27th May 1984 - Bus through Europe

Sunday 27^th May  We arrived in Belgium at about 12.40am and waited for the vehicular movements to be complete before we foot passengers stormed into the customs office and stormed out again to collect luggage and get on board our respective luxury coaches. Ours was an unmarked orange and blue Mercedes Benz bus, barless and no toilet either – not an overnight bus, but the sort built for day trips. It was commanded by two Greeks who wanted £5 from anyone who had more than one big piece of luggage, which defied previous advice and logic as the bus wasn’t full.

   We eventually got under way and went to sleep, moving through Belgium. In the daylight went through German border. We passed Koln, Frankfurt, Heidelburg, Munich. Not so rainy, but cloudy all the same. Stopping for essentials at the whim of the drivers. Green fields, some with yellow flowers; forest, of course; German towns. We had slow-stoppiness for several kilometres because of an accident up ahead – the driver stopped the engine and glided down the slope.

   Past Munich and into the Austrian Tyrol or whatever, into those valleys, past Lake Cheme through to Salzburg (past it, actually). The mountains are somewhat spectacular, with bits of snow, the grass is green, the trees are green and parts of the sky were blue. Sailors and windsurfers on the lake.

   Late at night we arrived at the border. They let us through at the Austrian side, but not the Yugoslavian side. This was not due to the looks of our untrustworthy faces or anything, but to some officious Slavian [Slovenian?] border official who wouldn’t let the German-registered bus through because it didn’t have a permit to get through. According to the Greeks it’s never been a problem before.

   A decision was made; we turned around and made our way towards Italy, passing through the border at about 4.30 on the morning of Monday 28^th May.

A Postcard I recently received from Slovenia, the little European country with LOVE in its name.