A good night’s sleep last night, which, we found out, it something of a rare commodity on this trip. The only complaint we both had was the heat – there’s no AC or fans in the room so you’ve got to tough it out. But, up for our breakfast at 8, then our walking about the city until it got to hot. We wandered over to the casino and the tap-house, then up the hill for a view of the city from the top of the hill. There was a nice breeze up there, but by the time we got back into the valley it was muggy and hot and the grumpy bear in Dad gave up. We headed back to the hotel, I hung around for a few minutes, then did the only civilized thing I could do – I headed to the spa at the end of our street. Baden Baden was in Germany what Bath was in England during the Georgian Age, so there is a long tradition of spas in this town.
And, it was the oddest massage I’ve ever had. I got there around 10.30 and had an hour to wait for my appointment. I sat in the spa’s restaurant with a Newsweek I bought that was from March (and I didn’t notice until I started reading an article on the American health-care vote. There was a HUGE group of Russian tourists that showed up shortly after me and, as much as the spa staff tried sushing them, it was super loud with the around. A few minutes before my appointment I headed to the designated floor (the 4th of 5) and had a few minutes to wait when this dude (older dude) came out to get me. I was really hoping he was taking me back to my masseuse – he wasn’t – he was the masseuse. Suffice it to say, the Germans apparently have less concerns about nudity and I think he found it odd that I would diss-robe in front of him. Anyway – an odd experience that required some robaxacet a few hours later. I’m glad I got a discount through our hotel because not only was it cheep, but it wasn’t all that relaxing.
Anywho, after that, I wandered around the old town for a bit, found some lunch at a bakery, then came back to the room to escape the heat. I had a nice cold shower and then got ready for my tour around the gabling hall’s of the big casino. Dad and I headed over there at 7, had dinner, then hit the tables. It wasn’t busy at all, and we were able to find an empty roulette table. On our first spin, I put 5 Euros down on 7 and 35 and won on 7 – translation: that was a take of 175 Euros for me. And that’s when the pit boss changed out the dealer. After that, the table went cold. We played a few more, but I gambled away everything I had except my 100 chip and another 40 Euros. So, I came out 10 ahead. We then went down to the basement where they have electronic games, and we played some more roulette, but without the live dealer. I played with 20 Euros and cashed out at 30. All told, I took the Baden Baden casino for 20 whole Euros! How will they survive!?!?! I’ve had better runs at Hull, but I think Dad’s bad luck – he killed my heater in Hull the last time we were there, and besides that first roll, I didn’t win anything worth while. Oh well – an hour’s diversion and I walked away with 20 Euros.
After that, we headed back to the walking district and sat for a while at a café where Dad had some icecream and I had an iced hot-chocolate. Since Dad lost most of what he played with (in a big bad way) I treated. We then headed back to the room. We’ll be breakfasting at 8 tomorrow, since we’ve got a 2 hour drive up to Frankfurt for our 1.45 flight home. All told, a good trip, but we’re both an
Friday, July 2, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Stubbornness prevails.
Such a nice night last night! Nice, quiet, cool and so relaxing. We headed out into the one of the Tod-towns on the mountain/hill our pension was on for dinner at a swanky restaurant/hotel (there was trout on the menu and a fish-tank of trout out front: neither of us were brave enough to order fish then do a head-count as we walked back to the car). I slept through almost 10 hours, but Dad was woken by local traffic – and by that, I mean the cow-bells and heard of horses whinnying in the paddock across the street from the pension. I got to sit out on the porch watching them for a few minutes this morning and found it really relaxing. After a HUGE country breakfast, we headed out of town for bigger and more exciting places.
First of all, we re-trod some roads looking for views we didn’t get the first time because of crappy weather. Worth it, but I was surprised at the quality of road that I drove in the first few days here – it was a real trial by fire kind of situation. After the alpenstrass, we headed for Strasbourg in France. What a hodge-podge of experiences.
Getting in to town was a little scary. Turns out, Quebec drivers learnt how to drive from the drivers of the mother-land. The road authorities don’t bother maintaining markings on the streets, but that’s okay, since none of the drivers use them or pay any attention to lane markers anyway. In the industrial-suburbs we were stopped at a light when three young women started wandering through the stopped traffic plying a squeegee-trade. We shook our heads no at on of the women, but she still splashed a bit of water on our windshield before I could turn on the wipers to make a real statement, then stood at my window demanding cash. I was appalled since one of the young women was REALLY pregnant and it was at least 30 degrees out – it was a waste of time since we were stuck at that light for 2 or 3 minutes and they made no cash.
Anyway, back to trying to drive through the down-town, trying not to be squished on the guard rails, while trying to spot signs for the city centre – again, the city authorities need to prune some trees since most of the signs were hidden in leaves. We finally found a parking garage a few blocks from the pedestrian zone so parked and hoofed it the rest of the way. A really hot day, but the walk was worth it across the river and through the little winding streets stuffed with tourist shops and restaurants. I was walking along, came to one corner, then – BAMB – there was the cathedral. Less impressive than the one in Koln, but still a site to see, especially when you weren’t expecting it. (In fact, Dad had held back and let me take that corner without saying anything just to see my reaction and he had a good little giggle over it.)
We wandered around the cathedral and into some of the side streets, then, around 11.45, Dad decided he wanted to climb to the balcony level of the church, like he did 30 years ago, to hear the bells at noon. I told him to go for it. Instead of going with him, I walked into the church (a nice change, given the temperature). To get in, you had to buy a ticket from a kiosk that wasn’t marked, with an opening a foot square that led to a guy in a little office. Here’s how the convo went (in French, of course):
Me: If I just wanted to walk around the church, is there a charge for that?
French Dude: It’s free until 11.30.
Me: Oh, okay. So I can just go in through the side door?
FD: Well, it’s passed 11.30.
Me: Oh, right. Okay, so how much then?
FD: 2 Euros.
Me: Okay. Do you have a student price?
FD: Yes.
[Beat]
Me: And how much is that?
FD: 1.50 Euros.
Me: Well, here’s my student card.
FD: Oh, I don’t need that. Here’s your student ticket.
Me: Right….. [as I walked away].
(All very odd, considering a Parisian lady in Luzern commended my French and was surprised when I told her English was my first language.)
Anyway, it turns out they charge because there is something of a show at 12.30 in the cathedral. Strasbourg has a glockenspiel-like astrological clock, which does its thing at 12.30. We were forced to watch an information film about it (25min long, and in French, German and English – and the info varied between the Fr and Eng narration, so I wonder what the hell the Ger was all about). All very impressive – it involved angels clinging bells and turning an hour glass, an old man strolling past death (who then clanged bells), Jesus blessing the apostles, and a mechanical rooster crowing. All told, it lasted less than 3 minutes, but it was quite the sight. Video to follow on Facebook.
After I picked up some tourist nick-knacks, Dad and I had lunch, then got back into the car to head to Baden Baden. One of our tour books mentions a hotel that sounded nice, so we used the GPS to get us there. Turns out the BB is a spa-town (not just a gambling mecca) and the hotel in the book was for a swank spa-hotel. No thanks, we wanted something closer to the zentrum. So, though we got a little lost, we finally found a place near the pedestrian walking zone in town. Getting out of the car, Dad and I agreed on a price and decided that if it was more we would find another pension out of the city, much like the one we stayed at last night. We did this because everything in BB looks really expensive. When the desk clerk told us that the rooms were just a little more than half what we were willing to pay, we jumped at it. We’ve got place to park the car, nice rooms, and are close to the things we want to see. (Though Dad is a little put out since his room is on the 4th floor and there is no AC and, in the valley here, the temperature is pretty high.)
We’ll be doing the tourist thing tomorrow before it gets to hot, then the casino thing in the morning. Then – home! I think we’re both looking forward to getting back to Canada! (Oh, and Happy Canada Day!)
First of all, we re-trod some roads looking for views we didn’t get the first time because of crappy weather. Worth it, but I was surprised at the quality of road that I drove in the first few days here – it was a real trial by fire kind of situation. After the alpenstrass, we headed for Strasbourg in France. What a hodge-podge of experiences.
Getting in to town was a little scary. Turns out, Quebec drivers learnt how to drive from the drivers of the mother-land. The road authorities don’t bother maintaining markings on the streets, but that’s okay, since none of the drivers use them or pay any attention to lane markers anyway. In the industrial-suburbs we were stopped at a light when three young women started wandering through the stopped traffic plying a squeegee-trade. We shook our heads no at on of the women, but she still splashed a bit of water on our windshield before I could turn on the wipers to make a real statement, then stood at my window demanding cash. I was appalled since one of the young women was REALLY pregnant and it was at least 30 degrees out – it was a waste of time since we were stuck at that light for 2 or 3 minutes and they made no cash.
Anyway, back to trying to drive through the down-town, trying not to be squished on the guard rails, while trying to spot signs for the city centre – again, the city authorities need to prune some trees since most of the signs were hidden in leaves. We finally found a parking garage a few blocks from the pedestrian zone so parked and hoofed it the rest of the way. A really hot day, but the walk was worth it across the river and through the little winding streets stuffed with tourist shops and restaurants. I was walking along, came to one corner, then – BAMB – there was the cathedral. Less impressive than the one in Koln, but still a site to see, especially when you weren’t expecting it. (In fact, Dad had held back and let me take that corner without saying anything just to see my reaction and he had a good little giggle over it.)
We wandered around the cathedral and into some of the side streets, then, around 11.45, Dad decided he wanted to climb to the balcony level of the church, like he did 30 years ago, to hear the bells at noon. I told him to go for it. Instead of going with him, I walked into the church (a nice change, given the temperature). To get in, you had to buy a ticket from a kiosk that wasn’t marked, with an opening a foot square that led to a guy in a little office. Here’s how the convo went (in French, of course):
Me: If I just wanted to walk around the church, is there a charge for that?
French Dude: It’s free until 11.30.
Me: Oh, okay. So I can just go in through the side door?
FD: Well, it’s passed 11.30.
Me: Oh, right. Okay, so how much then?
FD: 2 Euros.
Me: Okay. Do you have a student price?
FD: Yes.
[Beat]
Me: And how much is that?
FD: 1.50 Euros.
Me: Well, here’s my student card.
FD: Oh, I don’t need that. Here’s your student ticket.
Me: Right….. [as I walked away].
(All very odd, considering a Parisian lady in Luzern commended my French and was surprised when I told her English was my first language.)
Anyway, it turns out they charge because there is something of a show at 12.30 in the cathedral. Strasbourg has a glockenspiel-like astrological clock, which does its thing at 12.30. We were forced to watch an information film about it (25min long, and in French, German and English – and the info varied between the Fr and Eng narration, so I wonder what the hell the Ger was all about). All very impressive – it involved angels clinging bells and turning an hour glass, an old man strolling past death (who then clanged bells), Jesus blessing the apostles, and a mechanical rooster crowing. All told, it lasted less than 3 minutes, but it was quite the sight. Video to follow on Facebook.
After I picked up some tourist nick-knacks, Dad and I had lunch, then got back into the car to head to Baden Baden. One of our tour books mentions a hotel that sounded nice, so we used the GPS to get us there. Turns out the BB is a spa-town (not just a gambling mecca) and the hotel in the book was for a swank spa-hotel. No thanks, we wanted something closer to the zentrum. So, though we got a little lost, we finally found a place near the pedestrian walking zone in town. Getting out of the car, Dad and I agreed on a price and decided that if it was more we would find another pension out of the city, much like the one we stayed at last night. We did this because everything in BB looks really expensive. When the desk clerk told us that the rooms were just a little more than half what we were willing to pay, we jumped at it. We’ve got place to park the car, nice rooms, and are close to the things we want to see. (Though Dad is a little put out since his room is on the 4th floor and there is no AC and, in the valley here, the temperature is pretty high.)
We’ll be doing the tourist thing tomorrow before it gets to hot, then the casino thing in the morning. Then – home! I think we’re both looking forward to getting back to Canada! (Oh, and Happy Canada Day!)
A new day, a new pace.
*See below for the day before's post.*
So, after yesterday’s mad-dash through 4 countries, today took on a slightly different flavour. Last night’s gastof was a bit of a miss – like I had mentioned, the rooms didn’t have on-suite facilities which, on it’s own, wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but there was also the noise to contend with. Let me explain: After 2 nights on a mega-busy street in Luzern, I was convinced that Lichtenstein, a tiny little dutchy, was going to be all quite and charming. This might be true out in the far country side, but the extremely expensive dutchy (along with Switzerland) is apparently part of the transportation super-highway and we were, once again, on a pretty busy intersection/street. All that wouldn’t have been so bad if the bar staff had remembered to turn off the radio in the terrace section of the restaurant (which my room over-looked). The music wasn’t really loud, and if I had been able to keep my windows closed it wouldn’t have been a problem, but the heat forced me to open them and I was awakened several times during the night to Abba and other club/disco beats. I woke up a little on the testy side and informed Dad that tonight’s accommodations had to be quite – and he certainly took care of that! But more on that later…
So, leaving Lichtenstein we headed back towards Switzerland and Germany with a stop in Basle for lunch. This gave us an opportunity to knock another of Switzerland’s big cities off the to-see list, and it also gave us a chance to try roties. For those not familiar (and I feel sorry for those of you) a rotie is like a potato pancake – it’s grated par-boiled potatoes, fried in a giant skillet and often includes things like vegetables, cheese and meats. Dad and I both enjoyed the carbo-loading, the spent enough time in the city to walk through the green-grocer market in town, snap some pictures, and buy some post-cards. We then left town heading towards Baden-Baden/Freiburg where we’ll spend tomorrow night. (And a big props to Dad for doing most of the driving today – I was just too tired.)
From Basel, we crossed into Germany hoping to see a waterfall on the Rhine that Dad remembered, but, wouldn’t you know it, 30 years later and the waterfall is now a hydro-electric dam. Oh well. We’ve already seen the largest waterfall in the Black Forest, so what more could be really ask for? So, now we started heading, via little valley roads, for Freiburg with the intension of finding a little village gastof/pension for the night. We rolled into one of the town bearing the name of Todm and, after going through some switch backs found a little pension for 30 Euros a night (with breakfast). This area is big on skiing, which explains the 6 hotel-like establishments within a 5 minute radius. I think the biggest noise complaint I’ll have is a mouthy cow that apparently lives in the village below us. We got here around 4, took a walk up the road (ps, switch-backs are a lot harder to manage when on foot than in a car), rested for a while, had a GREAT German meal at a swanky hotel/restaurant half a switch-back down the hill and have turned in early. Our land-lady for the night doesn’t speak English, but we gathered that a traditional German breakfast is on offer for the morning so, besides being a little out-dated design wise, our big, clean, comfy rooms are quite the bargain.
Looking forward to Strasburg and Baden-Baden tomorrow and now, off to bed!
So, after yesterday’s mad-dash through 4 countries, today took on a slightly different flavour. Last night’s gastof was a bit of a miss – like I had mentioned, the rooms didn’t have on-suite facilities which, on it’s own, wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but there was also the noise to contend with. Let me explain: After 2 nights on a mega-busy street in Luzern, I was convinced that Lichtenstein, a tiny little dutchy, was going to be all quite and charming. This might be true out in the far country side, but the extremely expensive dutchy (along with Switzerland) is apparently part of the transportation super-highway and we were, once again, on a pretty busy intersection/street. All that wouldn’t have been so bad if the bar staff had remembered to turn off the radio in the terrace section of the restaurant (which my room over-looked). The music wasn’t really loud, and if I had been able to keep my windows closed it wouldn’t have been a problem, but the heat forced me to open them and I was awakened several times during the night to Abba and other club/disco beats. I woke up a little on the testy side and informed Dad that tonight’s accommodations had to be quite – and he certainly took care of that! But more on that later…
So, leaving Lichtenstein we headed back towards Switzerland and Germany with a stop in Basle for lunch. This gave us an opportunity to knock another of Switzerland’s big cities off the to-see list, and it also gave us a chance to try roties. For those not familiar (and I feel sorry for those of you) a rotie is like a potato pancake – it’s grated par-boiled potatoes, fried in a giant skillet and often includes things like vegetables, cheese and meats. Dad and I both enjoyed the carbo-loading, the spent enough time in the city to walk through the green-grocer market in town, snap some pictures, and buy some post-cards. We then left town heading towards Baden-Baden/Freiburg where we’ll spend tomorrow night. (And a big props to Dad for doing most of the driving today – I was just too tired.)
From Basel, we crossed into Germany hoping to see a waterfall on the Rhine that Dad remembered, but, wouldn’t you know it, 30 years later and the waterfall is now a hydro-electric dam. Oh well. We’ve already seen the largest waterfall in the Black Forest, so what more could be really ask for? So, now we started heading, via little valley roads, for Freiburg with the intension of finding a little village gastof/pension for the night. We rolled into one of the town bearing the name of Todm and, after going through some switch backs found a little pension for 30 Euros a night (with breakfast). This area is big on skiing, which explains the 6 hotel-like establishments within a 5 minute radius. I think the biggest noise complaint I’ll have is a mouthy cow that apparently lives in the village below us. We got here around 4, took a walk up the road (ps, switch-backs are a lot harder to manage when on foot than in a car), rested for a while, had a GREAT German meal at a swanky hotel/restaurant half a switch-back down the hill and have turned in early. Our land-lady for the night doesn’t speak English, but we gathered that a traditional German breakfast is on offer for the morning so, besides being a little out-dated design wise, our big, clean, comfy rooms are quite the bargain.
Looking forward to Strasburg and Baden-Baden tomorrow and now, off to bed!
Bernards, Marmots, and Birds (oh, my.)
Holy cow! What a long day! We left Luzern this morning around 8ish heading for Italy. We knew it would be a long day, but there was a lot of driving that easily tires a body out. Dad drove us through Luzern’s morning traffic, I drove from Gruyere to Italy, Dad drove from Italy to Sion, then I drove through some of the most nerve-wracking roads yet (lots of switch-backs, little towns, and crazy Swiss drivers), Dad drove us over the Alps and I drove us the rest of the way in, all the way to Lichtenstein. All told, about 12 hours. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
The point of today’s gumball-rally style drive was to get up to the Great St. Bernard Pass. Lots of steep switch backs, some great views, and alpine tunnel driving later and we arrived at the sight of the old monastery from whence St. Bernard used his puppies to help travelers. Of course, there are 3 gift shops in down, all devoted to stuffed St. Bernards and Swiss chocolate – I stocked up on both. We had lunch at the old hospital, then got to see the St. Bernards that are still kept on the property. There were about 16 full-grown ones and 3 puppies. The adults were all napping, but the puppies were out and playing with the lady who was there taking care of them. So cute! We then drove off the hill that the hospital sits on, down into the little valley below, and across into Italy. We stopped there momentarily for pictures and post-cards, then hopped back into the car to head for Lichtenstein.
I was, unfortunately, traumatized by this part of the day. Throughout our vacation, we haven’t seen a lot of local wildlife. The exception in road kill, and most of that appears to be birds. Very strange. As we were booking it along the high-way, I was shocked to see something black heading at the passenger side windshield, then heard a great be ‘whump,’ and a bunch of feathers flew past the passenger front window. I was immediately shocked and Dad started with “It wasn’t your fault” before I’d even finished processing the entire affair. Long story short – I’ve killed my first living creature, and it doesn’t feel good. I’m the girl who held up traffic in Nuremburg to let a pigeon walk across the street rather than fly. It was not a good experience.
But, on went the driving. When I finally had Dad take over, we were heading up into the Alps on another mountain pass. This time, there were two passes that started from the same road in the bottom of the valley; on the road we didn’t take, we counted 7 or 8 switch-backs curling up the mountain side. The road we took wasn’t countable, but we got above the other road on the other mountain and came out above a glacier that was experiencing a lot of run off. A great sight. This is also where the marmots join our story.
As I mentioned above, we haven’t seen a lot of wildlife around. The first sighting was a field mouse as the base of the Germania statue a few days ago. This time, when we stopped to see the glacier, we parked the car, looked down the slope below us, and saw a colony of marmots kicking it on the slope. I lost my mind when I realized two of them were engaged in a slap fight: that’s right – I got to watch a marmot slap fight. Chew on that. They were pretty cute smacking at one another, but things took a turn for the worse when then started all out brawling and rolling around. Still adorable, but a little unsettling.
Back in the car we got, over the last switch-back we crossed, then started down the mountain. We passed a herd of sheep that were munching away at the top of the mountain, and a bunch of herds of cows (complete with cowbells) partaking of the nice verdant grass in-between the switch back all the way down.
By the time Dad and I rejoined the autobahn, we were both exhausted and just wanted to find a hotel for the night. We rolled into Lichtenstein around 7, but it took almost an hour to find someplace reasonably priced. The first two hotels we stopped at were almost 200 CHFrancs a night, and the third place we found was in the rich part of town, so we didn’t even go in. We finally found a Gastof right off the main road into-town for a reasonable price, but there is a shared WC and shower two halls down. Not ideal, but we were so tired, we didn’t care. We had dinner here, which was delicious, and are turning in early (though tomorrow is a sleep in day in honour of the fact we’ve been to 3 countries, criss-crossing one of them) and then are heading out the Basel tomorrow.
The point of today’s gumball-rally style drive was to get up to the Great St. Bernard Pass. Lots of steep switch backs, some great views, and alpine tunnel driving later and we arrived at the sight of the old monastery from whence St. Bernard used his puppies to help travelers. Of course, there are 3 gift shops in down, all devoted to stuffed St. Bernards and Swiss chocolate – I stocked up on both. We had lunch at the old hospital, then got to see the St. Bernards that are still kept on the property. There were about 16 full-grown ones and 3 puppies. The adults were all napping, but the puppies were out and playing with the lady who was there taking care of them. So cute! We then drove off the hill that the hospital sits on, down into the little valley below, and across into Italy. We stopped there momentarily for pictures and post-cards, then hopped back into the car to head for Lichtenstein.
I was, unfortunately, traumatized by this part of the day. Throughout our vacation, we haven’t seen a lot of local wildlife. The exception in road kill, and most of that appears to be birds. Very strange. As we were booking it along the high-way, I was shocked to see something black heading at the passenger side windshield, then heard a great be ‘whump,’ and a bunch of feathers flew past the passenger front window. I was immediately shocked and Dad started with “It wasn’t your fault” before I’d even finished processing the entire affair. Long story short – I’ve killed my first living creature, and it doesn’t feel good. I’m the girl who held up traffic in Nuremburg to let a pigeon walk across the street rather than fly. It was not a good experience.
But, on went the driving. When I finally had Dad take over, we were heading up into the Alps on another mountain pass. This time, there were two passes that started from the same road in the bottom of the valley; on the road we didn’t take, we counted 7 or 8 switch-backs curling up the mountain side. The road we took wasn’t countable, but we got above the other road on the other mountain and came out above a glacier that was experiencing a lot of run off. A great sight. This is also where the marmots join our story.
As I mentioned above, we haven’t seen a lot of wildlife around. The first sighting was a field mouse as the base of the Germania statue a few days ago. This time, when we stopped to see the glacier, we parked the car, looked down the slope below us, and saw a colony of marmots kicking it on the slope. I lost my mind when I realized two of them were engaged in a slap fight: that’s right – I got to watch a marmot slap fight. Chew on that. They were pretty cute smacking at one another, but things took a turn for the worse when then started all out brawling and rolling around. Still adorable, but a little unsettling.
Back in the car we got, over the last switch-back we crossed, then started down the mountain. We passed a herd of sheep that were munching away at the top of the mountain, and a bunch of herds of cows (complete with cowbells) partaking of the nice verdant grass in-between the switch back all the way down.
By the time Dad and I rejoined the autobahn, we were both exhausted and just wanted to find a hotel for the night. We rolled into Lichtenstein around 7, but it took almost an hour to find someplace reasonably priced. The first two hotels we stopped at were almost 200 CHFrancs a night, and the third place we found was in the rich part of town, so we didn’t even go in. We finally found a Gastof right off the main road into-town for a reasonable price, but there is a shared WC and shower two halls down. Not ideal, but we were so tired, we didn’t care. We had dinner here, which was delicious, and are turning in early (though tomorrow is a sleep in day in honour of the fact we’ve been to 3 countries, criss-crossing one of them) and then are heading out the Basel tomorrow.
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