Technically, the destination of this trip was Mestre, Italy, a suburb of Venice. But it is virtually impossible to drive to Venice and that was really why we were staying in Mestre. So I will call it a trip to Venice.
We had breakfast of coffee, bread and cheese in our room, then packed up and checked out.
Our home for the two nights in Salzburg was the Leonardo Hotel Salzburg Airport. Breakfast was extra at this hotel which is why we ate breakfast in our room. But parking was free, which was a big plus. It also had a comfortable king bed, a very nice bathroom – clean and spacious – and a teapot, an espresso coffee maker and a minifridge. The who place was very modern and attractive. And not very expensive. 8 out of 10.
We started the trip by gassing up. This tankful was less than $60 which sounds expensive, but it was only 1.54 euros per liter which is cheaper than most of the gas we have consumed, so I was happy. Then we set off on a 7-hour no-toll trip to Venice.
The trip out of Salzburg was through the Austrian Alps which were quite beautiful. The fall colors weren’t as vivid as in New England, but they were nice. I had never been in Europe in the fall and was a bit surprised that the fall colors were this good.
We took a short break in Warfen Austria which had a castle hovering over the city and a cute church. It was plain on the outside but surprisingly ornate inside.
We stopped again in Villach Austria for coffee and a bio break. It also had a cathedral which was large and ornate.
We stopped a couple more times to catch the beauty of this section of Austria. It was dark by the time we entered Italy. That was probably beautiful, too, but we couldn’t see. We arrived at our hotel just before 9pm.
ATW-2 Day 18: Paris, France, to Landau, Germany
The four nights in Paris were memorable in both good and bad ways. But the hotel in which we resided for the final 3 days was very fine: Sejours and Affaires Paris Vincennes. This seems to be a hotel geared toward long-term stays by students. But it isn’t a dormitory, isn’t affiliated with a school and certainly welcomed us. So kind of an oddball, but quite comfortable. Clean bathroom, comfortable bed and a kitchenette that allowed us to actually cook meals on a stove. WAY better than the first Paris hotel.
It also had garage parking, for an additional 13 euros per day. I paid for parking but in retrospect might have skipped it as there was free parking on the street and the area seemed quite safe.
Anyway, we checked out of the hotel around 9am and embarked on a 7-hours-plus journey across France, into Germany. We made one stop, in Vitry-le-Francois, on a whim because we saw the towers of a cathedral. It was younger than the cathedrals we had visited in and near Paris, being built in the 17th century, but it was quite beautiful. We were glad we stopped. And it felt good to stretch the legs.
We wandered the town for a bit and bought a pistachio eclair – a first for us. Then we got back on the road.
The border between France and Germany has almost entirely disappeared. The only notice that we left France was a small sign with “Allemagne” (Germany in French) on it. There was a checkpoint but it appeared that no one was being stopped.
We stopped for some groceries at an Aldi in Virty-le-Francois as we knew that we would have access to a full kitchen and were craving a home-cooked meal. We got some sausage that could be pan-fried.
One difference between France and Germany became obvious pretty quickly: the speed on the roads. In France we were often frustrated by slow drivers. Almost no one traveled more than 10 kph over the limit, which made mine one of the fastest cars on the road. That flipped in Germany: I was one of the slowest. Germans drive FAST. This is encouraged by the lack of a speed limit on many sections of the expressways / autobahns.
We had dinner and played cards. Do I need to tell you who won?