Monday Monday Monday!!!!!

The German solution to "the Mondays":  Just don't even open the store.  Lol.

Apparently Monday is somewhat an extension of the weekend for smaller shops and restaurants, as we discovered this evening.  We finally broke down and actually got food from (gasp) McDonalds.  Of course, this was ze German McD's, so the cashier was skinny, blonde, and about 5'9", the lettuce and tomato were actually crispy, not a single french fly littered the floor, and the other customers were normal-looking.

"Slow news day?" you ask?  Well....yes and no.  Russ had his first day at work.  I was actually reasonably productive outside of any official "work".  I was up around 9, found some info on the web I'd been looking for (map of Switzerland), went for a run around the little town(s) around the Apartment (There are two, actually:  Valley, and Unterdarching..."oontaerdarking", both are absolutely tiny), and found an English instruction manual for the German washing machine.  I then used my new-found knowledge to do a small load of laundry in anticipation of being in transit again for a few days.

After that, I took the bus into town for probably the second-to-last time to pick up a rental car.  Given the cost of long-distance train tickets, and the fuel economy of the this little bucket, It really just makes sense given where I want to go from here on.

So, about  that car.  Probably a subject more appropriate for one of my other sites....but I'm not editing them right now so you're going to read a car review now....or just skip half a page down and look at the pretty pictures.


Rental Car Review:

For ~$550.US (AVIS with SCCA discount!) you too could blast across Europe for 15 days behind the wheel of the engineering marvel that is the Renault Clio.

This French bruiser packs a mighty 1.2 liter 16 valve engine mated to a five-speed manual 'box.  Mounted transversely under the sculpted bonnet and belting out a massive 75bhp and 105lbft of torque, this powerhouse will rocket the Clio to 60 in UNDER fourteen (14) seconds.  Braver souls might also sample the Clio's sphincter-puckering top speed of....one-hundred-and-four miles-per-hour. 

Powerchair users beware, your Hoveround stands no chance against this Parisian missile.

Tarmac-wrinkling grunt isn't the Clio's only party-piece, oh no.  Renault has (sort of) a Formula 1 team, so you know the suspension will be up to the task as well.  Of  course, it would need to be to cope with the grip provided by the 165 section tires wrapping the 15" "race-black" wheels.  One can imagine carving down Alpine roads, basking in the precise steering feedback from the 65-aspect-ratio rubber.

The french have also clearly outdone themselves when penning this masterpiece as well..  The sleek lines, blacked-out wheels, and aggressive stance all scream performance.  It's fearsome visage means that you won't have to wait long to overtake on the Autobahn.  One look in their mirror will have any BMW driver scrambling for the right lane.  Juxtaposed with the muscular skin, the French stylists have crafted and interior that positively oozes panache.  Textured plastic and aluminum-looking also-plastic pairs nicely with cloth-ish seats.  I can report that not one lever has attempted to fall of in my hand to-date.

You pull up in front of any casino hotel in Monte Carlo in this baller ride, and they'll know what's up.

......So yeah, it is, without any argument the slowest thing I've ever driven that's still plated for use on public roads.  However, it does get 57mpg highway.  Yeah, fifty-seven.  Where's your Prius at now hipster?  Stick that in your boutique-hookah/bong thingy and smoke it.

Now then.  I digress.

While I was out, I did take a few more pictures around the area.  If you haven't gleaned as much elsewhere, the building which houses the apartment was once a Brewery.  It opened it's doors sometime in the 1600s, and the local brand still exists in some capacity.  You can see the loading doors underneath the apartment windows.

There's a courtyard in the middle:

Here's the door to Russ's (penthouse of course) apartment.  Top shelf baby!