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!

30 Day Notice

The past year has flown by, just as predicted.  It is amazing how quickly all of the planning and scheming time runs away from us.

30 days form now we will be stepping into the front door of the house in Colmar.  18 months of planning, worry and doubt all over in a flash.

Honestly, I wish I was on the plane right now...

More when we hit Minneapolis and get ready to head out.