Travel Journal

Live the adventures of Dan Walker's travels through reading his travel journal. The travel journals are listed below in descending order of date. To search the travel journals, use the keyword search at the bottom of the page.

Journal Entry:

Trips | France,germany 2019

Friday, April 19, 2019 01:56:21
France,Germany 2019: 2 - Colmar to Mulhouse, France via Basel, Switzerland Monday, April 15, 2019 We did our best for an early start, considering the late hour last night, but were on our way to Switzerland to explore the old town of Basel. It was less than an hour drive on an express highway with a 130 km speed limit. No one wanted to see our passports at the border, but I was required to pay 40 euros for Swiss road tax – a bit of an unwelcome greeting. We found the gate to the old city and a parking place, then walked until we found a restaurant that was open in the morning, where they actually had a local version of ham and eggs, my first almost normal (for me) breakfast since coming to France. Basel has a very hilly old town, so by the time we had explored most of the street, the cathedral, and shops both our legs were giving out. We made it back to the car, and drove back into France with no need to stop at the border. Once in the City of Mulhouse our GPS got us to the Bristol Hotel, home for the next two nights. We have a well equipped third floor room (with elevator access). We thought we had free parking for the first time, but it appeared as a charge on the final bill. It is only about two blocks to the start of the old city, but it seemed like miles as I tottered along on my worn out legs. The hills of Zurich are still being felt. Most restaurants and shops are closed on Monday, but we found a crepe restaurant a short distance into the old city so had dinner there, then straight back to the hotel for bed. Tuesday, April 16, 2019 After a late start in the morning we walked the old city, where stores were now open. Marilynn found the jacket she was looking for, a big help as she has been cold for most of the time we have been here. We found a tiny well decorated restaurant with great food and wine, so both of us had superb lamb shanks at noon as our main meal. In the afternoon we drove to the City of the Automobiles, which is claimed to be the largest collection of cars in the world, they date from 1878 on. Most of the cars were French makes, with quite a few German and Italian cars. There were a lot of Bugatti cars, which I always thought were Italian, but they say they are French. There were none from North America, but some from England including a good collection of Rolls Royce, but only one Bentley. It took hours to walk through the huge building – buy it is very worth a visit. The rain held off for the day, but was coming down pretty hard when we headed for the old city for dinner. Marilynn didn't like the first place we stopped, so after a drink we moved on to where we had pizza, along with wine and beer. It was a fairly early night – we were both pretty tired.

Friday, April 19, 2019 01:56:21

France,Germany 2019: 2 - Colmar to Mulhouse, France via Basel, Switzerland

Monday, April 15, 2019

We did our best for an early start, considering the late hour last night, but were on our way to Switzerland to explore the old town of Basel. It was less than an hour drive on an express highway with a 130 km speed limit. No one wanted to see our passports at the border, but I was required to pay 40 euros for Swiss road tax – a bit of an unwelcome greeting.

We found the gate to the old city and a parking place, then walked until we found a restaurant that was open in the morning, where they actually had a local version of ham and eggs, my first almost normal (for me) breakfast since coming to France. Basel has a very hilly old town, so by the time we had explored most of the street, the cathedral, and shops both our legs were giving out. We made it back to the car, and drove back into France with no need to stop at the border.

Once in the City of Mulhouse our GPS got us to the Bristol Hotel, home for the next two nights. We have a well equipped third floor room (with elevator access). We thought we had free parking for the first time, but it appeared as a charge on the final bill. It is only about two blocks to the start of the old city, but it seemed like miles as I tottered along on my worn out legs. The hills of Zurich are still being felt. Most restaurants and shops are closed on Monday, but we found a crepe restaurant a short distance into the old city so had dinner there, then straight back to the hotel for bed.

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

After a late start in the morning we walked the old city, where stores were now open. Marilynn found the jacket she was looking for, a big help as she has been cold for most of the time we have been here. We found a tiny well decorated restaurant with great food and wine, so both of us had superb lamb shanks at noon as our main meal.

In the afternoon we drove to the City of the Automobiles, which is claimed to be the largest collection of cars in the world, they date from 1878 on. Most of the cars were French makes, with quite a few German and Italian cars. There were a lot of Bugatti cars, which I always thought were Italian, but they say they are French. There were none from North America, but some from England including a good collection of Rolls Royce, but only one Bentley. It took hours to walk through the huge building – buy it is very worth a visit.

The rain held off for the day, but was coming down pretty hard when we headed for the old city for dinner. Marilynn didn't like the first place we stopped, so after a drink we moved on to where we had pizza, along with wine and beer. It was a fairly early night – we were both pretty tired.