Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Switzerland, Trains, and Vineyards!

We got up nice and early to catch the train from Mannheim, Germany to Geneva, Switzerland!
Unfortunately, there was construction on the tracks so we had a 45 minute delay.  So, we grabbed breakfast at Coffee Fellows at the train station. I had the world's best Croissant and Latte Macchioto.  My husband had a bagel sandwich of lettuce, prosciutto, pesto, cream cheese, tomato, and pepper served warm.  They don't mess around with bagel sandwiches or pretzel sandwiches for that matter.  I also grabbed a pretzel for the train ride.

The landscapes were beautiful, we sat in a private cabin all the way to Switzerland where my husband could get some work done and I read, wrote post cards, and worked on my travel journal.  Sorry about some of these pictures, I took them out of my window of the high speed train.




Clouds covering the Alps


Vineyards with stone wall pathways


Here are some of the cutest houses with tiny gardens and vineyards in their back yards!



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Sunday, March 2, 2014

Mannheim, Germany

Being in Europe is easy, getting there is a different story, especially when you get 12 inches of snow and you can't get out of your driveway, and highways are poorly plowed before you even think to start getting to the airport. Thankfully I used Rover.com, which the gal I used was fabulously accommodating and I loved having a family take care of my pup, which gave me plenty of extra time to make it down to the airport.

Anyways, back to Germany! I stayed at the Maritim Hotel, which is located in a stunning Art Nouveau style building located across from the Congress center. 

wikimedia.org


We had an amazing view of the 18th century Romanesque water tower called der Wasserturm. Which if you can see below, was being set up for Carnaval.




I have a huge love of architecture, so I took a few pictures of the surrounding buildings and Cathedral.









There is a long street shopping mall that we perused and ate at a little German restaurant called Gasthaus Gentrale that was pretty good, I was looking for some good traditional German spaetzle, ended up with a pork schnitzel that was a little to heavy for me, but pretty good.

Here is my husband enjoying a Krusovice (I loved the lamp basket in the background)



Next up, off to Switzerland... by train!





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