200% Price Increase

Yet again mom and I managed to get going before ten. Those of you who know us should be proud. At breakfast mom had what she is currently describing as her food highlight thus far on the trip, the “perfect pretzel”. I’ll admit to it being quite good. Especially after I put Nutella and strawberry jam on it.

Our first stop this morning was Mainau Island. Jim had said that if we even had a mild interest in plants we should visit this place. Saying mom has a mild interest in plants is like saying I have a mild sweet tooth. Needless to say we went to the island and mom had a wonderful time. I enjoyed myself too. The plants were again very cool. However, my two favorite things were the butterfly house and a showoff of a peacock. I don’t know that I had ever seen a peacock spread his tail in person. It was amazing.

Europe is fun because all kinds of things are extremely close together, at least by American standards. On this trip we have been super close to both Austria and Switzerland. Seeing both places was out of the question because of our limited time but I wanted to spend at least in a few minutes in one, so that I could legitimately add another pin to my world map. It worked out this afternoon that we had time to swing by Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

Schaffhausen is a super cute town. It is very much what I picture when picturing quintessential Europe. There was a popular central waterway with all kinds of people congregating near the water’s edge, a main shopping street with bustling foot traffic and random historical things everywhere you look. In order to put a pin in my travel map for a country I have to both purchase something there and use a bathroom. In this case mom and I decided that we weren’t super hungry and didn’t want to spend a bunch of time or money on lunch, so we just popped into Mcdonalds. To my shock our meal was $25 US. I still for the life of me can’t figure out why it was so expensive. I’ve eaten ice cream cones and Coke Light at McDonalds all over the world and the prices are always +/- 15% of home. In this case it was more like +200%. Anyone know what the deal is with McD’s pricing in Switzerland? I seriously would like to know. Twenty miles north in Germany, the prices are normal. I really don’t understand it. And I spent the entire three hours of our drive from Schaffhausen to Rothenburg thinking about it.

Visiting Rothenburg was another stop recommended by Jim. This town is ridiculously cool. It is a medieval walled town dating back to the 1100s. All people from Eugene should be required to visit Rothenburg to get a true understanding of what “old” means. A fifty-year old building is not historic. Rothenburg and its nearly 1000 year old walls is historic.

Mom and I checked into out hotel and then wandered around the town to get a feel for it before the sun went down. I wasn’t aware prior to the trip that you can climb the wall and walk around on it but you can. The views from the wall, when you can find a hole bigger than that for a bow and arrow, are down right impressive. I watched the sunset from one of the west facing windows on the wall and then mom and I went to dinner in a cute family run little German restaurant.

We are now back in our old, but awesome hotel room. We have a balcony that overlooks some small vineyards and a portion of the wall. The view is really quite nice. I would sit outside and enjoy the nearly full moon if it were just a little bit warmer. Instead I think I am going to call it a night.

Katy