We
had soup and I topped it off with some puffy-looking pastry at this quaint
bakery/restaurant.We got an early start, without breakfast, and by noon we were famished so we got off the autobahn at Baden-Baden.
We
had soup and I topped it off with some puffy-looking pastry at this quaint
bakery/restaurant.
Reed pointed out this "Smart Car,"
of which there were many on the highways. Manufactured by Mercedes-Benz,
they reportedly get 60 miles per gallon and cost between $12,000 and $20,000.
We paid about $5.00 [or $1.25 per liter] for gas in Europe so it was no surprise
that big honking SUVs were rarely seen there.
Downtown Baden-Baden
We traveled through Switzerland on our way to the south of France. They
sock you 30 Euros [about $38] just to get into the country. We stopped in
the town of Biel/Bienne. The second part of the name is the French name of the
town and all of the signs used both Biel and Bienne.
In a supermarket I noticed all of the checkout personnel were seated. This
was common throughout the countries we visited. Bet the Walmart slaves
would welcome the change.
This eatery caught Pam's eye and soon we were ordering off the menu, all in
French, thanks to a patient waitress and Pam's somewhat rusty knowledge of
French.
I'm not sure of all of the ingredients. I remember the waitress mentioning
"speck" which I recall from my even rustier recollection of German means bacon.
Whatever was in it, it sure was delicious.
We left Biel/Bienne in mid-afternoon, traveling along the south side of the Jural mountains toward Geneva. By the time we got there, it was dark and rainy. We worked our way through the mountains to Lyon, France, then, without a pause, headed south on their toll road to Aix En Provence.
Along the
highway, near Avignon we could see two huge cooling towers from a nuclear power
plant. France generates at least 80% of their electricity from nuclear power
plants. While many other countries are
scaling back their
construction of such energy sources, France has plans to build six more plants
in the near future.
We arrived in Aix En Provence late Saturday night. Pam and Meredith needed a good rest in preparation for school the next day.