Switzerland

A relatively early start. But that's OK, because I'm awake again at 5:30am. What's that in the distance?

One last, or first, game of fusball and it was off to meet our Uber driver who tetrised our bags into his car, subsequently charged us extra for the privilege and got us to the train station in heaps of time for our trip to Basel. 

My upper body strength is increasing every time I lift the cases up the 3 steps onto the train.

Nanna looked eager to go for a walk so we dragged those bags the 500m to our hotel in Basel.

Bags dumped, we hopped on a free tram and headed for the Botanical gardens. After the first flight of stairs, Nanna looked at the further flights and we abandoned to a coffee shop. I will stay thirsty in Switzerland. I can't pay $10 for a coffee, but the addicts needed their fix.

We saw a town hall, a church, a bridge (the holy trinity of every European city).

We made our way back to the food hall, and I had an excellent South African burger and finished with 3/4 of Nanna's Thai noodles.

Back to the hotel. Le Tour had 70km to go, so I plonked myself on the bed while Annette went to a museum (the quadrella).

I was planning on going for a run, but the sound of thunder put me off. Turns out it was the noise of the tram stop outside our window.

Stage 4 of the race over, I finally appeased my Garmin overlord and headed out to do a light run in the light rain. I didn't get lost, so it was a success.

Last thing to do was eat. I had run past a Vietnamese restaurant which was very close to the hotel. How to convince Nanna. I think the location helped. Tick off another first from her "cuisine eaten" list.

The sweet and sour spicy chicken wings were spectacular. 24 Francs is a bit pricey, but when in Basel ...

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