ST. BERNARD LIFE-SAVERS, BASTILLE DAY, LITTLE RED TROLLEY

Once on a driving trip through Switzerland in a rented car, Virginia and I found  our minhotel to be closed.  We opened our map of the area, and found another hotel nearby on top of a huge mountain in the middle of the Alps.  We were lucky to find a vacancy at that time of day where the people were very friendly and accommodating.

The next day we observed many beautiful dogs, each with a handler, approaching the hotel.  Most of them were grown St. Bernard dogs - all very well behaved.  We discovered that these handlers were training these dogs to rescue skiers lost in the snow!  This was a most interesting experience for us.

We left there the next day and headed for Annecy, France.  This happened to be Bastille Day, which is a huge celebration observed yearly (similar to our July 4th.)  We had no reservation at this town, so we stopped at the information office (The big "I") They directed us to a nice hotel alongside "Lac D'Annecy".  The innkeeper and his family were very cordial, and even washed all our laundry.  The food at the nearby restaurant was spectacular, with fresh broiled fish, sprinkled with ground roasted  coffee beans.  (WOW).

For several years now, each Christmas we receive cards from this hotel, inviting us to return.

We then drove on toward Innsbruck, Austria where we found our minhotel in a small town called Igls.  To get to Innsbruck, we had to board a little red trolley to go down the mountainside, where we found a huge music festival in progress.  We found front-row seats to eat and enjoy the music, and then took the little red trolley back up the mountain where we enjoyed another night in a very nice hotel with very friendly hosts.