Well, it's a long story (of course!).
In fact, I suppose it all started more than two years ago, actually, after Judy was diagnosed with breast cancer (she has given me permission to write about this, and she will read it before I post). After a lot of reading and research on her part, she decided to treat the cancer with natural methods, including food, supplements, and other treatments that do not involve chemo, radiation, or surgery. Some of her reading led her to find out about cancer research in Germany, where many clinics are doing newer treatments including hyperthermia, or fever therapy, where the doctor applies high heat to the tumor or whole body. So when Jay and Judy learned we'd be in France this spring, Judy decided to look into talking to some of these doctors and possibly seeking out treatment here.
And that's what led us to beautiful Strasbourg on Sunday.
And oh, is Strasbourg beautiful. There are magestic buildings, meandering rivers, lovely cobbled lanes, a thriving walking district, great restaurants, delicious coffee and more. It's grand -- but managable. It reminds me of the best of Paris without the stress and vastness and crowds... I told John that being in Strasbourg is a little like coming back to Philadelphia after spending a weekend in New York City. It's still a stupendous city -- it just doesn't suck all of the energy out of you!
We decided to stay in Strasbourg for two important reasons. First, it was less than an hour to drive from the city to one of the clinics Judy was interested in seeing. But (perhaps more importantly), we found a hotel with an INDOOR swimming pool. That guaranteed that the kids would be thrilled, whatever they thought of the architecture, the art, or even the important role the city plays in the European political scene these days.
As for getting to Strasbourg... well, we relied heavily on a gadget that, before coming to France, I mocked. Mightily. But John was pretty convinced that we *needed* a GPS for driving in Europe. I said he had fallen victim to the latest tech craze and that it was a waste of money, but fine, if he REALLY wanted it, we could get it (it was on a good sale at amazon.com and came preloaded with European, U.S. and Canada maps). But I promised him I would mock its uselessness at all times.
Well, was I wrong.
(Yes, I was wrong.)
With one exception (involving a drive on a TINY winding road at night after our first return from the grocery store in Beaune), the GPS has led us only in the right direction on almost every single drive we've taken since arriving here. And it proved incredibly useful going to Strasbourg. We took the autoroutes (high speed divided highways, sometimes with tolls) most of the way and, initially, I was amazed at the high speeds (the limit is 130 kph, or about 81 mph). The German highways would make me later laugh at these first impressions, but at the time, I was feeling a bit impressed with the speed (and skill) of the other drivers (and John).
So the GPS led us to our hotel Sunday evening, and we quickly caught the tram to the heart of the city. Strasbourg is famous for its Christmas Market, and that is when John and I saw it back in 1996. It really is a wonderful market -- but I am SO happy to have seen it on a "regular" day, too. There is so much I didn't notice the first time around -- the beautiful design of the buildings, the interesting shops and restaurants, the swans on the river, and (much to the surprise of the kids), a few carnival rides in the heart of the downtown. Of course, we HAD to check those out, too.
We returned with full bellies to find kids sleeping in the hotel. Again, heaven.
Monday morning started with a great breakfast at a cafe downtown, and then a drive to a town in Germany called Bad Bergzabern where Judy was going to talk to a doctor. It was interesting to cross the border into Germany (in this case, going over a small river) and see the empty border guard booth and realize just how open the borders are in the E.U. today. It also made me wonder how these small border towns were affected by the different wars. When your "enemy" is literally a stone's throw away -- does that change your opinion of the enemy?
The GPS led us north on the French autoroute and then mostly on back roads to Bad Bergzabern, a beautiful town -- and one that looked decidedly German! We tried to point out the architectural differences to the kids -- how houses in Lethbridge looked one way, and houses in our French village looked another way, and how these German houses still had their own look, too. In the midst of this discussion, Katie helpfully pointed out that Canada, France and Germany all looked the same because all have snow.
We dropped Jay and Judy at the clinic and parked downtown and found a great cafe. While we paid in Euros in Germany as well as France, we found prices were a bit less in this town compared to Burgundy towns -- I don't know if that's a difference of country, region or city. At any rate, John and I enjoyed REALLY good coffee, while the kids enjoyed this:
We then walked a bit more around the town before going to pick up Jay and Judy. Once we were all together again, we decided to do something that *sounded* good on paper... but turned out to perhaps not be our best idea ever in the world. We decided to go to Baden-Baden.
Now, in principle, this looks like it would be no problem. On the map, it looked to be a lovely 45-50 minute drive through the Germany countryside and into the Black Forest to a town where we could have a nice dinner before heading home. Little did I know that those 45-50 minutes would be spent with my heart pounding, with adrenaline coursing through my body, with my fingers gripped into the arm rests of the rented minivan as John navigated on the autobahn (it really merits all capitals -- THE AUTOBAHN), trying to keep up with traffic that was going (in the slow lane) 130 kph (81 mph), while being passed by drivers clearly going at least 170 kph (105+ mph).
All of this was happening as dusk turned into nighttime and the kids grew hungrier by the minute. Good times all around.
John kept his cool the whole time (although when we stopped he said his ribs hurt, which is not the way one typically feels after your run-of-the-mill drive). The GPS was a life saver, as we were driving so quickly I couldn't read many signs (and those that I could read were in German, of course). As we exited to Baden- Baden, we passed a McDonald's but had our hearts set on "real" food in a "real" restaurant. So into Baden- Baden we went, thinking (for no good reason at all), it would be a small town with a handful of restaurants and not too much traffic and not too many crowds.
Again, we were wrong. Baden-Baden (famous for its thermal baths and, we quickly saw, a hotspot for the rich and famous), was PACKED and the restaurants we drove past (at high speeds, as it seemed that even in towns Germans tend to drive fast) looked very, very fancy. The bits we saw (from the minivan windows) did look beautiful... but it clearly was not the best place to take cranky and hungry kids for a quick bite. So... what to do, what to do....
The obvious answer was the one we picked: find our way back to that McDonald's, of course!
Which we did (needing to drive through the longest tunnel I've ever been through to get there).
And it was delicious. I don't think any food could have tasted better than the burgers we had in Baden-Baden Monday night. Maybe it was just the thrill of still being alive after THE AUTOBAHN, or maybe it was the familiarity of the golden arches. Whatever the case, seven happy people stepped out of that van.
Now, in principle, this looks like it would be no problem. On the map, it looked to be a lovely 45-50 minute drive through the Germany countryside and into the Black Forest to a town where we could have a nice dinner before heading home. Little did I know that those 45-50 minutes would be spent with my heart pounding, with adrenaline coursing through my body, with my fingers gripped into the arm rests of the rented minivan as John navigated on the autobahn (it really merits all capitals -- THE AUTOBAHN), trying to keep up with traffic that was going (in the slow lane) 130 kph (81 mph), while being passed by drivers clearly going at least 170 kph (105+ mph).
All of this was happening as dusk turned into nighttime and the kids grew hungrier by the minute. Good times all around.
John kept his cool the whole time (although when we stopped he said his ribs hurt, which is not the way one typically feels after your run-of-the-mill drive). The GPS was a life saver, as we were driving so quickly I couldn't read many signs (and those that I could read were in German, of course). As we exited to Baden- Baden, we passed a McDonald's but had our hearts set on "real" food in a "real" restaurant. So into Baden- Baden we went, thinking (for no good reason at all), it would be a small town with a handful of restaurants and not too much traffic and not too many crowds.
Again, we were wrong. Baden-Baden (famous for its thermal baths and, we quickly saw, a hotspot for the rich and famous), was PACKED and the restaurants we drove past (at high speeds, as it seemed that even in towns Germans tend to drive fast) looked very, very fancy. The bits we saw (from the minivan windows) did look beautiful... but it clearly was not the best place to take cranky and hungry kids for a quick bite. So... what to do, what to do....
The obvious answer was the one we picked: find our way back to that McDonald's, of course!
Which we did (needing to drive through the longest tunnel I've ever been through to get there).
And it was delicious. I don't think any food could have tasted better than the burgers we had in Baden-Baden Monday night. Maybe it was just the thrill of still being alive after THE AUTOBAHN, or maybe it was the familiarity of the golden arches. Whatever the case, seven happy people stepped out of that van.
My German was terrible (we ended up short one chicken sandwich for Jay and with extra chicken nuggets, somehow), but that didn't matter. We ended up for some reason with a coffee mug that said SCHWARZ TRINKER. It is clearly now my favorite mug. And we ended up laughing a lot too.
Unfortunately, we had to get back in the car (and back on THE AUTOBAHN) to get home. Fingers went back into their well-worn grooves in the armrest, heart rate started pounding quickly, John took a deep breath, and off we went. The only good thing about driving at such speeds is that the kilometers count down so much more quickly than when you travel at normal speeds -- and soon enough (although not really soon enough), we were back at our Strasbourg hotel.
We lingered in Strasbourg and at the hotel Tuesday until checkout, eating breakfast and swimming -- and the drive back to Beaune seemed so calm, so reasonable, so relaxed, so easy. We pulled into La Maison des Chaumes and the kids started chanting "Home sweet home! Home sweet home!" and then burst out of the van to run around the front yard. Katie cried "What a lovely, lovely home!" Olivia created an improvised song about our sweet home in France. Yes, we were ALL happy to be home.
And if we ever, EVER, go back to Germany... we're taking a train.
4 comments:
I discovered, after moving from Toronto to Montreal 20+ years ago, that they drive like this ALL the time here. I've had cars roar up on my tail and honk, more than once, for "only" going 120km in a 100km zone. Speeds of 130,140,150 are not unusual. Illegal, but not unusual.
Now I know where to send them.
Ah, yes, schwarz = black. I should know. :-) Although where our "T" came from, I don't.
I was so disappointed years ago when we traveled from Germany to Austria to find that there was no border control. Austria was the whole reason for the trip, and now there is no Austrian stamp in my passport. I'm still not over it. *sigh*
I remember those speeds all too well. On one of our trips down to Lake Como, Julian got tired and decided I needed to drive, which sounded reasonable until I came up to the Basel interchange with 12 lanes of traffic all at huge speeds, traffic signs, not in my language, and my husband snoring in the passenger seat, and 3 children all blissfully unaware of the stress!! I succeeded in getting us through or around Basel ( I can't remember the details), and onto the right road to Lugarno!! What relief.
We didn't use the GPS for Italy, but did in Oz. It was very helpful. 98 or 99% accurate. But beware it has occassionally suggested the wrong way on a one way street, drops out and misdirects in particular locations, and is useless in directing you through offramps in tunnels.
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