European Road Trip

• The Pilgrimage Church in Birnau, Germany. Located right on the Bodensee (Lake Constance), it is a fine example of the Rococo style.
• Stained glass windows in the Metz Cathedral. The glass spans hundreds of years with the more recent being Marc Chagall stained glass from the 1960s.
• Window shopping in Gent(Ghent), Belgium. Gent is the classic Flemish city with a contemporary feel typical of the Benelux area.
• Koblenz is a quaint German city on the shores of the Bodensee. The Hotel Mercure Halm Konstanz was a gorgeous hotel and we thoroughly enjoyed taking a sauna in the health center.
• Charming villages of Alsace, an eternal favorite with me. The food, the people, the vineyards are all wonderful!

  Quick Tips:

  
  
  • French motorways are expensive but have to be the best roads we have travelled in Europe.
  • Park your car outside of city centers and walk or take public transport. It can be difficult to find parking in the city center.
  • Remember that in Switzerland you have to have a vignette to drive on the Autobahns. These are available for purchase at some border crossings and some gas stations near the border. If you plan to stay on all small roads you don't need to have one. Fines are hefty if you are caught without one on an Autobahn!
  • When you are being spontaneous it isn't always possible to have a guide book with you. Use the Tourist Offices, they are great places for all kinds of information such as maps, accommodations, transport, etc.
  • It never hurts to ask for a lower rate than offered or published at a hotel. We got lower rates at more than one place just by being convincing.

    Best Way To Get Around:

    
    Since we were on a road trip we used the car most everywhere we went. It was best for stopping on a whim.

    Obviously, in cities it is best to park the car and walk everywhere you go--it is just too much trouble to try to park in several different places in cities. We walked all around Ghent (Belgium), Koblenz (Germany), Metz (France), and Luxembourg City.

    Ghent appeared to have a great public transport system with buses and trams in steady use.

The hotel is located right across the street from the train station, which lies just off of the shore of the Bodensee (Lake Constance). It is a four-star located in a grand old building dating from 1875. The lobby and other public areas were richly furnished with beautiful woods and ornate decoration.

There were two rooms available. First, a standard room for three people that looked over the back of the hotel. The second, a suite, was twice the size and had a lake view. We decided we really liked the suite, but it was a bit expensive. The front desk clerk was a jolly fellow with a great sense of humour. He asked, "What do I need to offer for you to stay?" My husband suggested the price he quoted for the lesser room (20€ less) and the clerk went for it, but suggested that if we see him without a head in the morning it was because his boss found out what a deal he gave us and took his head off.

The suite was made up of rooms 401 and 402. The first spacious room had a double bed and TV with an armoire and a view over the back of the hotel. The second room was the living room/sitting room with the couch made into a single bed. The room had a TV, couch/bed, desk, coffee table and two chairs with side tables and it looked out over the train station and the lake. The rooms were connected by a small hallway/foyer and had doors to either room. The bathroom was sparkling clean and sufficiently stocked. It had two sinks and a great shower.

We asked that the sauna be turned on for us to "preheat". The solarium was available for use with tokens available for purchase. The three of us baked in the sauna for a while. It was a wonderfully relaxing experience. We retired to our suite and donned the slippers and robes provided for us.

Breakfast was an equally satisfying experience. The possibilities were endless. There were hot foods—sausages, eggs, bacon and mushrooms. There were many cereals and breads to choose from. Lastly, the buffet was endless—several jam and jellies, meats and cheese, and some Germanic dishes involving meat or fish. There was yogurt and an abundance of fruit and veggies, too. You will not go away hungry!

There were two small issues. First, the hot water ended up being really hot with no cold available (isn’t it usually no hot water?). A shower was out of the question for me. The staff did know of the problem and were working on it. Second, there are electrical coils outside of the windows (for melting snow or keeping birds away??) My husband (stupidly) touched them and got a mild shock. No warning on our window, but the window in the other room had a warning in German.

It was early evening and we decided to stay in the Riquewihr area. The Sarment d’Or caught our eye, so we went in to see about a room. The owner was working in the kitchen and came out to see what he had available. He had one room for three left for the night so we went to see the room. We decided to think about it, but the man misunderstood? us and gave us a key and the code for the front door. It was a decent place to stay, but we didn’t want to take the first place we came to. We decided to keep looking and if we found something else we would just return the key.

After a drive through the surrounding villages and viewing two others, we decided that it was a good price in a good location in the middle of town, so we took ourselves back to Riquewihr to settle in.

Reception was a small area at the front of the hotel. There were nine rooms available, but we only saw five rooms, so there must have been rooms in another area. The rooms were all named after a flower and had a picture of the flower on the door. Ours was called Hortensia and was located on the top floor.

Entering the room, the bathroom was off to the right—it had double sinks, toilet, bidet and a bathtub with no curtain. Off to the left were two bedrooms. The first bedroom was a small cove with a single bed and a small side table. The second bedroom was a double room with a pretty double bed, armoire, TV, and side tables. The entire room had old wooden timbers. (Our room is actually the room shown on their website). The colour coordination and decoration of the room did leave something to be desired. It was turquoise and the décor was sort of mismatched. The overhead light was modern and there was a boat picture on the wall that just didn’t go with the old Alsatian look.

Breakfast was 8€ each. It consisted of a breadbasket, one slice of ham for each of us, a tub of natural yogurt, a plate of cheeses, jams and butter, juice and coffee or tea. We felt a little bit cheated, but we knew to expect this in France.

My mother-in-law asked about the structure and history of the building. It is actually three old houses that were renovated to make one larger hotel/restaurant. The garden area was glassed in to make the reception area and the stairs were added for access to the upstairs rooms.

Overall, this is a nice place to stay. It is in a great location just off the main street and near to car parking. It is quiet and spacious for three people. The only negative was the narrow winding staircase—carrying luggage up and down was no treat.

It had been a long day and it was time for us to find a place to stay. As we have traveled in Belgium before, we knew that the French part of Belgium is not as nice as the Flemish side. After stopping in a few towns on the French side, we decided to keep on driving until we were further west. We had never visited the town of Namur so we decided to stop in to see what it was like. It was already dark as we drove into town. After checking out two other hotels we got a referral to the Novotel in Namur from the Ibis. The clerk at the Ibis called the Novotel and secured a rate of 84€ for three of us including breakfast. We couldn’t find the hotel and were thinking about giving up when we came across another hotel at the casino. After looking at this room and not wanting it, we asked for directions to the Novotel. It was much further than we though.

After finally arriving at the Novotel we checked in and headed up the flight of stairs to our room on the first floor. This hotel appeared to be more of a conference center that they threw together in a hurry. It looked like it was built in a futuristic style back in the 70s. It is hard to describe. My husband kept saying he felt like we were on the Starship Enterprise.

Our room was spacious. There was one double bed and a couch that was turned into a single bed. We had a TV and a small balcony that looked out onto the Meuse River. The bathroom was spacious and clean and the shower had great pressure. The décor was a little strange as I said before. It had these odd-shaped lights and the colors were a bit 70s. The best part about our room was the view. The view out onto the river was amazing.

The hotel had an indoor and an outdoor swimming pool that connect in the summertime. The outdoor pool was still closed. The hotel has 15 conference rooms, one bar and one restaurant. There are 110 rooms for guests.

We had a great breakfast in the morning. The buffet was full of choices such as breads, cereals, eggs and bacon, and there were several juice, tea and coffee choices. The coffee was so good we stayed a little longer to enjoy a second cup.

We stayed at this same Etap back in October, so we were pretty sure we knew what to expect. We arrived around 8PM and there were only a few cars in the car park, which was a relief because we didn’t want to have to look for another place to stay.

The front desk clerk did not speak English, but there was no trouble with communicating with her in French. It just took some basics to reserve ourselves "une chambre pour la nuit." She gave us the code to get into the room and we hauled our stuff upstairs.

Etap hotels are an experience. They are not too bad when there are only one or two people, but it is a little too cozy with three people in one room. You will find a double (doesn’t seem big enough to be a double) on the bottom with a single bunk on the top. There is a small TV in one corner mounted up on the wall, a sink in the other corner and a little table and chair just below the TV. The toilet is in a separate room from the shower. Both the shower room and the toilet room feel like you are in a camper’s bathroom—very claustrophobic. There is just enough room to maneuver around the bed, but when you put three suitcases in there it is just too much.

We have seen two different colour schemes in Etap hotels and we happened to get the standard hot pink/purple. We always bring along an extra pillow if we have room, too, because you get one little flimsy pillow and there is nobody at the hotel past 11PM to ask for an extra one. You get a sheet and a bedspread, which is just about right. The temperature in the room is easily adjustable. The one window in the room has a GREAT light blocking shade over it. This can be a bad thing if you do not set an alarm. We overslept another time because it was so dark we didn’t think it was time to wake up yet.

Breakfast is available for around 4€ per person. We have never tried the breakfast since it is the standard French breakfast—bread, butter, jam, and coffee or tea. Instead, we went over to the Carrefour shopping center and had a breakfast at Flunch for 4€ that included a hot drink, juice, jam, butter, part of a baguette and a dessert pastry with a tub of yogurt and a nicer atmosphere than a hotel lobby.

There are positives and negatives to these hotels. I would recommend this hotel if it is late and you are tired and there are only one or two adults (or two adults and a child). If you will not be spending much time here it is just fine. For 39€ you just can’t beat it.

As we were taking our things into our hotel, the Sarment d’Or, we had to park in the narrow street. A man in the restaurant across the street came out and looked at us very strangely. I explained that we would only be there for one minute and that I was sorry we had to park in front of his restaurant. He was very friendly and said it would be no problem. He saw our GB sticker on the back of the car and chuckled and said, "Ah, Great Britain" and gave us a big smile. My husband thought this was great and decided we should eat at this place for dinner.

The Saint-Nicolas is a restaurant, hotel, winstub, and caveau. Is located in a 16th-century Alsatian house right off the main street in Riquewihr. They offer their guests a tour of their vineyards in their 1932 Peugeot. They will also arrange tours of surrounding villages in their 1948 Citroen bus. Rooms are from 45-80€ and breakfast is 7.50€ per person.

We were quite hungry and it was a bit early for dinner, but we decided to go for dinner anyways. We were seated and the waitress took our coats to hang in the front coat closet. She asked us for a drink order and returned with sparkling water and a small UK flag for our table to denote our nationality and language (she didn’t know we were Americans!).

There were four set menus available for 17, 21, 30 and 32€. None of the four looked very appealing to any of us, so we chose individual meals. I ordered chicken with a Reisling and mushroom sauce and spatzle. My husband ordered filet of beef that came with a leek wrapped in bacon, spatzle and then peas and a tomato with parmesan. My mother-in-law had pork filets with mushroom and cream gravy with pomme frites. We also had two half carafes of wine-Reisling and Gewurstraminer. We topped it all off with crème caramel.

The dining area was very charming. The walls were yellow stucco with old timbering. The ceiling was also timbered, but between the timbering on the ceiling was a red velvet patterned fabric. The colourful tablecloth had bright paisleys. Wooden stags graced the old wooden chandeliers and the dining area was decorated with beer steins, loads of oil paintings, artificial flowers, and other knick-knacks. It made us feel right at home.

The service was excellent. Our waitress didn’t understand my mother-in-law’s French at first so she and my husband conversed in German. It was rather confusing because there was German and French being spoken at different times throughout the meal.

Overall, I would recommend this restaurant to those visiting the area. It is charming and the food was excellent. All three of us were happy with our meals and dessert. The regional wine was an added bonus to our experience. The André Schneider would be glad to have you.

We were starving and it was only around 5pm and wondered if it was too early to eat. We walked down to the restaurant and found that others were eating, too, so we went in. The menu was unusual in that it had many German items and many Italian items. We later found out that the restaurant is owned by Cosimos Pezzarossa—obviously Italian.

As a starter we all had pane aglio—garlic bread and then my mother-in-law and I followed that with wienerschnitzel, which also came with a heavy potato and ham side dish. My husband went another way and had the pork filets with cream gravy and spatzle. My husband and I each had a half-liter of Fürstenberg beer, too. The meal was mediocre. I liked the potatoes, but the wienerschnitzel wasn’t anything to brag about. My mother-in-law didn’t like any of it. My husband thought his dinner was alright.

The restaurant itself was fairly unremarkable. The service was great, though. Our waitress was a very attentive Czech woman. The meals were overpriced for their quality.

Overall, I would recommend a restaurant elsewhere. This would be a good place, though, to stop in for a beer to get out of the cold or rain.

The tourism office is located directly opposite the cathedral in the central Place d’Armes. We went inside for a map and some more information about the city.

The gothic cathedral is unmistakable in appearance. It towers over its surroundings and is built of Jaumont stone as are many other monuments in the area. Even from the outside you can see the immense number of stained glass that must be housed inside.

The Cathedral was built between 1220 and 1520. Its nave is the 3rd highest in France at 42 meters and it has 70,000 square feet of stained glass. "Lantern of God" is its nickname because of the abundance of stained glass. Some of the glass dates back centuries, but there are windows as new as the 1960s made by Marc Chagall.

Inside you will find stunning arches lit to make them look golden, gleaming stained glass and light chandeliers hanging gracefully above your head. You can easily spend a great amount of time just wandering from one stained glass display to the next. There is such great variation among the styles. Sit down for a while and just look up.

The Cathedral is on a northeastern/southwestern orientation, which is unusual. This is due to the foundations that were there at the time of the building. Prior to the cathedral was an oratory dedicated to St. Stephen.

Metz is one of the oldest cities in France. It was once a Roman settlement. In the 6th century it was the residence of the Merovian kings. It was later a free city and in 1552 became part of France. From 1870 to 1918 it belonged to the Germans (it is only 30 miles from the border) who occupied it again during WWII.

After visiting the church in Birnau, we headed towards Meersberg. At last minute, we decided to get on the ferry headed to Konstanz. As we approached, the ferry was loaded already, but an operator flagged us over and we were the last car on the ferry. Right after the ferry left, a man came over to the car for us to pay for the crossing. We were charged 11.50€. This was for the car and three passengers. (This does not correlate with the information on the website and I am not sure why?)

The short ferry ride took us across the northern arm of the Bodensee (Lake Constance). The ferry looked as it could hold around 50 or so cars. There were plenty of foot passengers and a few people on bikes. The top floor of the ferry was a café with snacks and drinks available.

The weather was cool and windy, but we still enjoyed being out on the deck looking at the scenery. Off in the distance you could see the majestic Alps and there were several other ferries going past ours. We could see the church at Birnau that we just visited. Konstanz rapidly approached us ahead as it only took around 20 minutes to make the crossing.

Tom went to their website, Eurotunnel, to check on a same-day return fare. For £133 we could leave in only a few hours and return five days later (Friday to Tuesday). The ticket was also fully refundable and fully changeable. After being refunded for our tickets to Dubai that were $500 each, $240 for a crossing didn't seem so bad, so we booked it. After repacking for a cooler climate we set off for the terminal.

From the M25 you take the M20 and follow signs to the Channel Tunnel. On the signs you will see a picture of a car on a train. Once you take the final exit you will come to the check-in desk where you will produce your confirmation or booking number and sometimes they want to see the credit card you used to book. You should try to arrive about 30 minutes before departure unless you want some extra time for shopping at the duty-free shops. If you have a fully changeable ticket you may be able to get on an earlier train should you be early and should there be space available. Once you have received your hangtag denoting your departure letter and return ticket you will go on to the next station of passport control. From here you can stop at the duty-free shops if you have time. There are all sorts of things to buy in here—cigarettes, sweets, alcohol, gifts, foods, etc. You will also find snack shops and miscellaneous activities to take up some time.

Once your boarding letter shows up on the signs in the duty-free area or in the car parks, you can start heading down to the boarding area. They route you through the duty-free area anyways, so if you follow the signs correctly you can’t get lost. You will be put into a queue for boarding. It is actually pretty interesting to watch the boarding process. There are two train types—single levels and double trains with two levels. The double trains have two doors open, one with a ramp to take you to the top level. You drive straight into the side of the train or up a ramp to the second level. You just drive slowly behind the other cars until a staff person tells you where to stop. Once you stop your car you must put on your handbrake, put the car in drive or first and turn off the car. Your sunroof should be opened and windows should be placed halfway down.

There are safety instructions given by announcement that you should take note of. Things like no camera flash, no standing between cars, no smoking, no use of toilets in campers, etc. There isn’t really any place to go, so you can either sit in your car or you can stand outside your car. I always like to watch us taking off and then I go sit in the car and recline the seat. There are bathrooms available every few carriages on both levels.

Once the train takes off it is actually pretty boring. It takes about 35 minutes to get to France or vice-versa on the way back. It doesn’t take any time at all for the unloading to begin once the train comes into the landing area. Don’t start your engine until the cars in front of you start moving. From here you just follow the exit signs (or the cars in front of you) and it dumps you right out onto the Autoroute in France and the Motorway in England.

We have taken all forms of transport available from England to France. This is by far the quickest and most convenient way to travel to France if you want to take your car. It is kind of creepy to think that you are UNDER the English Channel in a tunnel, but you just have to keep those thoughts away. Some people prefer the ferry or the hover-speed catamarans. It is fun to watch as you approach land as you sit and have a drink and a snack, but nothing beats the speed of the Channel Tunnel trains.

Completed in 1749 by Peter Thumb, this church is decorated in the South German Rococo style. Once you enter the church you will see that it rivals even some of the most beautiful churches in Roma.

You enter the church through the "Priesterhaus" which is directly connected to the building. Inside you will also find a gift shop selling books and trinkets in several languages.

Look for several clocks inside the church, one directly on the ceiling. Also, look for the mirror on the ceiling. We couldn't figure it out, but the woman in the gift shop tried to explain in English the meaning. It is a line directly from the baby Jesus to the congregation. In one of my pictures notice in the lower right hand corner an angel with its index finger in its mouth holding a beehive. This is the honeylicker angel. He is known as guardian angel of marriage, family and persons in love. See www.honeylicker.com for a German explanation of many things in the church. I know for most of us the German doesn't help, but there are some great pictures of the church there.

Pictures are not allowed in the church, so purchase a guidebook in the gift shop (I wish now that I would have!) My husband was bad and couldn't resist three pictures in the church.

I would highly recommend making a stop at this church if you are in the area. It is a beautiful example of Baroque/Rococo styles.