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Published: January 19th 2008
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... only one step away.
Like four - oh crap! No, this blog is supposed to be about four COUNTRIES in one day... not seasons.
Oh well... :P
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another addition of
Grotsky's Blog! This episode is brought to you by McDonald's Diam McFlurry
"we think it's worth sitting on a fence for" Please however be advised that there is a slight delay on the 'susan's world (focusing specifically on particular regions of Germany, France and England) tour' blog service due to a signaling malfunction at laptop and card reader stations (can you tell that I've been hanging around in a lot of London tube stations?).
Okay - when we last left our wonderful world watcher she had finally awaken from a deep deep sleep that she was put into by the evil lord B52, only to watch a very long (very gay... and not necessarily in a good way) version of Return of the King. We find out now whether she has once again succumbed to B52's alluring allure...
I have not. Well, not yet anyway.
On the 4th (please don't ask me to remember what I did
check out the scenery
I might add, that this is the first maccas I have been on over here... It's not like I'm mcdonald's crazy or anything - just after somewhere that would accept euros on the 2nd or the 3rd... I'm only just able to remember the 4th because I took photos that day) Warren and Christine and I headed out on a driving adventure to Liechtenstein!
Yes - Liechtenstein! Damn Liechtenstein! Warren was going to see the mansions (given that the country is a tax haven, he supposed that everyone there must be living the good life), I was going to see... whatever was there.
What was there was a whole lotta not much... certainly no mansions. There were a lot of Mini Coopers though.
I liked it! We drove out of the snow in the Algaeu, through the snow in Austria (that's 2 countries so far people) to get cheap fuel (fuel is cheaper over the border... subsequently at the first gas stations there are always cars lined up like two hundred metres down the road..) and to get to Liechtenstein.
It's strange how countries are connected over here... Okay, anyone in Europe or well, any continent other than Australia will think that that's a dumb comment - but I'm sorry - it is! One second you're driving in Germany, through the snow covered roofs of the Algaeuer
Postcards
Of the royal family - the prince and his family. houses, and then, the next second, you are in Austria... a TOTALLY DIFFERENT COUNTRY!!! With different shops, different house designs, different customs...
It's strange.
Anyway, at least when we drove from Austria into Liechtenstein we knew we were doing it. Being connected (politically somehow... I don't know - life is too short to wikipedia everything) to Switzerland, Liechtenstein has border control, so we had to show out passports... we should have asked for stamps - when am I gonna be in Liechtenstein again?
The country is... well, it's not really a country... it's a principality, and it is only about 160 square kilometres. I know people who own cattle stations that could fit three Liechtensteins (well, I know people who have SEEN cattle stations like that anyway...)
It has a population of only around 33000 people, yet it has a McDonalds. Innisfail was like double the size before we got one :P
However. The McDonald's in Liechtenstein was very nice. Warren paid in Euros and got Swiss Francs back. We had McFlurrys. THEY HAVE DIAM McFLURRYS OVER THERE!!! it's the best thing ever. I hadn't had a McFlurry in about two years, but ... shamefully
Dressup
Does this dress make my ankle look broken? :P I can't even tell you how many I have had since that day. Those damn Liechtensteiners started something in me.
Oh, it's also cool that we drove through like the whole country - in about half an hour. I didn't know what region to select in the top menu because I think I was in all of them. It's actually surprising just how many regions there are... the whole country is about the tenth of the size of a typical German region.
From McDonalds we drove to Switzerland. And I really can't remember the name of the town, but it was nice. We drove on looking for a place to park and we found it's old town - and THAT was really nice. There was a big beautiful lake that was semi frozen, and all the ducks were resting on chunks of ice in the middle. There was an old castle up on the hill, and as you walked through the cobblestone streets, cats would come down from their ledges (there were a lot of cats sitting on ledges... some had ladders built up to them - Dad, we are so building Stitch a ladder... how is she
Near the semi-frozen pond
the ducks were very shy... not like the brave Ulm ducks supposed to achieve maximum density if she has to jump up to her self feeder??) it was too cute. The feel of it reminded me of walking along the Philosopher's Path in Kyoto in Japan... strange leap I know, but there were just a few little boutique shops ducking out from lower than the path... I don't know, it was just really peaceful and nice.
So that's Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland!
Blood dries up!!!! (and so forth...)
Hehe... I just googled Coke and Milk (as in, the drinking of the two together) Don't ask me why... actually, I do know why. I saw it years ago on Laverne and Shirley - the ugly one (Shirley I think - not that she was ugly... she just didn't look like Sally Field - and that's Sally Field 1968 people... not scary Brothers and Sisters Sally Field) used to drink Pepsi mixed with milk, and I've always thought about it, but never tried it (though I always imagined it to be just like a spider... maybe not as sweet though... and I like spiders). Anyway, point being, I googled it - I found someone who also linked it back
to Laverne and Shirley... I know why I googled it.. I just do not know why I am writing about it here.
Let's just pretend that previous paragraph didn't happen.
We drove back to Oberstaufen via Lake Constance (or the Bodensee as it's called over here... so weird that we call it lake constance... why not Lake Boden if anything? or just the Bodensee?) which is so pretty - it's covered in fog like constantly at this time of year - in the summer they put on operas on a river stage, and at the moment they were setting up for their next performance so we walked around in the stands.
And then, after packing up my stuff, I went to bed for the last time in Oberstaufen. Woke up at stupid o'clock to catch a train to ulm at 6. and so my (satur)day of travel began.
I was leaving Warren and Christine in Germany to go and visit my friend Raphael and his family in the Savoir region of France. Raphael came and lived wit us for about 10 months and worked on the farm when I was about 16 I think. He's my
french brother, and now he and his partner Claire have three beautiful daughters.
6:10 from Oberstaufen to arrive at Ulm (7:45), 7:51 from Ulm to arrive at Stuttgart (8:47), 8:54 from Stuttgart to Strasbourg (10:30 - 20 minutes late). Strasbourg is just over the French border... and again, it was weird to be in another country... only this time everyone was speaking in another language too... though they do also have diam McFlurrys in France, so I was happy. 11:49 from Strasbourg to Lyon (16:45 - also late, by like 10 minutes), had to race... luckily I kinda knew the Lyon station - pissbolted to the only other train on a platform through all these crowds, got up to the platform, saw the word Voiron and jumped on as the doors closed - effing awesome effort I thought. 16:45 from Lyon to Voiron (17:52). Got off the train in Voiron and wandered along until I found Claire sitting with two little tiny girls holding kangaroos.
Ugh - France, relaxation at last!!
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Bredan
non-member comment
Woah! Lucky. I would have missed a train 3 trains earlier. Also, that Swiss town looks like the Land of Chocolate minus the Chocolate!