Today’s post actually starts yesterday, after dinner.
If you can call a quarter of a baguette with butter and strawberry jam “dinner”, that is.
About 8.00pm we thought we’d take a wander down into Colmar and have a last look around. Hopefully all of those pesky tourists will have gone.
We were also scoping out breakfast options. It’s Easter Monday here, and everything is supposed to be closed, and the cupboard is bare.
So we went for a wander down into Colmar and it was very quiet, and very pretty.
While we were there we found a Creperie (a place that makes and sells crepes, just in case you are confused) that was open, and we thought “why not?”
So we indulged. I had a Nutella crepe, while MBW had a salted caramel one. Not the best crepe I’ve ever had, but not the worst either. We had a really good crepe in Marseille.
This morning it was cool and wet again. We got all of our stuff packed, ready to go, and we went for a last walk down to Colmar.
Our primary objective was breakfast, but we had another party on our tastebuds at the apartment as a backup plan.
We walked in at about 8.45 and it was very quiet … to the point where we thought everything must have been closed. But we found a Pâtisserie that had shelves stocked and lights on, but it didn’t open until 9.00am.
So we waited.
We got croissants and coffee – a chocolate one (pain au chocolat) for me, and MBW had a strawberry one (croissant au frambois).
Technically mine wasn’t a croissant, but who cares, right?
In the spirit of complete transparency, we also got a donut thing that was shaped like a pretzel, but tasted like a donut. In fact, to be completely honest, I voted against the donut as being unnecessary and indulgent, but I ate my half anyway because I’m a team player.
We wandered back to our AirBNB to eat it.
Once that was done, we packed Claude and set off towards Strasbourg. We took the scenic route, via Ribeauvillé, another pretty little village that is near Riquewihr, where we visited a couple of days ago.
Once again we were very early compared to the average tourist, so parking wasn’t an issue, and we had a poke around in relative peace.
There are three castles nearby, and you can see one of them in one of the photos below. The largest one is called Château de Saint-Ulrich, and while they are all in ruins, they can only be visited by hiking 45 minutes up a hill, and there was no way that we were ever going to do that.
We found a boulangerie open in Ribeauvillé and bought a chicken and salad baguette for an early lunch.
Back into Claude, it was now around 11.45 and our hosts for tonight – Yolande and Bernard – had said we could probably get in early, possibly as early as 12.00pm.
So we gave Joséphine instructions to take us to Strasbourg, but avoid motorways and toll roads.
“Avoid motorways and tolls” is code for going the long way, which will likely be very scenic. And it was scenic, in a “speed up to 70, slow down to 30, speed up to 80 this time, keep left, and take the third exit on the roundabout” kind of way.
It was a nice drive. Not great for Claude’s fuel economy, but he still managed about 6.2 litres/100km so far on this tank.
About T minus 15 minutes, we messaged Yolande and Bernard and told them that we were 15 minutes away according to our GPS, but didn’t bother telling them that it would probably be closer to 20 minutes with the expectation that we will take wrong turns and get lost.
It turns out that we arrived at our AirBNB exactly at the agreed time, and Bernard met us at the gate and showed the way in.
They would probably have to be the most helpful hosts we have ever had here in Europe. Yolande turned up also (with her arm in a sling) and it sounds like she might have a frozen shoulder, although “frozen shoulder” clearly doesn’t translate well into French, because she looked very confused.
Bernard said something to her in rapid French that we couldn’t follow, but she seemed happy with the additional clarification. I suspect that he just said “stupid Australians”.
They showed us around the apartment and offered to meet us in town one day to show us around. All very civil.
The apartment isn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it is beautifully decorated and very comfortable. Better that the smelly place we’ve been in for the last few nights.
Bernard is retired (like me) and is 68 (unlike me).
After having been disconnected from reality for so long, we have no idea what is happening in the world, but Bernard told us when we arrived that Pope Francis has died. I thought he was getting better, but then I haven’t seen the news for quite some time now.
Bernard also told us that as it is a public holiday we can park for free in the city, so we decided to go and have a look.
Just as we were gathering our things, the weather turned bad and it started to hail … so we sheltered indoors for a while.
We received an email from Emirates this afternoon to say that the exit row seats we’d paid for on the 14 hour flight from Dubai to Brisbane have been taken away from us, because they changed the aircraft for “operational reasons.”
A likely story. That’s 2 flights that they’ve changed now for operational reasons, and completely stuffed up our seats.
Not. Happy. Jan.
We did a quick spin into Strasbourg this afternoon. It was raining and unpleasant, and I think I’ve broken several road rules including running several red lights and nearly running over a pedestrian.
Hopefully that red numberplate is a clue that we have no idea what we’re doing, but I can feel some tickets in my future 😞
We did a quick recon of our local area looking for dinner options, and we think we’ve found a pub down the road. It’s called La Grillade.
So around 5.30pm, with blue skies overhead, we trotted off down the road to La Grillade – about 500m. We took our jackets and scarves and umbrellas.
It turns out that La Grillade isn’t the pub, but a little building next to the pub. They do lamb skewers and all sorts of stuff, in this tiny little kitchen with a pokey little dining room.
People have given them some amazing ratings, so … how bad can it be?
Turns out they didn’t speak English, so with lots of pointing, we ordered … something. On a sandwich.
Two baguettes stuffed with chunks of lamb and lettuce, onion and tomato, plus a plate of french fries. At least, that is what I think we ordered.
But they were so good!
I haven’t had lamb in 7 weeks, and I’ve missed it so much.
We paid the bill and as we were about to go outside to head home, the heavens opened again, so we had to brave the 500m trip home in the pouring rain with our itty-bitty folding umbrellas, and we got soaked.
Again.
But it was worth it.
Home for coffee, a hot shower, and dry clothes, and we will head out into Strasbourg tomorrow to see the sights.
Ciao
#Europe2025
The towns you have visited seem too quaint for families to live in and work in—except for the cooks who made that special feast for you in the last picture !!!