.
Parj found 2 small mates.			Entering "speed trap" Finland.   Rovaniemi arctic centre, overdone.
Helsinki view, Govt. house ?			Helsinki town square, well done.			Ferry terminal, very busy.
Baltic ferry, Helsinki to Tallinn			View of Tallinn, from Viru hotel.			View of harbour from our hotel.
Estonian girl, selling souvenirs in the old					Tallinn city square, always something
section of Tallinn.					happening, music, theatre etc.
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	We could always count from 3-5 ferries in the harbour, out of our hotel window in Tallinn.
The Viru hotel, was probably the best hotel we stayed in, this trip, and very reasonably priced. The
rooms were excellent, well sized, secure parking and a shopping arcade below the hotel, with good
food and booze. It was located 100 metres from the old Tallinn town walls, making walking easy.
The number of tourists in this well preserved medieval city was surprising, yet comfortable.
Short Herman tower. Easy town			Tall Herman tower, in background.				Fat Margaret tower.
to walk around on foot.			Tourist busses everywhere.				Tallinn, ESTONIA.
	Estonia to Berlin, Germany, via Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
After leaving Tallinn, Estonia, we headed south thru Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, towards Germany.
This was a new experience, as previously, one could not drive rental cars thru these areas. Even if
you had your own vehicle (motorbike), the border crossing were notoriously slow and bothersome.
Had no problems now, with all these countries in the EU. It will be handy when all these countries
adopt to Euro as their currency. We expected flooding problems in Poland, from reports on the
radio and newspapers, but the Vistula river was running fast, just below the road bridge. The roads
nearing Germany, then Berlin, were extremely busy with a vast amount of truck traffic. Fortunately,
most of the drivers were well disciplined and experienced, not like Italy or Spain ? Berlin was a well
spaced out city, without the usual CBD as such. Therefore, after booking into a comfortable Holiday
Inn hotel, we jumped into a tourist bus and canal boat to see the sights. Berlin was a good mixture of
old and new, but the number of beggars around was disappointing.
Stork nest, in Latvia. Brings luck.			There were many of these.			Old castle/fortress in Lithuania.
The historic Brandenburg gate, Berlin.					Government house, Berlin.(Bundesrat)
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Main Railway station, Berlin.			Modern part of Berlin.			Beach, on river Speer !! Wow ?
Preserved part of Berlin Wall.			Checkpoint Charlie memorial.			Did they really drive these cars ?
Meissen, on the Elbe river.			Dresden, re-built after bombing !			Mural in Dresden, massive.
	Car Museums, Mercedes Benz and Porsche, at Stuttgart.
After having visited numerous museums, castles, art galleries, cathedrals etc., it was time for Parj
to do some catching up or getting even. I insisted we visit the Mercedes Benz and Porsche museums
in Stuttgart. As it tuned out, Yollie was quite impressed with both the museum buildings and the
display cars. At the Mercedes Benz museum, you took the lift up the circular building, then walked
down the circular ramps, viewing the display cars. Excellent idea. The Porsche display was just as
good, even having an old 356 B model, which kept Parj broke in his younger days. (40+years ago !)
Mercedes Benz museum, lift takes you to the top,					Mercedes Benz "concept car or racer ? ".
then you walk down the ramps seeing the displays.
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The fantastic 1955 Gullwing 300 SL, 55+ years old !					Still looks terrific today, I want one !
Various racing cars on down ramp display.					A Porsche Spider, looking fantastic.
The old 356 B, same as I used own. It kept					Its not fair to motorcycle riders, is it ? One
me in poverty as long as I owned it !!					caught me doing 240 kph on my BMW K100
After the car museums, we headed for the Rhine river gorges for a cruise. The best section is
between Rudesheim and St. Goarschausen, taking in the Lorelei and numerous castles. Parj was
nearly thrown off the boat for singing Die Lorelei, badly out of tune !
Traffic on autobahns, heading for Rhine river.					Rudesheim village, base for Rhine cruises.
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Chairlift to Germania statue.			Which one is Germania ?			Rhine view from Germania hill.
Yollie waiting for Rhine boat.			You couldn't count the castles !			Put this on your "Bucket list".
The famous Lorelei statue.			Locks on the Moselle river.			WW1 Cemetery, in France
Parj knows the words of the song.
	From the Rhine river, to the Atlantic coast via Reims, then Paris, FRANCE.
From the Rhine, Moselle rivers, we headed west, via Reims and many more WW1 cemeteries
towards the Atlantic coast of France. The trip was winding down, so we made leisurely progress
via Mont St. Michel, a spectacular castle just off the coast, then spent some leisurely days beside
the sea, at a marina at Granville, France. Our hotel had lovely views of the marina and sea. Then
made our way to Paris, to return the rental/lease car, without so much as a scratch on it ! Had
incredible luck returning the car, as the turnoff to the depot was less than 15 metres from the exit of
a city tunnel, which we just managed to find. The bloke dealing with our car return was very friendly
and appreciative of all the gifts/bribes we left for him ! (hoping he would lose any traffic fines etc. )
Reims cathedral, one of the best.					More WW1 graves, there were so many !
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	Relaxing on the French Atlantic coast, before returning car in Paris.
Mont St. Michel, Atlantic coast			Relaxing, at Granville marina.			Swanning on the Atlantic coast.
Returning car, looking relieved ?			The entry to Paris LOUVRE.			Louvre entry, what an experience
Which is the Egyptian mummy ?			Looks devout and religious ?			Artist in Louvre, working.
Dutch captives of Romans.			Yollie admiring Paris.			Another Paris marvel !
View from bus trip, good value.			Just another fountain.			What is this called? Seems to be
						a good place for a roundabout ?
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	PARIS, a great city and gift to western civilization, let the pictures do the talking.
Napoleon's Tomb.			Hotel des Invalides.			Sacre-Coeur, great views of Paris.
						EIFEL TOWER.
						This trip, we were determined to
						get to the top of the Eifel Tower
						with the lifts, having missed out
						on previous occasions because
						of the long queues. Therefore,
						we were on site about 8.15 am
						for the lifts start at 9.00 am. We
						were about 50 metres from the
						start of one queue, having been
						waiting for 45 minutes, when an
						official came along and told us
						the lift at this tower leg was not
						working, and we should join the
						end of another 100 m. queue !!
						C'est la vie, we took off again. ##
Museum D'Orsay.			Yollie admiring the Seine.			Seine+ Eifel tower in background.
La Madeleine. I believe they			The immortal Notre Dame.			Inside the Notre Dame.
finally found a use for it ?			No wonder the pagan Gauls			We almost felt humble.
			became Christians ?
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					View out of our hotel in Paris. TimHotel Le
Which one is the beggar ? Gave this old hag					Louvre, about 500 metres from the Louvre.
a fistful of coins and she just grunted !
Conclusions		A truly memorable and enjoyable trip. It is never as easy travelling by car in
Europe, as in Australia or the USA. You need to do more planning and preparation and have some
patience and understanding when things are different, or go wrong.
	The most memorable sights and events of this trip were :-
	* The tulips and windmills in Holland.
	* All the museums, galleries, cathedrals and castles Yollie dragged me thru. (just joking)
	* The fjords and coastal roads, in Norway.
	* Preikestolen or Pulpit Rock, in Norway, plus our walk/climb to the top and back.
	* The Arctic Circle and North Cape in Norway plus the approach roads.
	* Some of the great bridges and ferry crossings.
	* The Rhine river gorges.
	* The grim reminder of the many WW1 cemeteries in France and Belgium.
	* Paris, what a city !
All of the other cities and towns we passed thru had their charms and attractions. It would have been
advantageous to spend some more time in each of these, pottering around on foot, without a car.
However, time limitations do not permit enough of this. Also, we have found from previous trips and
experience, that about 6 to 7 weeks overseas, is about as much as we can tolerate, no matter how
good the trip may be. As usual, it was a great returning to Oz. Wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
I must mention the hotels in Paris briefly. We did quite a lot a research before departure on the net,
about suitable hotels in Paris. We specifically asked for a quiet room, away from traffic and elevator
noises. We were assured that this would be available at the TimHotel Le Louvre, which was in a
very convenient position. When we arrived there, they placed us in a "reasonable" room, on the
second floor. As soon as we had moved in, we could hear the constant rumbling sounds of the Paris
underground trains. Next day, we were moved to the 5th, top floor, where these train noises were still
apparent, but nowhere near as bad as on the 2nd floor. The hotel management were very reasonable
as we had made our requirements quite clear to them, 7 months prior to our arrival. However, they
made the point that any place in Paris was no further than 500 metres from the metro underground
train line. Therefore, if you are noise intolerant, it pays to check your Paris hotels ( as elsewhere)
prior to confirming your booking.
We were expecting some follow up on our speed camera infringements and not having a gadget in
our car to record/pay for road tolls in Norway. I guess they just don't bother to chase overseas
visitors, the effort being worth more than the fine they "might" recover ! Also, it may have helped
that the car rental/lease people did not have our credit card details, having pre-paid for everything
by direct debit ? This may be handy information for other Ozzie travellers, in Europe.           END
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