And finally, time to go home to Germany… (part nine)

Sunday morning, we woke up to more cold, wet weather. It was raining in Colle Isarco, which means that it was probably good to move on, although it’s not fun to drive when the weather is inclement. We loaded up the car with our stuff, then sat down to another hearty breakfast. I enjoyed another one of those incredible warm crescent rolls… I don’t need the recipe for those things, but I wish I had it!

Our hotel bill was already settled, so after breakfast, we were on our way. Very soon, we ran into snow! It’s probably the last snow we’ll see this season. We drove through the “skinny” part of Austria, after we crossed Brenner Pass. We had one rest stop, where peeing was a reasonable 50 cents… I think. Maybe it was 70 cents. I remember when peeing in Germany was only 50 cents. It’s a euro now.

*I don’t know why this appears so early in my photos. We weren’t that close to the border.*

My German friend, Susanne, mentioned the huge outlet center on the Italy/Austria border. Maybe if it hadn’t been snowy and Sunday, we might have considered stopping there. But the snow was coming down like crazy, and it was probably too early, even if the outlets were open on a Sunday. I didn’t have a chance to check. I wanted to get a picture of the signs for the outlet stores, but I wasn’t fast enough.

Frankly, I find outlets kind of depressing. I used to work at an outlet store at a fairly nice outlet mall in Williamsburg, Virginia. Even though it was a “nice” mall, it still kind of made me sad, because there was a real push to keep overhead low, which would make the shops look kind of picked over and sad. Still, working at the outlet menswear store got me a generous employee discount, which was a great thing in 1995. I loaded up on clothes and shoes to wear in Armenia.

Our drive north was pretty uninteresting. We tried to stop at a Rastplatz for lunch, but thanks to a shitload of trucks that took up multiple parking spots at a time, there was nowhere for us to park the Volvo. Fortunately, the next stop had more parking, and it also had a Nordsee– which is a German fast food outlet that specializes in fish and shrimp. I wouldn’t necessarily call Nordsee “cheap eats”, but it beats going to McDonald’s.

We got home in the late afternoon, thanks to a couple of delays. Bill had to immediately turn around and pick up the dogs, who had a great time at the Birkenhof Tierpension. They were happy to be there, and just as happy to come home, which the proprietor said she is always glad to see. Likewise, it’s a relief to see how much Noyzi and Charlie enjoy going to stay there when we take our trips!

All in all, I’d say our vacation/house hunting excursion to Switzerland and Italy was a success. I always enjoy going to Italy, if only because of the food and wine. Do I still want to invest in property there? I am intrigued by the idea. I think Abruzzo is beautiful, although given my ‘druthers, I might prefer to settle in an area further north and slightly more prosperous. On the other hand, I can’t deny that there are great bargains on properties to be had in Abruzzo, and it really is a gorgeous place, with friendly people, good food and wine, and breathtaking views of the Adriatic Sea and the Apennine Mountains.

There are a few issues that make me worry a bit about investing in Italian property. Mainly, it’s the fact that owning property there doesn’t mean you can live there full time. And with Trump’s heavy-handed governing, I’m not sure how long Americans will still be welcome in Europe. We don’t have a lot of money to spend on a place we might not get to use. On the other hand, I have no desire to move back to Trump’s version of the United States. Living there is also way more expensive on many levels.

So… we’ll see what happens. I’ll just keep socking away money and make sure to keep my eyes peeled for places where we might be able to settle. It was good to get away. I think we may visit Portugal this year, too… if we don’t get deported, that is.

The next post will be my usual ten things I learned… Hope to see you there.

Champagne Bucket trips, Eastern Europe

Time to go home… part twelve of our 2023 Czech tour!

At last, I have reached the end of my series on our October trip to the Czech Republic. Not that many people seem to be reading this series, which is a real pity. I think it will go down as one of the most “special” of our trips. But then, I tend to think that way about a lot of our trips, until we take the next one and create new memories.

Tuesday, October 10th was a bit sunnier and warmer than the day before was. We moved most of our stuff to the car before breakfast, encountering Jan, the owner, again. He had an assistant help us load the car. The guy noticed Noyzi’s hair all over the cargo area of the car and said, “Oh, you must have a dog!”

Indeed we do… and he’s a big canine guy who takes up the whole back of the car. As much as we love having him in our lives, he’s not the easiest to travel with because of his size. But he does love car rides! I looked forward to reuniting with Noyzi later in the day.

We went back to the hotel’s cafe for breakfast. This time, we had drip coffee and Bill had Eggs Benedict. I went with pancakes, which came with blueberry sauce. They brought out more wonderful bread and butter with jam. We also had orange juice.

*One last excellent breakfast before we were on our way!*

Once again, breakfast was excellent, although I personally liked the Eggs Benedict better than the pancakes. I think as I get older, I’m enjoying savory things more than sweets. That’s a good thing, although you certainly can’t tell by my figure.

After breakfast, we went back to the room to get the big blue bag and do one last check to make sure we got everything. Then we went back down to say goodbye and thank you to Jan. We were genuinely delighted with our stay at Hotel Nerudova 211, and because we paid upon check in, all we had to do was bid adieu and be on our way.

*This is a sign that caught my attention!*

We left Prague by a different route than the way we came into the city, and I was very amused to see a restaurant that we missed. Someone has started a burger joint called Fatfuck Smashburgers. It’s done well enough to have a second location! I wish we’d had the chance to try it. If we make it back to Prague and it’s still open, we’ll have to go there for the name alone! I noticed the words were spelled out on the sign, but if you type in the Web address, they aren’t. Maybe there’s a rule against using profanity in a site address. Who knows?

Our drive home was pretty uneventful. The weather was kind of moody and depressing, with some sun and sprinkles. We didn’t find a great truck stop on our route, either. Instead, we ended up at a Gusticus, where Bill had a fish box and I had a chicken box. It was kind of sad.

We arrived home at about 3:00 PM. I got started on the chores of unpacking, doing laundry, refilling Noyzi’s water bowls, and mowing the lawn. Bill went to the store to pick up a few things and went to get Noyzi, who had a great time hanging out with other boy dogs. I think once we’ve done next month’s trip to Armenia, it’ll be time to focus harder on finding him a companion. I think it would do us all some good. Or maybe it would be better not to… because I think this trip to the Czech Republic has awakened the travel bug in me. We really enjoyed our trip on so many levels.

Czechia has a whole lot to offer, and we could have easily spent another week there. I think we need to travel there again and plan a stop in Slovakia, too. If anything, I can find more art to fill up our walls!

Well, I think I’ll end this post and do my customary ten things I learned post, which tends to get read more than my blow by blow series do. See you there!

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Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part fourteen

And now, we’ve come to the end of my latest series… which I will admit was not long on food and activities, but had plenty of gorgeous scenery and solitude. When I am finished writing this post, I’ll do my usual “ten things I learned post”, but that will probably be done tomorrow, so as not to overwhelm anyone with all the action my travel blog is suddenly getting. 😉

Because we were coming from “high risk” areas– Croatia and Slovenia– we had to upload our vaccination information to officials in Germany. This would absolve us from having to quarantine. But, when we got to the border, they just waved us through, anyway. Maybe because it was Sunday.

Our drive home was mostly uneventful. Salzburg is about six hours or so from where we live, I think… Ray had made it easy to check out. All we had to do, besides take out the trash and make sure we used the toilet brush, was put the 12 euro city tourist tax (three euros per person per night) in the lockbox, along with the key. We got an early start, and, at first, the weather was beautiful.

The nice weather began to change the further north we went. It got cold and decidedly cloudy, then it was raining. At one point, we tried to stop for lunch, but there was no parking in the parking lot. The spots were all taken up by tractor trailers. We eventually ended up at the very same rest stop where we stopped on the way down to Croatia. On that visit, I wore a surgical face mask, as did a lot of other people. Surgical masks are the rule for all of Germany… except hard assed Bavaria, where people are supposed to wear FFP2s, the tighter fitting “coffee filter” masks. I did have a fresh one in my purse, but I really hate wearing them.

Anyway, we walked into the McDonald’s, which was empty. Evidently, the COVID-19 rules changed again, because the cashier pointed to me and said I needed the heavier mask. That pissed me off, so Bill and I left. I ranted about it on my other blog. We went to Burger King and ate lunch in the car. I spent much of the rest of the drive annoyed, since the heavier masks are obviously not curbing the now soaring infection rate in Germany. People need to be vaccinated. But if they’re going to enforce mask mandates, I wish they’d be consistent about it. And I wish they’d show common sense, particularly toward people who have actually done the responsible thing and gotten the vaccine.

I mean, look at this…

This is in Koln, where Carnival is in full swing.

It’s ridiculous. I can’t sit in an empty McDonald’s without being forced to wear a heavy mask, but these fools can party and drink unmasked in huge crowds in Mainz and Cologne! I fear we may be heading for another lockdown soon, which makes me even more glad that we took our trip. As it stands now, James Taylor has postponed his European tour. We have second row tickets to his Frankfurt show, but who knows when it will happen. We still have tickets to see Keb’ Mo’ for a show that was supposed to happen on November 16 (our anniversary) 2020. At this point, it’s been postponed three times, thanks to COVID-19. Maybe we’ll get to see him in May of 2022. This COVID shit really needs to be sorted.

The only other notable thing that happened on the way home was that we passed a van that had a sticker on it that read “Porn casting car”.

*And then, we noticed that the driver had drapes with little gold tassels on them in the front seat. Maybe it really is a porn casting car.*

After we got home, we unpacked and started doing the laundry. Later, we went to get Arran and Noyzi, who I guess could hear and smell us as we approached. They were so excited! Noyzi was even ecstatic to see Bill. He practically dragged me to the car and was delighted to jump in the back all by himself.

When we got home, we discovered that Arran had a couple of swollen flesh wounds on his ears. And the next day, Noyzi had kennel cough. By Tuesday, Arran was coughing too, although they are both okay now. Fortunately, it was a mild case. It was the first time I have ever dealt with kennel cough, which is usually a mild illness that clears up on its own. Our dogs are usually vaccinated against it, but we stopped giving Arran most vaccines because he’s had mast cell tumors. Noyzi is due for his vaccines next month.

Here are a few final pictures of a few things we brought back with us… I wish I had found a few things to put in the house. Oh well. Maybe on the next trip. Bill has to go to Poland on Monday, and he’ll be gone on our 19th wedding anniversary, which is on Tuesday. I’m sure he’ll get some Bison Grass vodka. Just what we need! 😉 We also got jams, honeys, liqueurs, and gin.

Well… that about does it for the series. Stay tuned tomorrow, for my super fun “ten things I learned” post. I actually did learn some new things on this trip. It was one of our better ones, and we’ve been on some great trips. I hope we can do it again, soon.

short breaks

Our pandemic dog rescue story… part three

When we take trips, I usually take a lot of photos, even from the car. Before a couple of weeks ago, I had never heard of Kransjka Gora, and had no idea of what we were in for. I did remember how beautiful Lake Bled was and had been wanting to visit Slovenia again. But Bill and I are getting older and it’s hard to drive for seven or eight hours straight, so that means it’s best if we can break up the trip. And, as most Americans know, there’s only so much leave a person can take. When Bill worked for his first company, the pay wasn’t as good, but they were very generous about letting him take time off. His current employer pays very well, but it’s not as easy to go away for longer trips. Not that we’re complaining. Six years ago, when we first came to Germany, I still owed $40,000 on my student loans. I managed to pay them off two years ago, nine years ahead of time!

While I usually like to take a lot of photos on our trips, I was more preoccupied this time. I didn’t think to take any pictures until we stopped for lunch at a KFC. German KFC is not like American KFC. And American KFC is not like the Kentucky Fried Chicken of my youth, which used to be a lot better than it is now. We decided to stop for chicken, even though it’s not as quick and convenient as other fast food is. I was kind of astonished by the rest stop where we pulled off. It had an amazing assortment of choices, especially for Germany. There was a McDonald’s, a Burger King, a KFC and a Subway!

And right next to the Subway was an enormous “adult” book store, complete with blow up dolls outside the entrance! I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the erotic book store. I wish I had. In the United States, the adult book stores aren’t quite as prominent as they are in Germany, although I do remember repeatedly passing Club Risque in North Carolina many times as I drove back and forth from Virginia to South Carolina to and from graduate school.

I guess the erotic book stores are intended for the lonely truckers who traverse Germany from all over Europe, especially the East. I notice that they are well catered to in this country. Many rest stops have showers, as well as pay toilets that are clean. Where I come in the States, the rest stops are a little bit nicer than the free ones in Europe, which are really bare bones. But they don’t usually have restaurants (except in the Northeast). In Europe, the rest stops that aren’t just a place to pee have restaurants, fully stocked convenience stores, gas stations, and yes, something for the truckers who need a little distraction from the road.

Lunch was pretty filling. We ate it in the car, mainly due to having Arran with us and because of COVID-19. I watched people going in and out of the restaurant, ignoring the request to exit from the opposite side of the entrance. I also noticed in the ladies room, that someone had dumped pasta all over the bathroom floor. I couldn’t tell if it was cooked or not. It was an odd sight.

Once we got lunch sorted, we got back on A3 and headed south. I had forgotten how long the drive to Austria by way of Salzburg is. It seems to take forever to cross the border because you have to keep going east. I always enjoy driving over borders, but on this first day of our trip, we were about 90% in Germany before we arrived in Salzburg. We made another quick stop at an excellent rest stop not far from the border so Bill could buy an Austrian vignette (toll sticker). They are required for the Autobahn and you can buy them for ten days at just under 10 euros.

That’s another interesting thing about Europe. Many countries over here either have systems where you either pay for a vignette to use the motorways or you pay tolls. In Switzerland, you buy a sticker for the year and it costs about $40 (40 Swiss Francs or 30 Euros). In other countries, they are for shorter time periods and cost less. Many of the countries that have vignettes also have tolls for when you go through a long mountain pass. Germany is the only country I’ve seen so far where the Autobahn is free. But we don’t know for how much longer it will be free. Of course, you still have to pay 70 cents to use the bathroom at the fancy rest stops. That’s why it’s not at all unusual to see people peeing on trees here. They’re pretty brazen about it, too.

The proprietors at the Haslachmühle B&B had requested that we check in by 6:00pm. We arrived there at about 5:30pm, having driven through Salzburg’s traffic and passed by a guy driving a carriage pulled by two white horses. The horses spooked Arran, who barked and startled us both. I wish I’d had my camera, though. Those horses were a lovely sight.

So… about that B&B. It’s a winner. Getting to it is a little bit tricky, since it’s located on a very narrow “goat trail” type of road. But it’s a very charming place, with six unique rooms and a small free parking lot for guests. The lady in charge, along with her very sweet female dachshund “Luezy” (pronounced as if you were rhyming it with “noisy”), met us as we pulled up. She was quick to check us in and show us to the beautiful room I rented for the night. We stayed in the Room City View, which was just awesome. It had a big bed, a huge balcony that offered a view of the city, and a gorgeous masonry heater. I especially loved how the walls had built in bookshelves loaded with books (in German, of course). It was really unique and lovely. I was sorry we could only stay one night.

We were tired from the drive and still full from lunch, so we had no need for dinner. However, the B&B has a fridge where guests can get wine, beer, or soft drinks, as well as snacks. You just write down what you took and pay on checkout. Our room came with two bottles of water (looked like they came from a Penguin), mini Ritter Sports on the pillows, and three apples. Adding in some crackers and wine, we were pretty much set for the night. I enjoyed watching the sun set over the mountain. We also watched some network TV, which we rarely have the chance to do.

If we had needed food, we could have ordered from Lieferando.at or, if we were feeling determined, driven into town. There aren’t any restaurants near the B&B that I could see.

Breakfast in the morning included the usual buffet spread, with cheeses, cold cuts, fruits, juices, and breads. The proprietor made us coffee and scrambled eggs. While we were eating, Arran started pitching a fit. We hadn’t brought him into the breakfast room. I was very pleased to see that the proprietor didn’t mind Arran’s howling and even said we could bring him into the breakfast room, which we ended up doing. Another couple also had a dog with them and Arran behaved like a perfect gentleman.

After a leisurely breakfast, we loaded up the car and checked out. I would definitely go back to Die Haslachmühle B&B, next time without any canines. However, I am happy to report that they are very welcome there, even if children aren’t (according to Booking.com, anyway). We weren’t even charged extra for Arran. I was expecting a pet fee, so that was a really nice surprise. Below are some more photos from our stop in Salzburg. It really is a beautiful city. I would love to go back and do another tour of it when we don’t have business to attend to.

*Bill was impressed by the “erotic literature”.*

By late morning, we were heading south to Slovenia, which isn’t that far from Salzburg. I think it was about a three hour drive. I managed to get a few pictures of castles from the side of the Autobahn… again impressive sights. We really should come down and actually visit sometime. We had a chance to tour Salzburg when we did our very first Space A hop from the USA back in 2012, but that was just a day trip that we took from Munich. We had a great time, but it wasn’t long enough. Time to look into visiting again. We’ve been to Salzburg three times and still haven’t done the Sound of Music tour. 😉

More on the drive to Slovenia in the next post.

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A whirlwind trip to Austria, Italy, and probably Switzerland, part 4

Yesterday morning, we got up, again our joints creaky from the mattress and our increasing ages. We packed up all our stuff and put it in the car. I was excited about the prospect of visiting Italy again. Our last visit was in May 2013. We flew to Venice, then took a train to Florence and Rome before we picked up a weeklong SeaDream cruise in Civitavecchia.

The visit before that one occurred in July 2009, when Bill, his mom, and I literally got stuck in Italy. I had published the story on two different Web sites that have since gone *poof* or I would link to the story. Long story short, Bill and I decided to take his mom on a whirlwind trip through five countries. We ended up getting stuck in Italy after a summer storm flooded the autostrada near Lake Como. We did manage to get out, but not before we spent the whole night trying to find an opening to the Swiss border. It was a bit of a disaster. We still talk about it a lot, though… It’s not often that you can see Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Italy in less than 24 hours. And on the way home, we went through France and had lunch, just so my mother-in-law could say she’d been there, too.

I think it’s safe to say that we like to travel by the seat of our pants. So I was definitely ready to venture back to Italy and see this place called Vicenza, which I have heard so very much about. Bill has a conference all week, so I pictured myself wandering around the city and making discoveries. But first, we needed to stop by the Spar again. I needed toiletries.

I picked up some toothpaste, lotion, and conditioner and we went to the checkout. A strikingly pretty and surprisingly chipper young lady with dark brown hair and big expressive eyes was working the register. We didn’t even have to open our mouths before she switched to English, with an apology, no less! She asked if we were British people on holiday. We said no, we came from Germany… Then added that we are Americans. She smiled, displaying two rows of perfect white teeth and said, “Oh, so you’re Americans who live in Germany and have come on holiday to Seefeld?”

“Yes.” I said… That about summed it up, alright. She wished us a pleasant day as we gathered my toiletries and headed for the door.

Just as Bill was about to climb into the RAV4, he realized that he had forgotten to turn in the hotel key. He went back to the lobby, where the hotel owner had just arrived. In German, he said he’d forgotten to give back the key. The two snickering ladies who had been making fun of us for two days suddenly realized that Bill spoke some German. I wasn’t there to see it, but Bill said their eyes got big and mouths dropped open in shock. It was probably a fine Kodak moment. All told, our two nights at Hotel Diana, including beer bath, two bottles of wine, and half board, came to about $450.

We got on the road and I entertained myself taking lots of pictures of the beautiful scenery. As I mentioned before, Seefeld is up in the Alps, making it great for those who wish to ski. However, good brakes are an absolute must because they will be taxed coming down the mountain. There are many emergency escapes on the way down that are no doubt there because people have died or been hurt by brake failures. I would not want to try driving up there in snowy or icy conditions, though I know people do it. I can’t even imagine what it must be like for truck drivers bringing goods to the two Spars in Seefeld. Must be a nightmare in the winter! Anyway, the following pictures were taken on the way down.

One of the more obvious emergency pull offs…

Innsbruck in the distance.

I had to take a photo of this WC. Back in 2009, I took a couple of tours through Edelweiss Lodge. One was to Innsbruck and Crystal World and the other was to Bolzano and Vipiteno. I see they have changed up some of the tours since then. Anyway, we did stop at the rest area and I did use the bathroom with the big sign. It was closed yesterday. I noticed a sign in the restaurant next to it that read that anyone not eating or drinking has to pay 50 cents to pee.

The area around the rest stop is absolutely stunning. The mountains are very dramatic and gorgeous. But they do get you with a nine euro toll…

Italian border.

We stopped a little ways into Italy so I could have a pee break and we could both enjoy a cappuccino. Sud Tyrol is as lovely as its Austrian neighbor. And I was very impressed to see what was being sold in the convenience store. There was bacon, ham, wines from the region, and cheeses. I didn’t see any of the usual crap sold in truck stops/convenience stores. I did get a kick out of the old guy who was collecting money for the freezing cold toilet. Bill said he even patted him on the back because he managed to get the hand dryer working without assistance.

About an hour or so later, we decided to stop for lunch. We were in a little town called Avia. To get to the town, we had to go through a tunnel which allowed traffic to go one way at a time.

We were stuck behind this guy, who waved to a couple of folks passing by. I figure he probably knows everyone in the town.

We had lunch at a trattoria called Statzione. It was located right by the train station, hence the name. We walked into the place and it was clear that it was full of locals. Everybody stared as we took a seat in the corner. It turned out it was one of those places where they serve a special and a couple of other choices.

Bill ordered a half liter of house wine… and a bottle of sparkling water. The wine came in the pretty carafe.

Bill looks handsome as heck.

I had a plate of penne pasta with bacon cream sauce (hello arteries) and Bill had penne pasta with cheese sauce, kind of like Alfredo… We could have also had salad, but opted not to. The cost for lunch was just 18 euros! Cheap!

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the colorful toilet seat in the ladies room. The men’s room also had one.

A shot of the outside of the trattoria.

We got back on the road and headed further south. From Austria to Avia, we paid 13 euros in tolls. We got another ticket for the rest of the way, making only one last pee stop at an Autogrill. It was free to pee, but they made you walk the gauntlet past all the shit they were selling. Everything from wine, to chocolates, to dehydrated mushrooms! I didn’t mind, though. In fact, I was a little tempted.

We arrived at Hotel Victoria in the mid afternoon. I had already read some disturbing reports about this hotel. Now that I’ve been here a night, I see it’s basically a big PCS hotel… the kind of place where Americans stay while settling in Vicenza. It’s not far from the US installation. Still, it’s not the kind of place I would have booked. We are here because it’s convenient and what Bill’s work will pay for.

This picture is over our bed.

The furnishings are dated and a bit depressing, but the hotel has a self service laundry, a nice restaurant with good food, decent breakfast which is included and, in the summer, there’s a big pool with lifeguards. More on this in the next post…

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: rest stops

And finally, time to go home to Germany… (part nine)

Time to go home… part twelve of our 2023 Czech tour!

Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part fourteen

Our pandemic dog rescue story… part three

A whirlwind trip to Austria, Italy, and probably Switzerland, part 4