A modern hotel, with slightly confusing half floors meaning depending on which lift you took, stairs were always required!! Food paid for by weight. Not your weight. The weight of the food. 8/10
Obviously a hotel which catered for business and leisure, but extremely nice nevertheless. The room was spacious, the shower the best yet, and the view from the room was lovely. The car had 2 spaces as it wouldn’t fit in one – no other cars managed to fit in 1 space, so we felt vindicated.
We opted for dinner in the hotel as very few other restaurants were open (and didn’t look that good). An odd experience, as it was a buffet which you paid for by weight, so you could pick what you want then take it to the scales, and pay for what you took. I wanted a paper plate instead of the heavy stoneware item.
In contrast, breakfast was a buffet without the need to weigh anything. Good job really!
Whilst staying just inside France, we planned to visit the Musée National de l’Automobile in Mulhouse, a collection of more than 500 cars, 2,823 of which were Bugattis (or approaching that number). Yes, a car museum. It had 2 things going for it, amongst a lot of really old cars (motorised carriages) – a Ford RS200 rally car and a TinTin exhibition with all the cars from the books.
To save on pages and pages of photos, here’s a few of my favourites, then a gallery for anyone who wants to see 2,823 Bugattis (and some other stuff too).
From here we began our journey to the start point for the next chunk of driving. This meant a few fast and less fast roads through Baden to Vitznau, on the shore of Lake Lucerne.
Our hotel for the evening was a very nice one, with an indecipherable restaurant system, at least it was based on the information online. Neuro Campus Hotel DAS MORGEN was its name (unclear why aside from their use of various neuroscience terms around the hotel).
The car had its own space – well, 2 spaces as it was too wide for a single space, and everyone else had opted to double park, so we did the same. The room was excellent, with hanging chair, balcony and power sockets we couldn’t use as the Swiss system is apparently unique. Surprise.
We arrived around 3.30pm, probably the earliest so far this trip, so we had a good walk round Vitznau – not very big, but with some huge hotels, some of which were quite grand.
Given the next day was a very big one, we opted for an early dinner. We discovered why we were confused about their restaurants – it’s a buffet which you pay for by weight!! So the soup, main courses and dessert all got fat checked.
Very nice hotel, with inability to heat water resulting in tepid showers and free breakfast! 6/10.
Everything was going so well until we had showers, and the water wasn’t anywhere near warm enough. Otherwise comfortable, quiet, and good continental breakfast with fruity bread that Jo liked a lot. Breakfast was meant to be €30 but cost us nothing because of the tepid water.
Today was to be the first ‘proper’ big driving day, as we headed through the Black Forest from Rastatt in Germany, along the winding forest roads, eventually arriving in Basel on the Swiss side from where we’d make a stop to see Jo’s sister, Kate, for dinner, then onto Saint Louis in France for our next overnight stop.
Breakfast in our self-service hotel was less self-service than the faceless check-in, as someone bothered to show themselves and provide a really nice continental breakfast with a huge plate of scrambled eggs to share. Then they took payment for the room and disappeared.
Then out to pack the car (again). The trees are really turning in this part of the world, and the car and surrounding road was covered. A street sweeper passed…twice…but made little impact as the leaves were wet and stuck to the ground.
With the complicated route pre-programmed into Google Maps (albeit following the B500 for most of the route) we set off. Problem. The B500 was closed for a 10km stretch around 1/4 of the way into our route. Google Maps did try to re-route, but I didn’t fancy some of the changes so we made our own way to beyond the road closure. Problem. The roads were quite cloudy – we couldn’t see a great deal, and the rain was coming down hard. Jo drove first, getting us to beyond the blockage, but enjoyed being able to drive slowly for the reasons stated.
During the day we didn’t take a lot of pictures of the route as it was pretty foul outside, if indeed you could see anything at all through the cloud. So instead, here’s a short video of the things we saw (or didn’t) – including the route blockage – and a couple of photos from the dry!! I can assure you most of the route was very pretty despite the weather!
We stopped for lunch briefly in a small town (name escapes me, it was a bit dull!) and had Black Forest cake (of course).
Then, up the hill from this town we stopped to have a look over the valley, and saw a sign for a waterfall. We put all our waterproofs on, after digging them out from the boot, then walked towards it…and saw a man in a little hut taking €8 from each passing tourist for the pleasure of looking at what we assumed was HIS waterfall. Sod that and sod him. We turned around and went back up to the car, and left.
Actually, before we left we saw two older gentlemen taking photos of something in the trees – realised they were birding (yawn), then saw a couple of red squirrels! The view from the car park wasn’t bad too.
We drove on a bit more, and saw some fantastic views, as the rain was stopping and the cloud lifting.
It was at this point we realised we had a problem. The car was making a nasty rattling noise from the exhaust exit. I had a good look and listen, and figured it was something loose in the area around the exhaust valve. This valve is pure vanity – it opens when you enable Sport (or Sport Plus) mode to make the car sound angrier/better/noisier. Nevertheless, we thought a quick trip to a Porsche garage would be worthwhile. One was only 20km away, on the route we were taking. A stop there didn’t help. It was only a small VAG Group service centre in a provincial town, and the technician who kindly looked at it didn’t speak English, so we all struggled a bit with understanding each other. He seemed to think it was “OK”.
We crossed the border into Switzerland – each time we cross a border the car reminds us of the speed limits. Very kind.
We stopped at another Porsche dealer, in Basel, again on the route. But this one was a sales dealer only, with amongst other things a lovely GT3 RS and 718 Spyder RS for sale, though he was reluctant to lend me the Spyder. He suggested we visit the other dealer in Basel. On arrival, this was obviously a proper main dealer (phew) who looked after us after demanding papers (proof of registration, which we had with us), and tried to fill us with coffee regularly. Eventually 3 technicians put the car on a ramp, and together we looked for the issue – the agreed with me, that it was the valve, but this needed a part they don’t have, so we proceeded to use cable ties and a piece of rubber hose to wedge the valve so it couldn’t rattle. Solved for now….not sure how long it will last though!!
Being a main dealer they had a very nice selection of cars for sale – a GT4 RS, a 718 Spyder RS with the Weissach pack, and an Oak Green GT3 Touring. One day.
With the nasty rattle dulled, at least for now, we pushed on through Basel rush hour traffic and decided, given the time, that we’d go straight to Kate’s rather than the hotel. She chose the dinner venue, a traditional restaurant nearby – superb food, but way too much of it and I had to hoover Jo’s cordon bleu.
Then onto the hotel, back in France. Today we crossed 2 borders (Germany to Switzerland, then Switzerland to France). This was chosen to help us get to our first stop the following day, but we arrived late and in the dark so we have no idea what the town looks like!
The walk to the room amused me slightly. First floor, then a long way through stripey corridors, the pattern of the walls reminding me of the film “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”. Then we arrived at the door of the room. I’ll let you draw your own conclusion as to what was in my head at this point.
Our cell was very nice indeed. In the loft space, access to the shower for short people was fine, otherwise slightly dangerous. Otherwise another very nice hotel room. We’ll see what the rest of the hotel is like tomorrow….
This hotel brings a new meaning to self-service, as you check-in via a Ring doorbell!! Great location, overlooking a river, very comfortable and spacious room, excellent breakfast. 8/10.
We needed a hotel near Baden-Baden, the start of the Black Forest route, but sadly all hotels in that town were full due to a conference. Finding a nearby hotel was a challenge, but having stumbled upon this one at €100 I thought I’d give it a go.
As it turned out, great choice! OK so the town it was in was on life support, with only 2 open restaurants we could find through Google and walking the town centre, and the town itself had more boarded up shops than open ones, but it was still a nice place and we had some excellent food in both the restaurant we picked and breakfast at the hotel. Actually a really good stopover!
Another day, another breakfast. This time the hotel’s continental breakfast, with just the kind of thing we were after, in their tiny dining room overlooking a small courtyard.
We knew we had a significant autoroute drive ahead of us, so decided to spend the morning in Reims, first visiting one of the champagne producers, before finding lunch. We settled on the Pommery brand (never had it before, no affiliation, etc..) and found their extensive estate situated right on the edge of the city. Hugely grand buildings, and lots of them. Inside we paid for 2 tickets – one with a glass of champagne for Jo, the other without for me as I was driver for the day.
The champagne bar man presented Jo with her drink and explained a little about the brand and the bottle she’d chosen (there were 3 options). She said she quite liked the taste of it, not as dry as those we have had in the past. Perhaps a future purchase, back home.
Then onto a self-guided tour. Basically you can wander the vast caverns under the buildings – there are 18km of tunnels, you only see a small part of it – where they make and store the champagne. Bottles stacked in all kinds of configurations, absolutely everywhere. And we only saw a tiny part of the workplace for 70 employees. There were also various art installations around the route. No idea why.
Once finished with Pommery, we retraced the short drive back into Reims to the previous night’s hotel as there was a boulangerie nearby I thought might work for lunch. It did. Ham and cheese baguette, a thing that was like the top of a Croque Monsieur but on pastry not bread, and two cakes for later – an apple tart and a flan vanille. We had a car picnic and headed off on the long drive….
The journey itself was mostly devoid of interest. We had 3 tolls to go through, which meant I could stick in in Sport Plus and put my foot to the floor (apart from one where police were stopping cars on the other side of the gate, not sure why). And a car had gone under the back of a lorry on the other carriageway, which looked like quite a bad day for the car driver. Other than that, nearly 4 hours on one road.
On arrival in Rastatt we found the hotel. It didn’t look like a hotel, despite a big sign on the wall, as the ground floor (which used to be a restaurant) was empty. At the hotel door (which could have been any door to any property) there was a Ring doorbell with a sign saying press for hotel. We pressed and a voice began to check us in!! The key was in a clever safe on the wall above the doorbell, and that was it – we were in. The hotel was entirely unmanned, with only 5 rooms, a small dining room (breakfast ordered for 8am) and a little kitchen area with snacks for you to take and mark down on a sheet for your room so they could bill you. Weird experience, but I guess they couldn’t make it work with staff there so they made it some kind of remotely-operated affair. The cameras everywhere inside made it have a bit of a Big Brother feel! Super comfortable room though.
After unloading the car we wandered into Rastatt, which is a bit like the Huddersfield of Germany – empty shops, no restaurants, you get the idea. Impressive buildings though, which looked to be municipal in some way.
On the walk back we found a restaurant for dinner (we only saw two, both extremely German) and so went back to the hotel, got changed and returned for food. Wow, amazing food…once we’d used Google Translate on the menu to figure out what to order. The waitress even gave Jo a free potato shnapps (a local thing) to have with her cherry shnapps. The waitress wasn’t wrong when she said it was disgusting. It was foul. Dinner though, was amazing – Hunter’s schnitzel and beef roulade, followed by apple fritters with ice cream AND custard (it came that way, we weren’t being pigs). And the local beer.
A small, quiet hotel in the centre of Reims, just a short walk from the cathedral and central shopping area. Big highlight was the comfy bed, even if the room was on the small side. 7/10.
Very well situated in Reims, this hotel was an ideal overnight stop for us. On a very quiet narrow side street, unloading luggage meant blocking the road whilst we decamped, but that seemed to be acceptable despite the road signs saying otherwise. The car even had its own bed for the night, a very small garage located a short walk from the hotel.
The room was small but functional, with a very comfortable bed….though we continued to use our own pillows! What amused me most was the magazine rack beside the toilet, though the entirely unfixed tap on the sink came a close second.
Breakfast was a highlight – very nicely presented tiny dining room, with continental fare. No meat, no cheese, as it should be.
