Although we are currently undergoing severe croissant withdrawal in addition to Jetlag, we have successfully navigated our way back to Chicago. I suspect it will be a few days until we manage to stay up past 8:00 and sleep past 4:00. But we have no reason to be on a “normal” schedule.
Our drive back to Paris was uneventful. We stopped twice. The first was in Strasbourg France. This was a VERY cool town. The Rhine river cuts through, and the town is fairly industrial. But the old town, including some old stone river locks and a 13th century MAGNIFICENT cathedral, were very interesting.
Our Airbnb in Strasbourg was a place our charming host described as “French-Communist-Chic.” He was describing a hulking, grey concrete apartment block. But the unit itself was charming, with one of the best showers in France (in our experience) and a perfect WiFi!! And it’s location was EXCELLENT…near the old-town center and tucked in with newer (but in Europe, that means 1800-era) apartments.
I sort of wish we had allocated a couple of days to Strasbourg.
We then stopped at an airport hotel near CDG (Paris). This was just to make getting to our morning flite an easy process. Our hotel was a “NOMAD” hotel. I would characterize it as super-modern. There was a tablet to control all room functions (projection TV, lighting color, window blinds, etc.). The clear glass shower “tube” (I don’t know any other way to describe it) in the middle of the room felt like a transporter chamber, and I wondered if I said “Energize” could I skip the flite home and just materialize in our living room? But despite the high-tech-ness, it was still an economy hotel. The hallway lights turn on as you walk down the hall and the toilet “compartment” light goes off if you are still too long. No reading the paper in there!!
The flite itself was thoroughly uneventful. Left on time. Good seats (for economy). Arrived an hour early. In today’s air travel environment, uneventful is all one can ask for and the very best you will ever experience.
Sunday we went back to Salzburg, stopping for coffee at a beautiful Alpine Lake in between. Our mission in Salzburg was “Sound of Music” immersion. As mentioned elsewhere, we booked a “Bob’s Tour.”
Here is how I know we have FULLY absorbed Austrian Culture: Liz is doing Sudoku in German!
We then had some more traditional Austrian fare. This time a famous beef dish (Tafelspitz) at a famous restaurant (Plachutta — the emperor’s favorite). It is basically a beef soup with various vegetables and sides of potatoes, spinach, butter beans, Marrow (to spread on bread). And in the beef soup are LARGE slices of beef. SO, as you can imagine, this was a light, dainty dish! It was also the BEST beef soup ever. But good thing we had A LOT more walking in the afternoon.
Later in the day, we visited the ARS ELECTRONICA Museum of the Future. A REALLY fascinating place. There was a 3D tour of the universe in ultra-high resolution. There were kiosks with satellite images of many places in the world. There was a really interesting exhibit on vision. On Prosthetic devices; on Virtual Reality. For those who have been to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, this is similar. Except the exhibits are ALL future looking (no old tractors, coal mines, 727 or steam locomotives); very sophisticated. And, the mobs of kids are super-well-behaved and speaking German (and only when spoken to). So I guess NOT like MOSI at all.
OK. I didn’t take this photo. After all, I was driving and Liz was gawking. Mountains left and right. On Monday we drove from Verona to Munich. In between the scenery was possibly the most beautiful anywhere. It was about a 5 hour drive. Fresh snow. Postcard Italian and Austrian towns. You could hear Maria singing (or, maybe it was Liz?). So I was certainly THINKING this photo. ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR almost the entire way.
