Catching Up!

Monday, 28 April we spent a lazy day getting ready for our Munich trip.  Kelly and I took a run around the city again, getting slightly lost but not so bad we didn't have an enjoyable run.  Nothing too exciting, just a good sweat.

Petite Venice, one of the more charming neighborhoods in Colmar

Faux painted restaurant front.

The rest of the day we all spent organizing for the trip to Munich.  Everyone gathered 'round and we went through the train schedules, and our timetables.  We have 2 days to travel and do our tour of Dachau, so things may get tight.

Dinner was a huge batch of giant artichokes.  These things really go grow enormously large here...

For the most part folks are ready to do.  We meet at our house at 7am for the walk to the train station.

Should be... interesting.

A Ramble Through the Countryside

Sunday we packed into the cars with the intent of driving to a few castles and chateau.  Strangely, the tourist maps that made it seem all the castles were very close together somehow neglected to mention the twisty ass mountain roads through deep valleys that pretty much hide everything from view.

So our castle hopping turned into an entertaining afternoon of driving through the forested foothills of the Massif Vosges.

The first little town we stopped in was Niedermorschwihr, a town that so dripped with charm we had to stop and take a few pictures(and figgure where the hell we were on the map).  One of dozens of villages with fewer than 500 residents dotting the hillsides watching over their vineyards.  After a few pics, we piled back into the cars and off we went to explore.

Vineyards surrounded the village all the way down to the valley floor.

Leaving Niedermorschwihr, we headed up the mountains to a summit town called Trois Epis.  No real reason, just sounded like there might be something interesting up the hill.  What a drive that was.  Somehow an incredibly twisty mountain road with many roadside shrines and tire marks makes for a tense drive through the dark woods.  Safely at the top we enjoyed a splendid view of the surrounding valleys and adjoining mountains.

Small church in Tois Epis

Lunch seemed to be in order so we settled into Hotel le Turckheim Croix d'Or,  a little Alpine lodge feeling hotel with a dining room that presented views out to the valleys.  After a very satisfying lunch, our incredibly patient waitress brought desserts to the table, complete with a candle and "Happy Birthday" wish for Gary.  Mom snuck that in somehow...

A view to the West

The gang at a long leisurely lunch.

From Trois Epis, we finally fired up the GPS(Im still scarred from our experience in Normandy with our Garmin) and got the route to the closest castle.  As it was Sunday afternoon, we were concerned about things closing early so some direction was in order.

Yep, still snow on the hills here!

Garmin finally got settled in and we found that Chateau du Hohlandsbourg was just 3.4 miles away.  Off we went, back down the scary ass forest roads across one valley and up the side of the next.

The Chateau from above.  I need to buy a drone...

Chateau du Hohlandsbourg is a damn impressive structure.  Constructed in the early 1200's it sits atop a massive stone outcrop 200 foot above the valley floor that strikes me as particularly nasty to think about attacking. While small and a tad architecturally underwhelming, it did offer us a view all the way from one side of the Rhine valley all the way over to Germany.  I'd guess that was exactly why they decided to build a major stronghold here, a clear view for miles in all directions.

From the top of the chateau, you can see Colmar in the middle distance all the way to the low hills of Germany!

If you want to attack the Chateau, you get to first fight up 2000 feet of rocky and timbered hillsides.  Have fun.

The upper keep, kinda got blown up in the 1600's.

Kelly is a studious Kelly.

Rain started to settle in, so we bailed back down the hill to the car park and rushed for home.  After a light supper of cheese, sausage, bread and dessert we wandered to bed early.

Monday is a day of exploring Colmar, assuming the rain clears off.

Another Deux Chevaux

Market Day

Near our house is Saint Joseph's Church which has held a Saturday market on its grounds since sometime around 1250.  Since markets are some of our favorite things we opted to spend Saturday morning gathering dinner supplies and doing a little shopping.

St. Joseph Church

Just a few blocks away, it was a good chance to load up on goodies.

As usual, there were dozens of veggie and fruit vendors, cheese and sausage vendors and lots of butchers.  While we passed up on cheese this time around, we did end up with a nice load of veggies and sausages for dinner and some flowers for the house.

I love the huge flats of radishes here!

Kelly looking thrilled to be shopping.

One of many veggie vendors.

Avignon radishes.  Traditionally served with a small plate of salted butter for dipping!

Luckily we came across artichokes again.  Some of the largest we have ever seen!

Tomorrow we head out for some castle exploration!!

A Relaxing Friday

Friday was a day of relaxing and goofing about.  We got up late, mooched around the house till Kelly, Mirinda and I got up the energy to take a run down to the covered market to test a new route.  Running here in Colmar is nice in that there are no hills to speak of, but the traffic makes for a lot of stops.  No matter, we got some miles in and worked up a sweat while finally getting the new route down to a science.

We now have  direct route that takes less than 20 mins at a casual walk to get to the old town center.  not bad at all!

After our run, we settled into the kitchen for a light lunch and some long naps.

Early evening, we decided to wander back down to the old city to grab some dinner.  Stopped for beer and a Ricard at a small neighborhood bar and then went around the corner to a place called Maison Rouge.  From the street it looks like a typical brasserie, nothing amazing, but the inside is a maze of old timbers, open fires and a large joint of pork roasting in front of a fire at the front door.  Very nice!

We opted to sit outside on the street with the locals.  Dinner ended up being a wonderful assortment of salads, escargot, charcute garni,(a local mix of sauerkraut, sausage, bacon, pork steak and potatoes), beef steak and Nita's yummy seasonal dish of white asparagus with chicken and morel mushrooms in a light cream sauce.

Good thing we ran yesterday...

Desserts were a nice combo of ice creams, coffee and a sorbet and brandy concoction Kelly ordered that was damn near flammable.  Top it all off with a litre of local Riesling wine and it was a fine meal indeed.

Tomorrow is market day at the church near our house.  I promise to get some pictures to post!

Markets and Wandering the Town

Yesterday we wandered the old part of Colmar looking for the covered market and getting the lay of the land.

The famous Doux Cheveux, a 2 horse power car built in post war France.

Colmar can be a confusing town to navigate, but for the most part a little quality time with the tourist office map and Kelly had a much simpler route to the market and old section.

A small view of the covered market. 

Nita and Mirinda raiding the cheese and pasta vendor.

While at the market we stocked up on cheese, wine and all the stuff we put together for a nice little dinner of Tarragon Chicken and roasted cauliflower.  Much wine flowed, and Gary made a hell of a good dessert of apples, apricot jam and puff pastry all wrapped into a quite pretty rose bloom presentation.

Some of the older and more interesting buildings in old Colmar

 All in all a great day.

Arrival

We are finally on site at the house.

The trip over the pond was a rough one this time.  Between US Airs constant messing about with our flight schedules and some confusion with family members about plans as we went it was a damn challenging day.

The important thing is we are here and getting settled in.  I will start posting some pics of the house and neighborhood after we get back from the market this morning.

Good to be on the ground again.

Lessons Learned

Over the past 3 days I have been working to unravel a rats nest of difficulties brought to us courtesy of Expedia and US Air.

When we booked our flights in August, 8 of us all booked the same flights in order to make the flight a bit more easy for everyone.  Since then, US Airways was purchased by American Airlines(an airline I swore I would never give a dime to after our Belize disaster with them) and they changed many aspects of the flights without notifying us.

2 of our group were put on totally different flights, arriving too late to catch our train, they(or Expedia, who to their credit is making this part correct) deleted part of their flights home, stranding them in Minneapolis, moving the rest of our flights times without notice, etc.

It has been a zoo.  I spend 4 hours dealing with this mess a couple days ago, starting at 2am.  Oddly, that's a great time to deal with customer service folks, they tend to pick up on the first ring...

As of today we are all on the same flights, and our friends who were being stranded in Minneapolis have been provided with a hotel and flight to KC on Expedia's dime.

So, the lessons learned are always fly Delta and stop trusting Expedia.

More when we arrive in Minneapolis for a day or two of goofing off before we fly to Paris!

2 Weeks to Go!

Yesterday we had a ton of folks over to sample regional cheeses, wines and to trade travel info.  This time around we have few first time travelers, and a some who have not been out of the country in quite a few years.

Felt like everyone had a splendid time and some first time travel jitters were eased.  It is always a great thing to get everyone together to exchange stories and tips.  As someone who has been through the trials and tribulations of electricity, customs, money exchange, etc, often lose tract of how things seem to the first time folks.  With luck, we fixed a lot of the qualms with the email list, website and the parties.

We leave for Minneapolis 2 weeks from today.  The stress is starting to build, but the fuse is lit and there is little I can do!