Tag Archives: Covid test

Day 9 – Give me shelter …

Everything is already so wet. It rained through the night. We decided for once against our pride and to make use of the facilities we are paying for. So instead of huddling under our awning, we packed everything up and got ourselves comfortable in the camp kitchen. A dry breakfast helped in getting the spirits up.

We actually used the kitchen to stay dry during breakfast

In the end, we were the only ones we saw all morning. Exploring the service building a bit more, we thought this really cool family bathroom was worth taking advantage off and added a family scrub to the list of things to do before facing the rain to take down the tent.

While we wrapped up our kids in full battle regalia, they did not last through the entire packing without complaining bitterly. We had to drop everything and head down to the playground at the lake for some cooling of tempers. So we were now pushing on lunch time before getting on the road – something that will become relevant to how our day would go …

Stopping at a random roadside cafe called Emma Grön

It was only two hours to our destination of the day: Visiting Emma, an old friend of Nina and myself. Well, actually not only Emma anymore, since she had found a companion since last we met and we were looking forward to be meeting Johan for the first time as well. The original plan was to have the lunch stop half way and arrive leisurely in the early afternoon. Now we were merely on the road and had already missed lunchtime.

Not much we could do about that, so I set course for the first restaurant Google suggested along the road. What an incredible luck we have sometimes. It turned out that Emma Grön could hardly have been more up our alley. We had a wonderful and tasty lunch in a little witches’ hut of a dining room. Oh, and the sweet treats looked so appetizing that we already knew that we would stay for dessert. What a great way to lift the spirits!

Urban camping in Emma’a driveway

The rest of the way was uneventful – apart from some last minute COVID tests to keep our hosts and potential humans to be as safe as possible. With slight delay we arrived and triggered all of the burglar alarms around the house while waiting for Emma to return from her shopping run. We had initially intended to stay nearby somewhere with a good camp spot. But the relentless rain with no respite in sight had lead us to jump at the offer of some “urban camping” in our friends’ driveway.

The evening had much sharing of love and old tales, while we were spoilt by a great home-cooked lasagne from Johan. The kids slept as well as anywhere – why wouldn’t they? It is the same tent wherever it is parked.

Thank you Emma and Johan, for the shelter we needed …

  • We actually used the kitchen to stay dry during breakfast
  • What cool family showers they have in Sweden!
  • Such a good big brother! (sometimes)
  • Trying to give Flo some peace and quiet to finish packing our stuff
  • Number 3 doing a round of the wooden platforms
  • And then we all followed
  • Puddles on the playground
  • Whale rider
  • Stopping at a random roadside cafe called Emma Grön
  • Lovely place with lovely food. Great home-made bread as a starter
  • “I can do this!”
  • Number 3 wanted a whole fish…it arrived
  • And he was so happy about it!
  • The landscape was great – the weather not
  • A melange in grey
  • Two burglars setting off Emma’s alarm on her porch
  • Self-tests are made of gold in Sweden. We spent quite a lot but I wanted to keep my friends as safe as possible
  • Urban camping in Emma’a driveway

Day 22 – Back to Germany

Our lovely campground provided us with superb German bread rolls for a small fee. It was a great last breakfast in Italy, as we were really close to the Brenner pass or Brennero as the Italians would say.

Number 3 is getting a lot better taking pictures with his own camera

Packing didn’t take long; we hadn’t even unpacked the awning. Once we decided to get going, we were on the road in good time. Flo had planned the route for today which would bring us from Brixen to Illertissen through Austria and to our next Covid test. Organising all this takes a bit of getting used to.

The Brenner was a letdown, especially for Number 3, as it’s neither an especially high pass nor a tunnel. Suddenly, we were at the gate to pay the 10€ toll for the pass we had just taken without realizing it. Ooooh. Number 3 who we primed for an extra long tunnel, was disappointed. Our next “exciting” stop for today was lunch next to a fast charger. On the way there, in search of a bakery for fresh bread, we made the mistake of stopping in front of a Spar supermarket. Number 3 saw the car-shaped trolleys for kids and would not leave this place before he’d driven around in one for a while. With Flo refusing to buy bread in a supermarket when we were “surrounded by bakeries”, we bought fresh milk and left again. Number 3 was beyond happy about this experience.

The notorious car-trolley and a happy Number 3

Having bought bread rolls at a bakery, we found the charger. It was next to a fuel station and a restaurant which you could only enter when recently tested or fully vaccinated. In search of a place to have our picnic, we used the tunnel underneath the motorway and sat down in the shade of a parking lot on the other side. It was rather hot already.

After the break, it was a straight ride to Illertissen. We’d booked a Covid test there at 4pm, but arrived at 3pm already. It was no problem to just get tested earlier. The results would be send to us via email in about 20 minutes as we had a bit of time to kill before we could get to the campground. If you wanna stay somewhere in Germany overnight, you have to be tested.

Ice cream while we wait for our test results

We opted for the usual “gelato and go” ice cream option and sat down in the shade. Before Number 3 had even finished his ice cream, we had our results on our phones and drove the last five minutes to the campground.

The campground was lovely. The owner put us in a nice grassy area with shade, there was a table and a bench next to it and the new facilities were close by. Both kids enjoyed having some free time to play and explore. In no time, both of them looked like piglets.

Flo treated us to a pancake dinner and we brought the kids to bed. We thought we were in for a quiet night, maybe even chat to friends online. Wrong. I was still in the tent with the kids when Flo started to look for his phone. He last used it to show our test results to the owner of the campground…after that he’s not sure what happened to it. So we turned everything upside down. For one and a half hours, we looked into every box, every little place in the car, asked the owner twice if someone had found a phone, looked in the bathrooms…and Flo got grumpier and grumpier. We had to face it, his phone was probably stolen. Bummer.

This is when Flo started to try the “other” solutions. He realised “google find my phone” was an option and got a location on the campground though on the other side of it from where we were. Then, he’d force it to ring even though it was set to silent mode and, on the third try, he could hear it ringing before someone stopped it. In the end, an old lady had it in her hand and he got it back. We’re not sure if she and her husband wanted to steal it or if they just have dementia. Her reaction was “who are you? What is your phone doing in my trailer?” Anyway, he has it again. Phew.

  • Bread rolls for breakfast
  • Our campground neighbours were two guys on a bike trip and Flo immediately started a conversation 🙂
  • Number 3 is getting a lot better taking pictures with his own camera
  • The Alps right in front of us again
  • Sign of the pass (Fernpass) that we took
  • The actual pass
  • The notorious car-trolley and a happy Number 3
  • Visit from a bug at lunchtime
  • Roadside castle
  • Flo was really happy about the bikers out and about on the great roads
  • Both kids fell asleep after lunch
  • Covid test before we were allowed on the campground
  • Ice cream while we wait for our test results
  • A fountain next to the park where we sat down for ice cream
  • So handy when the kids natural instinct align with washing hands after eating ice cream XD
  • Setting up camp
  • This would be me blogging after bringing the kids to bed