Category: Europe

When planning our road trip to and from Switzerland, we didn’t have much of an agenda besides spending a few days at Tammi and Martin’s. Mike did suggest stopping in Trier, Germany on the way back to Belgium, so that was in the plan. But that was it.

Since we had some down time on Thursday before we left Belgium, I started looking at the map, plotting potential routes from Switzerland to Trier, and seeing if there was anything interesting along the way. That’s how I stumbled across THE coolest place ever. Annelies and I agreed it was a place the guys would enjoy, and it might keep them busy while we did some shopping.

The town of Sinsheim was sorta on the way to Trier. Having a layover there would allow us to spend Sunday morning with our friends in Switzerland, enjoy a leisurely drive to Sinsheium Sunday afternoon, have a leisurely day in Sinsheim on Monday morning/afternoon, arriving in Trier on Monday night. That left most of the day on Tuesday to roam around Trier.

 

 

Europeans don’t seem to like ice nearly as much as we do. In fact, ask for ice with your drink in Europe, and you’ll be lucky to get more than a couple of cubes. Really. I was surprised to see an ice box, but an ice box with a blue frog? I just HAD to take a picture to share.

The ride itself was pretty uneventful. We managed to find our hotel and, in pretty short order, headed out for dinner. The German restaurant we’d been hoping to find was closed, so we ended up in an Italian restaurant. But they served the Neopolitan-style pizza we really like and, of course, had German beer on tap. So there were no complaints from any of us.

 

The plan for Monday had been to spend a couple of hours at the Sinsheim Car & Technology Museum. That’s the attraction that had made us select the town. What an amazing place. Really. We weren’t there for long before we realized we could easily spend an entire day there, and still not see everything.

Their Web site describes it as housing…

…more than 3,000 exhibits from all areas of technical history on more than 30,000 sqm of indoor space and in our open air ground. The exhibitions include a genuine CONCORDE from Air France and the Russian Tupolev TU-144, more than 300 classic cars, 200 motorcycles, 40 racing cars, the largest permanent formula-1 exhibition in Europe, 60 airplanes, 20 locomotives, and much more.

There’s a “sister” museum a mere 40 km (~25 miles) away — Technik Museum Speyer — I wish we’d have seen, too. It’s described on the museum’s Web site as having…

…a variety of masterpieces of technology to be found nowhere else. Apart from large collection of aircraft, classic cars, locomotives and fire engines, some of the highlights are an original BURAN spaceshuttle, the largest space flight exhibition in Europe, a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, the submarine U9, a former German Navy submarine and a gigantic Ukrainian Antonov AN-22 cargo plane. In the Museum Wilhelmsbau you can admire a unique collection of automatic musical instruments and much more.

To say the guys were pleased by our choice is an understatement. There were thrilled. It’s the kind of place most guys LOVE. And, thanks to the extensive collection of interesting and amusing mannequins, Annelies and I loved it, too.

 

 

A thunderstorm rolled through right around the time we decided to view the aircraft on the roof. Of course.

It got cold, and windy for a bit. And, yes, it was raining. So we lingered a bit longer inside of the airplanes, which were all canted at such unusual angles that it made for some very unusual photo angles.

 

It was really quite entertaining. Speaking of entertainment, check this out.

We laugh a lot when we are together. And sometimes, we do silly things. Like sliding out the nose of this airplane.

How could we not? I mean, it’s not every day one gets to slide out of an airplane…

Wanna see the video?

It was lots of fun.

 

Annelies and I took a ton of pictures. That made it really hard to decide what to share here.

 

 

Did I forget to mention that there were lots and lots of motorcycles, too? Of all shapes, sizes, and ages? Unbelievable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was completely amazed by the variety of vehicles. Many of which I’d never seen or even heard of before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See what I mean about the variety of stuff? Unbelievable, really. And I haven’t even shared much military stuff yet. And there was LOTS of it. Planes, tanks, helicopters, TRAINS…

 

 

 

 

 

A number of the military artifacts are displayed in pretty much the same condition they were in when discovered.

See what I mean about not knowing what to share?

It was quite overwhelming, but in a good way. And needless to say, we spent more than a couple of hours there. We even watch an IMAX 3-D video about flight history. Way cool.

I know I use the word “cool” too much. Sorry.

Much to my delight, look what I spotted among the mannequins…

 

It would be worth a trip to Germany just to see this museum again. And visit the sister museum. I can only imagine what all is housed there.

Annelies and I enjoyed the mannequins so much, that I decided to share our collection of fun images in a slideshow.

 

If you’d like to see all 478 images captured at the museum, CLICK HERE to get to the Flickr album.

And if you’re ever in the area, you really should plan to visit one or both of the museums.

Next up, our final tour stop… Trier, Germany (Treves in English), which is perhaps the oldest city in Germany (founded in or before 16 BC).

That’s old.

Sunday, September 21, was one of those happy-sad days. We’d seen lots of cool stuff over the previous nine days. And, better yet, we’d reconnected with some amazing people I am proud to call our friends.

But our European vacation was really winding down, and the time had come to bid farewell to our friends in Switzerland.

We still had two full days of adventure and exploration ahead of us, though. And, after a nice, leisurely breakfast at Tammi and Martin’s house, we hit the road. We actually followed our Swiss friends to the village of Cossonay, about seven miles to the north of Lausanne, where their daughter, Meloney, loves with husband, Nils, and son, Vigo.

Nils was working on the ground floor — they don’t exactly have lots of spare time — but we did get a chance to meet him briefly. Meloney is just as delightful as I thought she’d be, and Vigo is simply adorable. Not only is he a cute little bugger, he has a very sunny personality and disposition to boot.

The couple had recently, within the past year, bought and are in the process of restoring the late-Gothic Café des Bains, which dates back to the 1600s. In its day, it was the only establishment with running water in the town, and served as a bathhouse. It’s tucked into the middle of the old town, but has several parking spaces and a patio/terrace/garden across the small street in front of the house, and a courtyard/parking area in the rear.

They were kind enough to show us around the interior, much to Hubby’s unending delight, but I didn’t take pictures because they really are mid-renovation. Plus we were busy peppering Meloney with questions, admiring the old, old interior architecture, delighting over the passageways and secret spaces they’d uncovered, etc.

Here are a few of the images we captured during our visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’d like to see the rest of the pics Annelies and I captured, GO HERE.

It was sad saying farewell, but we are hopeful that we’ll get to rendezvous with these folks again in 2016.

Next on the list of must-see places was Trier, Germany. After a stop in Sinsheim, that is. Also in Germany, it’s a place Annelies and I agreed would not only be convenient geographically, but it also happens to be home to an automotive and technical museum we knew would be of great interest to the guys. They’re such good sports about leaving all of the travel planning to us, that we decided we’d surprise them with a fun “guy” stop.

And surprised they were. So we were, to be honest. We had no idea how HUGE and utterly cool the place really is…

As promised in my last post, I just HAD to share some pics captured inside of Gruyeres Castle. It was really cool. I honestly had no idea what to expect. I mean, I thought it would just be sorta small and dark and, I don’t know, maybe even dreary.

Remember, I did zero research in advance. We were winging it, and only even went to Gruyeres in the first place because Tammi said it might be fun.

Actually, I only agreed to go in with Hubby because I knew he wouldn’t go in alone, while we all waited for him outside. AND I know how much he loves old stuff. Our traveling companions know that, too, which is why they didn’t mind waiting for us. Or so they said…

Anyway… I’m so glad we went inside. It was amazing.

Here are a few of my favorite captures from the chateau.

 

You can’t really tell the immense size of that fireplace just by looking at the picture. You’ll have to trust me. We walked THROUGH the fireplace to get into that room, and I didn’t even have to duck. I’m a tall girl, too. Look closely and you’ll see the doorway inside the fireplace on the far right, which led to the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

I love stained glass anyway. This hexagon-leaded windows and small designs appeal to the minimalist in me.

 

 

 

 

The next images are from what I think was called the Knight’s Room. It was my favorite. Look at those rich colors!

 

 

 

 

The views were stunning. Picture-perfect weather helped, of course.

I wish we could have lingered longer.

If you’d like to see all of my Gruyere pics, you’ll have to visit my Gruyeres Flickr album.

Next up… saying farewell to our Swiss friends.

In keeping with the theme of “just” hanging out with friends during our trip to Europe, Annelies and I didn’t make any plans for Saturday. We were content to visit with Tammi and Martin wherever. Life isn’t always about seeing stuff and doing things, but spending time with the people who matter to you.

But Tammi suggested that we visit the village of Gruyeres, which is about 20 miles (a 40 minute drive) from their house. She hadn’t been for a while and wanted to get out of the house. Martin’s back was bothering him, so he stayed behind with the pups.

I hadn’t done any research on Gruyeres, so didn’t know what to expect. Honestly, I didn’t even have any preconceived notion of what it might even look like, what we might see, etc. But, since Tammi suggested it, it couldn’t be bad, right?

It. Was. Amazing.

First, the location is stunning. And it’s old. It dates back to about the mid-1100s. You know by now that we like old stuff, right?

The weather was perfect, too, which made for lots of pics.

We had Tammi to lead us around, so we didn’t even pay the map much mind. We figured we’d just stroll a bit, look through some shops, have lunch, and leave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I laughed out loud when I saw that statue. My pal, Fuzzy, had been to Switzerland mere weeks before our visit. And she’d visited this very museum. I just had no idea where it was located. What are the odds of us happening into the same small town?

We didn’t have time to visit the museum, as we’d already reserved a table for lunch. But you can see some of Fuzzy’s pics here (follow the link then scroll down in her post).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, it was time for lunch.

 

 

 

Sounds simple and looks gross, right? A giant plate of cheese…

Oh. My. God. It was absolutely delicious. Really.

After lunch, Mike and I went into the castle. I’ll tell you about that in a separate post, since I have lots of cool pics to share.

Here are a few miscellaneous images from the village.

 

 

 

 

Just wait ’til you see the inside of the castle. It was WAY cooler than I anticipated.

We strolled a bit more after lunch then headed back to the house for our final night with Tammi and Martin.

After publishing my last post, I realized I’d forgotten to share some important pics. Cows!

Not just any cows, Belgian Blues, a very muscular breed.

 

I also forgot to share this image of a house with a thatched roof, which I took specifically for my mother-in-law (her sister visited Belgium years ago and told her about thatched roof homes).

And then there was this spider. There are lots and lots of these spiders in Annelies and Yves’ garden (yard).

Oh, and this brick barn. Everything is built with brick in Belgium, even barns.

Those images were captured on our afternoon excursion to secure provisions for our upcoming road trip to Switzerland. We were to leave once Yves got home from work.

 

Yves really does excel at packing a lot of luggage and other stuff into small spaces.

In total, the drive to Tammi and Martin’s house, which is about 20 minutes northwest of Lausanne, Switzerland, was expected to take about eight hours. We decided we’d do about half of the driving on Thursday evening, so we’d have more time with our friends in Switzerland on Friday. Annelies planned a route that took us south through Belgium, into and out of Luxembourg, to Metz, France, where we spent the night.

Rather than eat at home, we decided to grab a quick meal on the road. That’s how we ended up at Burger King in a highway rest stop in Luxembourg.

They speak French in Luxembourg, so I decided to muddle my way through ordering. I was doing okay until the cashier asked if I wanted mayonnaise or mustard. What an odd question to ask about a burger. So I told her make it the normal way. You know, make it however it was usually served. She looked confused by that so I figured I’d make it easy on her and choose the mayo. It was only after my dinner was placed on the tray in front of me that I realized she was asking if I wanted ketchup or mayonnaise for my french fries!

Belgians claim to have invented french fries (pommes frites), and they typically eat them with mayonnaise, NOT ketchup. We got quite a few chuckles out of that whole experience.

Next is one of my favorite captures from that drive…

I’m still kicking myself for not buying that bearded minion.

The rest of the trip to met, while stormy and dark, was uneventful. And we rose bright and early the next morning to continue our drive to Switzerland.

Because we took Yves’ company car, Mike and I weren’t allowed to drive (we’d taken their personal car to the UK), and were relegated to the back seat. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to where we were, I just sat back and enjoyed the scenery. It was quite beautiful, really, especially as we crossed through the mountains west of Alsace, France. Colorful villages with the painted buildings I LOVE, old stuff (castles, churches, etc.), and vineyards.

I told Mike I wanted to return to that area via motorcycle one day. It was quite picturesque.

 

 

We stopped at a genuine French patisserie for breakfast, which made my day. The pastries were delightful.

A bit later, we stopped at a rest area for a potty break. The French know how to do road food. (Click on the image for a closer look.)

And we drove right through the heart of France’s Alsacian wine region.

 

 

 

 

 

There were vineyards everywhere. And it was harvest time. 🙂

If only we’d had time to linger…

Honestly, though, we were all anxious to see our friends, so we pushed on.

Soon enough, we were overlooking the lovely valley where Tammi and Martin live.

The tall mountains in the background are on the opposite side of Lake Geneva, across from Lausanne.

We were all very happy to reach our destination that day.

That’s cherry beer we are drinking, NOT red wine on ice.

Oh, and we can’t forget their sweet, crazy dogs.

 

We all enjoyed sitting on their lovely terrace, drinking, and chatting. In fact, we did that for hours. Later that night is when they served us Raclette, which I wrote about previously.

Mike and I are truly blessed to have such friends in our lives.

In my next post, I’ll tell you about what we did on Saturday, including our fun, impromptu visit to the nearby medieval village of Gruyeres.