Tuesday we spent helping napping and helping Terri and John get ready for their departure to Paris and then the big silver bird to the US.
Terri and John spent some quality time wandering around town getting a last soaking in local flavor. Hard to leave this place once you get to know it.
Tuesday evening we headed downtown to finally eat at a little restro next to the canal in Little Venice. Finally some French food that wasn't heavily influenced by Germany. I had stuffed guinea hen with a mushroom sauce, Nita had a seared scallop with black risotto, John had pork cheeks braised in dark beer, Terri had pikefish with veggies, Chris had a seasonal asparagus plate while Tess wound up battling a smoked and braised pork knuckle. All in all one of the better meals we have had in Colmar. Not a bad plate on the table!
We were to bed early as their train leaves at 5:40am. EEK!
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Kids off to Paris
This morning the kids all head to Paris for the last few days of their trip. It has been very special having them all here with us finally. Wish we had more time with them, seems like their few days went by in a flash. Next time, we will get them for longer.
Their train left at a leisurely 10 something in the morning so it was a nice wake up to pastries and coffee while they were packing. I drove the luggage to the train station for them while they all walked. They made it off with no issues, too bad they could not stay around for another week.
Back to the house we spent most of the day cleaning and napping! At least that was my plan, the rest of the house went down to explore Old Town and look for souvenirs to haul home while I did laundry all day.
Fun times!
Their train left at a leisurely 10 something in the morning so it was a nice wake up to pastries and coffee while they were packing. I drove the luggage to the train station for them while they all walked. They made it off with no issues, too bad they could not stay around for another week.
Back to the house we spent most of the day cleaning and napping! At least that was my plan, the rest of the house went down to explore Old Town and look for souvenirs to haul home while I did laundry all day.
Fun times!
Castles and Monkeys
Sunday May 11th, we got up and made our way to the train station for a quick ride to Selestat so the kids could tour Chateau Haut Koenigsbourg castle and take Adra to Monkey Mountain,( I assume they were planning on leaving her with a new troop or something, I dunno)
The train ride and bus to the top is a whole lot easier than driving! Just 11 mins away by train and a quick bus ride up made it one of the easier day trips available. Since Nita, John, and Terri had already toured the castle, they opted for a leisurely breakfast in the sun at the hill top snack bar while others did the tour.
I decided to get in a run from Selestat to Kintzheim, a lovely little town on the road to the castle. Only about 2 miles up and back it turned out to be a fun little run in the morning sun. Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of pics, I was bust trying not to die on the looooooong 2 mile, totally uphill first leg.
After I got done, I dried off and hopped the bus up the hill to surprise the family at the top. Also, very possibly, I rode the bus up just to get a drink since the train station bar had closed while I was running. At the top, the family was ready to roll back down the mountain, stopping at the Monkey Mountain park. Yep, they have tone of monkeys running about an open walking park where you can feed the little beggars popcorn. Given my constant and unreasonable urge to punch monkeys when I see them(don't ask), Chris, Tess and I went to the cafe garden and enjoyed nice cold beers in a non-monkey environment.
Apart from a Jessica inspired near monkey mauling,(don't touch monkeys!!) it seemed to go smoothly for all. Kids and wild running monkeys, what could have gone wrong?
Back at the house, Terri made a tarragon chicken dinner with a spinach salad and buttered taters. Splendid! Before dinner the kids disappeared upstairs to "pack" while we entertained Adra. All part of a conspiracy to throw Adra a little birthday party as they blew up balloons while Amy put together a little cake from train station cookies, donuts and random pastries we had around the place.
Needless to say Adra was a tad surprised by the festivities. After dinner we had a rousing game of balloon war until our land lady came up to ask us to close the windows. Apparently we were rather loud. Oops!
Tomorrow the kids head off to Paris and we will have a couple days to get the place cleaned till Matt and Laura show up on Wednesday.
The train ride and bus to the top is a whole lot easier than driving! Just 11 mins away by train and a quick bus ride up made it one of the easier day trips available. Since Nita, John, and Terri had already toured the castle, they opted for a leisurely breakfast in the sun at the hill top snack bar while others did the tour.
I decided to get in a run from Selestat to Kintzheim, a lovely little town on the road to the castle. Only about 2 miles up and back it turned out to be a fun little run in the morning sun. Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of pics, I was bust trying not to die on the looooooong 2 mile, totally uphill first leg.
After I got done, I dried off and hopped the bus up the hill to surprise the family at the top. Also, very possibly, I rode the bus up just to get a drink since the train station bar had closed while I was running. At the top, the family was ready to roll back down the mountain, stopping at the Monkey Mountain park. Yep, they have tone of monkeys running about an open walking park where you can feed the little beggars popcorn. Given my constant and unreasonable urge to punch monkeys when I see them(don't ask), Chris, Tess and I went to the cafe garden and enjoyed nice cold beers in a non-monkey environment.
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| How is this a good idea?? |
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| That monkey's gonna attack at any moment. |
Apart from a Jessica inspired near monkey mauling,(don't touch monkeys!!) it seemed to go smoothly for all. Kids and wild running monkeys, what could have gone wrong?
Back at the house, Terri made a tarragon chicken dinner with a spinach salad and buttered taters. Splendid! Before dinner the kids disappeared upstairs to "pack" while we entertained Adra. All part of a conspiracy to throw Adra a little birthday party as they blew up balloons while Amy put together a little cake from train station cookies, donuts and random pastries we had around the place.
Needless to say Adra was a tad surprised by the festivities. After dinner we had a rousing game of balloon war until our land lady came up to ask us to close the windows. Apparently we were rather loud. Oops!
Tomorrow the kids head off to Paris and we will have a couple days to get the place cleaned till Matt and Laura show up on Wednesday.
Breisach Germany
Saturday (May 9th) morning we woke up early and went up to the market at St. Joseph. We had provisioning for 2 full dinners to get stocked in before we headed out for Germany.
St, Joseph being only a few blocks away is the easiest outdoor market for us to walk to and luckily for us it is the largest in town. We stocked in supplies for tarragon chicken and huge ass artichokes and sausages because as well all know, JD loves him some sausage.
We dropped the mess of food off at the house and headed for the train/bus station. From internet research, we knew you can take a bus to Breiasach, but nothing was terribly clear on how to go about it. Luckily for us, a very kind local bus driver told us what stop to pick up the proper bus. The schedules were easy to read and we actually got on the correct bus.
The ride takes only about 40 minutes and passed through the town of New Breisach, a "new order" town that was built as a fortified border protection on the French side of the Rhine. Unfortunately the bus ride through the town took all of 5 minutes and we didn't get to see much of the fortifications.
Reaching Breiasch proper, we jumped off the train and headed into the town guided by the large Romanesque cathedral on the high center of town. It is a nifty little town, much steeped in both German and French influences. Near the center of town, we found a little open air market where Nita and Terri bought some saffron and beet root coloured pasta for dinner later in the week.
After a short tour of the market we settled into a local bar/restro for lunch. A very good decision!
Stumbling through the German menu, most opted for sausages and kraut of various kinds and Nita had maybe the best steak I have tasted in France. As we were wrapping up lunch, a waitress brought out a dessert for some ladies next to us that prompted gasps of terror from every table it passed. By far the largest and most fear inspiring dessert I have witnessed!
Need I mention the beer in Germany was spectacular?
Lunch complete we headed up to St Stephanmunster on the hill. Commanding a high view into France it is an impressive cathedral that has suffered the ravages of several wars and history in general. The base of the cathedral is built on roman ruins that have been thoughtfully outlined in lighted coloured paving, serving a nice little history walk.
Heading back down the hill, we wandered through the back streets, buying touristy souvenirs and truly terrible local distilled alcohol.
We found one gem on the trip, a German run Mexican restro. That is HIGH on our to do list next time we make the trip to Breisach.
That evening we had a eclectic dinner of artichokes and a platter of assorted sausages form our favorite butchers at the open market. From Indian curry sausage to merguez it was a nice tour of all the meats in tube form.
Drinks into the night once again. My liver may fall out.
St, Joseph being only a few blocks away is the easiest outdoor market for us to walk to and luckily for us it is the largest in town. We stocked in supplies for tarragon chicken and huge ass artichokes and sausages because as well all know, JD loves him some sausage.
We dropped the mess of food off at the house and headed for the train/bus station. From internet research, we knew you can take a bus to Breiasach, but nothing was terribly clear on how to go about it. Luckily for us, a very kind local bus driver told us what stop to pick up the proper bus. The schedules were easy to read and we actually got on the correct bus.
The ride takes only about 40 minutes and passed through the town of New Breisach, a "new order" town that was built as a fortified border protection on the French side of the Rhine. Unfortunately the bus ride through the town took all of 5 minutes and we didn't get to see much of the fortifications.
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| Neuf Breisach, fortified city. |
Reaching Breiasch proper, we jumped off the train and headed into the town guided by the large Romanesque cathedral on the high center of town. It is a nifty little town, much steeped in both German and French influences. Near the center of town, we found a little open air market where Nita and Terri bought some saffron and beet root coloured pasta for dinner later in the week.
After a short tour of the market we settled into a local bar/restro for lunch. A very good decision!
Stumbling through the German menu, most opted for sausages and kraut of various kinds and Nita had maybe the best steak I have tasted in France. As we were wrapping up lunch, a waitress brought out a dessert for some ladies next to us that prompted gasps of terror from every table it passed. By far the largest and most fear inspiring dessert I have witnessed!
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| The Dessert of DOOOM!!! It was nearly the size of my head. |
Need I mention the beer in Germany was spectacular?
Lunch complete we headed up to St Stephanmunster on the hill. Commanding a high view into France it is an impressive cathedral that has suffered the ravages of several wars and history in general. The base of the cathedral is built on roman ruins that have been thoughtfully outlined in lighted coloured paving, serving a nice little history walk.
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| JD, Amy and Adra |
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| Tess, Audie, Jessica, Amy, JD and Adra |
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| Sam, Adra and Jessica |
Heading back down the hill, we wandered through the back streets, buying touristy souvenirs and truly terrible local distilled alcohol.
We found one gem on the trip, a German run Mexican restro. That is HIGH on our to do list next time we make the trip to Breisach.
That evening we had a eclectic dinner of artichokes and a platter of assorted sausages form our favorite butchers at the open market. From Indian curry sausage to merguez it was a nice tour of all the meats in tube form.
Drinks into the night once again. My liver may fall out.
Castles and Switzerland
Friday the 8th, we all kinda split up and headed for the far regions of the continent. John, Terri and ourselves headed for Haut Koenigsburg Castle and the kids all headed out for Basel Switzerland.
The kids took something like a 5am train, not really sure since I was dead asleep when they left. Their plan was to head to Basel and hopefully be back by dinner time. Basel is only 40 mins away by train so it makes it a really easy day trip from Colmar.
We got up at a leisurely time and drove up to the town of Selestat and took the windy drive up the mountain to the castle.
Mostly restored and renovated during the early 1900s, while not totally accurate is is still a breathtaking example of fortifications of its type. Definitely worth visiting if you are in the area.
The self guided tour takes most of an hour to walk through, I think we took a tad longer staring at all of the cannon and armour that has been donated to the museum. Not the best collection in the world, but some cool stuff. The views from the top of the bastion are stunning, on a clear day you can not only see into Germany, but all the way to Basel Switzerland.
The kids, we had no idea what they were up to...
In the evening they arrived home and regaled us with tales of incredibly overpriced pizza and coffee($8 for a small espresso) and some truly awe inspiring bad beer. The evening progressed into a nasty round of drinking everything in the house, a game we paid a large price for later...
Skip and Karen leave Colmar today, we wish we had more time with them! Safe travels.
All in all, a fun day!
The kids took something like a 5am train, not really sure since I was dead asleep when they left. Their plan was to head to Basel and hopefully be back by dinner time. Basel is only 40 mins away by train so it makes it a really easy day trip from Colmar.
We got up at a leisurely time and drove up to the town of Selestat and took the windy drive up the mountain to the castle.
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| Yep, we drove by the Statue of Liberty on our way to Selestat. Damn GPS! |
The self guided tour takes most of an hour to walk through, I think we took a tad longer staring at all of the cannon and armour that has been donated to the museum. Not the best collection in the world, but some cool stuff. The views from the top of the bastion are stunning, on a clear day you can not only see into Germany, but all the way to Basel Switzerland.
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| John and Terri in the upper gardens |
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| Nirta in the ovens! |
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| A 14th century iron bound strongbox. |
The kids, we had no idea what they were up to...
In the evening they arrived home and regaled us with tales of incredibly overpriced pizza and coffee($8 for a small espresso) and some truly awe inspiring bad beer. The evening progressed into a nasty round of drinking everything in the house, a game we paid a large price for later...
Skip and Karen leave Colmar today, we wish we had more time with them! Safe travels.
All in all, a fun day!
Monday, May 11, 2015
Even More Catching Up
Sorry all, internet has been wonky and we have been tremendously busy for the past few days.
On Wed the 6th everyone came crashing into the place. We spend much of the morning making up beds, planning luggage retrieval, stocking in necessities and generally getting set for the invasion.
The next week is our largest group yet. We will have something in the order of 12 people, some even crashing on the floors for a couple days.
Around 1, Nita and I headed down to the station to pick up the gang. Sam, Jessica, Adra, JD, Amy,, Audrey, John and Terry all ended up on the same train from the airport in Paris, so at least that made for an easy pickup all at once. While I parked in a probably illegal spot, Nita went in to meet them at the platform. No issues...
We piled all the luggage into the car and I drove it back to the house while Nita walked everyone. Back at the house, we unloaded luggage and got things organized(sorta). The kids were beat, but a wave of energy hit and the wine began to flow. Cheese and sausages made their appearance only to be rapidly destroyed. Things went late and lots of wine was consumed.
Thursday the 7th was market day at the covered market area so we gathered the troops and headed down for supplies. We were mostly out of cheese, sausages, wine, well more or less everything. We let everyone explore a bit while we shopped and looked for dinner supplies. Pasta, sausages, salad makings, cheese and terrines(pates) were secured and the grocery cart we bought early in the trip was close to breaking an axle.
As an aside, while we were waiting for the butchers, a pigeon flew into the meat case and fluttered around a bit. The butcher just grabbed it out, tossed it into the air and plucked the feathers out of the meat case. No fuss, no haz-mat teams, just a lot of laughter.
On the way back we ran into Skip and Karen and invited them for dinner. Since we had the kiddo, we swung by the large carousel for ice cream and a ride. As it was still the school holiday, the place was heaving with kids running about in the fountains and the parks. Not a bad thing for a spring day.
Back at the house we had a little time for a short nap and then the dinner prep began. Good thing this place has a huge farmhouse table and plenty of chairs! The pasta was grand, the salad a necessity after all the rich foods and dessert was a lovely assortment of sweets that Skip and Karen picked up in Old Town.
Tomorrow is Skip and Karen's last day in Colmar. We didn't get to see nearly enough of them! With luck next trip we can get them in the same house with us for a while. Thanks for everything guys!
On Wed the 6th everyone came crashing into the place. We spend much of the morning making up beds, planning luggage retrieval, stocking in necessities and generally getting set for the invasion.
The next week is our largest group yet. We will have something in the order of 12 people, some even crashing on the floors for a couple days.
Around 1, Nita and I headed down to the station to pick up the gang. Sam, Jessica, Adra, JD, Amy,, Audrey, John and Terry all ended up on the same train from the airport in Paris, so at least that made for an easy pickup all at once. While I parked in a probably illegal spot, Nita went in to meet them at the platform. No issues...
We piled all the luggage into the car and I drove it back to the house while Nita walked everyone. Back at the house, we unloaded luggage and got things organized(sorta). The kids were beat, but a wave of energy hit and the wine began to flow. Cheese and sausages made their appearance only to be rapidly destroyed. Things went late and lots of wine was consumed.
Thursday the 7th was market day at the covered market area so we gathered the troops and headed down for supplies. We were mostly out of cheese, sausages, wine, well more or less everything. We let everyone explore a bit while we shopped and looked for dinner supplies. Pasta, sausages, salad makings, cheese and terrines(pates) were secured and the grocery cart we bought early in the trip was close to breaking an axle.
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| Audie found a new hat! |
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| I found slightly stoned looking hedgehogs... |
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| Seasonal Wild Aparagus |
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| A freaking mountain of radishes! |
On the way back we ran into Skip and Karen and invited them for dinner. Since we had the kiddo, we swung by the large carousel for ice cream and a ride. As it was still the school holiday, the place was heaving with kids running about in the fountains and the parks. Not a bad thing for a spring day.
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| Adra in the spinny basket |
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| Ice cream, churro and cotton candy. I think thats about enough sugar... |
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| Breads and fruits from the market |
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| The usual suspects in our cheese drawer. From the top down they are: Comte, Brillat Savarin(on the right top), Morbier(with stripe), Mimolet(orange) and Emmentaller. |
Tomorrow is Skip and Karen's last day in Colmar. We didn't get to see nearly enough of them! With luck next trip we can get them in the same house with us for a while. Thanks for everything guys!
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Everydamnbody Gets Lost... Except Nita
Tuesday was a hell of a day. Not what I expected when I woke up at all.
Everyone is leaving today so Nita and I will have the house to ourselves for a day to get things ready for the influx of 13,000 people on Wednesday. Rod, Nancee and Malcolm have been tremendous guests this week, it has been superb having them in the house with us. The got up early, packed up the rental car and were off for their drive to Paris. God Speed!
Having a rare spot of sunshine I decided to try another run in the countryside. I drove to the little town on Ingersheim, found a parking spot and headed out to do a little hill training by running the gentle grade up to Niedermorschwir which we visited on our first big castle hunting day.
At least that was the plan...
Heading out of Ingersheim, I followed a pleasant tree lined road until I was distracted by a pretty little running and bike trail following the river. Thinking it a more fun route, I detoured onto it for a while. Oops. Turns out the river path veers off to the town of Turkheim, adding quite a lot of distance to my quaint little 2 mile run. Once into Turkheim, I realized that to get to Niedermorschwir I had to head up a nasty set of switchback roads that went more or less straight up through the vineyards. Hills so steep that tractors have winches they secure at the tops of them to assist their getting up and down the rows.
Ah well, might as well go for it. Took me a while to get up the hill road, but after a ton of sweat, some tears and a contemplation of catching a bus(or tractor, or mule, or anything) back down I made it to the top. Great, now I have to make it back down to Ingersheim and my car. I could almost see the end of town I parked in, but I knew I had another 2 miles of hilly wine country to go. It didn't help that the wine shops were all now open and offering me small glasses of white wine every 50 feet or so. Wisely I declined. France hates it when you throw up all over the place.
Tearing off down the mountain at a speed rarely seen outside of glaciers, I pounded down the roads into Ingersheim and found my car at last, parked right out front of a pastry shop. I swear I didn't know that when I parked there 2 hours earlier. Really.
Back at home I showered and helped Nita with some things about the house. My folks and aunt and uncle dropped by for their last goodbyes and to drop off all the stuff they had left over from their house rental. We will miss them. It was odd having them in a separate house from us this time around. Definitely not as much fun as all of us together.
After they departed for one last look around town before their train to Strasbourg, Nita and I did more laundry(we don't have access to a dryer so it takes a little more time than usual) and waited for Skip and Karen to drop by for dinner.
We waited. Waited more. Still more waiting...
Then a cryptic txt message saying they were lost in the forest. Then one later stating they thought they knew where they were. What the hell?
Turns out they had ventured off to see the WWI battlefield memorial and existing trenches at Vieil Armand. Somehow they got a tad turned around looking for the train back down from the summit and spend a confusing couple of hours lost on the mountain.
Wet, mud covered and exhausted, they made it to our place where we fed them leftover burgandy beef stew with good bread. Seemed to do them good.
Moral of today's story. Pay attention, signs mean things!
Personally, I had a fun time I will pay for later when my knees don't work in the morning!
Everyone is leaving today so Nita and I will have the house to ourselves for a day to get things ready for the influx of 13,000 people on Wednesday. Rod, Nancee and Malcolm have been tremendous guests this week, it has been superb having them in the house with us. The got up early, packed up the rental car and were off for their drive to Paris. God Speed!
Having a rare spot of sunshine I decided to try another run in the countryside. I drove to the little town on Ingersheim, found a parking spot and headed out to do a little hill training by running the gentle grade up to Niedermorschwir which we visited on our first big castle hunting day.
At least that was the plan...
Heading out of Ingersheim, I followed a pleasant tree lined road until I was distracted by a pretty little running and bike trail following the river. Thinking it a more fun route, I detoured onto it for a while. Oops. Turns out the river path veers off to the town of Turkheim, adding quite a lot of distance to my quaint little 2 mile run. Once into Turkheim, I realized that to get to Niedermorschwir I had to head up a nasty set of switchback roads that went more or less straight up through the vineyards. Hills so steep that tractors have winches they secure at the tops of them to assist their getting up and down the rows.
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| Part of the lovely scenery along the river road. 2 storks were nesting just on the left end of the house but I could not get them in pic. |
Ah well, might as well go for it. Took me a while to get up the hill road, but after a ton of sweat, some tears and a contemplation of catching a bus(or tractor, or mule, or anything) back down I made it to the top. Great, now I have to make it back down to Ingersheim and my car. I could almost see the end of town I parked in, but I knew I had another 2 miles of hilly wine country to go. It didn't help that the wine shops were all now open and offering me small glasses of white wine every 50 feet or so. Wisely I declined. France hates it when you throw up all over the place.
.jpg) |
| The road up from Turkheim |
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| Halfway up! That is Turkheim down below. |
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| Nice easy grade back down. This was the road I intended to run up. Not that damn mountainside! |
Back at home I showered and helped Nita with some things about the house. My folks and aunt and uncle dropped by for their last goodbyes and to drop off all the stuff they had left over from their house rental. We will miss them. It was odd having them in a separate house from us this time around. Definitely not as much fun as all of us together.
After they departed for one last look around town before their train to Strasbourg, Nita and I did more laundry(we don't have access to a dryer so it takes a little more time than usual) and waited for Skip and Karen to drop by for dinner.
We waited. Waited more. Still more waiting...
Then a cryptic txt message saying they were lost in the forest. Then one later stating they thought they knew where they were. What the hell?
Turns out they had ventured off to see the WWI battlefield memorial and existing trenches at Vieil Armand. Somehow they got a tad turned around looking for the train back down from the summit and spend a confusing couple of hours lost on the mountain.
Wet, mud covered and exhausted, they made it to our place where we fed them leftover burgandy beef stew with good bread. Seemed to do them good.
Moral of today's story. Pay attention, signs mean things!
Personally, I had a fun time I will pay for later when my knees don't work in the morning!
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