Day 4 has begun. We found our hotel in Le Mans last night. I had booked this hotel not knowing anything about Le Mans or this hotel. It turned out that it is right in the heart of the city, a fairly big city. We arrived around 9:45 PM…still a bit of light out. And although the listing said the hotel had parking, what that meant was that there was public parking down the street…at least you hoped there were spaces. After unloading our bags, Mike and Josh took the van to the ‘public’ parking. Only one level could accommodate a higher vehicle like this van. And apparently it was full. But fortunately, while looping around, a car pulled out and they were able to grab it. I figured the cost was going to be expensive to have a car there over night. We thought it would be 30 euros or more. It turned out to be 4,80 euros. I was amazed. Anyway, upon getting our room keys, we were each on 3 different floors, even though I requested being put close to each other. The triple room was on the third floor, and Mike\Jenny and Tim\Denise were on the 2nd floor. No elevators, very hot hotel. Our room was especially hot. I played and played with the air conditioner control. But no cigar, it was doing nothing. The window in our room opened up to a very busy city street. That was not going to work on a Friday night. So I got Jeremy, the hotel clerk, to come look at it. He agreed…too hot…and the control was not working. So he put us in another room on the 1st floor. This had two windows that opened to the back of the hotel, very quiet. That room was already cool so we were happy. By nearly midnight, we were asleep (at least I was). I think Denise struggled getting to sleep.
As usual, I was ready to go fairly early. So I left the Artyster Hotel and went looking for a bakery. I wandered around the square nearby and then down a few blocks eventually finding a very nice bakery where I purchased two or three very fresh bakery items to take back to the room. All were very yummy and my wife was a happy girl.
We left the hotel around 10 AM heading to Lauterbrunnen Switzerland. It will be 8 hours in the car to get there. Yesterday, to fill this van up, we paid 138 Euros to fill it. Gas is not cheap. The other driving thing is the tolls you have to pay. It is going to be interesting to see how much we end up paying in toll charges. Lots and lots of tolls. Anyway, Jenny would like to try and see some castles along the way. Not sure if our driver (Mike) is going to give in or not. I’m in the back seat just observing with no opinions! :-) More to come later.
The 8 hour drive had a number of stops. But all in all, it was quite fun visiting while Mike and Josh drove. I’ve offered to drive. But I think Mike is hesitant because I’m not listed officially as a driver. Anyway, they did great. We stopped 3 times I think to snack and empty (our bladders…at least that is all that I emptied). At one stop, the mens bathroom was closed down. So the men ventured into the womens bathroom. The funny thing here is that in public toilets they don’t put seats on the toilets. So…that would have been an adventure had a #2 experience needed to occur for this old guy!
As we were beginning our drive we discussed where along the way we would eat dinner. I jokingly said we will stop at the first Burger King that we see….knowing that I had not seen a BK in France the whole trip thus far. McDonalds everywhere…no BK’s. Anyway, on our last stop as we pulled in low and behold staring in my one good eye was a sign for a ‘Whopper’!!!! I just started laughing. It felt kind of like I had reached nirvana until I went in and say that a Whopper meal was CHF 18…about $18.50! So funny.
The drive across France was fairly flat, but green. But as we got to the east side and approached Switzerland, we started to get into hills and beautiful valleys. After crossing into Switzerland, the Alps appeared and the excitement began to grow. Holy smokes they are very tall and everything around it so green. We rolled by Interlaken where a city sits between two beautiful lakes. Amazing how beautiful the terrain is here. We headed into the valley of the Alps where Lauterbrunnen is found. Our hotel…Hotel Steinbeck….was one of the first ones to appear as you roll into town. Mike and Jenny and kids are about 10 minute walk down the road. So after dropping us off, they all went up to their BNB. Once they figured out how to park their van….since all their roads are very narrow with no where to park a car. And this big van was an issue for them apparently. The landlord eventually told them to park in a field next to his place that had knee high grass. We all reconvened at our hotel to eat dinner. The food was pretty good. I went with the Fondue and Denise ordered a Reclet (sp?) plate. All yummy. Well, time to go to bed. Tomorrow we plan to explore and have a mellow day just visiting places in the area. Mellow day for a Sabbath day I hope.
Pictures (not as many today as we were in a car most of it):
No comments:
Post a Comment