Hobbled on the cobbles

Norhing like being awoken by the sound of church bells at 5am, closely followed by sunrise through the blindless window.

Domestic duties like breakfast out of the way, and despite the fact that we have a dishwasher,  Nanna just wants to wash up.

This morning we had to walk to the station. Nanna powered her way there and we made it with 2 minutes to spare. On the train and a very scenic trip to Strasbourg with a castle on every hill and little villages all over ... if you chose to sit on the left hand side. 

We arrived at 9:36; remember that time.

A quick trip to the toilets by the ladies was ruined by a 1 euro price to use the facilities. Refusing to give in to the urge, we purchased tram tickets and then they headed to McDonald's to try their facilities. I found the trams. They found no joy. Reluctantly, they went to pay their pee fee.

I really should follow them every time they have to go. There was confusion, no coins, an eftpos tap, entry through the wrong gate, confusion, proof of payment, near fisticuffs I imagine, and finally relief.

We left the station at 10:24.

First stop was, and this is like Groundhog Day, a croissant and tea purchase.

Oh, we did get there by tram.

Then the slow walk to somewhere. Nanna is hobbled. Hobbled on the cobbles. We decided on early lunch, and then the heavens opened. 

It was a nice little Alsatian restaurant. I followed what I thought is a family tradition and had the pig trotters and sauerkraut.  

It was average. Nanna's chicken was average and the veal I chose for Annette was good. 

We then went into the cathedral, which is pretty amazing, but mostly if you've seen one, you've seen them all. There are exceptions. Wait for Barcelona.

I found a Decathlon store. No purchases. 

We walked to some bridges, found the tram and made it back to the station. 

Burger King was our next obstacle. How do you get milk with your tea? Why are the soft drinks sucre free? It's like we're in a different part of the world. Thank heavens for the sugary goodness and consistency of Coke.

Back at Colmar, we found the free shuttle and got a good lower back massage as it bounced through the cobblestones of the town. Pizza, sandwiches and of course pastries were purchased, as well as Pepsi No Sucre, because you travel the world to try the different flavours.

Washing in machine and I hit the upstairs lounge to watch France vs Denmark. 

France won and the screaming and car horns went on for hours in the town.

FYI, I don't really rate Strasbourg - the town, not the meat.

"It's going to be a long day"

As I sit in the hop on hop off bus speeding to our last location and with the theme to Prince Planet non stop in my head, I might as well get started.

An early 0800 start made a mockery of the "relaxing holiday" statement. It was cloudy and a perfect temperature compared to yesterday.

We got to the bus stop through a very empty town and started the journey. It wasn't long until we saw in the middle of a roundabout the Statue of Liberty that was made by the guy whose name starts with B, who was the creator of the big USA Statue. This one was a prototype. I was edumacated about this yesterday at the museum in his honour.

It is now 2:30pm. We are yet to eat lunch but the cake/pastry count is presently 3. There can be no dispute. I feel that a new holiday record will soon be set. FYI, the good people among us have had a coke and plain Bretzel. 

Let's start at the 3rd town visited. Starts with a k and got me thinking it rhymed with Heisenberg from Breaking Bad. (Kaysersberg)

Each town so far seems to have had the same town planner and architect. Cobbled main street,  church, clock tower. 

They are all very nice, very similar but this one had a castle. Betty was left on a bench in the rain and got to know the South African lady, almost certainly dumped as well, while we went uphill to the castle. I've seen better, but all castles must be seen and the steps to the top must have burnt some calories. 

Not much going on at village 4, but finally had lunch. The 3 families of storks nesting on the top of the church were quite interesting.  There was no clock tower.

I am not exactly sure of what went on upon arrival at town 4, but seems like somebody couldn't get out of the toilets. I will let the editor take it from here, but for the rest of the trip, Betty will now be Nanna, because it's a Nanna type of thing to do... (Editor's note: the public toilet was an automatic, self-cleaning one, where the only non-automatic thing was to press the big red button to unlock the door. Instead of pressing the actual button, Nanna was attempting to press a picture of a button, while I was yelling instructions from outside the locked door!)

The storks nesting on rooftops is pretty amazing, although their foundations are human made.

Spot the nests.

Back home, a little nap, and dinner was the crumbed fish in a packet, mixed vegetables with rice and an egg, with paprika and pepper. Surprisingly good I thought. Because it's Sunday, the local shop closed before I could get my fix, so instead of Pepsi, I tucked into actual see-through water and not the black version that I would normally have.

Seriously, it's 8:30pm and the sun has finally come out and is shining straight in my eyes through the windows. Stupid nature 

Day 2

How exciting is sunlight waking you up at 5:41am? First up were a Les Mills stretch or pilates class followed by scrambled eggs on toast. The eggs are really big, sort of like the size of a big chicken egg. It's very hot and by 9am I better be ready for Colmar. 

Here is the view from the kitchen. I guess fate says we must eat crepes.

We set off on foot for a leisurely boat ride on the local canal, followed by the chance that Betty would never leave Colmar again.

The step from boat to shore was not an easy one, but with the help of many passengers, dry Earth was eventually reached. 

There is a small section of the boat ride through residential areas, so it is a silent zone. Guess when my phone rang?

It was good news. Dentist next week. Please pray that travel insurance pays for this.

Next up was the search for the free bus. It was eventually stumbled upon and 15 minutes later we sped through the predominantly cobbled streets and footpaths back to near our accommodation. 

For those of you wagering on the cake purchases by Annette, I believe today was 3. This has been disputed with the argument that a croissant is not a cake. My verdict is that it came from the same shop that another cake was purchased from. 3 is the winner. (Editor's note: one croissant, 1 cake, one ice cream - it was a very hot day!).

I'm still coming to terms with the fact that Pepsi Max is Pepsi Zero Sucre. Nevertheless, 1.5l was not enough for the 30 degree day, but it sure helped. 

Whilst Betty settled in for an afternoon of movie watching, we headed off to see the sights. The Museum, shops and stuff that the editor will enter here...

The Musée Bartholdi is devoted to Auguste Bartholdi, the creator of the Statue of Liberty, who came from Colmar.

Back home there were naps and fighting to figure out the channels of the TVs.

Spaghetti Bolognaise, a 1km walk and then an 8 km cobblestones run in the heat of the still bright night finished up the day.

Did I mention that there were markets? Coincidence? I think not.

23,218 steps completed. There is no such thing as a relaxing holiday.

This will be a relaxing holiday

Garmin said I had to run, so run I did. For the first time in a long, long time I did 5km in under 30 minutes. Yay me. 

While Annette had only just started packing, I was pretty much ready. My entire wedding ensemble meticulously folded and fitted into my hand luggage thanks to some pompous guy on YouTube, I drove off to Bunnings to grab some collapsible mugs. 

Departure from home time was set at 1:50pm. Yeah right.

Anyway, I ate all the perishables from the fridge, something I would pay for later.

We left at 2:15pm.

The stomach pains only really lasted for 6 hours.  For the first time in the history of me, I didn't eat all of my meal, but the traditional plane Coke was good.

The tactics of booking a wheelchair for Betty, a new addition to the blog, paid dividends.

We got onto the plane first and didn't have to fight for overhead luggage space. At Singapore, Betty was seated on arrival and whisked away to gate A14, some 1,900 steps away. Note, if in Singapore for transfer in terminal A, going to A14, catch the sky train to A15 then walk a few metres back.

The 12 hours to Zurich was OK. Sleep was intermittent, food was good. We arrived and foolishly refused wheelchair as we battled customs. Having to walk up and down the same flight of steps to join the passport line was crazy.

Three trains later we arrived in France from Switzerland. Trains are surprisingly older styles and luggage had to be lifted up 4 steps but I guess it counts as exercise. 

Our Uber driver did well to get us and luggage into his Kia sportage but then dropped us in the wrong place. A message to our Airbnb host got us back on track, but this is Europe, so walking anywhere means cobblestones. Modern luggage with wheels hates cobblestones. Those medieval guys did not plan well for the future. 

Bags stored, we left in the heat of the summer to find food. The pizza was good.

Did I mention one of my teeth falling out on a train? Sigh. Can someone volunteer to ring my dentist? 9521 2448. 29 July 0900 would be good...

We purchased supplies, I lay down for a quick nap, and apart from 5 minutes to eat 2 minute noodles and 30 minutes of my phone continually restarting, had a solid 12 hours sleep.

Oh, the title of blog 1 was a quote

by a stressed person as we sped to the station.

Product review: The Airfly adapter by TwelveSouth gave wireless connection to our headphones on plane. 100% goodly review.