Ok, it's been a while, but here is my report. The delivery date was met exactly. I flew to Frankfurt and rented a car/driver to get to the Knopf Bed and Breakfast in Heidelberg. The Harley was there all ready to go in front of my motel style room.
Knopf had taken care of all the customs formalities, I had purchased my insurance green card from an Italian source (more on this later), so I was good to go for the next morning. However, a lifelong friend and his wife were based in Stuttgart (military base) so we went out that evening for a meal and German beer.
I rode down to Italy the next day (some rain unfortunately in German) but when I got over the Alps into Italy the sun was out. I stopped for the night on August 15th (2011) an Italian holiday and had a holiday meal at the fine restaurant associated at the very fine Elefant (German spelling) Hotel named as such because Hannibal supposedly used this pass to get into Italy with his elephants.
The next day it was hot as heck riding to Tuscany but I got there in the evening .
Enjoyed riding around Tuscany that summer.
The next summer (2012) I had an adventure and took a ferry to Corisca where I spent a week riding around the island.
This summer 2013, I did local rides only around my home in Tuscany, but it was great fun too.
Anyway, it was a great decision to bring the Harley to Europe and keeping it there for summer riding.
Insurance. The Green Card insurance supplied by Mototouring in Italy is relatively expensive but that's what I have done the past two years. I purchase about 3 months worth and it is expensive, much more than a year's worth of insurance in Maryland.
Well, if you are a veteran and can qualify for USAA insurance, it is very inexpensive compared to the Green Card route. (They also send you a Green card by the way). I put one of my cars in the U.S. on USAA insurance and that will allow me to purchase insurance for the Harley from them and they cover the bike in Italy
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