Traveling

We our now on our 3rd train on our trip to Hirschhorn Castle. We have seen all the comments regarding the food. We do not weigh 500 lbs now because we walk everywhere. Even in the big cities with subways there is a lot of walking plus stairs. Taking the trains from one location to another involves carrying all our luggage, carrying it up and down stairs and carrying it onto the train and lifting it into an overhead rack. This is a great cardio workout! We are sorry we didn’t start a pedometer at the beginning of the trip to see how far we walk.
BREAKFAST : everywhere we have stayed breakfast was in included and wonderful. A typical breakfast includes coffee or tea, bread and rolls, pastries, butter. assorted jams and spreads (many homemade), yogurt, juice, assorted cheeses and cold cuts, hard boiled eggs and sometimes more. Our hosts have been very accommodating.
ROOMS: we stayed in a couple of hotels but the last few stops have been rooms in people’s homes. All have been super clean and comfortable. Our hosts usually give us suggestions for sightseeing and restaurants. Most of the restaurants are for the locals -plenty of good food at a good price. The portions are very big. We keep trying to order smaller items on the menus,
BATHROOMS: these are a challenge. They are all different. All the toilets have different buttons and handles to push or turn. Same with the showers and the bathrooms are very small. Mostly we have had private baths, but even if it was shared we never saw anyone and all the bathrooms were spotless. Even public toilets and the ones on the trains are clean!
ENERGY: Not our energy level. Europeans are very energy saving. Hall lights are timed and turn off automatically. In some places you have to put you room key into a slot and then you can turn on the lights. When you leave the room and take the key everything turns off in a few minutes-no wondering if you turned off the coffee pot! There are recycling bins everywhere – one each for glass, paper, plastic and garbage. In southern Germany there are a lot of solar panels on the roofs and many solar farms in the fields. In France and Germany there are also groups of 3 to 6 wind generators that must produce electricity for that area.
I forgot to mention that people bring their bicycles,strollers and large luggage on the trains. One trip was so crowded we sat on our suitcases-really not as bad as it sounds. I hope this gives you a general idea of how we are traveling. It really is pleasant and we have met people from all over the world.
We are now on the 4th train and in 1st class. All the trains are clean, on time and clearly marked. From the mega stations of London, Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt to the little one track stations they all have schedules with train times, train number, track number and destination. From mid size station and larger there are info centers and the clerks speak English. At the info center we can check future train schedules and if we need reservations even though we have Eurail passes. The clerks are informed and helpful and will print out the schedules for us. It is really manageable to travel this way . Actually after a few trips it is easy to figure everything out.

3 thoughts on “Traveling

  1. Laurie

    So now that your have this mastered when are you leading your next tour group. I want to sign up. WOW. Very interesting and nice to hear about where your staying and how your traveling. I have a question……..your always up until 11 or 12 PM. What time do you usually start in the mornings? Your putting in some long days. Experiencing the smaller towns and cultures has to be the best part. All your food really does look good. Keep on having fun.

  2. Lynn Tombrink

    Thank you for the detailed account of your daily activities. I found it all very enlightening. I knew you both were working very hard and getting tons of exercise. We all talk about how exhausted we would be keeping your schedule. So happy all is going so well.
    Read in todsys paper that there was a suspicious fire on the back screened area of the eastern branch of the library you really liked. Enjoy! Lynn T.

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