TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

Back in the summer of 2019, I went to visit Brno, a pretty city in the southern part of Czechia.  Did you know that the Czech Republic has changed its name to Czechia? However, it seems that the rest of the world is struggling to accept its new name because the Czech Republic is still being used to reference the country. Renaming a country is always a tricky thing.

On our last day in Saarschleife, we took it real slow taking our time in the morning. I woke up early and was reading this thriller book but couldn't finish it before we leave. I told myself to read it when I am back home, but until now, I still haven't finished it yet. The book will have to wait for another holiday planned because I forgot to bring it to our winter sports holiday last January. I thought I could use a reading. We had our last breakfast in the treehouse and then we packed up our stuff. After checking out at 12:00 we deposited our stuff in the car and went for a stroll on the River Saar. The place is beautiful and we are very much looking forward to this walk.

 This is the  Saarschleife , the stunning horseshoe bend on the River Saar in Mettlach, Germany. There are a few hiking trails in the Saar-Hunsruck Nature Park. The famous short hike is the Cloef Pfad (Cloef Trail) which is a loop trail that brings you down to the Saar River and up to Baumwipfelpfad (Treetop trail) and the Cloef viewing point (see photo above). It is about 8.4 kilometers and takes on average about 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete. You need to have good stamina for this hike because of the elevation.

When I joined this company that I work for now more than 2 years ago, they gave me an SUV, a VW Tiguan. This is my first SUV car. When the lease was up in April last year, I could choose a new car. They say that once you have driven an SUV, you will never change back. Well, that is quite true in my experience.  After weeks of comparing electric SUVs, I have narrowed down my choice to a VW ID.4. The order was placed in March but because of a chip shortage last year, I only received the brand new car in late October.  So naturally, first things first, we need to test drive this ID.4! But more importantly, we need to understand the workings of driving an electric car. There is a lot to learn about the whole charging infrastructure, particularly outside the Netherlands, and how to plan and manage charging the car when driving long distances. We picked Germany as our destination to test drive the new electric car and combine this with a long extended weekend getaway.