Abenteuer and Allrad

This is the biggest off-road and long distance travel show in Europe held in Bad Kissengen We've wanted to visit for many years but the timing has never been right - until now.

There were more than 300 exhibitors from all over the world, showing all aspects of camping/ off-road vehicles from 4x4's, quads, ATVs, pick-ups, as well as superstructures and conversions of expedition vehicles and motorhomes. Add to that all the spare parts and accessories, tents and attached tents of all kinds, extensive caravanning and travel equipment and you can understand why the show lasted for 4 days.

A Porsche with a Porsche roof tent. Not sure of the off-road capability 

Now that's a pop up roof!

Not sure why this huge MAN truck has a roof tent on the cab. Mark thinks it might be for the butler :) 

Our friend John got to the camp area fairly early on the morning before the show and staked out a spot for us so he could put up his tent and we had space for our camper. By the end of that day vehicles were trying to shoehorn their way into the tightest spots. And still they kept rolling in. Here are some views from our camper area. 

As well as the show, half the fun was walking around the camp area, talking to other people and seeing what they were using. Mark also got to show off our camper.  There was a big Unimog parked in front of us and the owner was a manufacturer of the boxes that go on the vehicles. He was amazed at how much room we had inside.

One evening we were invited to join a group around a campfire. They go every year, not for the show but to meet up with friends from different parts of the country. Needless to say, a good night was had by all.

After the show, we said goodbye and headed to Nuremberg.

Our first week in Germany

 From Zurich we headed to Stuttgart in Germany. 

First stop was the Porsche museum. The original museum opened in 1976 and was a relatively small and only big enough to hold around 20 exhibits (in rotation).

The new one opened in January 2009 and it takes you on an historic journey from the first Egger-Lohner C.2 Phaeton electric car (1898) and it is the oldest surviving construction that Ferdinand Porsche worked on.

From here the journey continues through time including various racing vehicles of the 1950s, the beginning of the Porsche 911 era in the 1960s, the 917 racing cars of the 1970s and a variety of vehicle concepts from the following decades: Porsche Carrera GT, Porsche 918 Spyder, Porsche 919 Hybrid.

It was good but we expected more.h

Our campground wasn't far from the Mercedes Benz museum so we visited that the next day and we were not disappointed. We were there for over 5 hours as the museum is on 9 levels. A lift takes you to the top floor and as you wind your way down through the levels, you discover the history of the car and the company

The museum celebrates the car invented by Carl Benz in 1886, it's history and the day to day life stories . There are over 160 vehicles ranging from the oldest cars ever built, their famous owners, racing cars and futuristic research vehicles. 

Later that afternoon we tried to visit the Schwein (pig) museum, but despite getting there well before the last entry time, the ill-tempered curator told us it was closed and slammed the door. Instead, the nice waitress from the beer garden at the back invited us round for drinks, even though they weren't really open. After a few beers, we ate the cast.

The following day we walked along the river and into town. Here are just a few views of the city:

After our long walk we decided it was time for a light lunch so on our friend's recommendation ( thanks Blair) we went to Onkol Otto's for schnitzel. After looking at the 2 full pages of schnitzel, Mark had the XXL (with chips) and I chose the Lady schnitzel which came with a salad 😃. We weren't going to leave hungry, that's for sure.

Then it was on to Heidelberg the next day. It has one of the oldest universities in Europe, lots of old buildings, churches and bridges. We saw the funicular up to the ruins of Heidelberg Castle on Königstuhl hill, but decided the view was better from afar.

After Heidelberg we headed to the biggest off-road camper show in Europe, Abenteuer and Allrad, and my next post