We have done a lot of traveling this month and I am really behind. I thought about starting with the most recent, but instead, I have decided to keep the blog chronologically intact. If you haven't read the blog about Garmisch-Partenkirchen, read that one first and then revisit this one. So here goes...
After departing G-P, Germany, we spent a day on a train gradually making our way to Strasbourg, France. I say 'gradually' because we opted for local trains for a few reasons: 1. The faster trains were no faster. What I mean to say is that they might get you to your next transfer spot quicker and with less stops, but you wind up waiting at the station for longer periods to catch the next fast train. 2. Local transport for families in Germany is amazingly cheap. Group tickets in Bavaria (Bayerntakt) and Baden-Württemberg were 30 euros ($40) each for five people for an all-day train ride on ANY local train transportation. You don't even need to be related and can ask strangers to share a ticket if you are so inclined. In Austria, we paid 160 euro ($240) to go half the distance.
After almost 10 hours on trains, we arrived in Strasbourg, France. The train station was architecturally cool.
We caught two taxis because, well, just because and went to our good hotel. We had to get to France to rent a car because renting a car to then return in France was four times as expensive than renting and returning in the same country. We also had to get to France because, well, it's in between Germany and the UK. The next morning, we obtained our rental car and headed out for more adventure. We didn't really see a lot of Strasbourg. Maybe some other time...
This roof looked like fish scales glinting in the light from across the street.
The drive northwest to the ferry port of Calais was uneventful. The kids were good, the car was comfy and the driving was easy. Just before dinner time, we decided to stop in Ghent, Belgium. It was a difficult city to navigate because it is very poorly signed and signed poorly in Dutch. We found a parking spot after a while and went into town. We had a wonderful afternoon looking at the sights and pretty much wasting time so that we wouldn't have to drive in rush hour. We had a pleasant meal but forgot to try a Belgian waffle or french fries which are the specialty and that was that.
These two signs/plaques were next to one another. I liked the 'toetswiet' picture because it's like the song Toot Sweet in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (and it was a candy shop aka "sweets" shop in UK) and then the plaque of men tooting horns right next to it, tooting sweetly. Although, they are probably Nazis and I am just being hopeful...
We hopped back into the car for a short trip to Dunkerque, France where I had booked a hotel. It was just about the crappiest hotel we have ever stayed in, hands down. The gigantic muzzled cur dog wandering the parking lot should have tipped us off, but well, we needed a place to sleep although I didn't get a lot of that because I think the cur dog and his owner were staying across from my room and he and the dog got up like five times throughout the night and did not even attempt to be quiet. The room was so small that the bathroom door couldn't open fully because it hit the side of the bed.
That next morning, Finn and I went down to a crappy breakfast where the offerings were bread and yogurt and gross cereal. Even the coffee sucked. I opted for toast. As I was pushing the button to begin the toasting process, the hotel desk clerk yells "NO NO NO!" Too late. I complete the button pushing and all of the lights, televisions, computers and vending machines on the first floor go silent. Everyone in the breakfast room turns to stare at me. I smile sheepishly. The clerk goes to a closet to flip the circuit and says to me, "Encore." ("Again.") I say no, but he urges me to try again. I do and again, all of the electricity goes out. No toast for me. But then, after all of that, does the clerk a) unplug the toaster, b) remove the toaster or c) place a sign saying "Do not use"? NO! He just rearranges the meager breakfast fixin's and returns to the office. Craig, Evan and Owen appear and I tell them not to make toast. Why me?
We check out and drive to Calais, looking for a gas station to fill the tank. We find a completely self-serve gas station and Craig puts in our credit card every which way to no avail. The machine does not accept US credit cards. This has happened to us in the past and we know why - it has to do with an electronic chip that European cards have & US cards do not - but it is so frustrating when it happens. So we drive on and find a manned station and fill'er up. We get to Calais, drop off the car in a literal sea of rental automobiles (they are probably STILL sorting out the confusion - poor car rental employees) and head to the ticket booth. We wait in a bizarre but fairly orderly queue and purchase our WAAAYYY overpriced one-way foot traffic ticket to Dover. I do need to gripe about this one. A car with people costs about 75 pounds ($100) on any given day and that's a high estimate. Sea France charged us 235 euros ($300+) to be foot traffic! That's like $60/person! Unreal! Totally taking advantage of people in need!
No idea what this says in Dutch, but I snapped it in Ghent and it shows exactly how I feel about SeaFrance.
Interesting plaque (above) and funny sign (below) on the ferry - an emergency exit for the crew only. It might come in handy when all of the passengers revolt over the gouged prices!
In any case, the ferry was uneventful and we all played a rousing game of Hearts.
Then, we get to Dover and have to smoosh into a bus to get to the train station. We were prepared for the worst, but I will give full kudos to the Dover ticket agents. They had 70+ people sorted with tickets in about 15 minutes - simply amazing teamwork! The ticket agent who helped us was fantastic. He found us a good deal, we didn't have to travel through London only to turn back south to get to the airport where we had left the car and he was pleasant. After two transfers, we arrived at London Gatwick Airport, found our car and started on the 2.5 hour trip home. Our last leg! I have never been so happy to sleep in my own bed.
On an interesting note, easyjet (our air transportation) sent me an email with a link to fill out a claim for incurred expenses and to get our money back for the canceled flight. We will definitely get a refund for the flights, but I am curious to see if we get extra back for the trains and ferry and the car rental.
Next blog: Weekend in Paris!
After departing G-P, Germany, we spent a day on a train gradually making our way to Strasbourg, France. I say 'gradually' because we opted for local trains for a few reasons: 1. The faster trains were no faster. What I mean to say is that they might get you to your next transfer spot quicker and with less stops, but you wind up waiting at the station for longer periods to catch the next fast train. 2. Local transport for families in Germany is amazingly cheap. Group tickets in Bavaria (Bayerntakt) and Baden-Württemberg were 30 euros ($40) each for five people for an all-day train ride on ANY local train transportation. You don't even need to be related and can ask strangers to share a ticket if you are so inclined. In Austria, we paid 160 euro ($240) to go half the distance.
After almost 10 hours on trains, we arrived in Strasbourg, France. The train station was architecturally cool.
We caught two taxis because, well, just because and went to our good hotel. We had to get to France to rent a car because renting a car to then return in France was four times as expensive than renting and returning in the same country. We also had to get to France because, well, it's in between Germany and the UK. The next morning, we obtained our rental car and headed out for more adventure. We didn't really see a lot of Strasbourg. Maybe some other time...
This roof looked like fish scales glinting in the light from across the street.The drive northwest to the ferry port of Calais was uneventful. The kids were good, the car was comfy and the driving was easy. Just before dinner time, we decided to stop in Ghent, Belgium. It was a difficult city to navigate because it is very poorly signed and signed poorly in Dutch. We found a parking spot after a while and went into town. We had a wonderful afternoon looking at the sights and pretty much wasting time so that we wouldn't have to drive in rush hour. We had a pleasant meal but forgot to try a Belgian waffle or french fries which are the specialty and that was that.
These two signs/plaques were next to one another. I liked the 'toetswiet' picture because it's like the song Toot Sweet in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (and it was a candy shop aka "sweets" shop in UK) and then the plaque of men tooting horns right next to it, tooting sweetly. Although, they are probably Nazis and I am just being hopeful...
We hopped back into the car for a short trip to Dunkerque, France where I had booked a hotel. It was just about the crappiest hotel we have ever stayed in, hands down. The gigantic muzzled cur dog wandering the parking lot should have tipped us off, but well, we needed a place to sleep although I didn't get a lot of that because I think the cur dog and his owner were staying across from my room and he and the dog got up like five times throughout the night and did not even attempt to be quiet. The room was so small that the bathroom door couldn't open fully because it hit the side of the bed.That next morning, Finn and I went down to a crappy breakfast where the offerings were bread and yogurt and gross cereal. Even the coffee sucked. I opted for toast. As I was pushing the button to begin the toasting process, the hotel desk clerk yells "NO NO NO!" Too late. I complete the button pushing and all of the lights, televisions, computers and vending machines on the first floor go silent. Everyone in the breakfast room turns to stare at me. I smile sheepishly. The clerk goes to a closet to flip the circuit and says to me, "Encore." ("Again.") I say no, but he urges me to try again. I do and again, all of the electricity goes out. No toast for me. But then, after all of that, does the clerk a) unplug the toaster, b) remove the toaster or c) place a sign saying "Do not use"? NO! He just rearranges the meager breakfast fixin's and returns to the office. Craig, Evan and Owen appear and I tell them not to make toast. Why me?
We check out and drive to Calais, looking for a gas station to fill the tank. We find a completely self-serve gas station and Craig puts in our credit card every which way to no avail. The machine does not accept US credit cards. This has happened to us in the past and we know why - it has to do with an electronic chip that European cards have & US cards do not - but it is so frustrating when it happens. So we drive on and find a manned station and fill'er up. We get to Calais, drop off the car in a literal sea of rental automobiles (they are probably STILL sorting out the confusion - poor car rental employees) and head to the ticket booth. We wait in a bizarre but fairly orderly queue and purchase our WAAAYYY overpriced one-way foot traffic ticket to Dover. I do need to gripe about this one. A car with people costs about 75 pounds ($100) on any given day and that's a high estimate. Sea France charged us 235 euros ($300+) to be foot traffic! That's like $60/person! Unreal! Totally taking advantage of people in need!
No idea what this says in Dutch, but I snapped it in Ghent and it shows exactly how I feel about SeaFrance.
Interesting plaque (above) and funny sign (below) on the ferry - an emergency exit for the crew only. It might come in handy when all of the passengers revolt over the gouged prices!
In any case, the ferry was uneventful and we all played a rousing game of Hearts.Then, we get to Dover and have to smoosh into a bus to get to the train station. We were prepared for the worst, but I will give full kudos to the Dover ticket agents. They had 70+ people sorted with tickets in about 15 minutes - simply amazing teamwork! The ticket agent who helped us was fantastic. He found us a good deal, we didn't have to travel through London only to turn back south to get to the airport where we had left the car and he was pleasant. After two transfers, we arrived at London Gatwick Airport, found our car and started on the 2.5 hour trip home. Our last leg! I have never been so happy to sleep in my own bed.
On an interesting note, easyjet (our air transportation) sent me an email with a link to fill out a claim for incurred expenses and to get our money back for the canceled flight. We will definitely get a refund for the flights, but I am curious to see if we get extra back for the trains and ferry and the car rental.
Next blog: Weekend in Paris!
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