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Published: August 18th 2006
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Listen to GPS
We have now lived in Munich one month short of a year. The entire time, we have been procrastinating about renting a car. We don't own one, you see, and we told ourselves that we would rent one from time to time if we wanted to go somewhere not accessible to public transportation. The thing is, we don't know our way around, and it seemed pretty complicated. Highways aren't numbered even and odd for east and west - they have names like Mittler Ring and A-14, A-52, A-36... And the highways and roads change names so often that by the time you figure out which one you're on, you're not on it anymore.
But, there comes a time when you just have to take a chance. We tried to calm our fears by renting a car with GPS. Without GPS, we would have been driving along the tram lines because it was the only way we knew! With the GPS, once you figure how to change its operating language from German to English, put in your destination and it tells you how to get there, right? Hmm.... Tremezzo... hey, it's not accepting our destination! Lo and behold,
our GPS only knew about Germany. It could get us to the border and then we were on our own. But given that getting out of Munich seemed the most complicated part, that was ok. We entered our chosen boder crossing and hit
Start and started driving. We drove towards the highway. We knew where it was because we'd passed it on the bus. It said our desired crossing point right on the sign: Lindau. The arrow pointed to the right. We turned right. The GPS told us over and over again to make a U-turn. We quickly determined that the GPS was messed up and we'd have to go it alone - but we had the sign to Lindau, so no problem, right?
An hour and a half and who knows how many wrong turns later, we were on the other side of Munich but no closer to Lindau. Apparently, GPS knew what it was doing. Moral of the story: when you are trying to go somewhere and you don't know the way, the chances are that GPS does. Listen to your GPS. It is your friend.
Cool! We got upgraded to an Audi A4 Station Wagon!
Before we went to get our car, we spoke to my parents on the phone, and they mentioned that we should be sure to get a small car because the roads are narrow. Sure, Mum, we rented a compact car. How wide could it be? They upgraded us to an Audi station wagon because we wanted a diesel. We were pretty excited... until we got to the portion of the road between Lugano and Tremezzo. The road was so curvy and narrow, it would even have been difficult had it been one lane in one direction. Whew! If you ever go to the Lago di Como area, don't even think about taking an SUV! And think twice about that free upgrade.
They must have banks here...
We had brought along some bread and cheese (Levent's idea - good idea) and ate that along the way, eliminating the need to stop for something to eat. And the free Germany map from Europcar (the rental company) got us from the Germany-Austria border crossing to the Austria-Switzerland border crossing. But about two minutes into Switzerland, we realized we needed to buy a map for the rest of our journey. You see, we
had printed out directions at
Map24, but due to the fact that the roads keep changing names, there was a ridiculous number of separate steps when we didn't actually have to do anything but stay on the same road most of the time.
But oh! We forgot about the fact that they don't use Euros in Switzerland! They use Swiss Francs. Not only do we not know the exchange rate - we don't have any Swiss Francs! "Well, we can get some money from an ATM," I said. "After all, they must have banks here..." Lucky for us, we didn't have to go searching for banks in Switzerland. They take credit cards there. We got our maps and were on our way.
Tremezzo & Hotel La Darsena
When we arrived in Tremezzo (after a few wrong turns, despite the maps), it was dark outside, leaving the view a mystery until the morning. It was a magical way to arrive there, though - Saturday morning, we walked down to the breakfast room (we stayed at
Hotel La Darsena ) and saw mountains rising 1500 meters (around 4500 feet) straight out of the lake. It is amazing and I recommend that anyone traveling
to Italy make Lago di Como a stop on the Itinerary. It's less crowded than Venice and more picturesque than Tuscany. Not that those aren't special places, but Lago di Como is so amazing that you can stick your camera out of a moving car, press the button, and you will have an amazing picture, no matter what. I know because that is how we got many of our pictures! See for yourself...
Bellagio
A short ferry ride across the lake from Tremezzo is the town for which the casino in Las Vegas was named. The real Bellagio makes the casino look shabby. It is a gorgeous town with buildings of all ages, staircases instead of streets (ok, there are a couple of streets), flowers in flower boxes, and picturesque views from every single angle. If you get a chance, go there. If you can afford it, you can even stay there.
Five Countries in One Day
The weather, unfortunately, was only nice on Saturday afternoon. Saturday morning and all day Sunday, it was rainy and pretty cold. Very unusual for the area, it seems. But we enjoyed it nonetheless. We told jokes, played with Kaan, took pictures,
and drove through five countries on Sunday. We really didn't need to drive through
Liechtenstein, but we did it so we could say that we had driven through five countries in a day. It was very disappointing, to be honest. Lots of banks and not much else. The people were very friendly, though. They were very patient on the road. Guess they don't have too far to go... after all, the whole country is only 62 square miles!
Fourteen K Tunnel There are many long tunnels in the Alp region. Many of the longer ones are around 6 kilometers long. We went in one, though that was 14 km long. Note to those with children: make sure they are comfortable and have everything they need before you enter the tunnel - or it will be a very long 14 kilometers.
Memory Plays Tricks on you - Innsbruck
On the way back, we stopped by Innsbruck, Austria, which I had visited with friends in 1996. It had remained in my memory as one of the most beautiful towns I'd ever seen - a tiny town on the banks of a river, surrounded by towering mountains. The Innsbruck we stopped in last weekend was entirely different! It was quite large, and the buildings were not that much different than those at home in Munich. And in spite of much trying, we never even found the river! Memory definitely plays tricks on you! This time, we got more pictures - maybe my memory will serve me better in the future...
We'll do this again!
One of the fun things about living in Europe is how quickly you can move from one culture, one country, one spoken language, one type of cuisine, one climate, to another. Hopefully, we'll rent another car and go to Tremezzo again in the future. Next time, though, I think we'll get a GPS system with more than one country.
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aunt Marilyn
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Innsbrok
As Melanie has told you we did a simiar road trip when then mel was 15 and Mike 12. Uncle Stanley(known as tracking dog) did a great job navigating, and it wasn't too much like the movie,"European Adventure" He relied on maps and a great sense of direction. Well anyway I remember Innsbrook like you did. Has it changed.? It was a beautiful little town(a little tourisy but quaint). I remember hiking up the mountain along a trail and seeing a zoo. It was so beautiful. Am I dreaming or mixed up with another place. So much of your mood etc, effects your reaction to a place. I hated Rome the first time I went,but on a later trip it was beautiful. Also the weather is a factor. I have mostly seen Germany in the rain.(so gloomy)