Riems teaser

 A point in time due to inevitable time pressures 

 More to come..

Much ado about nothing much

 A planned late start was derailed somewhat by the previous days debrief and took sometime to get up to speed as the days activities unfolded.  The weather turned this morning in a very Melbournesque way. With a couple of rain fronts drifting up from down south, being pushed by a cool change from the north. Same patterns, just here the directions are upside down. As is the half moon. Pretty sure this is why they drive on the wrong side of the road as well.

The Troupe trouped over to the UnTiers bus and was duly transported into the olde part of town, this time to explore the covered markets which are normally the life blood of the town.

Not so sure in this case as they seem to be more focused on selling immediately consumable products than (say) stocking a restaurant to meet it's daily activities. I.e. one fruit and vegi stand does not feed a city, whereas 5 outlets selling beers and other drinks will keep the diehards happily inebriated at 11 am. We had a very slow coffee whilst the worst of the weather ran itself away outside.

Emerging into the relatively quiet streets we  did some yet more aimless wandering. Sort of  drifted up to a museum to see if that could fill in some time but no, it was shut until later on.

Admired the ancient anti-semntic gargoyles on the church whilst not fully understanding what the sculpturer was thinking at the time. So many shops fronts were perused, some visited most were actually closed..eventually ended up sitting under umbrellas in a tourist courtyard to slowly consume a drink whilst waiting for the 2pm wine tasting to commence. 

This was fun, it was in very clean modern room next to the olde building where the wine is produced by 4th generation family. Apparently the only one in the actual town. A great spiel by a young lass who was very engaging. Found out about winestone (yes it's a thing) and about new wine which is recently produced, not bottled and is only freshly available for a short time after the harvest. Festival this weekend, so we were lucky to get a taste yesterday.

After that we did yet more aimless wandering, sort of trying to figure out where to eat dinner that night. The hours ticked by. Stork nests on churches is a thing too. Pretty much now fully familiar of the town and the layout now as we kept walking past the same places yet coming in from different directions. Eventually we ended back in the same place as the first night here as we new the food was that good. Repeat. Repeat.

Once again walked the couple of kms back to the  hotel for a very brief nightcap before winding up for the day. Didn't do a whole lot but pretty exhausted from it all. Tomorrow we're on  the move again..

Into the heart of the Alsace

It's an interesting life on the road, traveling from one town to the next, playing to a different crowd the same songs, having to put up with the road crew reckoning they're so relevant one should construct a balad with them being main players ele etc etc.. it sort of becomes a blur when after a most fabulous day on the road we are compelled to deconstruct,  in some sort of poetic fashion and then come up with an original riff (five chords or less) to support the whole story. Lucky for this blogger and for those consuming this tome there's not one note of musical ability (or indeed capability) to be consumed here. So whilst one can feel what James was going through while he sat at the keyboard heavily inebriated after a big day out on the road and constucted Stay this here blogger is in a similar situation without any musical ability, only armed with a device holding pics and a desire to whip this out before getting some kip. (Blog post introduction - tick)
The plan for the day was to get up early, traipse through the town and set up the gopro for the standout shot that every tourist does here - as the sun rises and makes the whole thing interesting....given your perception of course. e.g. Light slowly moving in coordination with the planets rotation may not be as fascinating as say Spiderman swinging his way though the scene. It's slow TV.  Lucky though there were fish in the canal that created a constant series of strange ripples... never mind the details. Video available on request. The location was visually superb, audio...it sucked as it was right opposite the market so we had all sorts of peeps noises ruining the ambiance. Still damn good fun though.

From no one around to an hour later the street was full of school kids, milling and yelling as they tend to do. Thought they were waiting for a bus but no no.. they were waiting for the school gates to be opened. When they did all the kids disappeared ( could still hear their happy chatter though) and as this here blogger packed up the kit there were the teachers looking down the streets and urging the straglers to get inside before they locked the gates. 8:00 am Tuesday morning Colmar old town is not a Disney recreation - this is actually the life these families lead. They just happen to be living in a place where strange people occasionally appear doing wierd things like videoing thier home at sunrise.
Blogger (possibly now known to the locals as that really annoying out of towner who was overly protective of his video shoot) powered back to home base on new knees to join the rest of the Troupe for the rest of the days adventures...yep.. so if you're thinking that was an overly verbose description of a minor event....correct.  You can (dear blogger) stop here if you like....
The Troupe is extremely well organized and coordinated. So far no one has missed a set meeting time. Can almost guarantee that if it does happen it will be this here blogger, however let's see what transpires. In this instance we met on time. Blogger and non-blogger being the last to arrive. N&S J&S waiting patiently. (pattern forming here) in the hotel foyer and we all headed over to our favorite one third of a bus to get into town for our chocolate experience as booked by S (doing her job... which is us not having to think about anything).

This was a fabulous (and as I'm thinking about it now I'm reaching over, into the bag  selecting the packet opening it up and the consuming the outcomes. Ooohh laahhh lah...chocolate  experience..yum..yum..)
Lots of fun. We were on a mission to keep this short as we had other things (Britten wise) booked, however the timing was great. We should've walked out with certificates saying we we are now qualified chocolattiers. But we didn't  that's because what we produced was edible  not sellable. The gist of the whole industry is the basic ingredients are indisputably desirable. Making them visually so is an art. The bonus of partaking in an experience such as this is you get to consume the output before anyone else even gets to judge what a shite chocolateere you are. (Point in fact.. on my 2nd of four bars right now).
Timing was crucial now.... one Britten (S) had arranged the choc making experience whilst the other Britten (N) had organized the wine tasting tour afterwards.
These Poms are well co-ordinated and effective. Makes senses that we resonate. After all,  we share the same monarch/spouse where even after all those years of them publically expressing their desires for each other in the sensuous language of sanitary products they still reign supreme over us and all we behold and will become as we move forward as a nation.
Nationalist truisms aside N&S did a great job organizing today's events. The chocolate construction  workshop will be rembererd for as long as the participants wear their aprons (and this tome gets read)....and then there was the wine tour...
Taking the trusted guidance of bloggers gmaps the Troupe duly trudged through the mid day exuberance of the olde town being swarmed  by tourists to our pick up point from which the day got really interesting...our six muscateers  got bundled into a nine seater mini bus and headed off into the amazing story lined region of the Alacase where this blogger may possibly run out of words, expressions and emotions to convey the whole trip but will give it a go....
We drove out of  town, that in itself was an unexpected relief. Headed through fields of vineyards to end up in the village of Kaysersberg.

Nice name. Details and history etc. Are way beyond the capacity of this minor bit of type to express.  The whole region is reaking in historical context. The olde' worlde' forrts etc. go back to 1200's ... like that's a long time ago, and then we saw villages than were totally rebuilt after WW2 in the last 90 years since and to the same designs as to prior that idiocy in order for the locals to maintain their sense of self.
The amount of historical significance was becoming overwhelming. Like... how many different superlatives can one use here?
Maybe time to give up on  that track and move on to the troupe...
Cool village.. had a fortified wall, ramparts, a water race feeding a mill and a lot of associated buildings.
Next we went to a personalized wine tasting experience which was all about the 12 hectares and the associated juice plants that he owns.  Really well run and coordinated delivery going on here.

Whilst the owner of the joint expressed his experience  and passion in his product our driver was slipping into his neither areas to prepare our accompanying fare. Hmmm goats cheese on Bagels. Yum. The wines were extraordinary cheap compared to what any cellar door back home charge and therefore makes entire sense to get what we we'll consume over the ensuing days. So grabbed a few but did not consider shipping.  Leave that sort of behaviors to those well beyond our capacity.
The next village we visited is considered the jewel in the crown of the Alsace region.  From this bloggers perspective this is quite seriously getting ridiculous. Like... how many outstanding fabulous pictures can one take that are bloggable in one day? Let alone a 30 minute stroll through a town where chances are 90 % of the tourist inhabitants have no idea what they are looking at as compared to us 6 muscateers who are fully armed with knowledge from a personal tour guide. Dates inscribed over archways. Wooden family faces carved into building facials. 

We knew it all.
Allowed us to swftly pass through , take a picture,  stop and have a drink, take some photos .. so we can keep the memories for the rest of our short lives, which in the timescale and enduring resonance of the place is totally insignificant. We may (or may not) take away one small dust particle of the billions that make up the stone structures that the original inhabitants spent their entire lives putting there in the first place.
Tourism may wear down the place eventually, it does at least provide a significant income the locals. Better us marauding hordes of tourists throwing around cash as compared to the Germans throwing around explosives and oppression like they've done here in recent times.
We've learnt that as this valley is the one that defines the border between Germany and France it's always been in contention for control by peeps beyond the local boundaries. They call themselves Asacians. they have been owned by varying others over their course  of history. Currently happy to be part of the French conglomerate at this stage.
Back quickly to town of  Riquewir.. Nice place. N & blogger got to taste some freshly minted new wine without fully realising the significance of the small price being paid at the time. And then found a shady spot to sip on a pino noir waiting for the spouses to catch up who'd been distracted by forking out a small fortune to minusculy diminish the size of a couple of extremely large wheels of cheese.
We had to leave the town,  the picturesqueness was becoming overwhelming.

They have their own statue of liberty because the designer of the one bequested to the USA came from here. This blogger suggests thay should actually demand the original back as the notion of liberty is currently not being upheld by the current holders of the object. Plant a seed ...watch it grow.

Our tour guide happily dropped us off back at the front of yhe the hotel (whilst doing a loop of the statue on the way ) in which ( after mandatory kip) we took over the congregation area on the ground floor to consume all the wine and food we'd stocked up on over the last couple of days. Fully planned and well executed. The hotel staff were very generous in the support they provided.  A late night tipple I.c.w. N was enough to extend the verdoseness of thus post as well as the subsequent delay in posting.

Colmar delights

Always on the go...breaky was in the hotel brassierre made up of typical hotel all you can eat varieties of stuff that seem pretty much consistent wherever you go, although there's always an indication of locality and thus thier culture offered somehow. e.g. in SriLanka there is a variety of spicy rice, in the UK - Black Pudding, Scotland - Haggis, here there is a wide variety of croissants whereas at home you're offered little packets of vegemite along with the jams.

On a fairly tight schedule as N the tour guide had booked us in for a cruise on the canal at 10:00am and we'd scheduled in the 25 min walk into the olde' towne'. S  (the genius he is ) asked about buses at reception and go figure, there's  a free shuttle bus that runs around every 15mins and the leaves from just over there. So that is a huge win for all of us and will be making the most of it over the next few days. Unfortunately J seems to be catching the same cold this this blogger seems to have caught and we're yet to blame the cougher on the last plane but it does seem likely. Anyway, into town on a bus that is the 3rd of the length of a normal one yet the same dimensions otherwise..so it's an UnTiers bus. Found our way to extensive port where a guy collects money from the passengers, lines them up and then herds them onto the punts as they dock at the port.

Nice little enterprise they have going here. The 25 minute cruise up and down the small canal was very serene as well as very funny as our comic punter was very good at delivering a well practiced spiel. They call it little Venice and one can see why. It's really tiny in comparison. I guess there are similarities in the fact they have skiny boats on water as well.

After that enlightening adventure we wandered aimlessly though the old town for while with a loose destination of the tourist information place. Dropped into the locsl cathedral which was being renovated.

Thought the loud noise was a concrete saw resonating through the solid stone ediface but eventually realized it was the pipe organ slowly going through each pipe. Fascinating to start with and like water tourture after a while. They're either doing this to make practitioners feel the same as the strung up dude or to simply make sure gawkers don't hang around to long. So we didn't. Stopped for a coffee beside a bustling junk market where non-blogger wanted to purchase a heavy glass lamp to take home where as blogger was tempted with either the samurai sword or the obviously broken first ever commercially made typewriter. All of equal usefulness, luckily sanity prevailed.

We then found the information centre and booked tomorrow's activities and then spent some more time aimlessly wandering around. Eventually booked a spot for dinner, had some lunch joining the throngs under umbrellas in a mini square. Very nice. Tourists everywhere. All gawking at the historical buildings to which the locals like to attach unwanted items to the outside in an attempt to make people gawk at them.

Easily caught the UnTiers bus back to the hotel for few a few hours re-coup where blogger trundled off the laudromat in order to cleanse those pesky smalls again. Had to also do a supermarket stop as the running nose warranted a box of tissues to deal with it.

Back along the totally uninteresting strrets of Colmar residential areas adorning the train line in the rising afternoon heat your blogger arrived back at the room laden with clean laundry, vital supplies and the strange wailing of an out of control youngster seeping in through the windows from.somewhere in the square below. Thought it could've been the cries of a bird but apparently no. Recalcitrant kid.

Whatever,  it was time to get moving again. The six muscateers dressed in the appropriate garb and armed with all sorts of payment techniques headed back into town on the UnTiers bus (use it often enough and it'll stick is the thinking) which was actually full and turning people away. 15 peeps is more than enough for this little piece of freebee happiness.

We got deposited once again back into the olde' town to soak up more of the local Alcase culture. Thinking about that a bit more though.... This area is about a 2km square block of olde worlde charm, which is full of ancient buildings  (each and eveverone having a unique story to tell) whilst outside the coverted olde town theres a typical suburban sprawl in which most of the locals live. So we are actually consuming a manufactured version of the local culture, that being the Disney like version... considering the place is literally swarming with tourists it all of a sudden starts to feel a bit orchestrated. Good pictures though.

We had a very pleasant pre dinner thisrt quenched at the Deer and Beer before heading over to the Fer Au Rouge for dinner. Great company in an interesting place. The nosh not as good as the previous night however fully understand one just can't continually keep upping the anti on this scale.

Walked all the way home though the darkened streets and parks. Felt very safe in doing so. Another debrief by the six of us in the foyer lounge was a nice full stop to a most splendid day.

The Troupe expands

As if four key players wasn't enough, now we have six to contend with. The day started with the intensive intent as getting as much sleep as possible and thus meeting our foyer meeting time at 10:30 am with no time to spare. Of course J&S were there early looking like a picture of health as if they'd been up for hours, done a circuit of the olde town in early morning cool air, soaked up the culture, breakfasts, packed, and eager for the days adventure ( which of course was exactly what they'd done) whilst we laggards were still worrying about if we'd left anything behind in the usual mad rush to plunge into the next adventure.... and so it began.

You reckon the sound of two travel cases casters clackity clack clacking over cobblestones is loud? Try four. Thus we paid back the locals for staying up partying all night as we headed off to the train station and borded a very upmarket version to spend 1/2 hour wizzing through the parched landscape of the Alcase region. It was full.of crops at the end of the season, stuff looked ready for picking but wasn't. All looked dry and brown when you'd expect green.

Arrived at Colmar TS, walked out to be greeted by Nick and Sarah who'd trained in from Bucks the night prior. This was not a coincidence. Great to see the outcome of months of planning come to fruition. Dropping the bags in the cool storage lockers in the hotel, we six muscateers headed into town to while away the hours.until the rooms became available. In doing so we discovered (yet) another charming place full of historical significance and architecture to suit. They have canals. Not as engineeringly significant as Strasbourg, however not to be taken lightly (as we did back there).

From a postcard picture perspective it probably wins as the locals have thrown more colour onto their historical buildings and therefore upping the ooohh..aaahh factor that paying visiting peeps like to experience before throwing around that hard earned. At one stage this blogger was overwhelmed by a sense of surrealism feeling as this was actually designed in the Disney studios. Probably not though, the give away was the tourists in the punts seriously worried about hitting their heads on the low stone bridge archway.

Parched and hungry after our long arduous mornings efforts to connect, S located a fabulous restaurant in the heart of it all ( all he did was pick the nearest door, walk in and ask) and we ended up in the back court yard to alfresco consume a variety of local drinks and food which was (we all concurred) was quite simply fabulous. One gets the feeling this may be a common theme over the next two weeks.

B&NB, J&S left N&S there to walk back to the hotel, move into the rooms, walk down to the local supermarket  walk back laden with provisions, break open a recalcitrant suitcase, walk all the way back to N&S and then walk off into the heart of town for Nick's next adventure. That was easy.. walking for 3 hours. This is why the Spanish have siesta's as this here blogger was crying out for one, however in the cooler climbs this not on.

The wine tasting was ad hoc arranged by N just that morning as he was wandering around town. Very clever, astute and entrepreneurial of the young wine cellar guy who owns joint. Delightful, and we learned some more about the region and the power of AI translation tools.

After that we were close by to our restaurant, yet way too early for our booking so we took over a local square umbrellas/tables scenario for another round whilst the space around us slowly shut down as it was (after all) Sunday night.

The toy tourist trains chugged away, forlorn in the fact that had to stop spreading joy to the world, as thousands of starlings flew around in swams to roost in one of the trees in the square. Why that tree we'll never know. Could hypothesise for hours, but our restaurant booking over the other side of the square loomed large instead. The sun was sinking away over to west throwing a network of golden rays around the place.

The traditional Alsacin fare was extraordinary.  The presentation of each dish was exceptional and the actual food itself delightful. This blogger finds it hard to remember such well prepared and presented fare. If we have to keep up to that level over the following weeks it's going to be very difficult. 

A sprinkling of rain annoyed us the way back to the rooms(HQ) where we congregated in the lobby for debrief and cocktails (byo red wine) before retiring to our pens for the evenings sabbatical.

Success in Saverne

 Blogger got up at the crackof in order to hit the streets to secure some bread for breaky. Have to make the most of the kitchenette whilst we have one. So non-blogger was served breakfast in bed before the chaos of two peeps getting ready in a small space ensued. A treck back to the train station in the quiet streets saw us arrive on the platform with our behemoth patiently waiting for us. Another rocket like experience saw us arrive in Saverne 30 minutes later to be greeted by Tim, Joy and Jerry (the miniature Wookie). It was great to see their friendly smiling faces in seemingly the middle of a strange world. It's also a little disconcerning when someone refers to non-blogger as non-blogger as that means we have a new player in the blog who is self aware. Scary stuff. The beautiful sunny morning was highlighting the calm waters of the canal as we strolled by it, up through a bustling local market with the smell of sizzling bratwurst hanging heavily in the air.

Their studio apartment is exactly that. An apartment with a studio in it. In which Joy weaves her magic of which she passes on to hungry consumers thus fulfilling everyone's artistic passions. Tim is busily being a remote IT guru for companies in the land down under and basically thay have found their sweet spot in life. The idealic lifestyle for those that would want this type of one. They are slowly embedding themselves into the town dynamics cleverly joining the local community vegie garden, with very healthy plot amongst the many based at the base of an extremely old convent that looms large over the space.

We dropped the small wookie at his day care place and in the convenient car share they'd reserved for the day we took off up the hill next to town to have lunch in the old fort that sits upon the top of it.

It's an impressive piece of architectural history with the natural rock faces helping define the forts defenses and has been there for many centuries and simply reaks of storied tales of battles, trials and tribulations of yore. Nowadays they've plastered a cool restaurant in the middle of the whole shebang in which we enjoyed fabulous fare whilst gossiping about the wider family.... and more to point, gleaning insights into the T&J lifestyle.
Afterwards we walked around the complex and even climbed the steep staircase up to the vertigo inducing heights where an amazing 360 panoramic was on show.

So clear we could even see the Strasbourg Catherdral in the misty distance. The French agricultural fields are dry and browing (not a good look but apparently climate change is not a thing). The forests covering the nearby hills are just starting to show their autimal colours and will be spectacular in a month or so. This is T&J (& mini wookie)'s playground.

We took a short walk through the forest, whilst the team recognized the Walk In the Black Forest track being played out of the bloggers device it wasn't appreciated as an ongoing soundtrack to the event. Fair enough too, even though it's an oldie and a goodie. Memories of years long gone by.
Back down into town we made up for all that exercisey stuff by partaking in a fabulous selection of cakes in one of the superb shops in town that specialize in this stuff.

More local vibes being absorbed, thus is why we came.
After a wonderful time we parted ways, they to collect their pooch and we to wander back through the still very busy market (even had a a troup of locals performing Tai Chi which sort of seemed a bit wierd...considering the heavy German influence on the town) hop back on the speeding rocket on wheels to hurtle though the countryside to home base. A walk though town to our pad, update the fan base and then crash out for another hour ( this is rapidly becoming a habit).
Dinner was out the front with the white bear again as it seemed appropriate and easy to do. A closing sip back in Room J&S saved us about $100 AU. So therefore the right way to end a very eventful day.

Sensational Strasbourg

A most outstanding and special day today. Your two blog protagonists slept in until the last minute whilst J&S were up and about the town organizing and thinking ahead. We all met in the foyer in enough time to walk through the very picturesque and quiet Friday morning streets of central Strasbourg to reach our destination of the most salubrious hotel that their old colleague is now the manager of. Well done non-blogger. She reconnected with Nellie quite a few years ago after working with her in the UK many years before that. J&S actually hooked a up at the same time and place so it was a quatrodecade reunion of sorts. Nellie had decided that she'd like to show us all she had achieved in the intervening years and as such gave the four of us the ultimate hospitality experience in one of the most luxurious establishments in town. It was extraordinary to say the least.

We started with lounging around enjoying a sip of her special champagne (that she'd bought in from her cellar - as if the the stuff in the restaurant wasn't good enough - whew!) along with a selection of locally specialised appetizers. Then she also introduced the head chefs to join us as the main players reconnected. We four out of towners would've been happy with that but then she took us into the speciality dinning area which focuses on delivering top quality local fare for the many guests in the associated hotel as well as local patrons who like to drop in. A good example is all the Judges, lawyers & staff & clientele as they"re around the corner from the local courts. So the aristocracy use Nellies place to decide whom they should repress next. To make up for this social and moral imbalance she also provides food for the prisoners whilst they're attending the courts. Baguettes and sparkling bottled water. How good is that just before you get sent down.

The amount of artistic endeavor all driven by Nellie is amazing. She obviously is committed to providing the best experience for her patrons whilst capturing the essence of and supporting the local culture. She gave us a tour of what she had created (after a most magnificent lunch) highlighting the extremely modern conference facilities (adorned with whole wall murals depicting an old time Alcase scence), the ultra modern hotel rooms being uplifted and down to the lower levels where a heap of time, effort and thus money had been spent creating exclusive spaces showcasing a prominent female liberation political figure, an exclusive artists gallery and an eccelectic reading room. It was fascinating and amazing.

Then the outside garden area followed by a round of sweats and locally produced schnapps (the chefs had rejoined us at this stage) which effectively blew the brains out of all that consumed. It's actually a bit difficult to express the generosity shown by Nellie and her staff along with describing all she has achieved considering the challenges that life has thrown at her. She was open enough to share those with us as well (and there was often the use af device translation tools helping getting the message accross). 

It was also a bit funny that the hotel was hosting 140 Aussies who should've been on a boat cruise down the Rhrine but that was not possible due to climate warming water levels reductions. We tried to ignore them as much as possible.

After 4 hours of total indulgence we stumbled out of the place and wandered along one of the rivers in town up to the olde' worlde' top of the town where all the olde' worlde' buildings etc. sit around where some genius engineers in years gone by decided to seriously manage the amount of water flowing past and create a commercial hub based on river trade. Lochs abound, canals and sluice gates providing a backdrop of noise and movement makes the whole area seemingly reak in ambiance.

So the four wandered around a bit,  found another old church to gawk at. An amazing pipe organ that apparently Mozart had a tinkle with the keys. Unfortunately missed that one by a couple of years as it would've been very impressive.

More sort of aimless wandering with the hotel bed in mind as lunch was still dragging us down and the schnapps hit was wearing off in the warmth of the crowded concrete canyons afternoon. Eventually hitting the bed for a one hour wipe out admist the cool breeze of the rotating fan before springing up again for some previous dinner refreshments at the polar bear in front of the residence.

No-one could possibly face a fondue after that lunch so we reluctantly gave up the generously arranged booking that Nellie's staff had done for us and instead stocked up at a local supermarket and went back to Room J&S for a debrief and solve the worlds problems.

Was still not enough to fully recover, so went to sleep without a proper post as the next morning was bound to be the start of another big one.