If you saw my posts over recent weeks, you’ll know that hubby and I went on a little trip a short while ago, and I haven’t yet told you why. Well, as you can tell by the title, we bought another car from Germany…again! lol
Yes, we are full-on car enthusiasts. Well…hubby is a total petrol head lol. I just go along with it. Anyway, he recently sold his Fiat 500 Abarth in order to get something bigger and better. So, he searched for quite some time on www.mobile.de and found the car of his dreams in Germany. We flew into Cologne, and got an uber to the Mercedes dealer to collect it. And wow what a dealership that was. It was FULL of the most beautiful cars, big and little, slow and fast (actually I’m pretty sure they were all fast lol) and we walked in with our big suitcases on wheels with our mouths open. The guy we had been dealing with was super helpful and so sweet (he even presented me with a bouquet of flowers!) and it was just a really lovely experience.
So, when we were all set to head out, the guy drove hubby’s new car out of the showroom and parked it just the other side of the window. Because there was lots of snow and ice outside, I said to hubby, “be careful not to slip” as we walked outside. What did he do? Slipped on the ice, did a rather impressive skid on one leg and very nearly headbutted the new car. OMG I couldn’t stop laughing. I really wish I’d have caught it on camera. Don’t worry, he was fine, he managed to stay upright!
The car itself is gorgeous, it’s bright yellow and my goodness it’s fast! It’s got over 400bhp!!!!! It’s a little bit scary to be honest, but like I said, he’s a total petrol head lol! So off we went, and had a thoroughly wonderful drive. Our first stop was at a very special hotel next to Frankfurt airport.
It was a hotel where you can drive your car into it’s very own little elevator and go directly up to your room where your car is parked directly on your own little terrace so you can admire it from bed! Seriously, I kid you not! Hubby was in his element! It was a beautiful hotel room but the bed was so hard, I struggled to sleep very well. Oh well… I guess we can’t have everything! At least he was happy. Oh and we had the most amazing meal in the hotel restaurant. We’d go back just for the food. It was out of this world. Mind you, Germany is pretty good for vegans.
Our next stop was to the hotel attached to the car museum in Munich. Are you seeing a theme here?! This was another fabulous hotel, and we had access to the museum 24 hours a day, you know, just in case you can’t sleep and want to ogle super expensive cars? lol. But seriously, the museum was fabulous and they had so many amazing vehicles to admire. My favourite was a VW camper van among all the Ferraris, Porches and Lamborghinis, etc (cue laughter emoji).
The following day we headed to France, via Switzerland and Italy (just so we can say we’ve been to Italy lol). We didn’t stop in either country though, apart from coffee / loo breaks. Italy had the BEST vegan panini though! Our destination was Nice. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday and everything was closed when we arrived, but we got lucky and managed to get a Buddha Bowl takeout from a little place in front of the hotel.
Next stop was Montpellier. We figured it might be a bit quieter than Marseilles but, to be honest, I didn’t like the feel of the place at all. I don’t know what it was, but I just felt a little threatened as the sun went down. I can’t tell you why exactly, it was just a feeling like I was going to get mugged! Maybe it was my hormones lol. Probably didn’t help that there was a fair amount of police officers around, all carrying what looked like machine guns! We did get lucky with food though, and had some yummy ramen noodles just around the corner from the hotel.
The following morning we headed out towards Andorra, a teeny tiny country we were very curious about. The drive up to it was hubby’s dream drive, with all those winding roads going up through the mountains (I tried to think about other things—yoga breathing helped!). It really is a beautiful place, and it was full of skiers, etc. We’d booked a fabulous hotel right in the centre of Andorra La Vella (the capital), the Suites Plaza Hotel & Wellness. Seriously, it was just so beautiful. We’d splashed out a bit and got a penthouse suite with the most amazing room and bathroom. We would have stayed an extra night just for the hotel but it was fully booked for some kind of conference the next day.
As it turns out, we were kind of glad we didn’t book an extra night because well…it’s a really odd place. And again, I can’t really pinpoint why. Have you ever been to Gibraltar? If so, it’s got a similar kind of vibe (just way more exclusive), because it’s all about the fact that you can buy cheap booze, cigarettes and perfumes, so that was all on sale everywhere! Yes, there were some lovely other shops and designer centres and so on, but it was just so…weird. I’m sorry I’m really not explaining myself too well, am I? I guess you just have to go and see for yourself! It didn’t help that I was suffering an IBS attack whilst there though (from eating an APPLE…SERIOUSLY, an APPLE!!!). So, we did a spot of shopping and just got some simple food to eat in the hotel later. I bought the coolest steampunk skull for my office in the new house, but I’m keeping it in the box until we move in.
So where did we head next? Well, by this time, we were just trying to get home so we ended up driving for about nine hours and spent the night at the Parador in Cordoba. Oh dear, that place needs some serious attention! It’s a real shame because it has so much potential but the room and the bathroom were incredibly tired. We had a meal in the hotel restaurant which was ok, nothing special. I mean the lighting in the dining room was horrendous! I guess we’ve just been spoilt haven’t we? lol!
We left the following morning and headed to Seville so we could stock up at Costco (we love shopping there lol), which we duly did, before stopping for a light lunch in Huelva where we found a fabulous shopping centre with a lovely little place that did Buddha Bowls so we were happy. And we were home by mid-afternoon, much to the delight of Myrtle, Shannon and Sadie (the cats). I picked up Luna the following day, who had been staying with my dad. She’d put on a bit of weight lol. He always spoils her!
And that was it, our trip from Germany to home which we’ve done several times now and always enjoy it. And we’ve got an amazing car that would have been ridiculously expensive had we bought it here. Yes, we have to matriculate it here and pay the tax but it’s still a lot cheaper! And like I said, hubby is utterly delighted with it, which is what matters, and that is why we bought another car in Germany lol!
Gosh that was a bit of a long one, wasn’t it? I hope you’re still awake! Let’s get on with the link-up! What have you been up to lately? Got any travel plans?
