Category: Europe2025

So, I’ll introduce you to Robèrt (pronounced Rob-air).

If you don’t know who Robèrt is, or what happened to Claude, you’ll have to go back and read yesterday’s post.

We drove Claude all through France and Tuscany for 4,663 happy kilometres getting an average of 5.7 litres/100km, and without getting a scratch, yet it was a flat tyre that couldn’t be reinflated that was his undoing.

Robèrt is a Renault Arkana, white (or “blanc” as they say in France), automatic and another hybrid vehicle.

Robèrt is OK, but I prefer Claude.

Today is our last full day in Europe, and we are staying at Patricia and Gerard’s place in Congis-sur-Thérouanne.

Congis-sur-Thérouanne is a pretty and quiet little village about 45 minutes drive to the east of Paris. We wanted to be close to Paris so that when we dropped Claude back, we wouldn’t have far to travel.

But now we are only dropping back a single key of Claude’s, and then dropping Robèrt back to the rental car returns.

If getting into the rental car returns at Paris CDG airport is as convoluted as getting out last night, it should be an interesting way to finish our holiday.

As I was saying, Congis-sur-Thérouanne is a really pretty little commune (village) here in France, and very different to anywhere else we have stayed. To be completely honest, Congis-sur-Thérouanne is probably exactly the kind of place that I expected we would be staying on this holiday in France.

A lovely place to end our trip.

Quiet, peaceful, like it is stuck in time. The streets are quaint and narrow, and laid out in all meandering directions like they used to be walking paths.

The church sits in the middle of town and seems to be the centrepiece of the community of less than 2,000 people. The church bells still chime on the hour, with a single chime on the half hour.

There is agriculture all around the village – as close as the end of our street – and you can picture local farmers hearing the church bells tolling, and knowing it’s time to go home for lunch.

One of the primary crops is rapeseed (see yesterday’s photos), which is commonly used to make vegetable oil.

Patricia and Gerard’s AirBNB is a beautifully appointed stand-alone dwelling, and comes complete with everything we could possibly need. Which is nice, because some places will advertise (for example) that they have a coffee machine, but not provide any coffee.

That may not sound like an overwhelming problem, but when you consider that there are dozens of different types of coffee machine on the market, and they all use different types of coffee or coffee pod, it becomes a bit of a nuisance having to keep buying more, because the last lot you bought won’t work here.

We started the morning with a stroll down to our local boulangerie to get breakfast – croissants, of course – then we walked home and ate them with coffee.

MBW has been doing some repacking of our suitcases, and I have succeeded in staying out of they way.

A bit later this morning we made a trip to E.Lecerc nearby (that will be take #2 after yesterday’s aborted attempt), and it was a nerve-wracking trip, I have to say.

We got to the shopping centre without incident or flat tyres, and poked around for a while. We bought some stuff for Little Miss Almost 2 Years Old, plus a baguette for lunch and headed back out to Claude … er Robèrt.

Sorry Claude. RIP.

When we got out to Robèrt, there was a flyer under the windscreen wiper … advertising car tyres on special.

Somebody is taking the mickey, and I am not amused.

Home for lunch and more packing. We are just about there, although whether I have the strength to lift those suitcases in and out of the car one more time remains to be seen. They are a lot heavier than I remember.

I asked ChatGPT for recommendations for a local restaurant to celebrate our last night here, and a fabulous holiday. There is a place down the road that looks OK, but I checked with Patricia and Gerard for their view, and they recommended another place not far away, and then made a booking for us.

Le Beau Rivage. Should be a nice evening.

We went for a walk around the village just to enjoy our last afternoon here.

It has been a beautiful day here in Congis-sur-Thérouanne; sunny and warm(ish) with high level clouds. The weather is only going to get better this week with highs up to 28° or 29° on Thursday. Shame we will miss that.

I think we are almost there.

There are probably a few things I’d do differently if we did this again, but I’ll share those thoughts (and a review on Le Beau Rivage) tomorrow while I’m sitting at the airport.

Ciao

#Europe2025

There are three things that I hoped wouldn’t happen on this trip:

1. I wouldn’t have to use the orange emergency triangle in Claude’s boot;
2. I wouldn’t ever be sitting at the side of the road with the Gendarmarie (Police) sitting behind me with their blue flashing lights on; and
3. I don’t get explosive diarrhoea.

Well I’m pleased to report that I haven’t had explosive diarrhoea.

Yet.

It’s a looooong story.

We have been staying at Bernard and Yolande’s place in Strasbourg for the last 4 nights. Their AirBNB is beautiful, with a bit of a French Revolution theme going on. We’ve had a lovely time there, and it was sad to leave.

Bernard and Yolande are lovely people too. At 8.20am we gave them the 10 minute warning that we were packed and almost ready to go, and then we spent the next 20 minutes chatting with them.

We had a long drive today – about 450km and a bit over 4 hours. 450km disappears pretty quickly when you sit on 130km/h all day.

And that was all we did. 130km/h, hour after hour.

We stopped and put about 20 litres of fuel into Claude, and got coffee, but I have no idea where was. Somewhere not very memorable.

At 12.00pm MBW got onto the Intergoogle and found a boulangerie that got 4.8 stars from a gazillion reviews, so we went there. It was some tiny little place in the middle of nowhere, but we’ve had some amazing success with boulangeries in the middle of nowhere.

Until today.

We went in and there was maybe a half dozen baguettes on the shelf, and nothing else.

The lady didn’t speak any English, but we didn’t need words to know we weren’t getting anything to eat there.

So a bit more time on the Intergoogle and we found another option, just down the road.

We stopped in a place that may have been Mourmelon-le-Petit, and found another boulangerie. And this one was the jackpot.

We got what we think was a sausage roll, a pizza sub kind of thing, and palmier for dessert.

This little village was also very quiet, and we asked the lady who served us if it is holidays. She explained via gestures and Google Translate that in France, you go home for lunch and have a rest. That’s why nobody is around.

I like that idea.

One of the things we’ve noticed about France is that there is never anywhere to pull off the road and stop for lunch. In any country town in Queensland, you are guaranteed that by doing a quick lap of the town you will find a park with swings, and tables and seats.

Probably toilets too.

But not in France. You’re lucky if you can find somewhere just to pull off the road.

So we headed off out of Mourmelon-le-Petit, and found a clearing at an intersection, so we pulled Claude off the road and had lunch.

It was only another hour to Congis-sur-Thérouanne, where we are staying for 2 nights, so we kept on.

It was a totally uneventful trip, and we arrived at Patricia and Gerard’s AirBNB in Congis-sur-Thérouanne at around 2.30pm.

We unpacked Claude, took everything inside, and had a cuppa.

One of our FLP is turning 2 years old a couple of days after we arrive home, so we thought we’d pop out to see if we could find something to take home for her birthday. It’s not like our suitcases aren’t heavy enough already.

So Joséphine got new instructions, and we set off and out through Congis-sur-Thérouanne around 3.30pm to the local E.Lecerc, about 10 minutes away.

We also noted the location of a recommended restaurant and the local boulangerie on our way out of town.

I’ve mentioned before that the streets are very narrow, and MBW is often uneasy at how close to the edge of the road we go when we pass another vehicle that is normally going ridiculously fast in the 30hm/h zone.

To be fair, I feel much the same way about having a head-on collision with someone coming the other way.

Everything is a compromise.

So we were heading out of Congis-sur-Thérouanne, doing maybe 40km/h on a very narrow road with cars and a bus coming towards us.

There was an almighty bang, and it was very quickly obvious that Claude’s front right tyre was going flat.

By the time I was able to pull over, we were on a stretch of road with little usable grassy verge to stop on, but no other options.

In Europe, new cars don’t come with a spare tyre. If you get a puncture, you have an inflation kit in the boot that plugs the hole and inflates the tyre until you can get it repaired.

So, high visibility vest on, hazard lights on, orange emergency triangle 100m down the road and I was ready to inflate the tyre.

Sadly, some puncture holes are too big to plug with the magic liquid.

In the unlikely event that you can’t get the tyre inflated, call a tow truck.

We called an emergency recovery service and waited. A couple of good Samaritans stopped to ask if we needed help, but there was nothing they could do.

So we waited. We got a call from the tow truck driver, but he couldn’t speak English and we sent him a pin in Google Maps to show where we were. We just needed to get to the nearest Citroën dealership – about 20 minutes away – to get the tyre replaced.

The third vehicle that stopped was the Gendermerie. Blue lights on and out they came.

I have to say that they were very helpful, even calling the tow truck driver to explain our location and problem, then waited with us directing traffic around the scene.

They were looking at their mobile phones and having a whispered conversation which made me uncomfortable. They probably found a whole bunch of pending speeding tickets 😞

The only way we could go with Claude was to sit in the back seat (of Claude) on the back of the tow truck, which frankly just seemed wrong to me, but the boys in blue seemed happy with that.

Probably happier than having to drive us somewhere.

We finally arrived at Citroën Meaux – Meaux is another township about 15 minutes away – around 5.15pm to be told that they can’t change the tyre until Monday.

So our car people organised a taxi to pick us up and take us to Paris CDG airport, because that was the closest place they could get us a hire car for 2 days.

So rather than get someone to change the tyre for us urgently, they paid €125 to take us by taxi to Paris CDG, and hired a car for us for 2 days, so we can fly home on Sunday.

That’s the day before Claude can get a new tyre.

And then they are going to have to take Claude back to CDG to hand him back.

Sigh.

So we say goodbye and RIP to our faithful Claude, and we welcome Robèrt the Renault to the family.

I’ll introduce you to Robèrt tomorrow, but he won’t be in the family for long.

By the time we navigated our way out of CDG and got back to Congis-sur-Thérouanne, it was 8.30pm and we had a late dinner.

As for the birthday present for our FLP who is turning 2? Maybe we will give her a framed copy of the tow truck invoice for towing Claude to Meaux.

Or maybe we will save on excess baggage costs and buy something with our AUD when we get home.

Ciao

#Europe2025

Don’t worry if you are confused by where we went today. I’m confused too.

The last thing I expected to be doing today was making an impromptu trip back into Germany.

MBW: “Let’s go to Germany to do some shopping.”

MBW: “By tram.”

MBW: “It’s only one stop.”

Me: “OK.”

It all came about due to an earlier poor decision.

I should probably point out that we are in Strasbourg France, not Salzburg Austria, just to avoid any confusion. It’s an easy mistake to make.

You may recall that all we had planned for today was a walking tour with some small food tastings. We had to meet our guide at 10.00am near Kleber Monument in the middle of Strasbourg, and look for the red umbrella.

The forecast for today was overcast with a 12% chance of rain, which – as I’m sure you know – is code for “it might rain so take an umbrella, but you should probably take some sunscreen and a hat, just in case.”

To add to that, MBW advised me that it will be cold. So layers are the order of the day, plus a hat and an umbrella, plus a scarf.

We bought our daily tickets again, and caught the tram into the city.

Strasbourg is very flat. There is hardly a bump anywhere in the city. Strasbourg has 600,000 citizens and 300,000 push-bikes, so there are bike lanes and push-bikes everywhere.

We got into town about an hour early, so we went for a walk around to see what we could see. At around 9.30am we decided to go into Starbucks and get a coffee and a free pass to use their toilets.

You know how it is.

Starbucks was convenient not just because they have toilets, but because they look out across the square where the Kleber Monument is located.

And because they have coffee.

I’ve never been a fan of Starbucks at home, but Starbucks in the USA and here in Europe is OK.

Not the best coffee I’ve ever had, but not the worst either.

To use the toilets at Starbucks, you have to ask for the code, then you put that code into the keypad beside the door, and there is a satisfying click as the door unlocks. Not quite as high security as McDonald’s toilets in Milan which come with a security guard, but not too shabby either.

Maybe they are trying to stop people stealing the toilet paper.

So we drank our coffee and saw a red umbrella out near the Kleber Monument, so off we went. You never want to be the last guests to arrive.

It turns out that by the time we got there, we were the last guests to arrive … and simultaneously the first guests to arrive also.

We were the only guests on this walking tour.

Our guide – I didnt even catch his name – was South American or maybe Italian … I’m really not sure, but he was very good; knowledgable, engaging and friendly.

It’s a bit stressful being the only guests on a walking tour, because you can’t leave it to someone else to ask the intelligent questions.

It was a great tour, and like all local walking tour guides, he took us to places that we would have never found ourselves, and provided context for a lot of things that we saw.

The sun came out so we took our jackets off, then the sun went away so we put our jackets back on again. Then it started to spit with rain so our umbrellas came out, but we didn’t need them after all.

One of the things our guide explained that I hadn’t understood was about the locks used on the river for raising and lowering the water level to allow boats to pass through. I couldn’t understand why they just wouldn’t let the water flow naturally and find its own level.

But the locks were originally designed to hold back water during times of conflict. They would close the locks and let water back up, then release it and cause the enemy to be washed away downstream.

A number of churches in Strasbourg have switched between being Catholic and Protestant. We looked in the (currently) Protestant Church and the organist was warming up the pipe organ ready for a concert this afternoon. It reminded me of my Dad who passed away 8 years ago next week. He would have loved to sit and listen …

After the tour finished around 12.00 noon, we headed back to the Kleber Monument to get some lunch from a Pâtisserie nearby that our guide had pointed out.

We had a baguette with chicken and salade niçoise, plus a croissant.

For full transparency, that was a croissant each.

I had an almond and chocolate one, and MBW had an almond croissant.

After lunch we weren’t sure what to do. I had slept really badly last night getting only maybe 3 or 4 hours sleep so I wasn’t my best self.

We had the options of many museums to learn more about history and art, but we were both fairly ambivalent.

The other option was the recommendation that our hosts – Bernard and Yolande – had given us, and that was to see the Parc de l’Orangerie (Orangerie Park) which is like their botanical gardens.

So we consulted with Google Maps and caught a tram and a bus out that way towards the east of the city then walked the last 200m or so.

It’s a very pretty park, and we spent a pleasant hour or so looking around and taking some photos.

Sadly our thoughts are now turning to the trip home, and what we need to do, to finalise everything to go home.

MBW has purchased some breakable things and she has been trying to figure out how to get them home safely. She has finally settled on purchasing a hard plastic storage box to pack everything into so it doesn’t get squashed.

If we were at home we’d be going to a $2 shop or Reject Shop. Here in Strasbourg they have a shop called “C’est Deux Euros” (It’s two euros), so that’s close enough, without getting into the details that €2.00 is actually more like AUD$3.60 (thanks again Mr Trump).

There is a C’est Deux Euros in the city, not far from the Kleber Monument.

So we figured where we had to walk to for our bus to get to the city, and off we went.

As we were arriving at the bus stop the bus was pulling in, so we dashed across the street – safely of course – and hopped on, feeling pretty smug with ourselves.

And off we went, counting down the number of stops before we had to get off. We knew it was about 8 stops.

At about stop #7 we had an unpleasant realisation. We were on the outbound service, not the inbound service. We were almost at the end of the line, about as far away from the centre of Strasbourg as we could be.

Remember the unplanned trip to Germany? And how it came about due to an earlier poor decision?

Connect those dots.

But as luck would have it, while we were as far from the centre of Strasbourg as we could be, we were a stone’s throw from the German border. Literally.

One stop on the tram.

One of the fun facts that our guide told us this morning was that things are cheaper in Germany.

It was a sign.

So we got into the “D” tram for one stop and – hey presto! – we were in Germany again.

We found a shopping centre and bought a plastic container plus some other stuff, and that was it.

Back on a couple of trams and a bus towards home, and we are in for the night.

We bought some ready meals from E.Lecerc the other day, and while we’re not normally a fan, the last ones we had were pretty good so that will be dinner tonight.

Then I suppose we will need to repack our suitcases for the trip to Congis-sur-Thérouanne, our last AirBNB location before we head home.

It’s about a 4 hour drive from Strasbourg, so with stops that will be 5½ to 6 hours. And then we are only about an hour away from Paris.

We’ve enjoyed Strasbourg. It’s a very pretty and very clean city that is easy to get around. And it is really close to the German border for when you want to pop over to another country.

Something that you simply cannot do when you live in Australia.

Ciao

#Europe2025

Today’s post is brought to you by most of the letters in the alphabet, including one that I didn’t know we even had.

By the way, “DE” in the title is the 2-letter code for Germany. Today was a German driving extravaganza.

Our hosts – Bernard and Yolande – gave us some tips on what we could see today, and because it was going to be raining all day, it seemed like a good idea to go for a drive.

Except it wasn’t raining … we went off this morning to mostly blue skies. Stupid weather forecasters.

So our planned itinerary was to drive across the border to Durbach, and then drive the Schwarzwaldhochstraße through the Black Forest to Baden-Baden, then home.

Sounds simple, right?

Durbach is just up the road – 29km or about 44 minutes in a Citroën C4. That bit of the trip was uneventful. We got into Durbach, found some parking, and got out to go for a walk.

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you wake up in the morning and everything is the same as it was the night before, but all of the people have disappeared and you are the only one left?

OK, maybe that’s just me …

But if you could imagine that scenario for a moment, then you can imagine Durbach. Shops were closed, the free public toilets were locked (bugger!), there was nobody on the streets.

It was a bit weird. It was like a ghost town.

We did see a tractor go whizzing through the town, which made it feel even weirder.

We had an impromptu call from a couple of our FLP who were getting ready for bed and wanted to talk to Grammy and Grandpa, so that was nice.

It filled our emotional tanks.

OK to be honest, we probably saw about a half dozen people in the township, but it was very odd. We were also advised by our hosts to go up to the castle to see the panoramic view which we did, and it was pretty amazing.

And they had toilets, so that solved an immediate problem.

And there were more people up in the medieval castle than there were in Durbach. Crazy.

In Durbach along the main street they have vending machines, often bolted to buildings. Cigarette vending machines, not condom vending machines.

The cigarette vending machines come with a written warning that “cigarettes could lower your fertility.”

Just like condoms, but different. Different method, but a similar outcome.

We left Durbach for Mummelsee and before we’d gone far we realised that we had another immediate problem – we needed coffee. It was about 11.30 and this morning’s coffee was no longer working. It must have been faulty.

MBW checked the Intergoogle and found a little coffee shop in Oberkirch that got good reviews, so Joséphine got new instructions.

Coffees were good, the slice was great, and the cherry and caramel cake was wonderful.

Oberkirch – like many of these little European villages – is very perplexing to drive through. Many of the streets are very narrow and cobblestoned, to the point where you can’t be sure if you are driving on a street, someone’s driveway, or a pedestrian walkway.

Sometimes you are driving through an archway in a building, and feel like you are going to find yourself in somebody’s garage. But then you pop out the other side and continue your journey.

We left Oberkirch around 12.15 and true to form – a combination of unclear directions from Josephine and uncertainty on my part – we missed a turn, so Joséphine punished (or possibly rewarded) us by taking us on an alternative route.

A “scenic” route.

And when I say scenic, imagine a road that is barely wide enough for one vehicle or two goats, but is designed for two way traffic. It has blind corners and hairpin bends, and all the time you are climbing into the mountains, but surrounded by pine forest.

Oh, and it has a posted speed limit of 100km/h.

And then it turns to dirt.

Pretty. Pretty scary.

I always said I wanted to drive on the Autobahn here in Germany, but I was fairly certain this wasn’t it.

But Joséphine knows what she is doing, and we eventually found ourselves back on bitumen on a true two-lane road, and arriving in Mummelsee.

There is something about these Germans – they are a secretive lot.

In both France and Italy, all tourist signs and information was posted in the local language, plus English, and often German too. They want everyone to know what’s going on.

But here in Germany they seem to take a view that if you can’t speak or read German then you miss out.

Whole tourist information boards about Lake Mummelsee were written only in German, so we have no idea what they said. In fact the only sign in English was to say that the lake was melted glacier and “might be colder than you expect.”

Considering that we both had on several layers including our puffer jackets, we weren’t planning a swim, so the water temperature was unlikely to be a problem.

For us, anyway.

Not much to see in Mummelsee and it was starting to rain, so we jumped back into Claude and headed to Baden-Baden. We have been told that the casino is the most beautiful in the world.

Joséphine successfully navigated us to the Baden-Baden casino – right out the front – but there was no parking, so she directed us onwards … into a dead-end street.

And we were the only vehicle there, except for a maintenance truck.

So we pulled onto the grass, did a 3-point turn, and headed back out … to find that the maintenance guy from the truck was standing in our path with his hands on his hip.

Not good.

He took a look at our (French) numberplate and started with a pleasant “bonjour” before launching into rapid-fire French that sounded unfriendly.

Actually, it sounded very unfriendly.

Me: “Je ne parlez pas Francais”

Him: “English?”

Me: “Yep”

And he proceeded to berate me for driving on his grass, and then for driving in an area designated for pedestrian access only.

We blamed Joséphine and apologised profusely, and I think he realised that we were only stupid Australians who had no idea what they were doing, so he told us to “have a good day, watch for road signs, and don’t trust Joséphine.”

He didn’t actually say “don’t trust Joséphine,” but it was implied.

Have a good day. Like the day can get any worse.

We did a couple more laps of the city without (to the very best of our knowledge) breaking any further road or traffic rules, or upsetting anyone. One lap included a trip through a 2.4km tunnel and some wrong turns, and we finally found ourselves back in front of the casino and presented with an empty parking space.

Claude parked, and we went for a walk. The casino is very beautiful and the grounds looking very neat … except for those Citroën C4 tyre marks on the grass 😞

We took some photos, wandered into the city, and bought a sandwich thingy for lunch.

Lunch was accompanied by a soundtrack of thunder, so that was our cue to find Claude and head for home.

And it rained, and it rained.

I don’t know enough about the German Autobahns to know whether any motorway is an Autobahn, or whether the Autobahn is a specific motorway.

But we found ourselves on a motorway with Claude reporting the speed limit as a white circle with five diagonal lines – a sign for “all limits and restrictions have been lifted.”

I don’t know if that was an Autobarn, but my knuckles were white holding the wheel at 110km/h while other cars went past me in the fast lane doing easily 160-180km/h.

In the rain.

If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck … then it was probably an Autobahn.

I felt like everyone was on their way to a maniac’s convention, and they were all running late.

Other than that (and traffic congestion), it was an uneventful trip home.

We voted against dinner tonight, but having cake at 11.30am and a chicken panini thing for lunch at 3.00pm will do that. I might have some chocolate later just to keep my strength up.

Tomorrow is a walking tour, then Friday we leave Strasbourg to go to our very last two nights in France, just outside Paris.

Then we hand Claude back with about 4,500km on him, and go to the airport to fly home.

It’s all coming to an end.

Ciao

#Europe2025

I felt a bit like the Karate Kid today. Remember the Karate Kid and Mr Miyagi?

Jacket on, jacket off. Umbrella up, umbrella down. Backpack on, backpack off.

Argh!

We are in Strasbourg for 4 nights, so 3 full days. Yesterday afternoon it hailed, then the sun came out, then it poured with rain again.

Today’s forecast was clear and sunny; tomorrow is forecast to rain, and Thursday should be overcast. We will see how that goes.

The broad plan is this: explore Strasbourg today in the sunshine, drive to Germany tomorrow in the rain, and hope for the best for Thursday when we have a walking tour of Strasbourg already booked.

Today did start nice and sunny, so MBW did a couple of loads of washing, then we went out to catch the tram into Strasbourg for the day.

We finally figured out how to buy an all day ticket on the CTS app, which is the transport system here in Strasbourg.

Nothing is planned for the day, so we will see how the day unfolds. What could possibly go wrong? Hopefully we can stay out of mischief (and jail.)

Well, nothing went wrong, as it turned out.

We bought our 24 hour tickets and walked the 200m (that was more like 600m – thanks Bernard!) down to the tram stop and waited. Trams run about every 10 minutes, so you don’t even really bother checking to see when the next one is due – it will be soon.

We rode the 6 stops or so towards the cathedral and jumped off.

I should point out that we hadn’t had breakfast this morning because there was nothing to have. But we did have coffee before we left home … we are not barbarians.

We wandered around for a while and found the cathedral, although that makes it sound like we were very clever to find it. The reality is that you’d have to be pretty stupid NOT to find it because it has the highest and most intricate spire I’ve ever seen. And you can see the spire from everywhere.

They are pretty strict on security, with bag checks here. They also have flags flying at half mast and photos of Pope Francis everywhere, so I suppose it makes sense. It is a Catholic church after all.

The church is pretty amazing.

From there we just went for a wander. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were happy just to meander through the streets although – for the purpose of complete transparency – we were loosely looking for a Boulangerie or a Pâtisserie to get some breakfast.

We found a few places that weren’t exactly what we were looking for – for example one place was a “Biscuiterie” and they sell cookies rather that croissants.

And croissants were what we wanted. When in France …

We finally found one and I got a scroll thing with raisins, while MBW got a chocolate croissant. I’m always safe going for something with raisins because I know that MBW won’t want any 😀

There is a river cruise that Bernard had told us about, so MBW bought tickets, and we went down to the pier.

Everything is close in Strasbourg. The city centre inside the circular river is easily walkable in 15 to 20 minutes.

We lined up at the pier around 12.05pm, with 12.15 boarding and a 12.30 lift off.

The boat trip lasted about 1¼ hours and included a commentary which was helpful and informative. The boat trip also went through a couple of locks where the lock closes and pumps water either in our out to match the water level on the other side. That was pretty exciting.

That was really worth doing to help us get our bearings of Strasbourg.

By this time it was almost 2.00pm and we hadn’t had lunch, so we went for a walk into La Petite-France, which is the old city.

We were looking for somewhere that does the fixed menu, where you can choose the Plate du Jour (plate of the day), or the plate with entrees, or the plate with dessert. Or if you have a stronger constitution and more willpower that I have, you go for all three (Entree, Plate, and Dessert). We found a bistro that still had their Plate du Jour available and ordered just the Plate.

Today’s Plate du Jour was Coq au Vin, taglietelli. Which is chicken in white wine sauce, with Italian fettuccine.

It was hot and delicious, and very filling. We won’t need dinner now.

We potted around the old town some more and by 4.00pm we were running out of steam. The day had gone from cool to hot and back again several times. It had been sunny then turned grey, then rained, and turned sunny again.

We had a quick look in the local Monoprix and bought a couple of things to take home, then we jumped the tram back home again.

We still didn’t have anything for dinner or breakfast, so we found our local E.Lecerc about 10 minutes away and took Claude for a spin.

Bought some stuff we needed, and some stuff we didn’t (… you know how it is …) then headed home.

Cheese. Prosciutto and baguette for dinner, then coffee and some cake that MBW snuck into our groceries.

Here’s a fun fact: we have been here in the Alsace region of France for the last few days, and the locals are referred to as Alsatians (although I don’t think it is either spelt or pronounced that way, which makes it less funny that it could have been.)

Woof!

MBW has delegated planning for tomorrow to me. Our second son (Joey) has said we should go to Stuttgart and see the Porsche museum … and while that sounds like fun, and the thought of taking Claude through the sound barrier on the Autobahn sounds even better, it’s almost a 2 hour drive and I’m not really in the mood.

Bernard and Yolande have suggested a drive to Baden-Baden and the Black Forest and we might do that because it’s pretty close. And it doesn’t really matter if it’s raining.

I’ll let you know tomorrow what we’ve decided.

Ciao

#Europe2025

Today’s post actually starts yesterday, after dinner.

If you can call a quarter of a baguette with butter and strawberry jam “dinner”, that is.

About 8.00pm we thought we’d take a wander down into Colmar and have a last look around. Hopefully all of those pesky tourists will have gone.

We were also scoping out breakfast options. It’s Easter Monday here, and everything is supposed to be closed, and the cupboard is bare.

So we went for a wander down into Colmar and it was very quiet, and very pretty.

While we were there we found a Creperie (a place that makes and sells crepes, just in case you are confused) that was open, and we thought “why not?”

So we indulged. I had a Nutella crepe, while MBW had a salted caramel one. Not the best crepe I’ve ever had, but not the worst either. We had a really good crepe in Marseille.

This morning it was cool and wet again. We got all of our stuff packed, ready to go, and we went for a last walk down to Colmar.

Our primary objective was breakfast, but we had another party on our tastebuds at the apartment as a backup plan.

We walked in at about 8.45 and it was very quiet … to the point where we thought everything must have been closed. But we found a Pâtisserie that had shelves stocked and lights on, but it didn’t open until 9.00am.

So we waited.

We got croissants and coffee – a chocolate one (pain au chocolat) for me, and MBW had a strawberry one (croissant au frambois).

Technically mine wasn’t a croissant, but who cares, right?

In the spirit of complete transparency, we also got a donut thing that was shaped like a pretzel, but tasted like a donut. In fact, to be completely honest, I voted against the donut as being unnecessary and indulgent, but I ate my half anyway because I’m a team player.

We wandered back to our AirBNB to eat it.

Once that was done, we packed Claude and set off towards Strasbourg. We took the scenic route, via Ribeauvillé, another pretty little village that is near Riquewihr, where we visited a couple of days ago.

Once again we were very early compared to the average tourist, so parking wasn’t an issue, and we had a poke around in relative peace.

There are three castles nearby, and you can see one of them in one of the photos below. The largest one is called Château de Saint-Ulrich, and while they are all in ruins, they can only be visited by hiking 45 minutes up a hill, and there was no way that we were ever going to do that.

We found a boulangerie open in Ribeauvillé and bought a chicken and salad baguette for an early lunch.

Back into Claude, it was now around 11.45 and our hosts for tonight – Yolande and Bernard – had said we could probably get in early, possibly as early as 12.00pm.

So we gave Joséphine instructions to take us to Strasbourg, but avoid motorways and toll roads.

“Avoid motorways and tolls” is code for going the long way, which will likely be very scenic. And it was scenic, in a “speed up to 70, slow down to 30, speed up to 80 this time, keep left, and take the third exit on the roundabout” kind of way.

It was a nice drive. Not great for Claude’s fuel economy, but he still managed about 6.2 litres/100km so far on this tank.

About T minus 15 minutes, we messaged Yolande and Bernard and told them that we were 15 minutes away according to our GPS, but didn’t bother telling them that it would probably be closer to 20 minutes with the expectation that we will take wrong turns and get lost.

It turns out that we arrived at our AirBNB exactly at the agreed time, and Bernard met us at the gate and showed the way in.

They would probably have to be the most helpful hosts we have ever had here in Europe. Yolande turned up also (with her arm in a sling) and it sounds like she might have a frozen shoulder, although “frozen shoulder” clearly doesn’t translate well into French, because she looked very confused.

Bernard said something to her in rapid French that we couldn’t follow, but she seemed happy with the additional clarification. I suspect that he just said “stupid Australians”.

They showed us around the apartment and offered to meet us in town one day to show us around. All very civil.

The apartment isn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it is beautifully decorated and very comfortable. Better that the smelly place we’ve been in for the last few nights.

Bernard is retired (like me) and is 68 (unlike me).

After having been disconnected from reality for so long, we have no idea what is happening in the world, but Bernard told us when we arrived that Pope Francis has died. I thought he was getting better, but then I haven’t seen the news for quite some time now.

Bernard also told us that as it is a public holiday we can park for free in the city, so we decided to go and have a look.

Just as we were gathering our things, the weather turned bad and it started to hail … so we sheltered indoors for a while.

We received an email from Emirates this afternoon to say that the exit row seats we’d paid for on the 14 hour flight from Dubai to Brisbane have been taken away from us, because they changed the aircraft for “operational reasons.”

A likely story. That’s 2 flights that they’ve changed now for operational reasons, and completely stuffed up our seats.

Not. Happy. Jan.

We did a quick spin into Strasbourg this afternoon. It was raining and unpleasant, and I think I’ve broken several road rules including running several red lights and nearly running over a pedestrian.

Hopefully that red numberplate is a clue that we have no idea what we’re doing, but I can feel some tickets in my future 😞

We did a quick recon of our local area looking for dinner options, and we think we’ve found a pub down the road. It’s called La Grillade.

So around 5.30pm, with blue skies overhead, we trotted off down the road to La Grillade – about 500m. We took our jackets and scarves and umbrellas.

It turns out that La Grillade isn’t the pub, but a little building next to the pub. They do lamb skewers and all sorts of stuff, in this tiny little kitchen with a pokey little dining room.

People have given them some amazing ratings, so … how bad can it be?

Turns out they didn’t speak English, so with lots of pointing, we ordered … something. On a sandwich.

Two baguettes stuffed with chunks of lamb and lettuce, onion and tomato, plus a plate of french fries. At least, that is what I think we ordered.

But they were so good!

I haven’t had lamb in 7 weeks, and I’ve missed it so much.

We paid the bill and as we were about to go outside to head home, the heavens opened again, so we had to brave the 500m trip home in the pouring rain with our itty-bitty folding umbrellas, and we got soaked.

Again.

But it was worth it.

Home for coffee, a hot shower, and dry clothes, and we will head out into Strasbourg tomorrow to see the sights.

Ciao

#Europe2025

It was another lazy day today. Not that we sat around and did nothing, but we didn’t set any records either.

Today was almost a mirror image of yesterday.

Yesterday we started the day with 3°C, and it got up to a balmy 20° or so by lunch. Yesterday I didn’t take my warm jacket, and regretted it for the morning.

Today we started the day with 15°C, and it gradually got colder all day. And wetter. Today I did take my jacket and didn’t really need it, but as the day wore on, I was glad I had it.

We made another strategic blunder today. Another day, another blunder 😞

But I’ll tell you about that later.

Breakfast, coffee, and we were out the door early … around 8.30am.

Yes, I know … if “early starts” was an Olympic sport, we’d be nowhere near the podium. But when you consider that nothing much opens here until 10.00am, an 8.30am start is pretty impressive.

We wanted to go to Eguisheim today. If you ask ChatGPT – as I did – what are the top 10 scenic villages to visit in France, Eguisheim is close to the top.

Yesterday’s exploration of the local area was kind of north and west, so today’s exploration of Eguisheim was more south and west.

But keep in mind that I have no sense of direction. I am pretty sure that Germany is east of here.

So we were out the door, into Claude, and heading off in the right direction thanks to Josephine’s instructions, by 8.30.

Eguisheim is a circular township about 15 minutes drive away. Honestly, it was so close that we didn’t have the opportunity to take a wrong turn before we got there.

We got into Eguisheim early, begore the crowds, and had no problems parking. Then we wandered around Eguisheim for a while in the pre-tourist quietness.

Another pretty little village, straight out of a Hallmark movie.

The cobblestone streets are quite difficult to walk on because they are very uneven. As we were walking into Eguisheim, I Iost my footing and tripped over on a particularly uneven spot, and took a tumble. No damage done, but it pays to be careful.

MBW has been complaining of a sore knee, probably for the same reasons.

As I said, the morning started to get cooler, and the dark clouds were rolling in. We found a little boulangerie and had almond croissants and nice, hot coffee.

By 11.00am we were done in Eguisheim, so we went back and found Claude, and asked Joséphine for directions back home. We had planned to do another walk around Colmar and grab a bite to eat for lunch.

One of the things that we have heard about that is a “thing” here in Colmar – the local speciality, if you will – is a tarte flambee. It’s like a pizza, except they use a flatbread instead of normal dough for the base. They also don’t use a tomato based sauce, but instead use creme fraiche.

Other than that, it is similar to pizza. A traditional tarte flambee will have bacon (or ham), onion, and cheese and it is cooked in an extremely hot oven.

There were a couple of places that we’d heard about, so we went to the first one and it had a sign saying that they had no tables free.

We went to the second one – which is supposed to be run by an elderly couple – and managed to snag a table as someone else was leaving. We were handed a menu, given a minute to decide, then when we pointed to the tarte flambees on the menu, the old guy serving used his finger to cross out all of the hot food. He shook his head and said in perfect English, “no cook.”

Which I think means “choose a cake, because we are not serving hot food today.”

So we left again.

Found another place around the corner and ordered a traditional tarte flambee, and a Munster tarte flambee .. “Munster” because it also has Munster cheese on it which is a bit more bitey.

And they were good. Like a light pizza, but enough to fill a space and keep us warm on a cold, rainy afternoon.

From there we did a bit of a wander around, fighting the crowds, and buying some last-minute souvenirs.

We also bought a cake from Gilg, a Pâtisserie that we were told not to walk past.

Home for a cup of tea and our cake. By now it was about 2.00pm and we needed to source something for dinner.

Yesterday afternoon we did a trip to E.Lecerc to buy some stuff, but decided to wait to get some last minute food and stuff today, for dinner tonight and the onward journey to Strasbourg tomorrow.

So we went out to get something for dinner. Something that we can cook easily in an under-equipped kitchen with a hotplate, portable oven, and not much else.

Easter doesn’t seem to be celebrated in any meaningful way here, and they barely even stop trading. Although we been warned that Easter Monday is the day that they all have off, so it was very important that we did some shopping today so we don’t go hungry.

Very. Important.

We were wrong. Despite our research indicating that shops would be open today, they were closed. No E.Leclerc, no Grande Fresh, no Monoprix.

All closed.

Which presents a problem.

We decided to just go for a bit of a drive to some randomly selected village towards the east … towards Germany, but not into Germany … hoping of improving our chances of finding something open.

But that was a bust. A pretty little village to be sure, but nothing was happening. Nothing open, nobody out and about.

Dead quiet.

I would have been happy to pop down to the local fish and chippery and getting $5.00 worth of hot, salty chips for dinner … but we haven’t seen one the whole time we’ve been here.

I’d even be willing to pick up some KFC, but … same, same. You don’t see them.

We found a tiny little corner shop that sold absolutely nothing with any nutritional value, but they did have some baguettes that appeared to be fresh. There were other couples in the store furtively looking around and making purchases, and we can only guess that they had also made the same strategic blunder that we did, and wanted to buy the last carton of eggs before someone else got them.

With our lucky bagette in hand, we went back into the city to get a photo of the Colmar sign, and then home.

I’ve offered to get dinner ready tonight because it will be an easy one. Baguette with butter and strawberry jam.

But don’t feel sorry for me. A fresh baguette with French butter and strawberry jam is like a party on my tastebuds.

And coffee, of course.

After dinner we might go for one last walk down into the old city of Colmar and look at the lights. Hopefully all of the tourists will have gone home by then.

But with sunset at 8.28pm, we will need to wait a while for maximum effect.

Tomorrow we head for Strasbourg. We already know that the shops will all be closed, and it’s only about an hours drive from Colmar, so we will be going the long way. Otherwise we will arrive long before we are allowed to check in.

But I have no idea what we will be eating tomorrow.

Does anyone know how to say “can I have a bucket of the Colonel’s hot and spicy chicken, please” in German?

Ciao

#Europe2025

We had a bit of a lazy day today.

While I realise that many of those places that we visited today sound like they are across a border, we stayed in France today.

We have 3 nights here at Etienne’s place in Colmar, so 2 full days. There are a few things on our list of things to see.

It was cool this morning. It was warm inside the apartment, but my watch was telling me it was only 3°C outside, which didn’t seem right.

In fact it was so warm inside this morning that I opened a window a crack to let in some air.

I feel like a bit of a failure today. Given that we are back in France, you’d think I would have been standing outside the nearest boulangerie when it opened … but we had bread, cereal, strawberries, milk … so we just stayed in.

We had a quick video chat with a couple of our FLP which filled our emotional tanks, so that was good. We will see them again in just over a week.

We loaded up our jackets and scarves, and headed out to Claude. When I got into Claude, the back of my shirt rode up and my bare back touched the seat, and I nearly gasped it was so cold.

I think that MBW has finally caught on the Claude doesn’t have heated seats.

Out of the parking at the back of the apartment, and we gave Joséphine directions to give us directions to Riquewihl, only about 15 minutes drive away.

Claude was having conniptions this morning. We knew that he was low on fuel and our first job today was to find some, but from all the beeping and bonging and flashing lights going on, you’d think that there was a crisis.

So MBW gave Joséphine new instructions to find us fuel, and we got 40 litres of the cheapest fuel we have seen this trip … €1.573/litre. That’s for 95RON E10, as it’s either that or 98RON E5 here.

Yes, i know that’s about AUD$2.80/litre due to the falling exchange rate (thanks Mr Trump), but it’s still the cheapest so far.

So Claude was full, and we headed off for Riquewihr, a very pretty little village that – it is said – the French village in “Beauty and the Beast” is modelled on.

We had read that parking at Riquewihr can be a nightmare, but we got there around 10.00 and the general French population must have still been in bed. We got a space with no issues.

Remember how I said that we started the day with 3°C? By the time we parked Claude and got out, the temperature had risen to an almost tropical 6°C, and one of us realised that they’d left their puffer jacket at home.

I’m not going to say who, but if you look at the photos below, you will see that one of us looks warm and toasty, and I … er the other one of us looks cold and miserable.

Riquewihr is indeed a pretty little place. We bought some pastries and some souvenirs and looked for coffee, but all of the outdoor seating was in the shade and didn’t look inviting.

By 11.30 we were ready to move on, but we did a quick detour to the top of a nearby hill to get some more photos of the township.

The next place we wanted to visit was the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg, a restored 12th Century castle nearby.

By now the French population had emerged from bed, along with all of the tourists on this Easter Saturday.

People everywhere, cars everywhere … we grabbed the first space we saw because we didn’t want to miss out, but it was about 950m down the hill from the castle.

MBW suggested that we drive further up the hill to see if there were any other spaces available, but I said no … another strategic blunder. We pased several (many?) other available spaces, and I’m sure that MBW was itching to say “I told you so”, but she kept that thought to herself.

A long, hot walk up the hill, but we removed the need for bulky puffer jackets.

The castle was built in the 12th century, then there was more work done in the 15th century. Then there was damage from an attack, then it was restored in the very early 20th century.

We paid our €12 each for the self-guided tour and it was worth every euro. An amazing building, and you can see why these fortresses are built at the top of a hill. Great from a defensive standpoint.

We were done there by about 1.30pm, so we pointed Claude towards home, set the cruise control for 110km/h and took off.

When in France … so we went in search of a boulangerie to get a baguette. We ended up back at home, dropped off Claude, and headed into the pretty centre of Colmar again to get some lunch.

It’s Easter Saturday, how busy can it be?

We found the first boulangerie that MBW was seeking, and we felt like Old Mother Hubbard. They had sold out of everything.

So we went to another one that a friend had said “Do not walk past this shop!”, and it was also sold out.

We found another one that had some baguettes made up like pizzas, and that had to do for lunch – after 2.30pm. We were hungry and needed food and coffee.

Back home, we had some cheese and crackers, strawberries, and a hot beverage to supplement lunch, and a rest for the afternoon.

I had a nap, while MBW did some more research for tomorrow.

There is one more place that we’d like to see while we are in Colmar, but it is south and this morning’s adventure was north … so I guess that will be tomorrow.

Then on Monday we head to Strasbourg for 4 nights and we might slip over the border into Germany or Switzerland for a bo peep.

From what we understand, Easter is business as usual (BAU) here in France, although we’ve heard that everything is closed on Monday. We will need to factor that into our planning and ensure we have enough chocolate food.

Tonight will be leftover pasta from last night and another early night.

We haven’t switched on a TV for weeks, so we have no idea what is happening in the world. There’s no point turning it on anyway, because our grasp of French is fairly limited, and you tend to lose the thread of the discussion fairly quickly when you can’t understand anything being said.

But I was just looking at the news on my phone, and I see that there is a major air traffic control strike planned across Europe in late April, which coincides with our flight home. I’m not a fan of our pilot trying to take off without ATC support, as I suspect that could be dangerous … so France might be stuck with us for a few days more yet.

I hope not. I’m just about ready to give Claude back and go home. I’m getting tired of sleeping in strange beds.

Many of our AirBNBs have been OK, but this one is sub-standard. The coffee machine here is useless at making decent coffee – it looks and tastes like dishwater, and it’s just not a great AirBNB.

Being here at Easter probably didn’t help, but all first world problems of course.

It’s now just after 6.00pm and the sun is still high in the sky. Sunset is not until 8.25pm, which just messes with me.

I might go and heat up that pasta because if we waited until it’s dark for dinner, we won’t be eating until 9.00pm.

Ciao

#Europe2025

We’re back, baby.

Back in France, from Italy via Switzerland and Germany.

In Australia, you can drive all day and be lucky to see 2 states. Unless you visit Cameron’s Corner where you can see three, but that’s cheating.

But today, we had breakfast in Italy, lunch in Switzerland, afternoon coffee in Germany, and dinner in France.

I’m tired just thinking about. Yet we only drove about 450km.

We were up early so we could leave early. We told Fabio – out host – that we expected we’d be gone by 8.30am. At 8.30 I was finishing loading Claude when a car pulled up beside me and a guy jumped out to introduce himself .. “Hi, I’m Fabio …”

Fabio’s place is very nice. We learned that while he lives a short distance away, his parents live directly below. I hope we didn’t say anything bad about him 😞

There is a train line that goes right past the apartment block – I mean, directly next to it, but all you get is a bit of a rumbling sound each time the train goes past. No screeching of brakes, or tooting of train whistles … but with the constant rain, each time it went past I thought it was thunder.

Some hosts provide the minimal amount that they have to, but Fabio provided a fabulous selection of cups, crockery, cutlery, and cooking stuff. All good quality stuff too, where you don’t get the feeling that he’d furnished it from shopping at Lifeline.

Plus he had enough spare toilet paper in the cupboard to survive a COVID-19 pandemic.

We got away from Fabio’s place around 8.40 and hit the road. Getting away from Milan was stress-free. The sun was shining and all of the crazies were having a sleep-in.

All of the crazies, except for me. I was driving towards France.

As forecast, the trip was uneventful. We went through a few tunnels and eventually saw Como in the distance, so we decided to stop and have a look at Lake Como. It’s a really pretty spot on the lake, and we had a stroll around the waterfront and stretched our legs.

We have been quite taken with the ricotta and truffle oil pesto paste we bought, and we saw a supermarket on the way out of Como and thought we’d stop to see if we could get some more to take home.

They didn’t have that exact paste, but we did buy some bread rolls for lunch, some pistachio croissants for … well, for whenever, and some milk and other boring stuff.

Claude was loaded up again and we headed out of Como.

A few minutes after leaving Como we hit some roadworks, or maybe something else going on. We weren’t sure. Traffic was being diverted and there were Police there, and then we realised that we had just crossed into Switzerland.

We made a bit of a tactical blunder because we hadn’t considered if there were any toll road requirements in Switzerland, so … better late than never.

Although, to be frank, late really wasn’t a good option either, when you read that you must have purchased a vignette (pass) before entering Switzerland, or risk a hefty fine.

So we purchased an eVingette. It appears that the vingette is just a pass to allow you to use the motorways, and it is not enforced through toll points or cameras. It is only checked if you are pulled over by the police and asked to show evidence where you could come unstuck.

We didn’t want to break any rules or risk a fine, so we bought one. About AUD$75 which is good for the year, even though we only need it for a few hours.

Today was tunnel day, and we went through some spectacular ones. We suspected that we were approaching a tunnel because there was a big mountain ahead of us, and the traffic was slowing to 80km/h.

As we slowed, 4 Lamborghinis went past in formation. Probably a bit of a bugger to be driving a Lamborghini and be limited to 80km/h, but it is what it is.

So as we were entering the tunnel, the sign said it was 16,942m long. Nearly 17km!!

Do you know how long it takes to drive through a 17km long tunnel at 80km/h? About 15 minutes.

As a side note, do you know how long it takes to drive through a 17km long tunnel at 80km/h in a Lamborghini? About 15 minutes.

If you have any anxieties or phobias that are triggered by tunnels, a 17km long tunnel is not a good place to be. It was actually quite confronting to think that if there was a breakdown or (God forbid) a collapse, a walk out of the tunnel could potentially be anything up to 8.5km, and that is a bit scary.

Best not to think about it.

But we made it out safely, and it was nice to see sunlight again.

It’s a funny thing – some of these tunnels are so long that you can have one weather system (sunny with blue skies) when you go in one side, and a completely different weather system (cloudy with rain) when you come out the other side.

We stopped for lunch in a little place called Gurtnellen in Switzerland for lunch. Such a pretty and picturesque little village, but very cold – maybe 10°C.

We were keen to stop in Lucerne, but the traffic and crowds were against us, so we told Joséphine to keep heading towards France.

We stopped for a cup of tea somewhere still in Switzerland, then went through another significant tunnel that was about 10km long.

We were of the belief that we would exit Switzerland and be deposited into France … but we were wrong. I should have paid more attention in year 8 Geography.

Another border check point – without any checking – and we found ourselves in Germany. I had read on the DFAT website that all border crossings into Germany were used to check passports, but ours wasn’t.

Once again we were woefully under-prepared for toll road requirements, so we jumped off the motorway to stop for coffee and do some research.

We’ve only had one decent coffee this morning, and mine was via a coffee bag, so only half decent.

You have to understand that we had a serious excess of coffee yesterday, and so we were suffering withdrawals today.

MBW sourced a coffee shop nearby that was open (… don’t forget it is Easter Friday, but I suspect it isn’t celebrated in any meaningful way here).

Once again we were woefully unprepared, as we had failed to learn any German. So ordering 2 coffees could be tricky.

And tricky it was. The cafe owners spoke next to no English, and we speak virtually no German.

In fact, the only German word I know is “Gesundheit” (when someone sneezes), and I couldn’t envisage any conversation involving ordering coffee where that word could be helpful.

But as luck would have it, the lady cafe owner was Italian, and MBW knows enough Italian to be dangerous (or at least to order coffee), so we were good.

2 coffees and one piece of pistachio pie to share please.

2 pieces of pistachio pie and 2 coffees turned up, so I suspect that MBW only knows enough Italian to be dangerous.

Probably close to the best coffee I’ve had in a long time. I like these Germans.

We decided to use their facilities and – once again – realised how unprepared we were for Germany. There was a word written on each of the toilet doors, and we didn’t recognise either of the words. A quick glance inside both toilets, and one had a urinal … so that clarified which one was the men’s.

We continued on to Colmar to our AirBNB and checked in. Not the best AirBNB we’ve been in, but not the worst either. This one does feel as though it was furnished by Lifeline.

And for an apartment with a “single level and no stairs”, I was disappointed having to haul our suitcases up a flight of stairs to get to our single level apartment. There goes one full star from our review rating.

We went for a wander around Colmar once we’d arrived, and it is such a pretty little place. I feel like we (myself and MBW) are Hansel and Gretel.

Pasta again for dinner tonight, and tomorrow we are going to fill up Claude for probably the last time, and do a day trip. We are here for 3 nights, so we might go back into Germany just so we can take Claude on the Autobahn and see how fast he can go.

We are both feeling a little travel-weary tonight, so it will be an early one, for me at least.

Only 9 more days and we will be heading home.

Sad face emoji.

But 9 more days of boulangeries.

Happy face emoji.

Ciao

#Europe2025