Europe, May 2019

Thursday, May 30, Day 9   ... also Ascension, a national holiday Lyon is nice and quiet today, as it's the beginning of a 4-day weekend. With holidays on Thursday (and there can be a few in May) schools and many people take the Friday off as a pont (bridge) to the weekend. It means a lot of tourist traffic, which was Neil's problem with trains yesterday, because they had no reservations. Because we were tired, we slept in till 9 but managed to have breakfast before the buffet closed at 10. We came back up to the room, where I had a nap for an hour! Then we went for a walk, to see stuff and find lunch. Yes, eating is a priority! We went through Place Carnot, a park that's quite near, and had our choice of sidewalk cafés. We picked the Restaurant des Îles, with specialties from the French Caribbean, La Réunion and Mauritius. Very tasty. and the people-watching was fine, too. Here are 2 people on a Lime scooter. They're everywhere, and were a real menace in Paris. ...

Wednesday, May 29, Day 8 A colourful train in Strasbourg station I got up a little earlier than planned, and Kevin and Kat arrived a little earlier, too, so, after breakfast, we left in good time to catch my train. The first train went from Stuttgart to Strasbourg, and in Strasbourg I had time to find the bathroom and buy lunch. On both of today’s trains I managed not to have a long walk to the opposite end of the platform. The first train was a Deutsche Bahn train, and though it was a few minutes late leaving and arriving, it was comfortable and the wifi worked. On the French train, the comfort is about the same, but the wifi had no internet connection. My train coming in. I've been on trains called InOui and OuiGo In contrast to my Lyon to Paris, Paris to Aachen and Aachen to Stuttgart trains, the view was quite good. The previous trains run in deep cuts and tunnels, and the view is narrow. But this train runs much closer to ground level, and so...

Tuesday, May 28, Day 7 Sleeping in was fine! I got up about 9 and had time for a shower before K&K got here at 10. We breakfasted and planned, and finally went off to downtown Stuttgart to do some general shopping and make specific purchases. I got myself a day pass for use of telephone data, and Kat got an upgrade to her temporary telephone service. View of Botnang View of Botnang Kat wanted some comfy t-shirts and I wanted some summer socks, so we hit a Primark (very Target-like) and got almost everything, including some gifts for the folks back home. We window-shopped, too, and went through the old covered market, with delicacies from everywhere: it smelled wonderful.   We found a café for lunch. Beer of course, then Schwabish specialties such as Knudelen and roast pork. Yummy! And filling! Kat went to visit her mother and Kevin and I lingered at the café, then wandered through the old town, the parks and the pedestrian shopping street, the Konigstra...

Monday, May 27, Day 6 We woke in good time, had breakfast and had a few last-minute looks at things around the house. Then our taxi arrived and we were off to the station. Nellie came with me all the way, not only into the station and onto the platform, but into the train car to make sure I was settled.  Once the train pulled out, I was fine on my own, reading a book and watching people. The change in Cologne was very simple and I was soon on my way to Stuttgart. We were a few minutes late, so didn’t come in on the expected track, but luckily I knew which track that was and met Kevin and Kat there. We went through the station and put my bags in a locker, then went for lunch. We had some good German beer and Kevin and I had variations on the local specialty, a kind of filled pasta that resembled an egg roll – delicious! Then back into the station to catch a suburban train to the hospital to visit Doris, Kat’s mother. She was feeling pretty well, doing lots of rehab for...

Lotta Sunday, May 26, Day 5 Nellie had to wake me at 8:30 so I could get up and dressed for breakfast at Jenny’s by 9:15. I even got a coffee before we left. I’m beginning to recognize the streets we take. Nellie is lucky to have both of her kids living so close by. At Jenny’s house, there was a definite Sunday-morning-after-a-big-Saturday vibe. Kids and parents had been out at a party till midnight, after working so hard at their garage sale all day. Lotta was still asleep when we got there, and Phil was slow to appear. Oma and Lotta We had eggs, cheeses, fruit, lots of nice bread, more coffee for some of us, in general a nice spread. Then Jenny went off to a fitness class, while her husband, Burge, supervised the robot lawnmower from his hammock on the deck, and Nellie and I moved on. We went to Karl’s place, just up the road, and looked at the group of Nellie’s paintings residing there. He has a nice little apartment with a pleasant garden and a view of ...