Epic Journey!

Miles: 1,800
Countries: 4
Driving Hours: 24

...And a lot less painful than expected! Our Epic Journey to buy Roland's new car in London and drive it back to Rome is complete! What a cool and interesting drive. There was so much beautiful scenery that it totally made up for things such as the ridiculous amount of gas station sandwiches consumed, number of visits to public restrooms, fingernails lost while digging them into the dashboard in terror as we slid around in the snow in the middle of the night, and terrible musical selection on the radio. Seriously - I have now heard terrible music in more languages than is decent. First French, then German, and finally Italian...which I think was probably the worst. There was one Italian song that was so awful yet so horribly catchy that we both ended up singing it for hours...I think there was a little bit of highway-induced loss of sanity there. But I digress.

Our Journey took us on a flight from Rome to London to pick up the new car (a silver VW Polo Sport). It's a great little car and will be perfect for Rome! From London we drove down to Dover, a town at one of the Southern-most points of the UK. From there we boarded the Euro Tunnel train, about which I had no idea what to expect. It ended up being really simple - we drove right up and on to the train, which consisted of oversized compartments where you drive in, put your car in park, and hang out for the duration of the journey (35 mins). We both thought it would be a great -and last- opportunity for a power nap before the long drive. Unfortunately the massive family packed clown-car style in the vehicle in front of us did not agree and were happy to let their kids run screaming circles around the rest of the compartment.

Here we are driving on to the Euro Tunnel train.

And here we are inside of the train compartment.

One quick, sleepless journey later we arrived in Calais in Northern France. We drove off the train and through customs without anyone so much as glancing up at us. Then we were off!

                                       

Our GPS a little while into the drive through France - It says 1,431km and 13.5 hours left to go!

The next 5 hours or so on the road were the least scenic and eventful of the trip. We drove through some pretty countryside, and I think the only thing I took a photo of was a windmill or two. There was no traffic at all...might be due to the 60 or so euros we had to pay in tolls on the roads in the first few hours alone! Shortly after nightfall, however, things got interesting...and by interesting I mean heavy snowfall, extremely slippery roads, and not a snow plow in sight. Added to this was the fact that: by this time we'd been traveling 12 hours, our G.P.S. had suddenly decided to take us off the highway and on a random tour of the snowy back roads of France, and the landscape was becoming progressively more slippery and mountainous...we decided to call it a night.

The weather looked much better for day two. There was still snow, but by the morning, plows had been through and cleared most of the roads. We got up early and headed into Switzerland, where I got my first look at the Alps. The scenery was breathtaking and absolutely stunning. No words can really do it justice. Being that I am from the Midwest in the States, I'd never actually seen a mountain before me in person, so I pretty much just sat and stared in wonder for the hours it took us to cross through Switzerland. The weather was also really funny throughout the day...one minute we'd be driving and everything would be covered in snow, the next minute there was nonthing but green trees...then back to snow again. It was interesting how quickly and often it changed. I took dozens and dozens of photos (through the car window) through this favorite part of the road trip, and here are just a few. (click on them to see full size).

These last couple are from Italy. Italy was actually the longest portion of our drive. There was not as much to see on the highway through Italy...we would have had to detour into the towns to really see them, and neither of us could stomach adding any additional minutes to our journey. But there were still some mountains, and plenty of green to see as well.  

One of the beautiful lakes surrounded by mountains. I'm not positive, but I don't think we were far from Milan here.

So, we made it in a one piece and not too much worse for wear!... (unless you're counting calories in convenience store sandwiches...then we're worse. Much.). What a cool drive...not that I'd ever like to do it again, but still. Very glad to have had the experience.