Up today around 8. We have to be out of here by noon which is fine since we'll go directly to the boat from here. Mom packs her "trunks" for the last time. I finish writing on the blog and help organize for our departure. Karen makes us coffee in the room using the hot water boiler supplied on each floor and the coffee bags we bought back in Erfert when we had an apartment. A couple of crescents taken from last nights offerings from the hotel and we just sa...

This morning brings us our first sunshine since we started. Not a cloud in the sky. Now we another issue. A conundrum you might say. For it is breakfast time and our only alternative seems to be a $50 breakfast for two at the Krafft-Basel Hotel. Unbelievably, I caved. I attempt to justify it by vowing to stuff ourselves at breakfast an eat nothing the rest of the day. Their expensive breakfast was ok but not near as nice as many of the "free" ones we experienc...

Today we begin our longest train journey of our vacation, 7 hours. It begins at precisely 8:00am with a three hour trip to Ulm, one hour layover and another three hour ride to Basel. We were up, dressed, packed (remember, we don't open our suitcases) and down for breakfast by 7am. I can't miss a free breakfast so we slam it down in 15 minutes and grab a taxi to the train station. Arriving 15 minutes before departure, we locate the platform and board the ...