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A day in a life of RonToto: Germany & France (Part 1)
RonToto after their Vienna sojourn are finding themselves in Germany and for a while in France: (from top left) an old house and now a five-star hotel in Colmar, the St. Martin’s Cathedral, a boat ride along the Ill, at the foot of German poet Friedrich Schiller’s statue, the suite hotel where RonToto stayed, another timber house in Strasbourg, the Residenzschloss in Rastatt, and crashing at the wedding reception in a Stuttgart palace
After we solved the case in Vienna, and bc we did a lot of running here and there, unmasking our rich client’s long-lost lover, who happened to be a stage actor (I will tell the whole story soon, promise), he gifted us train tickets to Baden-Württemberg and the neighboring cities in France.
Ron and I visited the towns of Ludwigsburg, Stuttgart, Strasbourg, stayed a bit longer in Colmar, and then to a quaint little “baroque” city called Rastatt.
Lots of train rides, which fascinated me most of all as Germany and France in this region is only separated by a river in between, the Rhine. But wowza! The number of people who wanted to cross France on our third day was a lot. People were seated on the stairs and the hallways. It would be either be a disaster and a blessing. Just imagine if it were the time of COVID-19. Well, I am not a doctor but a police officer and I dare not to think about the possibility. Japan was in trouble when they pursued hosting the Olympics in 2020. I just read that the water quality of the river Seine was so terrible that they cancelled the triathlon the other day.
Anyway, we crashed a wedding reception in Stuttgart. Was not our intention though. The groom mistook me as a friend from middle school in an international school in Tokyo. Ron was so amused we had been offered a table and got to toast with the newlyweds for the new chapter in their lives. Two young women tried to flirt with Ron, which sort of ruined my day, but became hilarious though. Bc as soon as Ron deduced them they couldn’t wait to get away from him. Heh!
As soon as we reached Colmar while we waited for our hotel suite to be ready, we decided to go for a boat ride along the Ill River that also flows in Strasbourg. Ron was also able to tick a box on his wretched list of what he wanted to do. Want to know what that is? Sitting on top of one of the half-timber roofs and sipping his black sugar. I was so embarrassed but the owner let him get away with it. Lucky him.
On our second and final day in Colmar, there was a scheduled city trip around the town. Colmar is the city that is supposed to be the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki’s “Howl’s Moving Castle’s” Ingary. It was a charming little town with the half-timber houses. So picturesque. That’s the word I learned from Ron. Stemmed from the 17th century it wormed its way to English language that could mean that the scene resembles a picture, evokes aesthetics and vivid. The old town feels like a museum, but many of them are still used either as a hotel or restaurant or both.
Rastatt is near the famous Baden-Baden. A small town that houses baroque palaces. It was a Monday when we visited it so not too many people were strolling around as museums were closed. Haha! That’s so nice to know.
Ron said we are going to make another stop in Europe until we are back to Tokyo for another client request. This is the first time I heard Amamiya was actually happy on the phone when I talked to her. Though one could never be sure.