Europe 2024 (NL / IT / FR)

Our last Australian coffee and meal, in Melbourne airport, after long walks through check…

…in and security. Francis started registering as an additional driver for the UFODrive car rental (from Amsterdam), following the instructions to take a selfie with one eye open. Must have been funny to onlookers. First flight leg: Melbourne to Singapore, seven hours, on Singapore airlines. It’s true : they are “a great way to fly”. Food and service was excellent. It took us a while to find the power point between the seats to plug in Tom’s laptop to do some work. A couple of hours in Singapore Airport to rediscover that we have legs, with a brief stop at the sunflower exhibit and coffee shop. The robot barista was intriguing, but we didn’t try it. Back into another plane, destined for Amsterdam. Thirteen hours. We will survive!

Second flight: 13 hours from Singapore to Amsterdam.

More good food and service from Singapore Airlines. I don’t know how people manage to sleep on planes. But it wasn’t until after we landed that we discovered that the head rests extend 🤦. Just after breakfast, we descended into the Netherlands. At security, when asked for our reason for visit, Tom replied “olliebollen”, but the officer didn’t look amused. While waiting for our bags at the carousel, we checked on our home. The doorbell camera showed our front yard and the sounds of birds singing. Marvin the Mower’s all seeing eyes showed the back yard. We surrendered our apple and banana and entered the country. Now to find our rental Tesla Model Y from UFODRIVE.

After thirty hours in planes and airports, we spent the next two hours trying to sort out…

…our hire car. But it was mostly my own fault. We used the UFODRIVE app to try to locate the car. We headed towards the pin shown on the app’s map, which is difficult because it doesn’t show your relative location. After a long walk to the other end of the car park, I couldn’t find any signs for UFODrive, or anyone who’d heard of them. It turns out that the pin just gives a general intended location. It was also hampered by no internet connection on my phone. I had bought a roaming pack from my Australian carrier, Belong, but it didn’t fully activate for a couple of hours after landing. I eventually found some public wifi and used the UFODrive app to contact their support. They pointed out that I had booked the car for 12 noon, not 8am as I had thought 🤦. They explained that they don’t deliver the car to the airport carpark until just before pick up time. They gave me the option to come collect it from their Amsterdam city location. So, our first EV trip in the Netherlands was in a…

I managed to drive on the right hand side of the road, sleep deprived and all.

It’s weird having the driver’s seat and the car console flipped over to the other side, like some mirror universe. I managed to keep the curb on my right (instead of left, in Australia). That method works fine, until you come across a roundabout, where it’s the reverse of the already reversed method. Our cousin, Nico, had by that stage come out on his bike to guide us the last few hundred metres. He facepalmed as he watched me hesitate at the last roundabout and then proceed the wrong way around it. Fortunately, we were in a quiet neighbourhood, with no one around. Until then, I had managed many other roads and a few roundabouts, so I’m blaming my brain glitch on jet lag 😉. We parked 100m from our cousin’s houseboat, in a quiet neighbourhood street. It has several EV destination chargers next to parking spots! Amazing. Our Tesla has 90% charge, so I don’t want or need to take up a charging spot yet. The UFODRIVE car comes nicely cleaned. It includes a CCS type 2 cable (suitable for…

We now live on a boat, in a canal, in The Netherlands.

Apart from living in a windmill or a pair of giant clogs, I can’t think of anything more appropriate for our time here. As a bonus for its Australian visitors, this boat is named “Boomerang” 🪃. We thought we were to stay in the houseboat of our cousin Nico, but he had generously arranged for our own boat, two births away. It’s fully fitted out with kitchen, living area, power points, shower, toilet, fridge, stove, washing machine and bedroom. The living area includes a powered opening sunroof. We’ve parked our hired Tesla in the next street, with options there for on street charging.

We drove our rental Tesla Model Y from our boat house to a nearby station, and caught the…

…train into Amsterdam. It really is the city of bikes. And canal boats, and trams, and peanut butter, cheese, mayonnaise on chips, salted herring with pickle, weed, and a fancy cookie. And so many bikes. Did I mention bikes? Many more than cars. If the bikes were replaced with cars, they would not fit. Much better use of space, and better health. People of all ages riding bikes, carrying kids, food, cargo. People dressed well, just riding bikes. The Holocaust memorial was quite sobering. It stated one purpose to remind us to never do that again. It’s very said that we haven’t learned that lesson today.

When we entered Netherlands border security a few days ago, they asked my purpose of…

…visit, to which I (Tom) answered "olliebollen". Now that purpose has been fulfilled! Nico taught Francis how to make it. The literal translation from Dutch to English is “oily balls”. It is like deep fried bread pudding, or hot cross buns, but more delicious. Francis befriended a neighbourhood cat, which then managed to make its way to the deck on the house boat, much to Nico’s dismay.

Out for a drive in our rental Tesla, to the windmill village at the Zaanse Schans.

Fran’s sister, Helen, has joined us, flying in from Australia yesterday. Their parents immigrated to Australia from Holland when Helen was seven and Fran was two months before birth. Our cousins opted out of the touristy outing. As tourists ourselves, we loved it. Interesting to see the wooden cogs and engineering used to harness the wind power to roll 3000kg stone wheels. Our own 2000kg wheels (the Tesla), waited in the car park, charged up earlier from the much larger wind turbines that dot the Netherlands. We were surprised to find that the only public toilet here has a couple of attendants to ensure that you pay by credit card to go through the turnstile. I can’t imagine that the €1 entry fee covers the overhead of ensuring that you pay. It’s just weird.

Continuing our day trip with a stop for lunch at a marina.

Delicious Dutch crocettes and a salad. We wandered along the wharf and spotted Marvin’s (our robot mower) Dutch cousin, “Henk” the Husqvarna mower. Now that’s confidence, mowing on a dyke, next to a canal. I am missing the Tesla app. The UFODRIVE rental car does not come with connection through the Tesla app or with a Tesla card. Instead, everything must be done through the supplied UFODRIVE app. It is not a proper native mobile app, with strange and slow UI navigation. Today it took several attempts to unlock the car to drive it, while I was in it. Charging: We noticed a destination charger where we parked next to the cafe. Adopting our policy of “charge while parked anyway”, we plugged in. This was our first time charging in the Netherlands. It was pretty straightforward. We plugged the type 2 cable into the car and charger, then tapped the card. The cable and card were supplied with the UFODRIVE car.

Final stop on our day trip through some tourist hot spots.

We parked the Tesla in the neighbourhood streets of Volendam, then climbed the stairs between the houses in the dyke (I guess from below sea level) to the tourist strip overlooking the marina. Poffertjes (tiny Dutch pancakes) were quickly consumed.

A failed charging story.

We’re heading off on a road trip through the Netherlands for a few days. We’ve been parking near our boat home, but hadn’t yet made use of the nearby charger. When I finally got my act together to plug in our Tesla, I couldn’t find any tap option on the machine for the payment card that UFODRIVE provided. I tried the QR code on the charger to get the app, but it isn’t available for an Australian AppStore account. I checked the UFODrive app for another nearby charging station. I tried to share the location with the Tesla (like I can do from the Tesla app), but it doesn’t offer that option. I shared to Apple Maps and watched my iPhone as I drove around looking for it, but couldn’t find it. Some hours later, when we were about to depart, Nico (a local) pointed out that there was a tap to pay panel on the back of the machine 🤦.

On our way from Krommenie to Maastricht.

We picked up Nico’s Jaguar i-Pace. Very swish. 0 to 100km/h in about 3.5s. Luxury interior trim. Neat console. It has fast DC charging but only does 3.6kW AC charging (compared to our Tesla’s 11kW). It’s about twice the cost of our base Tesla Model 3 at home. Jaguar had it for a few days to replace the battery. This is the first real example I’ve seen of someone actually needing to replace their EV battery, despite all the hype about it from naysayers. Fortunately, it was all covered under warranty. Our first stop was in Breukelen at a service center. Well, we actually stopped at two of these, because of mixed up convoy instructions. Next to the Shell petrol station here is a FastNed charging bay, with solar panels on the roof. Most service centres seem to have these, which is terrific. It kills me to stop for fuel like this. Stopping specifically for fuel (charging) is something I try to avoid. I prefer to just charge when I’m parked for some other reason. Today, I just wasn’t…

Stopped for lunch at La Place. Tasty fresh food and smoothies.

Cruising along the highways we see many wind turbines, and some coal power stations. Each wind turbine takes a very small piece of land, and can be surrounded by cows, picnic areas etc. The coal plants sit in a bit of an industrial waste land. Coal pits poor toxic dust into the air, and burning it creates more. It’s great to see the transition away from the polluting fossil fuels. Charging: No EV charger at the restaurant, which seemed odd. It would be a great place to charge, near the highway, while eating lunch. But there are chargers at our destination.

We arrived at our accommodation in Gulpen, near Maastricht, our home for the next few…

…days. Cute Scandinavian style huts, surrounded be green rolling hills. Steep stairs. Some huts dug into the hillside, with vegetation on the roof, like a Hobbit town. Our first lost in translation moment. At dinner, Francis ordered a lemonade, which was interpreted as red cordial. The after dinner mint came with its own gavel, to break it up for us all to share. Charging: About four EV charging stations on site. Like most destination chargers here, they are 11kW AC, BYO type 2 cable, pay by EV card. Our UFODRIVE rental Tesla comes with the cable and the EV charging card, with all charging costs included in the rental. Fully charged next morning, ready for a day trip out.

So many fallen soldiers at the American war memorial.

It's hard to imagine how terrible it would have been to live in the Netherlands and neighbouring countries during Nazi occupation, or to spend years fighting to kill fellow humans. The show “Masters of the Air” depicts the bombing runs of US soldiers from the UK over Europe. I expect that some of the people who died in that show are buried here. One of the final scenes shows the US Air Force dropping food packages to war torn and starving residents in the Netherlands, a story which Francis’s mum experienced first hand.

Final destination today: the intersection of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

We had lunch in Belgium and patted a dog (of course), found a toilet in The Netherlands and checked out the forest in Germany.

September 13 - 18: A short 50m walk along the canal each morning to breakfast, on the…

…houseboat of our generous hosts/cousins Nico and Sandra. There are canals, creeks, bridges and dykes everywhere. This dyke has a path with a constant stream of pedestrians, bikes, e-bikes, electric motorbikes, and some petrol powered (which seem so antiquated, noisy and smelly when they go by). Breakfast is usually home baked bread, cheese, thin sliced cold meats, various “cultural” sugar toppings for bread. Nico built the houseboat on to of a rectangle U shaped concrete shell. It floats just from the water displacement (Archimedes principle), not foam. They have two electric cars: A Jaguar i-Pace, and a Fiat 500 (pictured). They charge from the outlet next to their houseboat, right on the canal.

The four of us continued our day trip out in Nico’s Jaguar i-Pace, through the country…

…roads east of Maastricht. Even way out here, there are bikes and bike lanes everywhere. The roads have clear markings for the bike lanes each way, leaving the middle to be shared by cars. It’s a very tight squeeze in places. And then, they throw in the tractors! Second stop for “vlaai”. A traditional sweet pie from this province (Limburg). Cherry was delicious.

Day trip into nearby Maastricht to pick up Sandra (who caught the train from Amsterdam)…

…and to explore the town. I (Tom) temporarily lost Francis and Helen, and was wandering up and down the street looking. A waiter noticed me and asked “what have you lost”, looked down and said “your shoes?”. After a couple of quizzical or disapproving looks from cafe patrons, I went back to the Tesla to grab my shoes. But, when again squeezing through the eating strip, an older lady moved aside and quipped in Dutch something like “after you, shorts”. For the record, many people were wearing shorts. I can’t win. Croquettes (again) for lunch, with a salad, at one of the many cafes. Yum. With the scarcity of public toilets, we’re learning to make use of the cafe facilities. The first big language error wasn’t mine, surprisingly. Francis, who knows a fair bit of Dutch from her childhood household, somehow managed to end up in the men’s toilet. She emerged to ask me what I was doing in there. I just pointed at the urinals. Oops! We took a tour around Maastricht in a solar powered electric…

After lunch in Germany 🇩🇪, we crossed back into The Netherlands 🇳🇱, driving north to…

…Nunspeet. We’re staying at a kind of cabin park, in one of the neat A frame buildings. Steep stairs and tall buildings seem common. Most have solar panels. Our resident cook and cousin Nico keeps dishing up delicious meals, like this bolognese. I still can’t get over the morning option of various sugar on bread. Charging: We arrived with about 9% battery charge, as predicted by the Tesla navigation. Our accommodation included two destination chargers in the car park near reception. We couldn’t get our payment card (supplied with the UFODRIVE car rental) to work. This charger doesn’t appear on the UFODrive app, or on PlugShare. Sandra tapped her EV payment card for us. I will have to get the payment receipt from her app, and send it to UFODrive for reimbursement – a solution that they suggest. I had previously assumed that I would be able to pay using an app or credit card, if the UFODrive card didn’t work, but that doesn’t seem possible.

Let’s pop over the border to Germany 🇩🇪, for lunch, as you do. And we’

ll check out the Aachen Cathedral while we’re there. Wow. Huge. Old. Shiny. Car park: Small. Grey. Just enough room for the Tesla Model Y. Charging: A couple of destination chargers in the car park. But we didn’t need them. We were fully charged from our accommodation last night.

A wander through the town of Nunspeet to get an ice cream.

Sandra showed me how the double storey bike racks work at the commuter station. I marvelled at the housing styles, with tall roofs, embedded with extra rooms and probably skinny stairs. Some thatched roofs using dried reeds (I think), which I’m told increase insurance costs due to fire risk. Lots of houses with solar panels. There’s a deer park in the middle of town, which seems to be for the use of the neighbourhood. Cute. And, of course, cycle paths everywhere.

a short hike through the Veluwezoom National Park.

Long haired cows, but we didn’t see the expected deer. We had just missed peak heather bloom, but some purple remained. The lookout is barely elevated, so I climbed onto the brickwork to photograph the family. I viewed the Dutch sign through Google Translate, but it was pretty standard instructions. Topped off with lunch at the onsite cafe. Lots of bikes and cycle paths.

Explored the streets, alleyways and canals of the fishing village of Elburg.

Semi public urinal next to the car park. But I want that desperate. Charging: Destination chargers in the car park. I parked close to the hedge, managed to get the charging cable out of the boot, plugged in, but then couldn’t shut the boot. Unplugged, moved car forward, plugged in. We didn’t need charge for the trip, but it’s best to charge while parked anyway.

Final stop, in Oude Haven, District 00, for coffee and an explore, before returning to…

…our boat house in Krommenie.

Coffee and then lunch in Deventer (in The Netherlands).

An old church in the center of town is slowly sinking on one side. Beautiful old shops, streets and a large canal. Distracting toilet wall art. We checked out of our accommodation in Nunspeet this morning. We packed a breakfast to go for Tom, since he was in a work meeting in the Tesla (with colleagues in Australia). We were immediately reminded of the narrow town streets when we realised that the reversing semi trailer in front of us blocked the only way out of this section of town. Nico and Tom parked the cars and spent the next twenty minutes directing traffic while the truck driver reversed a few hundred meters around tight bends. Charging: Since we were parking anyway, we plugged into the destination chargers in the car park. Unfortunately, the UFODRIVE payment card doesn’t work with these chargers, so Nico used his. Another reimbursement will need to arrange.

We made it to the outback… of Holland, according to the sign. W

e drove across a land bridge, past countless wind turbines, on and off shore. Holland is reliant on energy to keep pumping the water uphill, to the ocean, over a series of dykes. Without power, the land would drown. In some places, the land is eight meters below sea level 😳. Charging: We plugged in to charge most of the times when we parked. EV chargers are plentiful, and mostly powered from the same wind turbines.

A quiet day on the canal, back in our boat house and house boat.

As a child I used to retell the joke “how did the houseboat owner die? They drowned, mowing the lawn”. But it turns out that our boat house does have some lawn! It’s a small strip on the dyke between our boat’s small wharf and the narrow brick paved road. You might notice some dirt mounts on the lawn – that’s from moles, which burrow in the dyke. The lawn has an embedded small noisemaker, which sounds like a rattlesnake, to deter the moles. It doesn’t seem to be working. It did make us take notice, however, the first time we heard it. We make sure to look both ways when stepping through our gate into the shared road in the dyke. There are plenty of bikes, e-bikes, mopeds, pedestrians. The occasional car leaves room for nothing else. Helen and Francis try to befriend every passing cat and dog. Tom marvels at the engineering of keeping the small canals functioning and clear. We spotted a few robot lawnmowers that dwarf Marvin. More sugar sprinkles on bread as part of breakfast. But it’s…

Late afternoon drinks at a cute pub in Stein.

It was a total pleasure to meet up with Fran and Helen’s cousin Jordy, wife Linda and son Toby. Tom tried out the local cherry beer. The road in front of the pub is only really suitable for bikes. We found out the hard way when I tried to turn around after dropping off passengers. Then back to our newly met cousin’s house nearby. Toby came with us in the Tesla. He drove… the buggy driving game after we arrived. Then we met the fourth member of the family, Billy 🐶, who was super excited to see us. Helen requested reading of some Dutch childhood books, such as “The very hungry caterpillar”. Beautiful family, home and delicious Greek dinner. Time to say goodbye, after the Tesla light and sound show, including writing “Tesla” on the neighbour’s garage door.

We drove into Amsterdam. Tom caught up on some work in the mobile Tesla office, next to…

…the canal, while Fran and sister Helen visited the “Artis” zoo. Charging: No need for us to charge, but there were plenty of destination chargers in the zoo car park.

Maybe a canal cruise today in Amsterdam?

The rain started. Ah, no. How about the Van Gogh museum? The rain started hammering down, with accompanying wind. Ah, no. How about staying in the boat house and house boat and enjoying home made dessert by Sandra and dinner by Nico? Ah, yes! Our boat house started creaking during the night as it rubbed against the wharf buffers. A slow drip started from the sun roof, expertly caught by a glass with tissues in it. We started singing “Six nights in a leaky boat” 🎶

The big family reunion at Hansel & Gretel pancake house (and fun house).

Everything you want in a restaurant, including: a shower in the middle of the foyer, hidden tunnels through bookcases, slide down to the toilets, jumping pillows, giant animatronic puppets, general craziness. Pancakes came with a wide range of savoury and sweet fillings, including: ham, pineapple, egg, apple. This was the first time Francis has met her uncles (her dad’s brothers) and their families (except for Jordy and family a few days ago). It was wonderful and a bit overwhelming to meet them all. Earlier that day, we visited Sandra’s mum, for a delicious morning tea of cakes, followed by soup and croquettes. Life’s too short, so eat dessert first!

Dinner on the beach, in Holland, but it feels a lot like home in Australia.

Our last meal all together, before we head off south tomorrow. Nico explained that they set up temporary dwellings along the beach here each year, then collapse and pack them away during the storm surge season. With climate change, the average sea level hasn’t risen much yet, but the storm surges have grown significantly. The giant sand dunes behind the dwellings require ongoing increased building. And there are smaller sand dunes in rows behind, using a similar principle to the dykes. The country invests a lot to manage its relationship with water. Hundreds of wind turbines, off shore. Charging: Destination charger right here in the beach car park. Might as well charge while parked anyway.

A trip out to Vianen, in The Netherlands.

Francis and Helen met up with their aunt and cousin. Tom found a quiet place to do some work in the mobile Tesla office. Several canals, opening bridges and lochs around town. The UFODRIVE car rental included a parking dial, which we have to place on the dashboard when parking in a spot marked with a blue line.

Time to leave our boat house in the canal, and start our road trip towards Switzerland…

…and Italy. Packed the car, with charging cable and laundry in the frunk. Gave it a “service”, which for an EV just means topping up the washer fluid 😉. While packing the car, I happened to see the local rubbish truck, which is fully electric! Much quieter. First stop for lunch with Helen in Zaandam, under the green municipal building. Charging: Fully charged while parked on the street. Great infrastructure.

Second stop on our trip south, at Rotterdam.

Just long enough to stretch our legs with a short walk around town, and grab a coffee. Charging: We charged up yesterday at the street EV charger in Krommenie. More than enough for our journey. The highway signs to the service centers along the way show petrol and EV charging stations.

We arrived late yesterday at this gorgeous B&B Logement Hellevoetsluis.

We’re near the southern edge of The Netherlands. Unsurprisingly, it sits on a dyke. The road into town, to grab some takeaway dinner, was just wide enough for one car, with a canal either side. We were welcomed by our host, Carla, and sidekick Ted (the dog). Delicious breakfast included, in the dining room with artistic mural walls. Charging: No EV charger on site, but we spotted some options in town. A few houses up, someone has their own charging point on the street, wired from their house.

A short trip out from our B&B accommodation to the bird watching “egg” near the…

…Stellendam Marina. I briefly spotted what I think was a giant eagle, but missed the photo. Plenty of other birds, including swans. I was saddened to see that blackberry bushes seem to have taken over the bush here, like it’s trying to do in our home region in the Dandenong Ranges of Victoria, and our garden. The Tesla’s navigation (driven by Google Maps) gave us some unnecessarily complex directions at one point. Public toilets were again nowhere to be found, in the reserve or at the marina. Our bladders are having range anxiety. Charging: This car park, next to the marina, in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, included a convenient destination charger. We were parking anyway, so we plugged in while there.

Welcome back to the adventures of Tesla Dripping.

After finding no toilet at the Stellendam Marina or adjacent bird sanctuary, we checked Maps for the nearest toilets. We took a drive to Ouddorp, eleven minutes away. What is it with the lack of public toilets in The Netherlands? We found the “WC” in town. Is more of a port-a-loo, but must be a permanent fixture. We used the opportunity to buy some road tripping supplies from the grocer and Hema: forks, knives, cutting board, a coffee mug with “F” for Francis, and some fridge meals. Oh, and a new thermos! It was an adventure getting out of town, since the only way known to maps was blocked by road works. We did a few laps of the narrow streets. Pretty town and fun day, despite the crossed legs. Our B&B had a microwave. For lunch we nuked the leftover croissant, ham and cheese from breakfast. For dinner we had the fridge meals, while watching the Cluney/Pitt movie “Wolfs”. Charging: EV chargers are much easier to find than public toilets. We plugged in while parked at the bird…

It finally happened. We ran out of power. No electricity available… in our accommodation.

Oh, did you think I meant we couldn’t charge our car? No, it’s fine. Our accommodation – a cabin park in the town of Knokke, Belgium – provided an EV destination charger. 100m up the road was an Esso fuel station that includes fast chargers and on the big price sign out the front lists the electricity cost per kWh along side the petrol and diesel costs per litre. And slightly up from that, the BMW dealer has an EV charger out the front. So many options. I spotted an electric van in one of the suburban streets. What I meant was, our cabin had no power. We couldn’t boil a kettle, but we managed to use the last drops from our thermos to make a cuppa. We couldn’t heat food. We survived, and mostly laughed it off. The manager arrived some time later and was very helpful and apologetic. She gave us a free breakfast hamper to compensate. We had a bunch of other minor hurdles that added to the comedic series of events. We picked this place in part because we needed to do some laundry. The…

We ventured further south through the Netherlands, towards Belgium, hopping across the…

…Zeelandic Islands. First stops at Strand Brouwersdam (which seemed to be a currently mostly deserted popular beach/RV spot) and Neetle Jans, with more towering wind turbines to harness the North Sea wind, and equally huge sea gates to keep the sea out. Charging: We don’t have to really think about charging. So many car parks include an EV charger, so we just plug in most times we park somewhere. Much easier and quicker than deliberately seeking out a fuel station.

We crossed the border from The Netherlands into Belgium, I think under water, in a tunnel.

This was our first toll road in Europe. We just picked the toll gate that takes card payments, tapped my phone, the gate opened, and we drove into Belgium. We drove into Brugge, navigating the tiny inner town streets, and found a paid parking spot in a street of cafes and specialty shops. Very pretty. Again, no public toilets to be found. So, we walked into a cafe. Tom sat down to check the menu while Francis made a bee-line for the toilet. Then we discovered on the menu that they only take cash, not card payments. We hadn’t come across this previously in Europe. It mentioned the alternative of a particular app, but when I tried to download it, it said it wasn’t available for use with an account from my country (Australia). We checked with the manager who confirmed cash only. So, we apologised and went to leave, since we hadn’t brought cash with us. Then he said loudly “One Euro for the toilet”. We repeated that we had no cash, but could pay by card. He wasn’t happy, made a bit of a…

While our washing dried on our front porch, we headed out in the Tesla to the coastal…

…town of De Hann, Belgium. It’s autumn here. The sun is warm but the wind is cold. Some people are still on deck chairs on the beach, but huddled up against wind breaks. They seem to have a temporary cafe on the beach too. There were plenty of more permanent restaurants along the promenade. We chose Brasserie Paname, which served probably the best lasagna I (Tom) have ever had, served by the most unengaging waiter I’ve ever had. Single word answers with barely eye contact. The tomato soup was also delicious and hearty. I had better luck this time finding an ATM. Withdrawing €400 was about $600, including about $40 in fees. We spotted another tiny electric car. The cars throughout Europe so far are generally much smaller than ours in Australia. Our Tesla Model Y is one of the bigger cars on the road. There are hardly any giant utes, or utes in general, except where they’re actually needed. It’s crazy that our (Australian) government has only just recently introduced fuel efficiency…

Today, we crossed Belgium.

First stop needed for a toilet, and some lunch (long before needing to charge the car). A castle, a moat, and some pumpkin sculptures – that’s what we need 😉. Using the toilet costs €0.50 per person, per pee. Gone are the days of “spending a penny”. This one seemed to use some honour system, where we left coins on a table. You can guess what was offer for lunch: pumpkin soup, pumpkin fries – everything pumpkin. Charging: Along the way we stopped briefly twice to get our bearings. First at our first European Tesla Supercharger. It had no public toilets, but did have one of the many rubbish bins that are mostly underground, which we’ve seen in The Netherlands and Belgium. Second at a supermarket carpark, where another EV had blocked both charging bays, requiring us to reposition to connect. We didn’t need either these stops to charge, but we just generally plug in while parked anyway.

A brief journey through the north east of France.

We stayed last night in Hotel Marso, in Amnéville. We paid to have brekky buffet there, but it was disappointing. We made some cuppas from our thermos at the Tesla before leaving. Along the way, for lunch we popped into the small French town of Lure. The cappuccino came with cream, which turned out to be “heaven” (quoting Francis). The staff’s English was only slightly better than my French (which is about six words). So, we relied on Google Translate to pick from the menu. But even then, when I thought I was ordering the five veg pizza, I ended up with something with meat. Still delicious. Lovely staff. Charging: While having breakfast, we plugged the car into the fast charger across the road. The timing was perfect. Both of us ready to go at the same time. The town of Lure has a destination charger up the road from where we had lunch, but it was too far to bother with. We’ll just charge when the next opportunity arises, in Switzerland.

Two days ago we were in Belgium.

Last night we were in France. Today we crossed the border into Switzerland. We bought the “Vignette” sticker at the border, for about CHF 40 (Swiss Franks, about AU$65), which allows us to drive on all the roads here. It’s kind of a pay once road toll. There are so many tunnels, with more being built. I can see where the toll money goes. We have only seen about two potholes so far in all of Europe. Like most days, we just book our accommodation in the late afternoon, when we know roughly where we’re going to be at about 4pm. We pick a town on Booking.com, entry a few filters like private bathroom, switch to map view, and look for good value places nearby. We usually choose out of the cities. This time we choose in the town of Biel/Bienne, which goes by its French and German name. Nice hotel, very friendly and helpful Sofia at reception, who speaks multiple languages. We ordered a poke bowl for dinner, via Uber Eats delivery. Chilled evening stay. Charging: As a bonus, the hotel has EV…

We began our quest for coffee, walking a kilometre towards the lake, finding a coffee…

…“pedaler”. Sofia, at the reception of our hotel, told us that this town is the birthplace of Omega watches, which also adorn the foyer. We opted for a quick and cheap breakfast from our road trip kit, using our cereal, bowls, milk and… I forgot to buy spoons. We shared a takeaway spoon we had collected along the way. Next, on to Interlaken, a Swiss town that, as the name suggests, sits between two lakes. We will stay a few nights at a small family run hotel that looks over one of the lakes. The scenery from the highway looks increasingly spectacular, as we approach the Swiss Alps. Charging: The EV chargers out the front of Hotel Mercure charged our Tesla up to 100%. We have Sentry Mode turned on, which keeps the cameras recording any nearby activity, for security, which then drained about 3% battery. So, we left with 97% charge. But, we don’t really think about any of this. We just plug in while parked and unplug when we leave.

We checked in last night to our accommodation.

It is just stunning here. Our balcony and the breakfast dining room both overlook the lake and towering mountains. You don’t fully appreciate the scale of them until you notice how small the cars are on the other side. Our hosts, Richard and his wife, have been lovely. When we realised that, like their own currency, Switzerland has its own power point socket, different to the rest of Europe, Richard loaned us an adapter. So, now we can plug the iPhone Lightning cable into the USB-C into the power brick, into the Australian socket, into the Europe adapter, into the Swiss adapter, into the wall 🤪. Our UFODRIVE Tesla car rental doesn’t give us access to the Tesla app, which we’re really missing. We had a drama this morning when Tom left the car to go back to our room, leaving Francis in the car. A few minutes later, the Tesla’s car alarm went off, half deafening Francis with the noise from the horn and some loud heavy metal music playing through the speakers. The neighbours now know…

First stop on our day trip out, in Lauterbrunnen.

Wow. And again, wow. 72 waterfalls plummeting down into the valley. An overwhelming feast for the eyes. I blame this distraction for my taking five minutes to figure out the parking payment system 😉. We saw evidence (the sign) of what happens if you don’t provide public toilets 😉, although this town does provide them. Beautiful simple church. I chatted with the lady sweeping up the thousands of leaves and asked her if it was a big job. She said, looking at the scenery “no, this is meditation. My big job has been looking after my children and husband”. Fair call. We popped over to Grindelwald, but there was some annual market going on which blocked through traffic and filled the town with people. So, we opted for a more quiet view from the edge of town. Charging: No EV chargers in the car park that we saw. But we won’t need to charge for days.

We spent the afternoon exploring the Aare Gorge, along the elevated board walk.

Beautiful. Lunch on site. We couldn’t leave the area without patting a donkey and Shetland pony. So much beauty all around. Delivered spaghetti and pizza for dinner, back at our hotel. We’re in training for Italy in a few days 😉. Charging: At the Aare Gorge car park, we optimistically drove past the parked cars towards the entrance. We were rewarded with not only a free spot but also EV destination chargers. The UFODRIVE supplied payment card didn’t seem to be compatible here, but I paid using the QR code and Apple Pay. They emailed a link for disconnecting, but the charger disconnected automatically when I stopped charging from the Tesla. Pretty easy. It gave us nearly half a tank, topping us to near capacity, while we were exploring.

Our luck with sunny weather ran out.

What to do in the Swiss Alps in the rain? Go for a drive around the beautiful lakes. Far across the other side, we spotted a long waterfall near a big building. We found it on Maps as including a restaurant, so we drove over, up a windy mountain road. We missed the turn and soon came head to head with a bus that wasn’t about to yield the too narrow road. After some hurried reversing down the hill, and a seven point U turn, we then found the car park for the waterfall. The road to the restaurant required a pin code, only given to hotel guests. So, off we trekked, through the forest, past the beautiful falls, with the hope of lunch at the end. We looked a bit like a couple of drowned rats, by the time we found the restaurant, but they let us in. The meal and veggie soup were well earned and enjoyed. They charged €8.50 (about AU$14) for a bottle of water. It cost more than the cappuccino or soup! Fresh water is the one thing that they have in abundance here 🙃. Charging: No EV charger in…

After a full day exploring the Swiss Alps, we stayed another night, a bit closer to Italy.

oser to Italy. Beautiful location, nice food, a chance to chill. Charging: The hotel has a Tesla destination charger (no cost) with built in cable and a third party charger. It required a bit of tactical parking to make the short cable reach. Full tank ready to go in the morning.

As we enjoyed our last breakfast at The Alpina Hotel, we noticed that the weather had…

…fined up again. So, let’s go climb some mountains, to 3000m above see level… with the aid of a series of four gondola rides. On the ride up, we wondered why there were almost no seats in the gondola. On the way back, it was standing room only. Lots of construction going on. Pretty challenging worksite. Half of the existing facility is closed off. The top station, at Schilthorn, featured in a 1968 Bond film. They promote it a lot, with half the place dedicated to a range of multimedia exhibits. On the return trip, we explored a couple of the other stations, including a sky walk and a mostly car free town. Beautiful. Charging: The carkpark has about four destination chargers, but they were all taken. The side charge port doors of some EVs are ridiculously large. We parked further down the car park. A van pulled up beside us and kept their engine running for ages, ruining the air and peace. Why do people do that? Eventually a German accented man walked up to the driver and asked him to…

Stopped for lunch just before the border, in a very Italian part of Switzerland, on Lake…

…Lugano. The best eggplant parmigiana I’ve ever had. The textures and flavours were amazing. I tried to thank the chef through the language barrier. Parking in the car park took a few attempts. This average size Australian car feels big here. We eventually found out that these particular spaces, marked in pink, are reserved for women, for safety at night. Charging: There were probably EV chargers further down the car park, but we didn’t bother. We fully charged the car last night at our accommodation in Switzerland.

A beautiful walk around Lake Como (well, a fraction of it, near Dervio, Italy).

Fancy lunch at the Urban Fish restaurant, as recommended by our host, Ariana. Not so fancy heated supermarket dinner, served by Tom. Resorted to using pots and a stove, since there’s no microwave over here, or in many places we’ve stayed so far.

Late yesterday, we arrived in the small town of Dervio, Italy, after crossing the border…

…uneventfully, from Switzerland. Our host, Eleen, was delightful, and walked us through our small flat at Residence Antico Torchio. Road space and parking are tight. We had to move the car to a tiny roadside parking spot between poles, which took some careful seven point turn reversing. The best way to walk through town is via the many alleyways between buildings. At the train crossing that bisects the town, a sign asks motorists to turn off their engines while waiting. Like most rules in Italy, the locals seem to ignore them, so the street often fills with car fumes, punctuated by cigarette smoke. But away from the traffic, the walks are beautiful. We grabbed some local pizza for dinner, after translating the menu. We bought a couple of things in the local store, via communication with the staff that was mostly laughs, but not many understood words in either direction. Whenever we tell someone we’re from Australia, the usual response is “wow, so far!” Washing time again. The on site…

After checking into our accommodation near Verona, Italy, we discovered that there aren’t…

…many dinner options, other than pizza, open before 7pm. So, we ventured into a Verona to find some Asian cuisine. The roads are still pretty crazy. After doing a few laps of busy roads and one way alleyways, dodging pedestrians and motorists, we found a park (I think it was a park). Takeaway noodles on the river overlooking the castle bridge turned out to be a romantic location. Charging: We stopped for lunch, earlier that day, along the freeway, and fully charged from a Tesla Supercharger.

One night stay, by the river, in a suburb of Verona.

Our host, Ariana, helped us reset our booking, since we’d somehow picked the wrong date in Booking.com. We squeezed into possibly the smallest lift we’ve ever seen. Fortunately, we had grabbed only our next day’s clothes from our large suitcases, in the back of the Tesla. Breakfast included, which was delightful, along with interaction with friendly staff and a three generation Italian family of guests. On our drive here from Lake Como, we stopped at a shopping center along the highway. It’s amazingly just like the ones at home in Australia, except, of course, everything is in Italian. The Tesla Autopilot driver monitoring is over cautious. Even with my hands on the wheel and eyes ahead, it often complains that I’m not paying attention, until I wiggle the steering. On this trip, it counted three strikes and disabled Autopilot until I parked 🖕. Charging: The shopping center has Tesla Superchargers. We arrived with about 8% and just plugged in while we had lunch. Normally, my Tesla app…

Parking, parking, where for art thou parking?

We planned to visit the historical part of Verona again, as we passed through this morning. We drove towards Juliet’s Balcony, hoping to get a park nearby. The usual chaotic traffic and tiny lanes reached a new level, as we emerged in small streets covered with pedestrians. Nowhere to go. One person looked at us and said good morning in Dutch “goedemorgen”, recognising our Netherland licence plates. Another person politely asked if we were okay and told us we couldn’t drive through there. We sat at the intersection for a few minutes, with another clueless motorist behind us, so we couldn’t reverse out. In front of us, as luck would have it, was a police car. One officer eventually came over, and kindly offered to have us follow them out of the bedlam. Francis probably would have followed him and his accent anywhere. Police escort through Verona! We looked for a parking option along the way, but in the end just laughed and headed towards Venice.

We arrived in Venice! I’ll let the photos speak to the beauty and hustle bustle of the…

…place. Best to view them in landscape, full screen, and zoom in. It’s gorgeous. The chaos and fumes of narrow roads is gone – replaced with similar in canals. The walks through town are delightful. So many shops and things going on. It was supposed to be an easy transition for us today, with a one hour drive from our previous night’s stay near Verona. But it ended up being a big day. Here’s a list of our challenges and goofs today: 1. The police escort through Verona. That deserves its own post. Stay tuned. 2. We searched Booking.com for accommodation in Venice that included parking. We were aware that you can drive to Venice but not into Venice. We hoped to find accommodation that provided some parking so we wouldn’t have to arrange a shuttle, repack and lug bags too far. It was a long shot, but we found a match. It wasn’t until after we booked it that communication with the coordinator revealed that the “parking” was actually on the mainland, before the 4km bridge to Venice, and it…

A whole day in Venice. Exploring the laneways.

Watching staff sweep the water from the hotel porch. Navigating the crowds near the cathedral and square. Chilling with fruit salad and a quartet paying Ed Sheeren, the Titanic theme, and classical music. Love the violin and cello.

We’re spending a couple of nights in Tuscany at this gorgeous villa, in Buggiano, part…

…way between Florence and Pisa. More stairs, and tiny entrance (while carrying bags), but great views. Dinner at the nearby restaurant (Ristaurante Pizzeria S Elena) included cat cuddles. Francis is missing Archie back at home. The villa has three robot mowers, to help Tom, missing Marvin at home. Charging: Two of the six parking spots include a destination charger for EVs. Score! With a view of the castle on the hill!

Time to leave Venice, but not before the famed gondola ride.

It was high tide, so the bridge clearance was tight. That required some tilting of the gondola and movement of the ballast (us passengers) to navigate through some places. The angled view of the water and impending gravitational pull did not make the ride as relaxing as we had imagined. But, it was a lot of fun (all thrills, thankfully no spills). Next: all roads lead to Rome. On our way, we stopped just off the highway for a late lunch at a restaurant. We had missed their lunch window, so it was down to having some snacks in the car. Charging: Our Tesla had sat in the car park on the mainland for a couple of days. We neglected to check if they had charging available. The restaurant had Tesla Superchargers outside, which charged us up while we found the toilet, that we’d missed the lunch window, and grabbed some snackage.

A pretty chilled day in Tuscany.

Early morning work meeting for Tom in the Tesla and some work (coding) overlooking the valley. Pretty great office view. Breakfast provided on site. There was no “or” on the menu, but they did request no waste. Francis had an afternoon nap to recover from not feeling well, only to be suddenly woken by the cleaner who missed the “do not disturb” sign. Whoops! While we enjoyed the view, Marvin’s (our home mower) Italian cousins scurried around, keeping the lawn trim. I only ventured out in the Tesla to grab some pizza for dinner. I tried the parking spots until I found one where the car fit. Only to then see that the Land Rover next to me had taken three spots at once. (It’s much bigger than the photo perspective suggests). Charging: All charged up from the destination charger at our accommodation.

Random shopping observations in Italy

tions in Italy: For even mild drugs like paracetamol, you have to go to a pharmacy, and queue. Some have a dispenser chute from upstairs, as pictured. When we start speaking English, they will usually laugh, say “no”, and call over their designated English speaking staff. In an earlier town, while trying to buy a lactose intolerance pill, I nearly bought a lactose pill. That could have been nasty. You have to be very careful with translations. We bought some fruit, veg and snacks at a local “Coop” grocery store. At the checkout, the operator had to take our fruit back to the fruit section, weigh them, choose the price per kg, print a sticker, bring it back to the checkout. We were apparently supposed to do that, but she was forgiving. Rubbish is sorted into several bins. One of our hosts told us that government contracts to properly dispose of waste are fraudulently controlled by the mafia who transport it to other countries to dump it 😧. Charging: PlugShare doesn’t show all the…

We left the serenity of our Tuscan villa and headed into the chaos of Florence alleyways.

We tried to park in a small parking lot, but they needed a key (or card) in case they need to move it. Our UFODRIVE rental doesn’t provide us with the Tesla car card, so we couldn’t park there. Fortunately, we were able to squeeze into a street parking spot, 10m further down the alleyway. We grabbed some breakfast at the cafe next to us, mainly so we had access to a toilet. I tried to order a ham and cheese toastie, but ended up with a ham and cheese omelette. One of the waitresses smiled at me (Tom) and blew me a kiss. I won’t spoil the story by revealing more details. We walked for a while to the basilica, figured out where the line started, and grabbed a gelato to eat while we waited. We managed to finish it off just in time. Total queuing was about 30 minutes. All roads lead to Rome. Back into the Tesla, we headed south.

We’re on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond, in Italy, 20 years after filming. F

rancis is a big fan, and we both loved that Season 5 double episode. We found the location for where they stayed, where Robert met Stephania, at the gelato shop, where Ray bought the best pizza he’d ever eaten (which is no longer a pizza shop). We couldn’t find Robert’s wallet next to the wharf.

One last church before the walk towards the Vatican.

We ended our walk through Rome with a visit to St Peter’s Basilica, at The Vatican.

We found an EV charge point tucked away behind security in St Peter’s Square (see photo). It wasn’t open to the public, so perhaps it’s used by the Pope Mobile or the several police cars that patrol the square (fume free – yay!). Dinner at a nearby restaurant. Then a walk through a few tunnels to try to find the car park. Charging: We stopped at some random fast charger along the highway on the way back to our accommodation. We stopped for about ten minutes to top up.

Rome in a day, part one. We noted that the Trevi fountain was undergoing renovations, so…

…we instead headed for the Plaza Navona… which was also obscured by renovations. Walking through the streets is an adventure of its own. Grabbed some lunch. Now, onward through the streets of Rome. Hopefully we can find the Tesla on our return, parked in a station, almost under the Vatican.

Stop two, on our wander through Rome.

No line. No fee. No reconstruction barriers. Probably the most spectacularly decorated church (or building in general) I have ever seen.

At the Pantheon. And recovering nearby with a fruit drink, in part to gain a QR code to…

…use a toilet 🤪. The walk through Rome continues…

We grabbed a few glimpses of the Mediterranean Sea as we drove north along the Italian…

…Coast, towards Lucca, near Pisa. Charging: On the map, a charger near the coast looked like a good place to stretch our legs. On arrival, it was in a shopping center car park, not near anything interesting. I had a stretch, short charge, and we kept going. The UFODRIVE app warned us that we have exceeded the 5000km included with our rental. I underestimated our total Europe driving by about 40%.

We’re staying in Lucca. W

ing in Lucca. We live on the second floor. We live upstairs from you. Yes, I think you’ve seen us before. 🎼 If you hear something late at night Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight Just don't ask me what it was Ok, throwback song lyrics aside, “something late at night” was me trying to find some nearby food outlet. First was Asian. Second night was getting pizza from across the road in the pouring rain, after waiting under an awning for the pizza shop to open. When I returned, drenched, our host Maria had given us some snacks and wine for our movie night in. Very kind. When we arrived, carrying Fran’s pillow, Maria laughed that we’d brought a pillow all the way from Australia and asked if her pillows weren’t good enough. We stayed in the Kind Arthur room, complete with a mural of him on the wall. Breakfast on site, prepared by the lovely Nadia. The hearts on the coffee were the virtual icing in the cake. Charging: No EV charger at the premises, but Maria offered to arrange for us…

Starting our return northward journey, from Rome towards Lucca, near Pisa.

We turned on “Avoid Toll Roads” and took some rural roads near the west coast of Italy. We stumbled across this cute little cafe in the middle of nowhere, with a family of welcoming cats. Charging: Right next to the cafe was a bank of Tesla Superchargers, so our EV filled up while we had a coffee.

Possibly the best thing about visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa is seeing how many…

…people pose for a photo to hold it up. Charging: We looked for a nearby EV charger on the Chargemap app, and found one within a short walk of the tower. As a bonus, the parking is free at the charger, but paid in the other spots. The Enel X system was again a bit of a hurdle. I started to resort to trying the website, but eventually discovered that I just need to hold the payment card on the machine for longer.

We explored the walled town of Lucca.

Charging: Free car parking at a nearby charger. Nice.

We found this lovely B&B in the Italian countryside, just past Alessandria.

Our host, Greta, was equally lovely, making our breakfast and having a good chat. She confessed that part of this was procrastination over study 😉. Charging: No EV charging here, but we charged earlier along the highway.

We headed north from Lucca, stopping on the coast at the little town of Lerici, for a…

…cuppa and a stretch. The toilet at the cafe was just a seat over a hole in the floor, so we looked elsewhere. The public toilet required coins, but after coins failed, a local told just that you can just open the door. BYO toilet paper. Charging: Much easier to find a charger than a toilet. We stopped along the highway near Ronco Scrivia and grabbed some lunch while the car connected to fast charging.

October 17 - 22: We stayed for a few nights in a flat, 40 minutes from Rome.

Great view from the balcony. Our hosts Antonio and Roberta were lovely. They live in the flat on the ground floor. We had several conversations through the Google Translate app. For the first time, our accommodation included an adapter for Australian plugs. They even brought up their microwave for us to use. Dinners in our flat included: 1. The first night, when we arrived, we were a bit wrecked. So, cereal for dinner. 2. Francis cooked up a delicious veg pasta, which, thanks to the microwave, fed us two nights. 3. Tom tracked down a local pizza shop and ordered a dessert from the menu. The pizza was great. The “dessert” turned out to be spinach and chili something, which was inedible. Definitely failed with the translation there. Charging: Parking was on the street. No EV charger here, but a few options nearby. Well just charge when the opportunity arises.

Leaving Italy. So many toll booths, with different systems.

Some give you a ticket to insert at the other end, then pay. Some require payment up front with a tap on. Some don’t do tap on, so you have to use a physical card. Different booths for different payments. We reversed out of a few. Not a fan. After that, we turned on “Avoid Toll Roads” in the navigation. The most expensive toll of the whole trip was leaving Italy through a long tunnel to France. This toll booth was actually staffed. When he said “€55”, I asked “Is that just for this road?” Yes it was. The cafe had very little. We settled for a croissant and cuppa. We passed on the pokies. French/Italian alps along the way. Beautiful scenery. Charging: We plugged into the Tesla Superchargers just before the border crossing tunnel, while grabbing a cuppa. A couple of trucks had almost ICEd our access, but we managed to do some reverse precision driving around them.

First stop (on the return northbound trip) in France.

Time for a break and afternoon tea, so we just looked in our general direction on the navigation map for something random worth the stop. Waterfall and cafe – perfect! This cafe’s decorations showed that Halloween is surprisingly big in random places across Europe. Crepes with sugar frosting. Mum: I think your crepes are better 😋. We spotted another EV parked there too – a Porsche Taycan, which costs about three to four times our Tesla. Charging: No EV charger here. We charged earlier while stopping for a cuppa, just before we crossed the border from Italy.

We followed our usual pattern: at about 4pm we looked on Booking.com for somewhere to…

…or somewhere to stay, generally in our direction of travel. We stayed at this lovely B&B house in La Tour-du-Pin, a medium sized town in France. The owner, her visiting daughter, and her young son looked after us, with breakfast and tips on local attractions. And music played on an old style record player. When we told a few locals we are from Australia, they each asked “why did you come here?” I don’t think they get many passing through 😉. For dinner, we were really needing some veggies. So, we bypassed the traditional French cuisine, and opted instead, both nights, for Asian style food from nearby “Marco Polo Cuisine du Monde”. The (French) manager was thrilled to put a second pin into Australia on his world map of visitors (pictured).

Day trip back towards the French Alps, along some sections of road carved into the side…

…of a mountain. Beautiful hike along the stream to a waterfall. The restaurant on the map was not a functioning option when we arrived, so we made do with snacks we happened to have in the car. The toilet turned out to be BYO toilet paper, so we became popular with other hikers when we showed up with a spare roll. Be prepared.

We left our B&B, detouring on our way to Paris, to check out this “palace” suggested by…

…our hosts. What a quirky place. Built by a postman, over several decades, with no particular artistic or engineering skills. It’s kind of like a large sandcastle sculpture. Along the way, we snapped a photo next to a wind turbine. Notice how the crops are planted right up to the edge of it. A great way to keep agricultural land and still generate power. Charging: A destination charger in the car park, which was handy because this route doesn’t have many options, unlike the suggested route to Paris, on the navigation.

A brief drive through Lyon, heading north west towards Cluny and Paris.

Parking was at a premium. Then we thought to look on the Tesla navigation for an EV charger, which of course comes with parking. Great! We found one a few blocks away – an Australian brand “Tritium”. One bay way taken, so we parked in the spare bay and had a brief wander in the central park. Again, the toilets disappointed, so back to the car to get toilet paper. Again, EV chargers are easier to find than functioning toilets, in much of Europe. Charging: The first EV in Lyon hadn’t moved by the time we returned, so we checked the navigation for somewhere to charge along the highway, on our way to Cluny. The next stop was also a dud, with the available charger not working. This has been rare for us to see. The next stop worked fine.

We stopped in Cluny, France, for a couple of nights, at this B&B, hosted by Cedric.

sted by Cedric. Beautiful historic town. A few streets adorned with strings of bras, which we were told are in support of breast cancer research fund raising. Parking in the narrow cobblestone roads is a challenge. It took a couple of attempts to find somewhere that didn’t block a turning area or garage. On any road trip, the laundry eventually catches up with us. We started some machines going in the local laundrette while we enjoyed some lunch nearby. Then we laid the clean clothes in the Tesla’s frunk to sort out a bit later. Charging: No EV chargers in this historic lane. Our host chargers his Fiat in the single car driveway from a standard power point. There’s a destination charger in town, which we used while exploring the abbey (see separate post).

Inching closer to Paris, we stopped overnight at a B&B in Saint-Clement.

Breakfast was a hamper delivery in the morning. Dinner was a regretted kebab from across the road. On the way to Saint Clement, we stopped at a patisserie for lunch, followed by Halloween themed cake. Charging: There was a destination charger over the road I didn’t think to use it until the next morning while we had breakfast. It was a bit of a drama to get it working, as you can tell from the screenshots.

Having finished the laundry and exhausted our hour of parking, we shuffled our now clean…

…clothes into the frunk, drove to the other end of town, plugged into a destination charger, and proceeded to fold our clothes and pack them into our suitcases. Life in Europe is so glamorous! Next to the charger is possibly Cluny’s main attraction: The Cluny Abbey. We felt obliged to visit it. Charging: Later that evening, I popped out for a walk from our accommodation to collect the car, which was fully charged for our trip towards Paris tomorrow.

We arrived at at the Palace of Versailles, passed the golden gates and the armed guards…

…only to discover that tickets to the actual palace were completely sold out for today. So, we spent the afternoon wandering the magnificent gardens (which also required tickets). But first, lunch at one of the restaurants, which turned out to be big plate (and bill), small meal. Fancy and delicious, though. We bought tickets to the palace for tomorrow, which means another trip back here from our accommodation on the other side of Paris. Charging: We looked for a nearby EV charger, which would have also given us free parking, but they were taken. So, we paid about $30 for parking near the front gate. We’ll charge on the way to our accommodation, while having dinner.

Our second run in with police in Europe. This time in France.

After exploring the gardens around the Palace of Versailles, in the evening we drove through the southern suburbs of Paris towards the accommodation we had booked earlier that day. The navigation said to take an exit in 300m, but there were two close together, and I mistakenly took the one, which took us back in the wrong direction, through a low clearance long tunnel with a €12 fee., adding another hour to our trip. This was not going well. We exited the tunnel, back in the suburbs, driving through Versailles. Slow traffic, single lane in each direction. We could hear a siren somewhere getting closer. Suddenly, there was a police car on the wrong side of the road heading straight for our rental Tesla. In addition to flashers and sirens, they started flashing high beams. We stopped, checked rear vision cameras and mirror, and slowly reversed to the side. Bang! We hit something. We felt and heard it. “Shit shit shit” I said as I immediately thought of the €2000 excess that would soon…

Our Versailles string of mishaps continued.

First the good news. We finally got out of Versailles and the busy night time suburbs of Paris, heading south east towards our accommodation. Overdue for some dinner, and the EV needing a charge, we looked on the Tesla’s navigation for a stop along the way for both. We picked one of several options along the way, a bank of “V4” Tesla superchargers. We parked, plugged in, and walked next door to “Best Wok” – an all you can eat buffet restaurant. Once we started talking, the designated English speaking staff member came over to help us. The staff were all lovely. Even the robot that collected the dirty plates and delivered drinks, had a smile. Marvin better lift his game 😉. So many food options. We were overjoyed to have fresh veggies. We plated a pile of ingredients, handed them to the wok cook, and watched him fry it up. Fun and delicious. We didn’t have escargot or frogs legs, but this was such a joyful meal to have in France. Returning to our car, all the other EVs had left. We soon…

Back to the Palace of Versailles.

We got to go inside this time, having finally snapped up tickets. Interior decorating overload. Amazing, ostentatious, a bit crowded. The stairs have a well worn groove from so many visitors. The traffic home seemed busier than yesterday. A long slow drive to get back. We later discovered that tomorrow is a public holiday “All Saints Day”. So, we were driving out of Paris suburbs in peak hour, just before a long weekend. We stopped by Best Wok again for dinner, and snapped a photo with the robot waiter. Charging: Tesla Superchargers next to Best Wok. The car was charged before we finished our first course of dinner. We could have also charged at or accommodation. So many options.

A lazy day after two days of tackling traffic to and from Versailles.

We drove through some of the poorer high density suburbs around us, stopping in a park with a random ruin. Filled with families playing bocci, other ball games, and just enjoying life. Lunch options were difficult to find. We discovered that it was “All Saints Day”, with many businesses closed. We ate at a pub, still Halloween themed, including dismembered body parts. We opted for vegetarian 😉. Tomorrow we’re heading to Paris.

We used the last of our Luxury Escapes credit to book a couple of nights at this hotel in…

…Paris, a few blocks walk from the Eiffel Tower and the river. Parking on site, but it was a tight fit. The toilets were in the basement, with an impressive arched roof of stones. Many enticing patisseries nearby, even just outside our window. First task was to buy some croissants to have in our room. Then a walk to the Eiffel Tower, and some dinner out, in Paris. As you do 😉.

How many photos can we take of the Eiffel Tower?

Eiffel Tower? We tried our best, over a couple of days, while we stayed a few blocks away, in Paris.

Quite a few different types of electric vehicles in Paris, including cars, buses, vans…

…, buses, vans, boats, motorcycles, e-bikes, even unicycles! The inner region of the city now requires vehicles to register and display an emissions sticker. The less polluting the vehicle, the cheaper the permit. The result: noticeably improved air quality, with obvious benefits to health. There are also many electric charging options. The future is looking good.

We strolled around Paris, checking out some more of the architecture.

Lunch at la Petit Palais (the Little Palace).

Much more inviting, friendly and accessible than most palatial attractions.

Goodbye Paris. A quick wave as we passed the Arc de Triomphe and the Moulin Rouge.

Northward to Sant-Quentin, France, for a traditional… Indian dinner. Charging: We lazily just let the Tesla guide us to a supercharger along the way. For the first time in our two years of driving a Tesla, there was actually a queue. Fascinated by the novelty, we hung around, wondering how it’s sorted. A line of cars had formed at one end, so we drove around to join. We waited over 20 minutes. Not a novelty anymore. But I can say I’ve done it now. It turned out to be some end of holiday high demand rush. If we had it again, I would have picked a less busy charger along the route

We arrived last night in this delightful B&B, in the small French town of Flavy-Le-Martel.

Our host shared breakfast time with us, telling us the history. She bought the derelict house, which had been abandoned for thirty years. She moved from Paris, and spent a decade rebuilding it, with help from contractors, but mostly herself, with instructions from YouTube videos. Very impressive. We loved being back on rural roads.

We drove from France, through Belgium, back to Amsterdam.

First stop, in Lesquin France, at a McDonalds for lunch. This was our first and only fast food chain stop while in Europe. We were curious to see if it was much different to home. The French fries on the menu are, of course, just called “fries” (or “frites”, in French). They also offer plant based chicken nuggets. Charging: We parked next door to McDonald’s, at the Tesla Supercharger, which filled us up from 7% arrival, while we had lunch. We tried a Shell charger at a highway service station, while we were stopped for a few minutes toilet break. Another toilet break at a KFC offered us a few minutes to top up at the Tesla Supercharger there. Charging is what the car does while you’re doing something else.

Full circle through Europe, after nearly 8000km, back to Amsterdam.

We checked in at the Clayton Hotel. Parking across the canal at QPark – not cheap in the city, for a few days. Tight fit. Several EV charging points. The nearby Albert Heijn store stocked Australian Lindermans wine. Charging: No need to charge. We’ll return the car in a few days. UFODRIVE only requires 20% charge when returning the EV. Much better than the typical rental petrol car full tank requirement.

A day wandering around Amsterdam, starting at the Van Gogh Museum.

Lunch next to the canal. No fumes or noise from the many passing tour boats, because they are all electric. Blissful. Charging: Our car sat in the parking station, while we wandered. Many charging options around town, next to standard parking spots.

A lazy wander around Amsterdam.

Really need to pay attention when crossing the road. Watch out for tiny cars, electric bikes, trams, line marking machines, horses, even stilts.

Our last meet up with cousin Nico, in Amsterdam, for lunch at the Noorderlicht Café.

Converted docklands with some interesting large artwork. We’ve spent two months in Europe. We hired a Tesla Model Y from UFODRIVE in the Netherlands, visited Germany for lunch, drove all over the Netherlands, then through Belgium, France and Switzerland, down to Italy, and back. We left Nico with a “gift bag” of all the road tripping gear (cooler bag, utensils etc) that wouldn’t fit in our plane baggage tomorrow. Sad to say goodbye, but lots of great memories.

We can cross “electric hearse” off our list of electric vehicles to see 😮. Seems

to be a custom converted Tesla.

Our final night in Amsterdam, and the Netherlands, and Europe, before our long flight…

…home tomorrow.

Up early (ish) to drive the Tesla to the airport.

Luckily we allowed extra time, because a bus breakdown at the airport delayed us by an hour. And then trying to find where to return the rental car took us ages. UFODRIVE needs to improve the airport drop off instructions. But the rest of the return process worked pretty well. All from within the app, take some photos and finalise to lock the car.

The long flight home from Amsterdam, via Singapore, back to Melbourne.

to Melbourne. First, a quick correction to Tom’s inside out t-shirt – it was a chaotic morning getting to the airport. The food and service on Singapore AIRLINES was great. The in flight wifi is good, but connecting to it is more complicated than it should be. We couldn’t sleep. Towards the end, we looked at each other in despair and lamented “the human body was not designed to endure this”. Final leg from Melbourne Airport to home in Emerald via Uber in a Tesla Model 3, just like ours. We were impressed how the driver managed to fit all our luggage in the boot. Just in time for a well earned sleep 😴. Next morning: removal of the Europe road trip beard.