Blogs from Strasbourg, Alsace, France, Europe - page 12

To be perfectly honest, I did not sleep well last night. I was still so angry and in shock of not being able to access my bank in Europe. Not to mention, watching everyone book their tickets to Paris was majorly depressing! I had some breakfast and the stuffed my suitcases full of things from the room. We travelled to Hergiswill, Switzerland to visit the Hergiswill Glass Factory. This was an amazing factory! There was lots of history in this factory. The men who worked there were barely paid any money, and they always owed their boss money when they would get a credit. They also worked under dangerous conditions. After the tour of the glass factory, we got the chance to visit two of the glass shops; one was discounted and the other wasn't. I ... read more

This morning was our last morning to wake up at the Hotel Central in Engelberg. It was actually pretty sad, I wasn't quite ready to leave that quaint little town. We headed in towards Lucerne but stopped off at a glass factory/museum. The museum part was very interesting and a really neat layout. It was neat to hear about how the glassblowers were looked so down upon and not well paid while the owners just reaped the benefits. I loved getting to watch all the men blowing glass and making the bottles and bowls. It was crazy to me how they were just hanging out in shorts and sandals when they were messing with glass that was over 1000 degrees (I think it was that hot, maybe I just made that part up, I just know ... read more

Tuesday, May 26 was a great day for exercising. We started off by walking to the Mount Titlis ski operation. Which we learned many facts about the history and how they run things at the Mount Titlis ski operation. What's neat is that the very first ski lift they built is still used till this very day. After that brief lesson we headed up the mountain by a 6 person enclosed lift. Some parts I liked, for instances the few but I did not like that everytime we came to a pole our car would jerk which really scared me. After this life we had to tansfer on to a bigger one that was box shapped and could hold up to 8 people. In this lift there were these handles hanging from the ceilling by leather ... read more

21.-23.5. Strasbourgiin ja Baden-Badenin kautta kotiin Helatorstain kunniaksi lähdimme ajelemaan Ranskaan. Jälleen halki Schwarzwaldin, hiukan uusia reittejä. Korkeimmalla kohtaa yllätti ukkosmyrsky, pimeni ja vettä alkoi tulla kuin saavista. Onneksi ei ollut kiire, voitiin pysähtyä odottelemaan myrskyn rauhoittumista. Mietittiin, miten liikkeellä olleet moninaiset moottoripyöräilijät kokivat tämän elämyksen... Reinin kohdalla pysähdyttiin sululle, katsomaan miten proomu ajoi sisään. Ranskassa matkailu on kulutusmielessä ihan erilaista kun Saksassa... Hotellit ovat halpoja. Yövyimme Hohenheimissa Strasbourgin esikaupunkialueella, kävelymatka ratikalle ja sillä kaupunkiin. Hotelli maksoi kahdelta yöltä saman kuin vaatimaton hotelli Saksassa yhdeltä. Kaupassa käynti ja ravintolassa syönti sen sijaan maksoivat puistattavan paljon verrattuna "kotimaassa" totuttuun. Strasbourgin katedr... read more

Bonjour, Arrival at Strasbourg was less than scintilating. We crossed the Rhine from Germany into France, singing "Vive la France" as we entered. I'm still not really sure why we sang, but it seemed mildly entertaining at the time. However, we were not at the hotel quite yet. That step would take the better part of an hour and a half! We droved along one side of the canal lining the Grand Ile, crossed it, and reversed our any progress that had been made by driving back along the other side of the canal, all in a vain attempt to follow the gps system that the driver had. The main problem that the machine seemed to have was that it didn't take into account construction, or the fact that the bridge that it recommends we drive ... read more