More riffs on Austria -- and Switzerland

It's hard to believe we've only been in Europe for a week -- we've seen and done a lot, covering four countries (if you count Liechtenstein, and I do -- why start an major international incident?) and three currencies. 

In Austria, all you have to do in a bar or restaurant is order a beer "ein bier, bitte" and they bring you a very good beer.  There's no lengthy list to choose from -- it's all good, and I just trust the bartender to make me happy.  Here at the hotel in Switzerland, they asked if I wanted German or Swiss beer, so I had one of each.  (Shhh. . .the German beer was better.)

Things they do better in Europe than in the States:

• Cars stop at crosswalks reflexively when people are getting ready to cross -- except in major cities where there are traffic lights.  Peds should have the right of way in the States too.
• The lights flash green before going to yellow/red.  A little more warning.  And, they flash yellow before turning green, presuming to give us time to shift from neutral into first gear.
• Al fresco dining.  While Paris is famous for it, everywhere we've been, even when the day has been cool, there have lots of people dining outside.  There's just not enough of it in the States.

The thing they do FAR, FAR worse?  You have to pay in many places to use toilets.  Yesterday, at a rest area, it cost me one Swiss Franc to hit the bathroom -- that's about $1.35 to relieve oneself!  At a reststop?  No wonder these countries can afford all this road construction -- it's not because of high petrol taxes, it's because of high bathroom charges.  They must be flush with cash (had to go there).

As soon as we hit Innsbruck to head west to Switzerland, there was road construction, slowing us down ten minutes.  The Autobahn isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Vienna's U-bahn (subway) was very easy to use -- more on that in a future posting about our last half day there.  Hopefully will write that tomorrow morning.

The hotel rooms all have twin beds pushed together, with this very weird dual sheet/comforter thing.  Mrs. Iron Tourist believes it helps them fight bed bugs better.  The rooms also need more outlets, but other than that, everything has been either fine, or great (especially the rooms at the Jagdhof).

Love my zip-off hiking pants.  Had to toss out my beloved Keens, however -- I washed them the day before the trip, they weren't completely dry, and they mildewed and stank to high heaven.  Didn't want folks thinking that I hadn't showered in a month or so.

The lake water in Lucerne is extremely clean.

The breakfasts at the Jagdhof were great -- an omelet and crepe  station was the highlight, although the fresh orange juice squeezer wasn't far behind.  The girls would tell you that the chocolate/hazelnut Nutella is the pinnacle of breakfast success, but I'm not convinced.

We got cut off by some jerk with Zurich plates yesterday -- I was only doing 80 mph, and he swerved not more than four inches in front of me -- obviously sending a message to me.  The message I received is that he is an asshole (pardon the language, this is a family blog, but that was extremely dangerous).  It was the second shot of adrenaline that day -- coming four or so hours after the paragliding.

The Austrian imperial thing was quite interesting about Vienna -- it's hard to believe they ruled for 600 years, and that the second to last Emperor did it for 68 years -- from age 18 till death at 86.  That would be like someone reigning from 1943 to 2011 -- some changes have occured since then!