The only thing left on our schedule after the race was the parade lap around the racetrack. This allows family or friends an opportunity to experience the racetrack. Jeffrey rode along and took pictures of the drive. There were a lot of cars on the track and I had to pay attention as we would suddenly slow down. The race car in front of me is valued over $5mil so I really didn't want to rear end him during the parade.
The morning started with qualifying. It's basically a race to determine the starting position of the final race. The Speedster probably had the least amount of power and had the narrowest tires but Thomas was able to gain positions during the qualifications. However as the engine temps got hotter near the end it started to go down on power so he brought the car in early to prevent any damage.
The actual race was after lunch. We started in back and ran until the engine temps started climbing so we left the race early. I stayed out to take some additional photos of the next race group that were of mostly 911s. Thomas was racing his orange 914-6 GT in this much faster grouo. He started in the front row and was leading the race until his car had ignition problems in one cylinder at the last lap and he finished third.
The car went out for two practice runs today. Thomas hadn't driven the Speedster so he took it easy in the first run. The car ran fine but was one of the slower cars. For the afternoon run group we told him to drive it harder. About halfway during the session the engine temps started increasing and it was losing power so he brought the car back early. Qualifying is tomorrow morning. I think Thomas will take it easy for the qualifying and race to preserve the motor.
The downside of a huge event like Rennsport is parking. Crews and drivers have to park outside the pits and take a shuttle to the pits. The race stewards offer a special parking pass for special vintage porsches that allows those cars to park in your pits. We were able to get a pass for the RS so it's now the grocery and coffee getter for the crew. It's was a challenge this morning loading it up at Safeway with a few cases of water, forty pounds of ice, snacks and coffee but it was worth it not having to carry it in.
If you don't like loud noise or the smell of unburned fuel you should never go to a race track. However it's worth if from a visual perspective. Just driving in and seeing all the street and race Porsches was awesome.
It was busy in the pits with all the race teams getting their cars out of the trailers and setting up the pits. Terry and Brett had our pit area set up when I arrived on Thursday. It was uncomfortably hot during the last couple hours of my drive down so it was nice to hide under the trailer awning and stay cool after the long drive.
Whenever we drive to California we always stop at this store called the Olive Pit. This part of California is full of olive orchards and this store sells lots of styles of olives and oils. My favorite is the Muffuletta salad. I was surprised they were open at 7am so that saves me a stop on the way back home.
There are a set of mountains between southern Oregon and northern California with about 120 miles of changing elevation and curves. I have driven down the I5 corridor many times but never went through that section in the dark. My initial plans were to stop at Medford for the night but with my early departure from Seattle I decided to press on to make a shorter drive the next day.
There was still some daylight when I started the climb out of Ashland Oregon but it got dark fast. Soon it was just the Semi trucks, me and an occasional other car. The light traffic in the mountains was a surprise as it was super congested in Portland and then there was a steady stream of cars till Medford. It was really dark when I was going between the packs of semis in the mountains.
My RS was optioned with a set of under bumper fog logs and thru the grill driving lights. Combined with the standard headlamps it's an imposing look from the front. Both are pretty rare options so it's also makes the car stand out when it's is on display at a car show. This was the first time that I really appreciated the usefulness of all these lights. The fog lights really lit up the sides of the road and the driving lights increased the viewing distance of the high beams. The 40 year old lighting was better than the new cars today.
I ended up in Corning CA for the night. 640 miles in 10 hours wasn't bad considering the congested traffic in Portland and the left lane hogs afterwards in Oregon.
I was fretting over my departure time for my drive down to the Monterey Bay area. Seattle traffic has been horrible this week due to the Premier of China's visit. Our highways have been closed without advanced warning which has made commuting a challenge. My route takes me by one of his destinations so I wanted to leave before the roads were closed again. Plus I wanted to avoid rush hour traffic in Portland.
I ended up sneaking out of work early. I had a morning meeting at the district hq till noon and just got on the highway instead of going back to school.
I was a little nervous parking the RS at the district offices as the spots are narrow and there are lots of transients in the area. At least it's going to be a nice day for a road trip!
This is my weekend where I will be immersed in Porsches. I'm heading down to Rennsport Reunion 5 at the Laguna Seca racetrack. My 58 Speedster will be racing in Group 2 and driven by Thomas Gruber. Thomas is the co-author of the book Carrera RS which definitive reference book of these cars. The other co-author is Georg Konradsheim who was the previous owner and restored my Carrera RS.
The Speedster will be trucked down and managed on site by Terry at Racecraft. I'm not sure how many other cars Terry will take in the transporter but we should have a nice group in our pits. I'll be driving down in the RS.
The French have a fascination with death and bones. They had the bones on display at their tomb of the unknown soldiers of World War 1 and we were about to go see some more at the Catacombs. I guess we must be fascinated as well as we were willing to pay money to see these bones.
The old buildings in Paris were built with limestone which was readily available beneath the city. After the limestone was mined they would abandon the site and people forgot about these mines until huge sinkholes began appearing and swallowing up houses in the late 1700s.
Around the same time Paris was running out of space in their cemeteries. There were also concerns about the health of the citizens who lived next to the cemeteries. Cemeteries back then utilized mass graves for the burials of the regular citizens so the decomposition was really concentrated. There was also an instance where the sidewall of a mass grave blew out and the contents spilled out into the basements next door.
So when the kings engineers were figuring out how to prop up the underground caverns to prevent additional sinkholes they also came up with the solution to fix the cemetery overcrowding by moving all the contents of the city's cemeteries into these caverns.
The catacombs were not part of our museum pass which is why we didn't visit till after our passes expired. It's also difficult to visit as they let only 200 people into the catacombs at a time. If you plan ahead you can prepay and reserve your tickets or you can just wait in line.
The first entry was 10am so we decided to arrive by 8:30 to try to be in the first group. Waiting the 90 minutes would be better than the 2+ hours wait of the later entry times. There was already a line when we arrived but the line quickly got longer by 9am. I was the 70th person to enter. I estimate we could have arrived at 8:45 and still been in the first group.
Once past the gate you went down a long spiral staircase. After going up and down the Arc and Notre Dame I should have expected these narrow stairs again. Once at the bottom, you walked through various empty caverns with explanation on how the limestone was formed and mined and how the engineers stabilized the caverns. It was wet and the floor was slippery.
Soon you got to the areas where the dead bodies were placed. Someone a long long time ago was creative in laying out the skeletons in a pretty formation. Mostly the femur bone ends and skulls up front and the rest of the bones behind. Only the skulls were cemented in front but the other bones were not glued down so you could reach at the top of the pile and grab a tibula or maybe a humerus. Touching wasn't encouraged but I had to find out if the bones were loose. After walking about a mile underground the tour was over. Unfortunately the only way out was another set of spiral stairs!
Today was the last day of our six day museum pass. We definitely got our money's worth out of the pass. For $76 we already went to the Louvre, L'Orangerie, Musee d'Orsay, Versailles, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, Concergerie, modern art museum, and the army museum. There were at least 50 more places that we could have visited if our legs could still work.
With the late night visit to the Eiffel Tower we got up late and planned to visit the museums near our apartment. The closest was the Cluny Museum. It was definitely not on the tourist A lists as there were no tour buses waiting outside.
This small museum focuses on medieval objects. There were original stained glass on display, tapestries and objects almost 1000 years old. The museum was pretty boring until we went downstairs and discovered that the 700 year old building was built on abandoned Roman baths and we could walk through the original spaces down below.
After admiring the old Roman structure we went to lunch at an Asian noodle shop. We have been burned out on French food and baguettes. The noodle shop had good yelp reviews which is why we made the long walk to the shop. It was cool that the chef hand pulled the noodles after we placed our order. It was good but the flavors are different from what we are used to at home.
You would think after a long day at Musee d'Orsay and the modern art museum we would be done for the day. After chilling in our air conditioned apartment and snacking on some fries from the downstairs street vendors we decided that it would be a good evening to visit the Eiffel tower. We had tried to pre purchase the tickets earlier in the week but the first available spots were in September. So we thought maybe the crowds would be lighter around dinner time so we got on the Metro and headed to the tower.
There were three lines when we arrived at the tower, the shortest line was for those willing to climb the stairs to the first viewing deck with the option to ride the elevator from that deck to the top. The other two lines were for riding the elevators all the way to the top. Tired from the stairs at Notre Dame and the Arc we decided to wait in the longer lines.
The wait was under an hour to purchase the tickets then another 30 minutes for the elevator. I thought we were going straight to the top when we got on the elevator but this first elevator took us only to the lower viewing level where we had to wait another 30 minutes for the elevators to the top.
At the top there was another set of stairs to take you to the outdoor viewing deck. Once outside it was pretty crowded as you were limited to the outer perimeter of the tower. There was a vendor selling plastic glasses of Champagne, I guess you are supposed to toast your efforts for enduring the lines and making it to the top. We eventually worked our way to the east side for the night views of the Louvre and Notre Dame and stayed at the top for 45 minutes.
We started back down at 11pm. It's not that easy to get down as you wait again for the elevators at the two levels. At the top there were two lines for the elevators. The line we initially we tried to get on wound around 3/4 way around the tower. We discovered this as we started at the front of the line and worked our way back. The funny thing is that the second line wound only 1/4 way around the tower so that both lines started at the same place. For some reason the all the people in front of us werr getting into the longer line. We took the shorter line and saved at least another 30 minutes getting down.
By the time we walked back to the Metro and the rode to our apartment it was after midnight. There were still a lot of passengers on the Metro but I was surprised that almost all the cafes in our neighborhood were already closed. Fortunately one of the creperies and a gyro shop were still open so we could get snacks to satisfy everyone in our group before bed.
We went to another museum which houses the largest collection of impressionist paintings. The Musee d'Orsay is located across the river from the L'Orangerie and was formerly a train station in the late 1800s.
From an art perspective this was our favorite museum with lots of paintings that are recognizable from books we have read. The museum is extensive so we took a lunch break and had our picnic on the river and watched the huge barge style boats go by with sightseeing passengers.
We went back for a few more hours to see the remaining collections. We were definitely tired and we should have taken the rest of the afternoon off but we didn't and went to the Museum of Modern Art.
The modern art museum is housed in the Pompidou centre. This building can also be considered a piece of modern art. It really stands out as its industrial modern in a neighborhood of old classic buildings. The building has exposed pipes, ducting, steel beams glass, and primary colors. There is also a series of escalator tubes on the outside which reminded me of the habitrail cages used to house hamsters many decades ago.
From an art perspective, maybe I don't know how to appreciate modern art. Many pieces seemed to be similar with the same usage of colors, shapes and patterns. I guess the same could have been said in the 1880s when people were looking at the impressionist paintings. I was inspired by the single color pieces. I plan to buy some canvas and paint and put the boys to work when we get home.
I am used to having the option of stores being open every day. We learned early in our trip that most grocery stores were closed on Sundays especially in smaller towns. It made for a very modest dinner one Sunday night when we shared some leftover noodles and a can of beans. Good thing I had bought some canned cassoulet out of curiosity earlier in the week. Cassoulet is the French version of Pork and Beans but with Duck, as least that's what you get when you buy it canned.
Now that we were in Paris we discovered that the busy museums also have to close a day during the week and it seemed that Monday was the day most were closed (Louvre is closed on Tuesday). The Orangerie Museum and the Army museum (Musee de l'Armee) were open so those were our destinations for the day.
The Orangerie is the destination for fans of Monet as his giant sized water lilies paintings are on display in two specially designed oval room. There are also collections of other significant impressionist and post impressionist paintings on display as well. It was a small museum but a worthwhile stop. Afterwards we walked over the army museum across the river. It was hot so we tried to stay in the shade ad much as possible.
The Army museum is housed in Les Invalides which was originally built in the late 1600s as a hospital and housing for old soldiers. Now this enormous structure contains various exhibits from all the eras of battles. There were lots of armor and those worn by the king on display, swords and old cannons, rifles and so on. There was also an exhibition on the two World Wars with lots of historical perspective. There was also an exhibition of the land battles in Frances history which explains how the country and land was shaped.
The centerpiece of the Les Invalides compound is the chapel and the occupants buried there. Napoleon is front and center under the gold dome in a display that's more impressive than those burial sites for kings.
While this museum was extensive and impressive, it was horribly laid out with limited facilities. I think there was only one set of restrooms and the cafe was really small. I usually don't like to eat at the overpriced museum cafes but since you are visiting all day you need a place to eat and drink. We saved some money by bringing our own sandwiches but bought the drinks so that we could sit in the partially air conditioned room. AC was important as it was over 95 degrees outside.
We spent all day Sunday at the Louvre. I think it's the largest museum in the world so it takes more than a day to visit everything. The French were early explorers and understood the importance of history so they amassed a huge collection of Greek and Egyptian/middle eastern antiquities which are on display. They also had lots of very early paintings such as the Mona Lisa by DaVinci.
Our goal was to arrive right when the Louvre opened so that we could avoid the crowds at the entrance. We had also planned to head directly to the Mona Lisa as we knew that was very popular with the tourists. Crista studied the museum layout and knew the route to follow to that famous painting.
Unfortunately we had a late start to our plans. Also it was our first journey on the Metro so it took extra time to learn the ticket kiosk, plus I didn't pick the optimal transfer so that wasted precious extra minutes as well. We arrived 20 minutes late to a huge crowd in the courtyard by the glass pyramid waiting to get in. As we walked up, we were relieved to find out that the huge line was for visitors without tickets and there was no wait for those with tickets or the museum pass so we walked in. That museum pass just paid for itself!
Once inside under the glass pyramid we could spot large tour groups getting organized. There were lots of tour groups from China which we also saw at Notre Dame. These groups always have a private guide (not from the museum) with a microphone and the group world each have an earpiece to listen. These groups would have around 25 people and the travelled very tightly around the guide.
Despite being late we decided to follow the plan an head straight to the Mona Lisa. Crista walked very quickly until she got distracted by another famous statue which is of the lady with wings in a boat but missing her head. She was about to stop for a photo opp till I reminded her why we were in a rush so she continued on. We arrived to the Mona Lisa room and was greeted by a very small crowd. Our plan had worked! It was easy to get up front to admire the painting without being rushed.
Afterwards we went back to the statue and then we started our long day at the rest of the museum. Eventually we made it back to the Mona Lisa room and it was packed with tour groups and visitors.
Versailles is a huge palace in the suburbs of Paris. Louis XIV had decided to move his court out of Paris and settled in Versailles which is about 15 miles from Paris. It originally was a hunting Lodge for the earlier kings but was expanded over time. It became a huge compound with the palace, grounds and gardens living quarters for the staff and offices for the government.
To get there you have to drive or take the long distance commuter rail called the RER. The RER lines run underground in downtown Paris and often share the stations with the Metro lines which are only in Paris. The RER line which goes to Versailles has a stop at St Michel which is a block from our apartment so I thought we were set. But Crista saw on the Versailles website that the RER line under the city was closed for maintenance so we had to make other plans. This involved an extra train transfer but it was easy as we were getting familiar with the Metro lines.
We arrived at 11:45a to a crowd that covered the entire front courtyard of the Palace. It wasn't just a crowd but an organized line that snaked around to enter the palace. We had heard that the wait would be at least two hours but we had no other option but to wait. Good thing we packed our sandwiches so we ended up having a picnic while standing in line. I also found a grocery store a few blocks away so I left the line for beverages and chips and would have had time to go back to the store for ice cream or dessert as we did wait in line for over two hours!
Once inside the experience was pretty miserable. You shuffled room to room in narrow walkways and doorways so it was hard to escape the tour groups. The leaders of these private tour groups would push their way through a crowd and the 20 people in the group would have to follow. Even larger spaces like the hall of mirrors were hard to navigate as ladies would suddenly stop, fix their hair, freshen their makeup and take a few selfies. I wish I had a video of that process as it has happened many times during this trip. Our experience was much nicer when we visited 17 years ago during the off-season and had the castle to ourselves.
On the way back to Paris we took a detour and stopped at the Arc de Triumphe. So that tourists don't get killed by the cars there is a tunnel under the road to the Arc. And just like the other destinations there was a long line in the tunnel to purchase tickets. Our Museum pass allow us to skip the line and go directly to the security. We climbed to the top of the Arc using circular stairs similar to the climb to the top of Notre Dame. We had a great view of the action on Boulevard Champ Elysees. Our legs were definitely worn out by the time we got back to our apartment.
After washing up we reluctantly put our shoes back on and looked for a place to eat. Our apartment is on Rue de la Huchette which is full of restaurants and carryout places that offer gyros and crepes. The hardest part is deciding where to go. We didn't have to walk far to find a Greek restaurant with various meats cooking on the rotisseries in the window and the owner standing on the sidewalk convincing us to eat at his restaurant.
We started out Paris visit by exploring the sights on the island in the middle of the Seine called Cite. Our apartment is just a block south of the river so it was a quick walk. Our first stop was Sainte Chapelle. This church was built in the 1200's by King Louis IX to store important religious relics. It a small church as it was primarily used by the king.
Another reason our visit started here was to purchase our Paris museum pass at a location that wasn't so busy. This pass allows us to go straight into most of the museums in Paris including Versailles. The cost was $76 for 6 days. I think we will get or moneys worth out of the pass but just the convenience of the pass is worth it. Kids under 18 are free so we only needed two passes.
After Sainte Chapelle we went next door to visit the Concergerie. This was the original home of the king in the 1200s. In later times it was the prison and tribunal location for the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette was here and they include a tour of her cell though the decor is not original.
Our next stop was Notre Dame. By the time we arrived all the tour buses and unloaded their passengers and the line to get in was circling around the Plaza in front of the cathedral. The wait had to be over 2 hours. Instead we walked past and saw another line which was to climb to the bell towers of Notre Dame. That line also extended all the way down the street so we ended up walking around the island, saw the memorial to the Paris Holocaust victims and North of the river to the Jewish Quarter for a good deli. We did not find a deli open but there were lots of fancy boutiques. Either the neighborhood has changed since we last visited or I was on the wrong streets.
We ended up back at our apartment for a late lunch. We took advantage of the cheap eats on our touristy street and had a gyro and fries for 5eur. Kids are hooked, they dig the ability to buy fries just outside the door to apartment.
After a few hours break we went back to Notre Dame. The line was slightly shorter but still at least an hour to visit the cathedral. The line to climb the bell tower wasn't any shorter but we decided to wait as we had never climbed to tower before. Waiting the 55 minutes wasn't bad except for the smoking of the others in line. Smoking is banned inside buildings but still OK outside in lines and cafes so we took turns leaving the line to get fresh air.
The wait to climb the bell towers was worth it. Using the original stone circular stairs you climb to the roof level of the cathedral and admire the views around Paris. That was a tough climb as the stairs are narrow so it's hot and smelly with all the sweaty bodies inside. There are also no rest areas so be prepared to keep climbing as stopping will hold up the folks behind you.
In addition to enjoying the view at the roof level you also have access to one set of bells of Notre Dame. The other set of bells are rung every 15 minutes so it would not be wise to be in the enclosed bell tower when they are ringing. They were already loud enough from our position on the roof. These bells are famous as they are the basis for the story Hunchback of Notre Dame.
But wait there more! As we approached the stairs which looked like the way down, there was an up arrow sign on the stairs to allow you to climb up to the roof of the bell tower. So more climbing on the narrow circular stairs till we reached the top with even better views of Paris. The area at the top is limited to a narrow path around for the perimeter of the bell tower so when we completed our loop it was time to go down. We waited for the all clear radio call and our group started the long journey back down to the ground.
By the time we reached the bottom, the line for the cathedral was gone so we went inside. Impressive inside but it wasn't as memorable as our climb to the top of Notre Dame!
We finally made it to our final destination with our short drive into Paris. The drive to the outskirts of Paris was easy but the apartment we rented was in the middle of city that's popular with tourists and our apartment was on a pedestrian only street. The keys were a few blocks away also in a similar location. Even after studying the Google Street views of the two stops I wasn't sure of our strategy of getting the keys or unloading the car.
Driving in the city was a challenge with all the scooters and pedestrians and unfamiliar road sign symbols. For the keys I was going to drop off crista, and circle the block while she got the keys. When we navigated to the narrow one way street to the key pickup we lucked out as the next door building was under construction with a dumpster already partially in the street so I tucked in behind it.
After getting the keys the plan was to circle the streets around the apartment and be prepared to double Park a block away and dump off the luggage and kids and Crista if necessary. As we circled our neighborhood I spotted an underground parking lot. Based on the tight turns going down and the parking spots the lot was designed for very small cars but we were able to park without scratching the car.
We walked about two blocks to our apartment. We had all of our luggage with a few grocery bags with food and water and household items we had accumulated over the last few weeks. Once we found our apartment it was another 4 flights of stairs but we made it. The boys were good sherpas.
Afterwards we drove to the local Hertz office to return the car. We drove over 2500 miles across Germany, Belgium and France, averaged 35 mpg and had numerous picnics from the tailgate. We ate over twenty baguettes, had 4 wheels of Camembert cheese, many packages of ham and salami, and over a pound of butter. The Hertz car detailer will have lots of crumbs to vacuum.
As part of our visits of historically significant sights we headed 300 miles north so that we could experience the region where the bloodiest battles of World War 1 took place.
Our first stop was Fort Douaumont which was a fortified underground base built by the French to protect their borders from Germany. It was an impressive bunker but not robust enough for the newer military technology (bigger bombs delivered over longer distances) that was introduced during the war. Thus it was heavily damaged and of limited use during the trench warfare waged in the Verdun area.
The Verdun area has been left largely the way it was after the war, except for the trees that have grown in the area. The landscape is completely uneven from all the shell craters, and the partially filled trenches are still in place. There were also some towns in the area completely destroyed by the shelling and left that way except for the markers that show the original locations of the buildings.
We also visited the Ossuary de Douaumont. It's the location of the French military cemetery from WWI and at the memorial on site contains the unknown remains of over 120k soldiers, their skeletal remains can be seen through windows in the Ossuary.
We headed 300 miles southeast to the Rhone-alps region. Our destination was the L'Cavernes du Pont D'Arc. This is where some cave explorers back in 1994 discovered a cave with 30,000 year old cave paintings made by the earliest humans. The cave had been untouched as the opening was sealed by a landslide 20,000 years ago. If this was just a trip for me I could have spent a week just visiting wineries as it was also in the middle of the region where Cotes d' Rhone is produced.
Getting a last minute inexpensive hotel was a challenge as it was peak season for the tourists in the area. We managed to find two rooms in a hotel just outside one of the towns. When we arrived we discovered the rooms were far from each other and when Crista used her broken French to see if we could find rooms closer together the receptionist showed us a third option, a gite. A gite is like renting a home. We've also seen them as cabins as well. The hotel had two gites and the available one was a two bedroom with a/c, kitchen and washing machine for the same price. We took the gite an did at least 4 loads of laundry and utilized the clothesline to dry in the hot sunny air.
With the caves, the challenge was to preserve the 30,000 year old art but to share it with the public. The solution was to build a complete reproduction of the caves with the art and keep the original cave sealed except for research. This museum had been open for less than a year. It felt a little Disney-like knowing what we were looking at was fake but they did an incredible job making it realistic.
Afterwards we drove down to the site where the original cave was located to see the other attraction next to the cave; a rock formation which creates a natural arch over the river called the Pont D'Arc. Kayaks go down the Ardeche river to go under the arch. There is also beach access so we parked and the boys went swimming under the arch for a hour.
On our way out of Normandy we stopped in Bayeux to view the Bayeux Tapestry. Note I used the singular form of Tapestry. Tourists stop in this town to see this one piece of cloth which is 230 feet long and almost 1000 years old. The tapestry tells the story of how William the Conqueror came into power though a set of embroidered pictures.
To view the tapestry you enter a dimly lit room and the tapestry is behind a glass case on your left. You view it as you walk down a corridor, and halfway through it u-turns and you view the remaining tapestry. The walk takes about 20 minutes if you follow the included audio guide. I was a little disappointed after viewing the tapestry as I thought there would be more but the museum also had additional artifacts on the different floors which provided additional information about this piece of history.
On the way back to the car we stopped by the Bayeux cathedral which is also old. The stained glass is amazing.
Hundreds of years ago the French royals and the rich built Chateaux in the central part of France. Our basecamp for visiting these châteaux is a town called Loches which also has its own Chateau. Instead of getting two rooms at a budget hotel we ended up in a hotel that was also a time share resort. We had a one room condo with a kitchen and deck that overlooked the river and the bell tower and a small view of the chateau. It was the same price as the budget hotel but there was no housekeeping and we have to pay for WiFi. It was nice to finally have cold drinks and to sit at a table!
We ended up visiting three châteaux including Cheverny, Chambord an Chenonceau. Cheverny which is pictured below is still owned by its long term family and it was furnished with rare antiques and tapestries and paintings. It's best known as the basis for the chateau depicted in the adventures of tin tin. My favorite part was the area where the Hounds live. They have 100 hunting Hounds which all live together in an open kennel on site. These Hounds are still used for hunting the old fashioned noble way.
Chambord was a huge château, it might be the biggest among the châteaus. The best part were the double helix stone spiral staircases. Unfortunately since it's so large and hard to manage many visitors have carved their names into the stone walls. Chenonceau is best known for its location. It's built over a river, so the structure doubles as a bridge and a château.
Mont St. Michel is 900+ year old abbey built on a rock off the coast of Normandy. It's a beautiful and a popular tourist destination so it was on our list of places to visit.
Unfortunately for us the French farmers had been on strike this week by blocking various roadways with their tractors and trucks. We were blocked earlier in the week but figured out a detour courtesy of our our Garmin and by following a few locals. The road blocks were more challenging on our trip to Mont Saint-Michel as they blocked the only two ways into the site which required us to park on the side of the road three miles away and walk in. We were able to catch a shuttle bus after walking a mile past the roadblocks.
We spent the day going to the three American D-day landing locations. Omaha, Point du Hoc and Utah. We started the morning at Omaha where the American cemetery is also located.
There is also a visitors center at Omaha. I don't recall seeing it when I last visited 17 years ago. It was well done with videos, photos and stories from the soldiers who were there and background info on some soldiers that did not make it home after the war. We walked down to the beach and walked the cemetery.
Afterwards we went to Point du Hoc, the location of where the Army Rangers had to scale 100 foot cliffs in order to capture the big guns that were defending the beaches. That area has also been developed with a boardwalk for easier access to the site. The old concrete bunkers are still intact at this location as are the craters in the ground where the artillery hit.
Finally we drove the Utah beach. That was a little disappointing as it was commercialized compared to the other two locations. There were some memorials at the location but it was also a location where the locals play at the beach. Probably why there were cafes and ice cream shops right next to the site.
On the way back we also stopped by the German cemetery. This location was the main American cemetery until they developed the current location.
I hope the boys realize the importance of our stops at the landing beaches and at the WWII museum in Caen.
We left Bruges and made it to the city of Caen which is in Normandie. Along with way we stopped at a few towns along the water including Honfleur. We walked along the old town and port and had a seafood dinner that would never be served at restaurant in the US. For one thing the servings of shellfish were huge. The mussels appetizer for one person came in a 3 quart pot, and Ians mixed seafood plate had items I had never seen before. I'm glad everyone else was enjoying their mysteries from the sea.
As dinners in France are very leisurely we didn't arrive into Caen till 9p and the reception desk at our budget hotel had closed. I had to do a self check-in at an atm like machine outside the gates to the parking lot. That what you get when trying to save on the hotel. At least our rooms are nicer than the last hotel.
We spent the day visiting the town of Bruges. It's a popular destination with lots of tourists, and overpriced sidewalk cafes and restaurants. There are a lot of old churches here (seems like every town in Europe has old churches) but what makes it stand apart are the canals that runs through the town. It's like a small Venice of the North. We acted just like the other tourists and walked the cobblestone streets, took a boat ride of the waterways and ate overpriced food at a sidewalk cafe. The price of the waffle we had in the morning was worth it. It was the best waffle I have ever had. They use a bread like dough in a waffle iron, I'll have to work on it when I get home.
We may have skimped a bit too far on our accommodation this time. We stayed at the Ibis hotel which is a huge chain in Europe. What I didn't notice was that this was part of their "budget" line of properties. The rooms were clean but they were tiny. The shower and sink were in the room and the toilet was tucked in a corner closet with a bathroom stall door. You'll really get to know your roommate with this room configuration.
Paderborn is not on the list of stops in most tour guides. It's just another town in the middle of Germany but it's also where Petra our old Aupair lives so we made sure we included Paderborn on our trip plans.
The town also has stuff to see with lots of old churches, a pedestrian only downtown area and a castle just south of town. We spent the day with Petra and her boyfriend Sebastian where they took us to the major landmarks. The castle was an interesting stop as it contained a SS museum from WW II. Turns out that the castle was the headquarters for the SS.
Petra and Sebastian hosted dinner at their apartment last that evening. It was fun to see a real Weber kettle grill on the deck and of course Sebastian manned the grill. Just like home.
We spent our two nights in Paderborn at a budget hotel next to the main train station. I was skeptical when making reservations but it received stellar reviews and was cheap. Even though we had to book two rooms, it was still significantly less than the apartments on Airbnb so we took a chance. There were no amenities but it was clean and comfy. I hope the other cheap places we booked later on our trip will be this nice.
No I thought driving the Autobahn would be an exciting experience with the unlimited speed limits. Once you start driving it you realize it's not that exciting. There is always a lot of road construction or random places where the speed suddenly drops to 80mph. It's such a pain to be cruising at 110 mph then having to slow down, and then getting back up to speed. You have to pay attention when the speed limit drops as there is the possibility of a speed camera at that location. And getting back up to speed and crusing at over 100mph is hard of the fuel mileage. Now that we drove 300 miles on the Autobahn our fuel mileage has dropped to 30mpg.
What I really liked on the Autobahn are the orderly drivers. No one passes on the right and everyone follows the rule about keeping the left lane open for passing. Once in a while you will be stuck in the left lane behind a slow car passing a slower car but they move back to the right as soon as they can.
Now that our journey has taken us out of Germany and to Belgium and France, I don't mind the 80mph speed limit but I do miss the more predictable German drivers.
We stopped in Rothenburg on our way to Paderborn. It's an city founded in the 13th century with its original wall surrounding the old part of town. It's a popular tourist destination, while waiting in the city centre WC Crista talked with some Americans that were visiting as part of the river cruise they were on. Tourists like to buy snow globes and all the Christmas accessories the vendors offer in the village.
We went to the criminal museum. It was a history on how punishment and torture was conducted in Germany hundreds of years ago. They had the various torture devices on display and instructions on how to properly use the devices. The boys were not that impressed. Therefore we didn't try to bore them with other spots in the medieval town so we got back in the car and continued our drive to Paderborn.
Our next day in Stuttgart was at the Mercedes Benz museum. As with the previous day we left the apartment at 8a. Traffic was a lot lighter going to the neighborhood of Stuttgart where the museum was located. So we ended up arriving with lots of time to kill before the opening at 9a.
In the lower lobby there were some pre-owned MB some which must have been restored by the MB classic center. It was nice to see some models from the 60s and 70s in nice condition.
We all received a headset to use at each display when we paid (children under 15 were free). I think USA museums usually charge extra for the audio tour. There were a lot of cars and extensive history of the company to see as MB has been in existence since the 1890s.
From a historical perspective the MB museum was better than the Porsche museum but I enjoyed my time more at Porsche.
After 5 days we were pretty much out of clothes. We did one load of laundry at the apartment in Stuttgart but it was a small machine without a dryer. Before leaving Paderborn we stopped at a coin operated laundry to wash the rest of our clothes. Finding a self service place was a challenge. The first few locations we stopped at were laundry service with dry cleaning. We finally figured out the difference between a Wäscherei vs a waschsalon.
The only place in town was on a busy street without a parking lot. After finding street parking we hauled the clothes in and then had to figure out how to use the machines. They are all connected to a central control panel where you pay your money then press the button number to the machine you plan to use. I was surprised at the prices of laundry but it's been a few decades since I have been in a laundromat. It's 4eur per load of wash so we stuffed everything into one machine.
The time went fast as we met and talked with a couple from Spain. Anna was originally from Mexico and even lived in Indiana for a few years. Once we started talking about food, she sounded homesick for either Spain or America and was just tolerating her time in Paderborn. She did warn us not to have Mexican food in Germany. I have seen Asian and middle eastern restaurants but no Mexican places yet.
Our trip departure date centered around the availability of the special Porsche factory tour. There are two tours a day with a max of 15 each so I was pretty excited when they confirmed our tour a few months ago.
I got up early to make sure that we would get to the factory on time. We had to leave by 8am anyhow as our neighborhood requires paid parking after 8am. Good thing we left early as Stuttgart has a lot of traffic!
The factory tour was excellent! They took us to the production floor and we were right next to the workers. It's amazing how close we were. I could have grabbed parts off the cart and messed up the assembly station. We walked all over the factory in two hours. The only areas we didn't see were the initial body/frame welding and the paint.
After the tour we had lunch in the museum cafeteria. It was a sit down affair with good food. They also have a separate 4-star restaurant in the museum but I didn't feel like paying 4 star prices.
After lunch we went back to the museum to look at the cars. The museum had examples of most Porsches that were important in the companys history. Ian is seen admiring Porsche #1.
We arrived to Stuttgart an hour past the time I had originally told the owner so there was a challenge in getting the key. The cleaning person was scheduled to wait for us but since we were late we ended going across town to her place to pick up the key. Again having the Garmin really saved us again. We finally made it to the apartment around 7:45 and realized that we didn't have any basics such as shampoo, paper towels or food. Yelp helped locate a grocery store nearby and we went on a quick trip. We also later discovered that the apartment doesn't have air conditioning as described. It's not super hot yet but the forecast is for more heat later this week.
After looking at different hotel sites it would have been cheaper to get two rooms in Stuttgart for all of us vs the airbnb. So for the rest of our trip till Paris we are looking at our hotel options before using a site like homeaway or airbnb.
Our first touristy stop on our trip was in Heidelberg. Its claim to fame is its old castle on a hill above the old part of town. It was on our itinerary as it was on our way to Stuttgart. The castle grounds were pretty interesting and the boys were amazed the age of the structure. The train (funicular) you take up the steep hill was also entertaining. I was glad that I wasn't relying on my old paper maps as the roads are not in a grid pattern and the German street names are hard to remember.
We trusted the directions provided by our Garmin unit to get us out of Frankfurt and to our destinations. Our upgraded rental car ended up with built navigation but I had pre programed our destinations before we left on this trip. The device also had warnings of known speed camera locations which is super helpful as they have them all over Germany. Even though the Autobahn is without speed limits their are sections where there are limits and often a camera at the slower sections. I might have buzzed by at least one of the cameras before I noticed the warnings from the Garmin later on the trip.
It was pretty easy to drive at 150-160km/hr which is about 90-100mph. That's about the speed of most cars. You do pass trucks pretty quickly but you still need to keep your eye on the Porsches and Mercedes which will blow by pretty fast on your left.
While researching rental cars i discovered there was a 20% surcharge on rentals originating from the airport. Since were renting for almost three weeks 20% is a lot of money. I found a Hertz rental office a few S-bahn (regional train) stops from the airport. And when i called and spoke to a different hertz representative to change the reservation they gave me a better rate of less than 19eur per day for the same midsize car.
Only downside is that the remote Hertz location didn't have the car class we reserved so we have to wait about an hour for a car to be delivered. They did upgrade us to a wagon and to a diesel. Diesel fuel is 30 cents a liter cheaper gets better mpg and we are saving 500eur from the original reservations.
That redeye to Chicago was brutal. Packed plane, tight seats, sleeping less than 30 minutes made it tough to drive around town and to visit with family during our 11 hour layover.
Fifteen years out of business travel has made me a travel wimp. At least technology has made travel in an unfamiliar town easier. We used Yelp to find a popular breakfast place that was open at 7am on Sunday and the smartphone navigation got us to the near west side of town and a little restaurant called Whisk. Food was good but I think a more traditional diner would have been better for the boys.
Afterwards we went downtown for a quick driving tour and I was hoping to take a few goofy travel photos around Buckingham fountain. But all of Grant Park was surrounded by a cyclone fence for I think was the Taste of Chicago that had just ended.
We eventually made it to the south burbs and visited for a few hours with family before heading back to the airport for our 6:30pm flight to Frankfurt.
Fortunately our plane wasn't at capacity and my strategy of reserving asile and window seats worked. We each have the middle seat empty to spread out. Even though it's more comfy on this second redeye, I still can't sleep despite the meds and wine.
The last time I was in a airplane was for Russ and Renay's wedding about 7 years ago. I was about to comment that the seats seemed to have gotten way smaller but the real problems are that I have gotten wider and I no longer sit with the special travellers at the front of the plane.
When I originally made the seat selections I thought I could outsmart the system and selected two asile and three window seats at the very back of the plane. I was betting that the middle seats at the rear of the plane would be selected last. I'm sure those seats were selected last but our flight ended up oversubscribed and now my arm is constantly getting bumped by the passengers going to the lavatory.
So much for sleeping on this red-eye.
