The great European ice trackchasing tour – January 2024
How often should someone take a trip of a lifetime?
I have a simple travel philosophy. My goal is to take the “trip of a lifetime” about every 4-6 weeks. During the past couple of decades of retirement, I’ve been able to meet that goal.
It’s important to note that my lifestyle involves a good deal of travel. Duh! Almost every year I will travel overnight between 175 and 200 nights. Please accept my apologies for only traveling 162 nights in 2023.
Folks who only visit an airport a time or two each year live a much different lifestyle than me. Correspondingly, I can’t do many of the things my friends do at home because I’m on the road so much. This all comes down to the different choices we all need to make. There is no right answer.
I’m not sure I plan trips like most other people. That’s just a guess on my part. You can compare how I do it to how you and your friends plan adventures and either confirm or deny my suspicion.
THURSDAY – January 18
Carol and I don’t always do things the same way.
We leave home on our trip at noon today. We’ll be gone for nearly 2 weeks. It’s a little past 8 a.m. I haven’t packed a single thing. Carol, on the other hand, started laying out all of her items a couple of weeks ago. At least I know that she and I don’t do our trip planning in the same fashion!
The scheme is to fly to Munich, Germany from Los Angeles. We hope to see ice racing in three different countries, France, Austria, and Finland. We will connect those three points with Munich, coming and going. On the way to each race location, we will see and do as much as we possibly can. The ice racing will take a few hours of our time at each stop. This is a simple plan. Off we go in the Beverly Hillbillies Tesla.
Trains, planes and automobiles.
We will rent two cars, fly on four airplanes, and visit Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, and Finland. We might even stop in Lichtenstein, which was the site of our family Christmas card about 35 years ago. I’m hoping we can cross into Russia for a brief look-see. Carol seems to be against that idea.
Indeed, I don’t pack for these trips very far in advance. However, you will find me in my office every day for a few hours for several weeks planning the trip. I always have multiple journeys in different stages of preparation that I’m working on. At every turn, I am seeking an advantage of one kind or another. It’s always about the “game” to me.
I have changed our destinations, hotels, and rental cars multiple times. When the weather changes (it’s ice racing for gosh sakes) some locations get added and others dropped.
We fly by the seat of our pants.
Eight hours before flight time it looks like we’re going to fly to Munich. I have backup plans that would take us to Zürich or Barcelona if needed. Of course, if we go to those alternate destinations that means different rental car setups and hotels. This is just how I plan these trips. The objective is to trackchase at places I’ve never been to before. The rest of the trip will evolve around the racing.
Most hotels come with a one or two-day advance cancellation requirement. I had one hotel in Austria that required a cancellation policy of Christmas Day for a stay on January 25! They got axed from the visit.
I am having “issues”.
To top it off I’m having some “issues” with getting my new Tesla. I ordered the car on October 24. On October 28 I finalized a new car loan at 3.99% which was a smoking hot deal at the time. It is true that I live my life for smoking hot deals.
It is now January 18. I still don’t have my new car. Time is running out on my loan. They gave me 90 days to close the loan. I can’t close the loan without the car and I don’t have the car. I called the credit union, FedChoice in Maryland, and asked for an extension. They told me they couldn’t do it. The credit union’s current best rate is now 6.85%. That’s nearly three points higher than what I have locked in. It’s not the end of the world to pay a higher rate. But there IS one major problem. If I have to do that I will have lost the “game”. I’m not really a good loser.
Since I may not get my car before that loan approval expires, I checked out an alternative. I contacted the Navy Federal Credit Union. I qualify for a loan with them based on my time in the United States Marine Corps. It was sort of funny that all I had to do was “tell them” I was in the Marines and I was approved. Maybe with my name and Social Security number, they were able to confirm things behind the scenes. I don’t know.
Navy Federal offered me a good rate of 5.29%, which wasn’t as good as a 3.99 but it’s the lowest rate in today’s market. I hate to say this but there’s a possibility I might just buy my car with cash. That gives me the shivers.
On average I earn about 8% on my investments. Currently, I’m earning, risk-free, a rate of 5.85% in a Vanguard money market fund. After taxes there isn’t much “spread” if any for me to make money, borrowing low and investing higher. If I do pay cash I’ll keep an eye on the interest-rate market and get a car loan, if and when it makes sense.
You’re going to get Part 1 and Part 2.
I’m going to divide this trip report into two parts. Part 1 will cover the ice race in the southern Alps of France and our touring in Zürich, Switzerland.
Part 2 is expected to include an ice race in Austria, and a three-day weekend in Finland, with an ice race there as well. We’re staying in Helsinki. Carol has never been to Finland. I’ve been there twice.
It would be hard to describe how many changes in our itinerary I’ve made before we ever set foot on a jet airplane. I’m guessing more than twenty? I know this. Based upon weather, race schedules, and who knows what else there will be lots of changes during our trip as well.
Do you do this stuff the way I do this stuff?
I like to say, “I am comfortable with uncertainty”. Here’s the funny part. This is the part that requires a very positive attitude. This is also one of the items I enjoy most about travel. Things will change during the trip. Here’s the kicker. I know things will change…I just don’t know what things will change. You’ll learn about them on a somewhat similar timing as I do. Then you can read, smile, and say yourself, “Randy, I wouldn’t have done it that way” or… maybe you will say, “Randy, that’s exactly how I would’ve done it.” See you in Munich.
FRIDAY – January 19
I don’t pay retail and neither should you.
We flew business class from Los Angeles to Munich, Germany. The going price for a one-way business class ticket on that route is $7,100 per person. Of course, we don’t pay retail and neither should you.
I don’t think Carol and I are as well-suited for business class as some others. First of all, at 6‘3” and a non-mentioned weight, I don’t fit all that well in business class seats. Carol? She is not very much interested in luxury. I don’t worry about that much. Her thrifty approach has saved me a lot of money in our many years of marriage!
Who doesn’t like an upgrade?
When it came time to get my rental car in Munich, the agent asked if I might like an upgrade. Who wouldn’t like an upgrade? I already had a smoking hot deal on a full-sized car but I was open to suggestions. I am always open to suggestions.
He told me he had a brand new Mercedes E220 D that had never been driven. He could give it to me for the next seven days for just $184 extra. Of course, when anyone says anything to me about an upgrade and gives me a price I’m going to give them a counteroffer. Doesn’t everyone do that?
I smiled and simply said, “Can you do it for $100”. The agent worked on his keyboard for a few minutes. I thought he was writing a letter to his mom. He told me he could do the upgrade for $105. What could I say to that? If someone comes that close to your counter, you can’t say no. Then I wondered why, if he was going to come back with $105, he wouldn’t have just said $100. Whatever. Everyone plays the game differently.
That Mercedes was a BIG car.
The Mercedes was diesel-powered. When you’re driving one of these luxury cars you can’t really tell if the car is powered by diesel or gas. Diesel, unlike the United States, is equal to or less expensive in Europe than gasoline. We will get more miles per gallon using diesel gas. I suspect I will get nearly all of the $105 upgrade expense back in fuel economy savings. We’ll be driving the car for nearly 2,500 kilometers. When we got out to the garage to pick up the car, its brand-new floor mats were still in the trunk in plastic wrappers.
Don’t be caught without a vignette.
When we drive in Europe, certain countries require a “vignette” to be purchased. This is sort of like a road tax for foreigners. If you don’t buy the vignette or “sticker” there’s a decent chance when you cross the border, an officer will be waiting for you. Trust me, you don’t want that to happen.
This happened to me in Austria several years ago. My fine for not having a sticker was €170. Tonight, at a German convenience store we bought our stickers. Not all countries require them. We paid €10 for a 10-day vignette in Austria. The best we could do in Switzerland was €42 for a one-year sticker. Oh yeah. When we stopped in the convenience store we had to pay a euro to use the bathroom. That policy is all over the continent.
Hyatt hotels here I come.
I’m just beginning my trip to become a “Globalist” frequent stay member with the Hyatt Hotel chain. I’m only a lowly “Discoverist” now. People needed an MBA to come up with these names? Tonight, I would be staying in Hyatt hotel #7 for 2024. I’m going to need 60 nights to make Globalist. From then on it’s going to be the “suite” life for me.
This evening we were staying at a Hyatt Place hotel in Zurich. The hotel was located next to the airport and a huge shopping complex. This place was impossible to find. We made about four passes with our Google Maps GPS until we found ourselves in a huge multi-story parking garage. We asked a local Swiss woman to help us as she was loading her trunk with her purchases.
She stopped what she was doing and made a phone call to the hotel. When she was finished we had the directions we needed to find the hotel. I am a big one for asking for directions. I would rather bother someone than waste my time. I try never to be rude while doing this and am always most appreciative. I don’t think of myself as imposing because if a foreigner asked me for help in the U.S. I would go out of my way to help.’
Absolutely her worst night ever!!
This was Carol’s first night in a Hyatt in 2024 According to Carol, this was the worst night she had ever spent in a hotel. Really? Sometimes I think she is prone to hyperbole. She would go on to spin a tale that was difficult for even me to believe. I had gone to bed at 11 p.m. She was still showering at 1 a.m. Apparently, during her shower, the power in our room went out and everything was 100% black.
Terrified!
She was terrified. In Europe, most hotels give you three bottles in the shower. Those are liquid soap, shampoo, and lotion. Carol told me in the complete darkness she didn’t know what was what. She went on to tell me that somehow she was able to extricate herself from her shower, put on her pajamas, and march down to the front desk to get the problem solved. That’s what I like about Carol. While I sleep, she is a problem solver. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that. Tomorrow we head to France.
SATURDAY – January 20
We are trackchasers.
This is a trackchasing trip. Most of our trips are trackchasing trips at heart. To confirm when and where the races are happening I will usually contact the race promoter. I’ll also attempt to check with my existing friends or new people, usually found on Facebook. They might be able to confirm the details I am looking for.
This evening’s ice racing would be run under the lights up in the southern Alps of France. Trophëe Andros was the race organizer. They are the pre-eminent ice race promotion team in the world. They sanction races in the mountains of France and Andorra. They’ve been racing at these elevations on snow and ice for the past 35 years. This is their last season. From what I can tell, they just don’t have enough cold weather to keep doing it.
I do a lot of media work with my trackchasing hobby.
When I landed in Munich, I had a message from Pauline who works in the media department for Trophëe Andros. She wanted to confirm I was coming to their event this evening. If I was, and I was, they wanted to do an interview with me on their French TV streaming network, Canal + Sport 360.
Our trips are like a visit to your local shopping mall.
One way to think about our international trackchasing trips is to remember that a shopping mall has “anchor” stores. The anchor stores connect all the other stores in the mall. The smaller stores get a lot of their foot traffic from the bigger anchor tenants.
We are just beginning one of our “classic” international trips. With this type of travel plan, we leave on Thursday and land in a faraway foreign country on Friday. That gives us Saturday and Sunday for trackchasing. Then Monday through Friday are reserved for touring. We wrap up the trip on Saturday and Sunday with trackchasing before we head home on Monday. This is a quick 12-day trip.
We are in the winter season. That being the case, except in Australia, most racing is done on ice and snow. Since it doesn’t seem to get as cold as it once did there are fewer and fewer ice racing dates. During this 12-day trackchasing outing we will trackchase on the first Saturday, then Thursday, and then finish up trackchasing on Saturday of the second weekend.
Our three “anchor stores” will be in France, Austria and Finland. We will connect the rest of the trip with as many fun and interesting mini-international adventures as we can. This often brings surprises that we were never ever expecting. This trip, like virtually every one of our journeys would have plenty of those.
Southern Alps…but no snow.
Today we had a nearly five-hour drive up to Lans-En-Vercors, France. Trophëe Andros was racing way up in the mountains of this small but famous snow resort.
Luckily for us, there wasn’t any snow on the roads or snow in the forecast. For the middle of the winter in the mountains of France, no snow was not the norm. Tonight’s drive to the race location would have been a much different situation with snowy and icy roads.
We are always the guests.
It is common to be graciously welcomed at these kinds of race facilities when folks know that I’m going to be coming to visit their track. It’s not much different than if you had a guest that you invited into your home. You would want to make sure things were looking perfect, so your guests enjoyed their time at your place. That’s exactly how it works at the racetrack. People who own and promote these racetracks are proud of what they’ve done. They and their staff are anxious to show things off to a visitor, especially a foreign visitor.
Meeting the folks from Trophëe Andros.
Tonight’s racetrack was located directly adjacent to a major ski resort. The place was packed with cars even though it was way up in the mountains and somewhat remote. It was difficult to decide how many of the cars were there for skiing and how many for ice racing. Tonight’s crowd was the largest I’ve ever seen for an ice race and I’ve seen more than 130 of them.
The first thing on the agenda was to meet my Trophëe Andros contact, Pauline. Pauline runs the media operation for this group. We had been texting as we got closer to the track. Pauline met us at the track entrance with complimentary admission.
The first thing Pauline wanted to do was have my interview with the Canal TV streaming broadcast team. They even had a specific time slot for my interview. I was impressed with their organization! One of the drivers, Margo, who is also a commentator for Formula One in France did the interview. We had our talk inside one of the team’s closed and warm “garages”.
I also had the chance to meet Max Mamers, the Chairman of Andros. Pauline, Margo, and everyone we met welcomed us with open arms. They also gave Carol and me beautiful scarves and hats customized for tonight’s event.
It was time to explore and enjoy the ambience of the ice racing.
From there, in temperatures of about 25°F, we walked all over the paddock area. The race cars were all in huge semi-truck trailers. When the race teams get to the track, they expand their space using clear heavy plastic walls. At least two cars, a hospitality area, and lots of equipment can be stored in this heated area.
Several of these hospitality areas are very upscale, warm, and reserved for that race team’s guests. We snuck into a couple just to check things out.
Just two days ago this area received an inch of rain. The rain came close to canceling the event which would have been dreadful for us after traveling so far to see the racing here in France.
The rain froze and then they got a small amount of snow. What looked like firm footing in the snow was only a dusting over what amounted to an ice rink. I was walking along with Carol, hit a slick spot, and fell on my fanny and more before I knew it. I immediately (my words) scrambled to my feet as if nothing had happened. You’ve probably done that as if to say, “Who me?” Luckily, not too many people noticed my mid-adventure.
Almost all ice racing in the United States is done on frozen lakes. The ice needs to be about 15 inches thick for a safe race. There’s no need to mention to National Car Rental that I routinely drive their cars out onto frozen lakes. At times I’ve been nearly a mile from shore.
With warmer weather coming about over the past few years I would guess that more ice racing dates in the United States have been canceled that have been completed.
Tonight’s road course configuration had only minor elevation changes. I’m going to guess the entire length of the track might have been nearly a mile. This was land-based racing with an ice and snow surface. At certain points, we could see that the snow and ice had been worn through to a paved surface.
In addition to the Trophëe Andros race cars, there was also a group of motorcycle racers about 15 strong. Both groups used metal spikes in their tires. This helped grip the ice and snow and created faster racing speeds. In New Hampshire, ice racing is done with snow chains. That eats up the ice.
The one and only video you just can’t afford to miss.
Carol and I have actually raced on the ice in the “rubber to ice” divisions. That’s just regular tires with no added spikes for traction. You might want to check out this 43-second video of Carol and me on the frozen lake ice track. I’m in the yellow car. Carol is driving the pink car. She spins out and nearly collects me as I speed past. Carol claims she didn’t have enough time to practice in her car. Whatever. Who doesn’t have 43 seconds? Here’s the link.
Carol and me…racing on a frozen lake!
The racing event details.
There was one souvenir vendor. With this being the last ever ice racing weekend at Lans-En-Vercors they were selling lots of souvenirs. The food and drink concessions were kept very busy with the large crowd. We could never come close to buying anything.
Tonight, I was seeing my 134th-lifetime ice track. I have seen ice racing in 25 states, provinces, and foreign countries. Later in this trip, I hope to increase that number to twenty-six.
All of the announcing was done in French. Qualifications, not actual racing, make up about 80% of the race program.
There were four races for the cars. Two semi-finals, based on qualifications for the amateur and pro divisions started at 9 p.m.. The fastest qualifiers out of the 12 cars in each group raced in the final or main events for their classes.
Of note is that all of the cars racing on the ice tonight were electric. Trophëe Andros had their first-ever electric racers back in 2009. Don’t miss my video of tonight’s racing for the last time ever at this location.
We had a good time. The people we met were fantastic. It was sad to see an organization with this long history fading into the past. I am not a scientist. I don’t know if climate change is real and if so who is causing it. I do know ice racing is suffering from warming temperatures.
And yes, of course, I made a video from tonight’s ice racing. Here’s the link. Don’t miss it.
Trophëe Andros ice racing from Lans-En-Vercors, France
And now a visit to the Spookhaven Mansion.
After the races, we had a one-hour drive down the mountain to a very remotely located French bed-and-breakfast location. We had a devil of a time finding the place. This was the only independent overnight accommodation we would use for the entire trip. I even had to have Pauline, my track contact, call the hotel and tell them we would be later than expected because the main events ran later than we were planning for.
People get shot doing this.
Our GPS pulled us up in front of a very dark property out in the country. We wondered if this was really the B&B. There wasn’t a single light on and only a short one-lane dirt driveway. Just down the road was a much more brightly lit place. We stopped there to see if that might be our overnight paradise.
Nope. This was the private residence for a group of people who were having a lively dinner party. It was with some trepidation that I parked in their front yard, walked up to the sliding glass door to the kitchen, and tapped on the glass. Yes, I have balls. In the United States, you can get shot for doing stuff like this. I guess in France they don’t have a lot of guns, so I felt a little bit better but not much. Just remember, folks. I am not smart enough to make this stuff up!
My arrival stopped their festivities for just a moment. These folks had no idea who I was and what I wanted. Finally, one of the ladies at the party came over, calmed everyone down, and told us that our destination for the bed-and-breakfast truly WAS the totally dark property just down the street. In the U.S. I never would have tapped on the window like I did tonight.
When we told the B&B proprietor we would be arriving late, she prepared a video for us. The video explained how we would drive through the gate and walk down a pathway to our room. It was nice of her to do that. It’s just we never expected things to be so dark. We had now visited one of the “anchor” locations (the French racetrack) and the B&B was the beginning of our visiting the “small stores” which are always the most fun anyway.
SUNDAY – January 21
I own an electric car. For this trip we rented a diesel-powered car.
Today’s objective is to make another five-hour drive back to Zürich where we will stay for three days. We have rented a Mercedes E 220 D diesel-powered car. That’s where the “D” comes from in the name. After driving 780 miles on a tank of gas we stopped for fuel.
Although I was told diesel was a little bit less expensive than gas it appears to be just about the same price as gasoline at least in Switzerland. Today we paid $8.80 for a gallon of diesel fuel. That sounds high, doesn’t it? The above sign is priced in Swiss Francs and liters.
Our Mercedes did give us 49.7 miles per gallon of fuel economy. Compared to a gas car that gets 25 MPG that makes the “real” fuel cost about $4.40/gallon. In California, the price of gas is more than that. Today, our tank of fuel cost $134 U.S. so there’s that.
Lots of tunnels.
I have driven tens of thousands of miles in Europe. Europe is famous for its roundabouts. If I have driven tens of thousands of miles in Europe I have probably driven around 100,000 roundabouts. Switzerland and Austria don’t have that many roundabouts.
Switzerland DOES have lots of tunnels. Before a driver enters a tunnel there is always a sign stating how long the tunnel is. The longest tunnel we used was only 2-3 miles long. The longest road tunnel in the world is in Norway at 15.2 miles in distance. The longest road tunnel in Switzerland where we were driving today is 10.5 miles in length.
Time to tour Geneva, Switzerland.
We stopped in Geneva, Switzerland today for lunch and to check out the top sites of the city. I always search Trip Advisor to see what the top 10 or 15 attractions are in any location that we are visiting. This prevents a lot of useless planning in advance of the trip. If something isn’t listed in the top 10-15 attractions wherever we are visiting there is probably a good reason.
We were able to knock off Geneva’s #1 attraction, Lake Geneva. This a mountain lake that empties into the Rhone River. Next up was the #2 rated attraction the Jet d’Eau. This is Geneva’s most prominent landmark, a tremendous fountain located in Lake Geneva in the city’s downtown area. We wrapped up our Geneva tour with a visit to attraction #17 which was the “Broken Chair Sculpture”. What’s that? Wait for it….it’s a sculpture of a huge 3-4 stories tall, broken chair! I felt we were ahead of the game with today’s touring. We did it all from the car on a chilly day. We visited three tourist attractions I had never heard of before today.
No lunch for us.
It is difficult to park in these larger cities. Just when we found a beautiful restaurant overlooking the lake that had a parking space, we learned the eatery had closed until later in the evening. We usually ate breakfast at closer to 10 a.m. on this trip at our hotels. When we got hungry at about 3 p.m. for a late lunch, restaurants were closed for their mid-afternoon break.
When we travel in these foreign countries, it is difficult to identify restaurants or other types of stores. They just don’t jump out at you like they do in the United States. The prevalence of chain stores as well as our familiarity with the language makes it easier to find things in states as well.
I was using Yelp to find spots that would be open on a Sunday afternoon and were highly rated. I likely won’t stop at a restaurant that gets less than four stars on Yelp. I found an Indian place. Yelp said it was open on this afternoon. It took quite a bit of effort to get to the city center of Geneva, where the restaurant was only to find there was no parking. When we arrived, they were closed! I hate it when that happens.
Life on the road can get expensive.
We got back on the highway and ended up stopping at a hotel/restaurant next to a gas station. The restaurant did have a very cool chandelier. I wondered how we could get one! As noted we had filled our tank with diesel fuel at the somewhat earth-shattering cost of $134 U.S.
From there we checked into the Hyatt Regency in Zurich. The hotel is located right next to the airport. I guess that’s the reason they charge $65 a day for parking! Oh my. People never told me when I retired I would be facing expenses like this.
Folks, status in life is important.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Hyatt frequent stay program or not. The “Globalist” level is the highest status you can get. I will need to stay 60 nights at a Hyatt property to get a suite of nice perks. See what I did there? I expect to gain Globalist status by later this year. Our son is a Globalist. He was able to give us his privileges in the form of a “Guest of Honor” certificate.
What do we get with the Guest of Honor privileges? This includes an upgrade to a suite if available, free breakfast, and admission to the hotel’s Regency Club (above). Since breakfast goes for $52 per person each day that’s gonna be a nice value over the next three days. Had we used our Hyatt points instead of paying in cash we would have saved the parking charge of nearly $200 U.S. Today cash seemed like the better option.
We’re going to hang out in Zürich, drive into France, and see what we can see over the next three days. Our only firm agenda item is going to be the National Automobile Museum – Schlumph Collection in Milhouse, France. This museum is the largest automobile museum in the world.
MONDAY – January 22
The biggest! The coldest!
Today’s main touring plan was to visit the National Automobile Museum in Mulhouse, France. This car museum is the largest automobile museum in the world. It’s always a special treat when traveling the world to see the biggest, the best, or the most unique of whatever genre is on the agenda.
I have certainly seen my share of automobile museums around the world. They are all unique. However, the museum today had something very unique about it…and this wasn’t good. To be clear we knew about this advance. It would be as it was.
Because of its size, this museum is not heated in the winter or in the summer. I know. That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Today we did all of our walking around inside the building in temperatures of 45° Fahrenheit. That was chilly. The people who worked at the museum all wore heavy winter coats. I asked one of them which was most uncomfortable, the heat of the summer or the cold of the winter. They said it was best to avoid the summer inside the museum!
The museum did have an excellent display of what some of their now beautiful cars looked like when they were found “out in the wild”. These types of cars are sometimes called “barn finds”.
Bugattis and more Bugattis and lots more.
The National Automobile Museum specializes in Bugatti automobiles. We were told there were 400 cars on display in a single-level museum.
They did display their cars differently compared to what I had seen in other car museums. Quite a few of the cars were raised off the ground a couple of inches with jacks. I didn’t know why. Maybe they wanted to preserve the car’s suspension. That’s just a guess. The “floor” around the cars was not made of some shiny marble. They used gravel! Nevertheless, it was a fun visit. We had to make a three-hour drive to get there and back. We did all of that in a driving rainstorm. That drive was not fun. I recommend this place. Just dress for the occasion.
Our eating schedule did not match up with these Europeans.
We’ve been having a hard time eating gourmet European food in the countries we have visited so far. That includes Germany, France, and Switzerland. We normally have breakfast at about 9:30 a.m. in the hotel. When we’re ready to have lunch which is somewhere around 2-3 p.m. we find that most quality sit-down European restaurants are closed! They open for lunch, then close during the middle of the afternoon, and re-open later for dinner.
I used Yelp to get restaurant recommendations as well as the resources of our hotel staff. Each one of my sources tells me the restaurant is going to be open. We make a very special effort to get there. When we arrive in mid-afternoon the restaurant is “open” for drinks but not food. Another issue is that parking in these big cities is a challenge.
Despite our preferred restaurant being closed I was hellbent on showing Carol a nice meal. It was raining. It was cold. Carol was losing her patience with my finding a good restaurant expertise. She wanted to get back on the road and as far away from Mulhouse, France at this point as she could. I persevered and soon found an open pizza place. Was it the best pizza we ever had? No. But at least we were eating in France!
Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Today, we needed to park in the smaller city of Mulhouse sight of today’s museum. It was raining. In the parking lot, patrons use a kiosk to pay for parking. Luckily, I found a local man paying for his parking. He was nice enough, in the rain, to help us use the kiosk. Without him, we might still be trying to figure out that machine. I am a huge advocate of asking for help and then apologizing for imposing. This strategy works for me.
Tomorrow we will spend the day touring downtown Zurich. The weather is mild for what I would consider to be the middle of winter in Switzerland. There is virtually no snow on the ground. Temperatures are in the low 40s. We’ve been seeing a large amount of rain. Don’t get me wrong. We’re from California. A 40-degree weather day with rain and some wind is not exactly a walk in the park for us.
TUESDAY – January 23
The prize of a lifetime…so far.
This would not be our first visit to Zurich, Switzerland. Years ago, American Airlines invited Carol and me to be their guests at the Long Beach Grand Prix in California. I got the invitation because I was a power user of American Airlines.
AA provided lunch, some souvenirs, and free tickets to the LB Grand Prix for Carol and me. Then in advance of the race, AA had a contest. The winner of said contest would be the person who came closest to picking the average winning speed in miles per hour at the Long Beach Grand Prix.
Being the “gamer” I am I worked the angles. I bought a race program that told me the average winning speed for the past ten years of the event. The winner had averaged a speed in a narrow range of something like 89-92 MPH. Each contest participant wrote their guess on a big board for everyone to see. I waited until just before the race started. Most of AA’s guests didn’t know anything about racing. They were predicting a winning speed of 150 MPH and as little as 60 MPH. At the very last minute, I put Carol’s guess in at 89 MPH and mine at 92 MPH. There was no one in the middle of our predictions.
This was literally like shooting fish in a barrel. We won. Carol’s pick won second place and my pick won first place. Since we were a couple they only allowed us to collect one prize, first prize. Who makes up these rules?
What was the first prize? A week’s hotel and round-trip airfare to….wait for it…ZURICH, SWITZERLAND! This was the easiest big prize I had ever won!
Today it was time to tour Zurich.
Despite having a brand new Mercedes sitting in the Hyatt Regency parking garage, we grabbed an Uber from the hotel to the Zürich train station called Hauptbahnhof. Hauptbahnhof is the #6 rated tourist attraction in Zurich. It’s similar to Grand Central Station in NYC but it’s not Grand Central Station!
Speaking of New York City…Zurich during the winter had more homeless people than NYC does in the summertime. We go to NYC a couple of times every year. We don’t see virtually any homeless people compared to 20 years ago in New York.
When we are staying in a large city we commonly use Uber even though we have a rental car. We don’t have to worry about driving in the city or paying high parking fees. It’s not unusual for our parking savings to nearly offset whatever Uber charges we might have.
Postcards mean finding stamps.
Our first touring stop was a bit mundane. Carol needed to get stamps for all of the postcards she would be sending to friends and relatives. Finding postcards to buy is getting harder and harder. Stamps are also difficult to find and expensive.
Lots of men are unwilling to ask questions or ask for directions. I am not one of those men. As soon as we arrived, I started asking for directions. Three question stops later Carol was at the post office and getting her stamps just like we would be doing in the United States.
Seeing the best sights of Zürich.
By simply walking around Zürich, we were able to knock out about half of the top 10 tourist attractions as identified by TripAdvisor. We started at the train station (#6).
We began with a 20-minute walk down one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world, Bahnhofstrasse (attraction #8). They had all of the top brands from Gucci to Harry Winston and on and on. A guy was selling roasted chestnuts just as I remembered from our first trip to Zurich. Today, we were just window shoppers.
At the end of Bahnhofstrasse, we crossed the Linth River and took a look at beautiful Lake Zurich (attraction #1). The lake was ringed by snow-capped mountains.
This walk took us into the old town section of Zurich (attraction #2). In old town was went to Grossmunster, a 12th-century cathedral (attraction #10). We saw a lot of Zurich by just walking around. Now, it was time to eat.
Yes! It was my birthday.
Our friendly and knowledgeable Hyatt Regency desk clerk had given us a restaurant recommendation for my birthday dinner tonight. This was going to be an authentic although not too formal Swiss restaurant.
We arrived at the restaurant at 4:30 p.m. We were soon seated at a table that had a reservation sign showing 6:15 p.m. Our server made sure that we would be comfortable vacating the table for their 6:15 p.m. reservation. Not a problem at all but a first for this experience.
Sausages and tater salad.
We ordered the restaurant’s authentic Swiss sausages and their homemade potato salad. This was an unusual but tasty combination.
Carol mentioned that today was my birthday to our server. Soon we were being served at my request a slice of apple strudel smothered in vanilla Sauce. Everyone including a table of Japanese tourists nearby was singing Happy Birthday to me. The restaurant even gave me a beautiful lit sparkler stuck in the middle of our strudel. Just to be polite I waited until they finished the Swiss/Japanese rendition of Happy Birthday before I could take a picture of the sparkler. By the time I took the picture the “sparkle” of the sparkler had burnt itself out. What a fun occasion with good local food thrown in.
It’s always fun to talk with my Uber driver.
From the restaurant, we took an Uber back to the hotel. I love talking to Uber drivers! Our driver was an interesting guy. He was really into financial investing.
He even brought up his financial portfolio on his iPhone to show me. Folks, that’s “into it”. He told me he owned 330 shares of Tesla stock which is worth the better part of $1 million. That was oppressive for a guy who was driving for Uber.
This fellow knew a lot about Elon Musk and was a huge fan. He also knew all kinds of details about the United States, including the names of our states, and much more. Yeah, he had his own opinions on American politics as well.
We talked a little bit about how homogenized the United States has become with the onslaught of huge chains like Walmart, Costco, McDonald’s, etc. At the same time with a similar sized geography, Europe is much more diverse. We concluded this comes from most European countries having their own languages.
I always talk to my Uber drivers. This guy was one of the most interesting because he had so many different and accurate views on so many topics. Carol, who is much less interested in talking to Uber drivers than me, used one of her favorite phrases “He had a quarter stuck in him”. Ever heard that phrase?
Carol to bed; for me, it was time to go to work.
Once we got home back at the Hyatt Regency, Carol prepared for and went to bed. I got on the phone and started trying to get in touch with Tesla and ultimately spent the next couple of hours down in the hotel lobby.
I was getting email communications printed out, uploaded, and sent over to my auto loan credit union in Maryland. I’m trying to get that Tesla new car loan closed. The loan approval period is about to expire. FedChoice gave me a 90-day loan approval. It is taking Tesla more than 90 days to get me my car. The entire situation is touch and go. If I don’t get the original loan closed I will have to get a new loan at rates that have increased by nearly 3%!! This car-buying process has not been without its share of potholes.
I was borrowing $80,000. Tesla sent me their information with $800,000 as the loan amount. Just as I was about to send this info to my credit union I noticed the error. That put me back to square one of getting Tesla to send me the correct information my credit union required. I was working hard. I was playing the game. I love playing the game.
That’s it for Part 1 of this 2-part series covering our winter trip to Europe. This isn’t really a trip of a lifetime. It’s just another trip in a lifetime. When we resume I’ll be telling you all about our adventure visit to first Austria and then Finland. We met some interesting people, saw some interesting things and stayed in some very interesting places. You won’t want to miss it.