MTT:

Terrific report! Witty, Original, and, as BR has said, a total "blast". Thanks so much for sharing. The world is so much richer for your gift!

Jason

Who will start up a collection to send Tom and Tracy to Great Britain NOW? The only string attached is writing a little report on his return.

Takers?

Hi, Tom - great report. You two covered a lot of ground - very brave, doing all that driving. I too say a sad, fond goodbye to a vehicle that served me well. Any chance the liquer shots you had in Germany were Williams pear schnapps? I was introduced to it by Germans sitting at my table. I haven't found it in the US yet, but it was yummy!

...I really HATE that this tale is finished. I often have this feeling after I finish a terrific book too.

Tom and Tracy? Thank you so much for sharing. And one more thing, Please, travel more.
<BIG GRIN coz I can't download those winky smiley faces on my machine at work!>

"Any chance the liquer shots you had in Germany were Williams pear schnapps..."

Certainly a possibility. If so, then I had a pair of pears.
((H))

"Any chance you'd be willing to change your plans so you could meet your SF fans, Maitaitom?"

Believe me, I'd rather be in SF than Orlando this weekend., but duty calls. Have a mai tai for me, and hopefully there will be another get-together in the not-so-distant future.
((H))

hey Tom -

I will tag along with everyone else and thank you for a great trip report! It sounds like you had a marvelous time and I enjoyed reading about it.

My daughters (21 & 9) and I just paid for our airfare for our first European trip - to Italy in March. Rome/Naples/Sorrento.
Do you have a trip report for that area?! If not, can you just make one up so we'll have something to strive for!

Cindy

Maitaitom,

I've been postponing adding my voice to this chorus of well-deserved praise for your report because I wanted to wait until after the final installment -- I was so afraid I would praise your report and you would follow with more GREAT stuff and I'd have to come up with more superlatives and then you'd post more GREAT stuff and I'd have to come up with yet more superlatives and so on and on. And so every day I've been reading more and more, my impatient wait rewarded by your funny, descriptive narrative. I've been looking forward to each day's installments with great glee. You've got a GREAT gift for giving enough details to make the journey real for us and then adding so much humor and tone that we really feel we're right at the table with you! Hey, maybe you could start a second career as the designated journal writer: we'll pay for you and Tracy to come on the trip if you'll write the report! Well. Almost. Hey, if I email you my notes . . . ???

BTW, your reaction to Montreux isn't really surprising; it's a pretty typical response. The promenade at the lake is spectacular and the old town in the hills is charming, but the city in between is a normal, standard, modern European town. Interestingly, it is just that normalcy that makes me think I could live there (puhleeeeease, God???) someday -- groceries and socks and satellite dishes and normalcy. But lunch on the promenade and dinner in Gstaad and I'd be in heaven!

Anyway, your report has been a great pleasure for me. Thanks veryveryvery much!!

And now, I hope you think that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery . . . I predict we'll see a lot of maitai wannabes. And that's a GOOD thing. Maybe we'll have annual contests. Set in Key West?

Thanks again!

s

"we'll pay for you and Tracy to come on the trip..."

Swandav, you've got a deal. Could you get me a gig before I have to travel to Orlando on Friday. Thanks for the nice comments. As for Montreux, I do love the view across Lac Leman to the Alps and the promenade and, of course, Chateau de Chillon. I read a lot of your stuff before I left, and it was a big help. By the way, I forgot to include that I did have some delicious raspberries with the double cream (per one of your posts) in Gruyéres, but the mac and gruyere cheese was so surprisingly delicious I forgot to include it in the report.
((H))

The last line of your report really touched me! On behalf of the SPCA, wonderful travelling with you.

<<We took a cab back to the hotel (not a very happy driver to have to wait for hours for a fare, only to get a 3 minute shot). It was minimum 10.50 euro, and the driver was not very happy again when Tracy accidentally shut the back door on a helpless seatbelt, crushing it and sending the driver into a tizzy (now there's a word I don't think I've ever written before). Mamma mia, it must be time for us to get back to California, Toto.>>

OOOOH, Deja Vu!! We also had that experience taking a cab from Malpensa Airport to the Villa Malpensa!!! Our Cabbie went ballistic!!!!!! He and my normally laid back husband just about got into a fist-fight by the time we got to the Villa. He kept yelling 11 euro, 11 euro.... which we gladly paid just to get rid of him!! I laughed out loud while reading your recount of the experience!

Great report Tom!! Brought back great memories of our visit this spring to some of the areas you covered (Montreux, Grindelwald and Milan). It sounds like you and Tracy had a wonderful trip. Take another trip soon so we can all read about it:)

" Deja Vu!! We also had that experience taking a cab from Malpensa Airport to the Villa Malpensa!!! Our Cabbie went ballistic!!!!!!"

That's funny. We might have had the same "near fistfight experience", but I was laughing so hard that this guy was so upset over a seat belt (by the way, the seat belt lived to see another passenger), he finally just mumbled something to himself and drove off. Just another trip report "magic moment."
((H))

WOW! My wife and I just got back from 15 great days, and I was almost looking forward to posting my trip report, and then I read this. There is a new sheriff in town, and his name is MaiTai. I'm almost frightened to post after this! Great report (a vast understatement), and I'll have to work on mine a bit before it hits the airwaves.

"There is a new sheriff in town, and his name is MaiTai."

Badges. We don't need any stinkin' badges. Fortunately this town is big enough for a lot of sheriffs. Looking forward to reading your trip report. Thanks for the props.
((H))

Not entirely sure how I missed this thread until now but thank you so much for sharing - what an enjoyable read. Made me laugh out loud so often it's just as well I'm "working" from home today!
Kavey

We took a daytrip up to Burg Eltz yesterday and made a sidetrip to Beilstein's Haus Lipmann for dinner. I'm so glad you wrote about it because we sat out on the terrace at sunset and had a wonderful dinner while watching the boats and swans float by. Thanks for the tip! I think too that Burg Eltz is now one of my two favorite castles here (Meersburg being the other). The leaves are changing color and the setting just beats Neuschwanstein all to heck!

I echo everyone else's fan mail. Bravo.

Not to defend Italian taxicab drivers, but the reason they don't want a lousy three-minute fare is obviously because they lose their place in line, and the opportunity for a much more expensive fare into Milan.

I was in Brussels once, it was raining, I was in heels. I didn't feel like walking the 8 blocks it would have taken me to get where I was going, but I had the dickens of a time convincing a cab to take me. The first one refused, very rudely, but the one behind him agreed to take me. He got a big tip.

"they don't want a lousy three-minute fare..."

I agree completely. I had no problem with the 10+ euro fare. I realized his plight. He went so crazy about the stupid seat belt thing, that in the ensuing laughter, I don't believe he received as good a tip as he might. Anger management would have served him better.
((H))

"Haus Lipmann......The leaves are changing color and the setting just beats Neuschwanstein all to heck! "

I second that opinion. For us, it was the perfect place to begin our trip in a relaxing atmosphere, with nice hosts, a good view and good food. The original recommendation of Haus Lipmann by RufusTFirefly was right on the mark.
((H))

MTT,

How high was the dropoff fee on your rental car and how did you book it?

Andre

Andre,

The dropoff fee in Milan (picked up in Frankfurt) was hefty (about $300 American if I remember correctly). For 17 days total, our bill was about $900 (ouch). At the time we booked, it was the best fee, beating all others that I checked.

We went through Auto Europe and our rental car was from Europcar. We had no problems, but it was expensive.
((H))

Yeah, that hurts, but you could never have comfortably covered that much ground in such a short time any other way.

Did the rate include CDW?

Thanks for the info.

Andre

MTT--Haus Lipmann and the Mosel River remain two of our most pleasant travel memories. And they had the best homemade macaroons--the night before we left, we bought a dozen to munch on the trip the next day. None survived to see the dawn--it was a midnight macaroon massacre spearheaded by Mrs. Fly. Macaroons go amazingly well with a modest Mosel wine.

For mcmrjm
((H))

I really enjoyed your report, Tom! I'm a little late in getting to read it since I've been away. Glad you had such a great trip.

Why hasn't this been topped lately???

I haven't seen maitaitom in a while......where are ya, Tom?

"I haven't seen maitaitom in a while......where are ya, Tom? "

I'm still getting over my Amarone hangover from Saturday night's So. Cal Get Together!

There you are! Glad to see you again, Tom. Sounds like the get together was a lot of fun!

I cannot believe that I just got around to reading this hilarious trip report. It inspired me to post some amusing musings that are the accumulated wealth of knowledge from European trips on a separate thread.

Some observations that apply to this series of wonderful trip reports:

That Saarbrucken is a very easy town to get into but very difficult to get out of.

That if you take the early train at the reduced price to the top of the Jungfrauhoch you are likely to see absolutely nothing except Japanese tourists taking photos of themselves under the sign that says "top of the world". (Someday I will have to go again when the sun is out--ha!).

That the best macaroons in Riquewihr are found at the place at the top of the hill on the left going uphill, but, in order to make this observation, you must sample the macaroons in all of the shops. After you have done this, forget dinner.

That dueling church bells on each quarter hour all through the night are very common in rural Austria. That you will be faced with a choice of sweating it out or staying up all night if it is a hot night in summer.

That parking at the Haut Konigsburg castle in Alsace in August can take a bit of doing midday (as in waiting for another car to move out and being lucky).

It is storks and not pelicans on the roof tops of Alsace. I saw plenty of them in August.

And the place to buy tablecloths in the Ribeauville area is at the Beauville factory just outside of the town.

"And the place to buy tablecloths in the Ribeauville area is at the Beauville factory just outside of the town."

Now you tell me.
((H))