Now in France!
Since being in Graz, flew to Frankfurt and was met by Benno. Neither of us had ever met before by the connection was made by Benno waving a HWSD sign on the end of a stick. That was a brilliant idea :)
Benno had arranged to take us to see a number of Connemara pony studs - the ownerrs and the ponies. This entailed a lot of driving for him. We got caught up in road works on the autobahn which slowed us right down after arriving late in Frankfurt in the first place.
Cruisin' down the autobahn at 180k/h was a neat experience! Autobahn drivers are very civilised - need to move lanes, no problem. Huge numbers of 18 wheelers from all over the EU on the autobahns. Nearly all B trains very few truck and trailer units. A great number of truck break stops as well - all of which are crowded at any time of the day.
As well as looking at ponies Benno also took us to Rothenburg - a walled city - which was en route to one of the studs which we visited.
The following day we visited Benno's own ponies and watched one of his youngsters being worked at the breakers. This was after a sightseeing trip down the Rhine Valley and watching the humongous barges which ply the Rhine - not to mention thepassenger ferries and the cruise ships!
One of the bulk freight carriers.
