ATW-2 wrapup

This was the longest and most complex of the 3 ATW segments, taking 28 days of travel by auto through Italy, France, Germany and Austria. We rented a car after two days in Rome and returned it before our final 3 days in Rome (a total of 23 days of auto rental).

By the numbers:

• About 5,500 km in the car (about 2800 miles)
• 9 hops in 23 days (about 310 miles per hop)
• 11 hotels totalling 26 nights (2 nights had no hotel as we were traveling)
• About $2300 spent on hotels (about $100 per night)
• $340 Spent on 57 gallons of gas ($5.96 per gallon, 49 mpg). I have serious doubts about the MPG. My records may have missed a fillup. But the car did get good mileage.

Highlights:

• The Vatican. This was at the top of Marlene’s bucket list. It wasn’t at the top of mine, but I was impressed nevertheless.
• Sydney. This was a new city for both of us and we loved it. We were more impressed with the library than the opera house, but the whole city was very pleasant. If I had to choose a foreign home, this would be a strong candidate.
• The cathedrals of Europe. Marlene is a big fan of cathedrals and I like them too. We didn’t keep a list of the spectacular cathedrals we visited, but the best were Chartres, Tours and Notre Dame of Paris in France and St Peter’s in Rome. But there were many other impressive ones.
• Venice. Unique and beautiful. The weather wasn’t great but we enjoyed it anyway.
• Some of our accomodations. Ange, Florence, Germany, Genoa (for the breakfast), Sydney.
• Seeing my old friend Benjie and Junko in Paris. Not many people can maintain a friendship for 60 years, but we have.

Lowlights:

• Losing my wallet in Paris. This was a painful loss of money and created difficulties (e.g. loss of my driver’s license and two credit cards). And I will have to deal with some of the losses when I return. But I still don’t know for certain whether it was lost or stolen.
• The parking ticket in Rome. We didn’t see the handicap markings because we were hurrying. I haven’t paid it yet but it may double the cost of the car rental.
• The Hotel Comfort in Paris. This place was disgusting and I am still fighting to get my money back.

Observations:

• The trip over the Alps into France was both the most terrifying segment of the auto trip and the most memorable. I can’t say it was bad because, having survived it, it became a pleasant memory.
• Europe has a LOT of roundabouts / rotaries / traffic circles. We wished we had kept count. We may have encountered more than 1,000.
• The US is, unfortunately, winning the culture wars. Compared to my visit 50 years ago, Europe is much more like the US now. Almost everyone spoke some English and US companies – especially McDonald’s – were EVERYWHERE.
• Security is much tighter now. Places like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe that were wide open to the public i 1974 are now enclosed in security fences.
• We ate very frugally, as I expected we would. The bread in Europe is as good as I recalled. Our breakfasts, lunches and sometimes dinners consisted of bread, cheese and deli meat. Why can’t we have good – and INEXPENSIVE – bread in the US?