Small road trip in the French Alps

 My last destination was decided on by Lufthansa Surprise - just decide if you want Nature, Beach, Sightseeing, Shopping, Party or Metropoles, enter the dates and book if you like the price. That's how I landed in Lyon in France. As I landed here nearly 20 years ago for a school exchange with Voiron and worked for a month for the Sorting Centre of the French Post, I made up my mind to explore the places around.

I got a Hybrid car from the car rental and drove to Annecy at the Annecy Lake. A beautiful little town at the north shore of the lake. Several water ways and canals give it a Venetian feeling. In one of the canals, the Palace of the Island is situated - a former prison and now museum. Unfortunately, it was closed for restoration. At a nearby exposition, the restoration was explained. In the medieval streets, restaurants were abundant - still with the main vacation season it was difficult to find a place. 

Canals

opening to the lake

Palace of the Island

Musicians in the streets of Annecy

I, finally, enjoyed my regional dinner at Le Bastringue - a two storey house directly at the canal. The regional speciality is the cheese and so many dishes include it - I had Bruschetta Savoyarde and Tartiflette (potato slices, ham and sauce topped with the cheese and baked in the oven).

Tartiflette

The next day, I traveled around the lake with a postcard blue sky. At the other end, I turned towards the mountains - the roads getting narrower - until I stopped for lunch at the alpine village of Megève. I also checked out their skiing facilities, probably one day I come back for skiing. 

Megève

On the way to Chamonix, where I stopped for the night, I followed the sign for the "Gorges de la Diosaz" - a canyon with a trail and foot bridges that leads to several waterfalls. It takes about an 1h15 to walk to the end and back depending on how often you stop to read the information boards and take pictures. Besides explaining the history of the trail and the mining that was done in the area, they also  tell about the animals that live there and the geological material.

Gorges de la Diosaz

In the late afternoon, I arrived in Chamonix - in time for the vibrant street life after the hikers came back from the mountains, a show by the mountain guides climbing on the post building and the sun setting on the mountains. From here, you can also see a glacier coming down the mountain and take cable cars to see the Mont Blanc. As I sprained my ankle, I had to go for a different plan.

City Hall

Mont Blanc Range

Glacier des Bossons

Breakfast view from Elevation 1904

I drove to Courchevel - the alpine skiing centre of the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville - and first one I actively remember myself.  The skiing area of Trois Vallées is definitely a future skiing destination for me. While the original Courchevel at 1550 m looked really pittoresqe, the higher build areas are partly resembling big bedding towers from concrete - not so lovely. Let's see where we will find a place for the skiing vacation.

Courchevel 1550 m

Courchevel 1850 m

After lunch and some ski clothes shopping, I started my way back to Lyon where I met Nesrine in Vieux Lyon for dinner at her favorite spot - Les Paves de Saint Jean. Over a three course meal of Salade Lyonnaise, Babette de boeuf and Fondante de chocolate we talked a lot.

Salade Lyonnaise

Now it's Monday morning and I'm sitting again in the small Bormbadier plane on the way home.

How to find a flat in Munich?

After I handed in my resignation at work and canceled my flat contract in Alzey, I started looking for a flat in Munich. I was told horror stories - like 77 people showing up for viewings, shoeboxes going for the price of palaces and many more.

Here my account of flat hunting in Munich and what you should do:

1) Make a list of what you want: 65-80 square meters, 2-3 rooms, separate kitchen, bathroom with window, parking lot, old house from 1850-1930, quarters around the central line (Stammstrecke), fitted kitchen, balcony (nice-to-have), 800-1000€ cold

2) Check immoscout24.de regularly and set an alert. Unfortunately, flats for July started showing only two months ahead.

3) Tell everybody - friends, colleagues, acquaintances. Post it on Facebook, LinkedIn, ...

4) Get your profile ready for the potential landlord: self-disclosure, Schufa informative, confirmation of income, rent payments, ..., more is always better here.

5) Reply to offers as fast as possible. Usually 150-200 people answer, so guess whose reply they will read.

6) The viewings: Be on time, have all the papers with you and questions ready.

7) Transfer fee: some previous renters ask a hell lot of money for the fitted kitchen, furniture and other installations.

8) Beware of swindlers: one replied to my request offering a flat from his deceased uncle in Sendlinger Street for a cheap price and wanted first month & deposit before sending the key for visiting. I asked him for an ID and never heard of him again.

As the demand is high and supply is low, I nearly gave up on finding a flat in May. Then one of the landlords called me and offered me the flat first. As it was on my shortlist, I agreed.

 

So my knew home will be in Laim, just one S-Bahn stop from my work.

I know that the door to the living room is missing but only on the sketch and not in reality:-).

Vilnius

The other days I spent further exploring the city. From my hotel I could walk to the city centre (0€), take a bus (1€ per trip or 3.48€ per day) or take an Uber car (1-3€).

On 1st April, I went to the Republic of Uzupis - an artist and handicraft quarter that declared itself a republic with constitution, flag, anthem, army (less than 20 people) and government. April Fools' Day was their Independence Day and for this they stopped everybody going into the quarter andgave them a stamp. A concert was staged on the Angel square. Basically, do not take them too serious - they would not do so themselves.

Angel Square

 As I already had bought an entrance ticket to the Bell Tower and Church Heritage Museum together the Crypts (10€ instead of 3x 4.50€). I visited first the Bell Tower that had several levels (reception & ticket office, exhibition area and CCTV station where you can zoom into predefined views of landmarks orjust stalk people on the street). The view after climbing all the stairs that followed was great on Gediminas Street (the main shopping street), the cathedral square and the surrounding areas. The skyline was dominated by the 44 churches (that's the number I was told).

Cathedral & Castle

Gediminas Street

Skyline with churches

The Church Heritage Museum showcased the treasury of the cathedral and other churches and had an exhibition of wooden statues carved by a priest in the beginning of the 20th century.

Church Heritage Museum

Wooden angel

Another interesting pick was the Money Museum -that explained the usage and history of money from the early beginnings tothe Euro and plastic cards of today. Exhibits included old coins, bank notes from all over the world and a money pyamid of Lietas coins. Lithuania changed to the Euro in 2014.

Bank notes from UK, France and other countries

Lietas Pyramid

In between, I went up to the castle hill (wear flats - the cobblestones were already not easy to cope with in these shoes). If you approach from the other side, you can cut part of the climb with the funicular (1€). There were only ruins of the castle left - the Watch Tower had been restaurated and displayed different historic items.

Gediminas Castle

One room was dedicated to the Baltic Way - on 23rd August 1989 people from all three Baltic States (then still Soviet Republics) formed a human chain from thetower over highways, bridges and borders to Riga (the capital of Latvia) and Talinn (the capital of Estonia) in their strive for independence. In 1990, all of them became independent states. Nonetheless, I still heard and saw a lot of Russian. As the border to Belarusia was not far away, many came to visit.


There were a lot of restaurants and cafés in the city. I, especially, liked Coffee Inn that usually combined its outlets with bookstores.

Coffee Inn with bookstore

The restaurant scene contained everything from Italian (Pomodori), German (Bunte Gans), Asian and of course Lithuanian (Forto Dvaras). In the later, I tasted the local dish zeppelin (potato dumblings filled with meat and served with sour cream and crackling sauce - very delicious).

Restaurant Bunte Gans

Forto Dvaras

Zeppelin (Lithuanian dish)

From the open-air top, I enjoyed another view over the city, the Neris (big) andVilna (small) rivers and the hill with the three crosses.

Neris River

Hill of the three crosses

The old town also featured a lot of souvenir stores. Tourists could amber, linen and pottery. Especially, amber was everywhere and in all sizes. So I bought myself some amber earrings and linen pouches.

Monday morning, I left for the airport and it was indeed efficient.

Kaunas

My last day in Lithuania, I spent in Kaunas - the second biggest city with around 300,000 inhabitants. I took a slow train stopping at every village (basically, there was no other option at this time, 4.70€/ 90 min) and arrived by 10:30 am.

From the railway station, I took one of the buses to the city centre (all except No. 4 led there). I got off near the main shopping street and walked along this pedestrian street. As it was Sunday, it was very quite and only cafés, bakeries and souvenir shops were open. I counted four Coffee Inns and Vero Café each.

Lonely Shopping Street

Stop at the Café

By the end of the very long street, I reached the old town with several churches, the City Hall and the House of the Thunder God.

City Hall

House of the Thunder God

Lithuania was the last European country to convert to Christianity and paganism has not yet totally faded although Lithuanians are very religious and church going. The weekend must have been the communion as all churches I visited were packed and the services lasted for hours.

Cathedral

Nearby, were also the remains of the castle that still displayed a tower and a wall. The adjoining park seemed to be a favorite family hangout area with playgrounds and picnic areas at the joining of the Neris and Nema rivers.

Outside the old town and shopping street, Kaunas was not very lively. I first thought that the Devils Museum was closed but when I pulled the door handle, it moved. Inside was a collection of devil and demon figures mainly from Lithuania and neighboring countries and I found also a Krampus from Austria and some Asian demons.

Devils Museum

A bit further down the street a funicular led uphill and I followed the recommendation from the tourist office and went to the roof of the Church of Christ's Resurrection. The view of Kaunas was not as breathtaking as Vilnius - and the church - a modern building constructed between the World Wars.

Church of Christ's Resurrection

Street Art

I returned to the shopping street and circled the Russian Orthodox Church that was closed and made my way back to the train station where I arrived in time to make it on an early fast trains to Vilnius (7.85€/ 66 min).

Russian Orthodox Church

Trakai

On Saturday, I joined a tour to the Trakai Castle - the City Tour office offered this trip for 32€ including 35 min drive, entrance to the castle and a tour guide - it was really worth the money as Julia explained a lot of Lithuanian traditions and the history of the castle.

The castle was built by Grand Duke Gediminas in the 14th century who lived there with his 16 children. The first castle was built on a peninsula in one of the five lakes surrounding Trakai. Later a second island castle was built that has been restored in the past century after it lasted away for 250 years without roof.

outer castle

inner castle

inner castle courtyard

The castle consisted of two parts - the outer part with the garrison, stables and general kitchen. The inner part was secured by another 5 hurdles. Behind a drawbridge and massive gates the family of the Grand Duke and Duchess lived. The important grand dukes for Lithuania have been:

Mindaugas - unifying five principalities to Lithuania

Gediminas - who built the first castle in Trakai and Vilnius

Algirdas - overthrew another brother before reigning together with Algirdas, enlarged the duchy

Kestutis - reigned with Algirdas, mainly in Western Lithuania

Vytautas the Great - who liberated the country from the constant attacks from crusaders

Part of Treasury

Ball room

In Trakai, there are living two special ethnic groups:

• Tatars who follow the Muslim faith
• Karaim whose religion is a combination of Jewish and Muslim tradition as odd as it may sound. It's only a small community that organizes festivals every year to gather Karaim from all over the world. This way, they want to give their children the opportunity to meet and find a partner in life. As they should marry only for live and only another Karaim.

Karim Kenasa 

For lunch, I followed the advice of our guide and walked to a Karai restaurant where I ate ... with meat and mushrooms.

By 3 pm, the bus returned to Vilnius.