Riems teaser

 A point in time due inevitable time Pressure 

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 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.

Popping over to France for a bit

A bad nights sleep, being bloated from the Swiss fare, silly bedding and non-blogger had the creaking bed as Interlaken went quiet apart from the trains rolling though it and the church bells duly reminding everyone on the half hour how clever the Swiss are at keeping time.

As the paragliding fraternity got going again after yesterday's weather farce we took two trains to get to the next destination. The first half of the first one was ridiculously overcrowded with a plethora of tourists leaving town for thr nearest airport (Bern). May thier haldrons collide. We had a real juggle, first earning and then protecting our reserved seats as well as the luggage as there wasn't anywhere to store it. One bag left by itself downstairs and the other on bloggers lap. The second half was much better. The Swiss are annoying in that they refuse to adopt the Euro but at least they make announcements in both local and English dialects. A very well co-ordinated by team work at the huge and complex station at Besel saw us on the next juggernaut in plenty of time, tinkels had on the way (a bargain at $2.58 AUD per pee) and found a nice table in which we could enjoy  yesterday's left over sushi that had been sitting in the fridge all night (aka outside the hotel window). So whilst the French are obviously still stuck up about admitting to able to be speaking the world's common language, their trains run a heap faster. Pity they don't clean the windowss occasionally. Luckily we had headed all the way down the to far end of the platform so it's not so crowded. Leaving the Alps to their mist covered peaks and dreary fog filled valleys we streaked into the bright sunshine,  though the dried out corn fields and shot into Strasbourg. It's a busy place. Many peeps moving around for every reason possible. Didn't actually ask anyone why they were doing so just assuming they all have their own purpose in life and it's not all staged aka Truman style.

Thanks to our handy location devices we trundled the cases over yet more footpaths specificly designed to tell everyone in the vicinity that there are tourists on the move. The clackity clack of the heavily laden casters adding to the cacophony of noises in the 10 storied high canyons of shop front ground floors and living areas above that look remarkably like Barcelona, and Paris, and.... probably most of Europe's olde city centre's. The hotel room this time is really good. We've become attuned to judging an abode by the smell when you first open the door (unlike home which is known to reek of dog) and this was a nice uplift of recent ones. Well layed out. Loo in a separate space helps, but more importantly it has a mini kitchen. Breaky sorted. Having some spare time before we caught up the first and foremost priority was a siesta. Magnifique.

In order to shake off the post meditation blur, headed off into town had a nachos from a automated chain store that managed to destroy two articles of clothing before ending up wandering around the very impressive cathedral. It has a very cool clock which does things like Gog and Magog do in Melbourne (it's amazing sometimes how much Aussie ingenuity is replicated around the world). It was good to see they'd actually finished this temple - the detail on the outside one suspects Guadi got his inspiration from. i.l.o. hundreds of individual people of religious relevance  (here) he went with nature depictions as well (there). Same level of complexity in the stone carving effort.

Back to our room to meet Joanne and Simon who'd just flown in from the UK where they'd spent a couple of weeks with Simon's Mum, and are joining us in the middle of their extended trip away from home (which is Nothcote). So the current count is two Aussies, one Kiwi and one Pom.

A nice catch up ensued outside the hotel on tables invading the sort of road out the front (great to see human carelessness creating a situation where restaurant billboards are being pushed aside by cars trying to squeeze past lazy delivery vans) as the trying to be warm sun headed it's way towards the idiots on the other side of the Atlantic. They were only part of the conversation though.

We were given a recommendation for dinner by our concierge which was followed up on and worked really well.

A popular restaurant which delivers authentic Alsace fare at reasonable prices. This blogger tried to ask directions to the twalette'? and was told "don't bother mate, it's down those stairs". At least I tried.

Merci is now in vogue. Bonjoure and Bonswar will quicky be adopted, thinking that the toilet question may take some more practice though. Here for two weeks though, so plenty of time.

Dinner was good. We all stopped by and raided a supermarket to stock up on the way home and had a pleasant debrief in the J&S room before retiring to our own pad.

Silly bedding here as well. Have not these people ever considered sheets on bed?. As there is no aircon either, maybe the French are so slim because they spend all night sweating off their excess fat underneath hot doonas. Found that hypothesis unlikely, so went and found the hotel linen cupboard and some sheets. That was easy here. Impossible in Switzerland.

Winter in Interlaken

Most of the time we are lucky travellers. Things tend to work out ok. Often it's due to making your own luck by (say) detailed planning, having contingencies, asking questions or for help when needed. Today was not that sort of a day. We'd booked this event months in advance, paid an over the top amount to secure tickets (which ended up being a full blown day tour) and the one day in a fortnight that winter arrived in these parts. The glacial peaks in the distance totally wiped away from view due to the driving rain which turned into drizzle. Thought we were catching series of trains all the way up but as it transpired the first leg was via a coach. So we waited about an hour before that got under way. Our guide was hopeful that the weather would clear for us. That's his job after all (being positive) So it was bus up the winding steep valley to Grindelward where we left some compatriots on the bus along with our umbrellas and hopped in cable car which tracks up in front of the Eiger.

Yes. The one in the movie. Apparently it's really impressive on a clear day. It was quite a ride with majestic scenery visible behind huge glass windows very well designed perform that task. The rain beading on the glass was enough to stop the cameras getting a clear shot. At the top of the chair lift there is a transfer station to the next train. Here they have included an outside viewing area which is so close to the hanging glacier one can almost touch it..Pity we couldn't actually see it as we had now climbed high enough to be in the clouds. The next train is all inside a tunnel and considering it's a cog railway it really got some serious speed up. Took a good 20 mins as well, with a short 5min stop on the way to grab a quick picture through a blurry window of a crack in a glacier slightly showing through a white haze of fog and snow - exciting stuff. And then we finally got up to the top of Europe - Jungfraujoch. Impossible to spell.  Impossible to pronounce. Impossible to see anything.... beyond a large dark rock face looming out of the fog. It feels like we're up high because we're slightly out of breath. Also it's a tad cool at -2c out there. So hanging around outside on the viewing deck waiting for the fog to blow away is not really an option.

From an engineering perspective, this place is up there with the best. They picked on a rocky outcrop as high as possible, tunneled through the heart of the mountains to put efficient trains to a multi-line station and then on top of that created a multi-level rabbit warren throughout, with it would seem to be the aim of creating another theme park type environment where the hordes happily hand over their hard earned in order to take selfies to show off to their followers that they've done all that. In this case the experience is a little more profound than the scenic railway in San Sebastian. For most of us this will be the highest we'll ever get standing on solid ground. 3463 meters is a bit more than what we can achieve back home. 2228 may seem up there, sort of   but it ain't when you can stroll up there via boardwalk in summer.

Around this particular fun park they've put in a 360 degree cinema (no seats) a very kish kiddies light display, a series of tunnels hollowed through ice and the inevitable Lindt chocolate shops, Omega watch stands and a variety of food distribution places. And of course gift shops. Lots of 'em. We had about 2 & 1/2 hours to kill hanging around whilst the weather set in, hoping for a break to at least show something. Spent most of slowly sipping on a coffee whilst playing on our devices.

With 35 mins before our exit time, took the punt, headed back into the tunnels pushing around slow moving groups, back up the lift and onto the deck just as a break in stew opened up revealing the glacier and some of the surrounding hills. Now that was cool. Could even see a small hole in the clouds all the way down to town. There was a lot of excitement around the deck as people were getting some return, the wind had also picked up so the chill factor was considerable, so grabbed some quick picks and hightailed it back to the station portal and joined our group for the journey back down to the valley floor.

This took 3 trains and a bus. The cog trains go down much slower than up and wound their way through extremely picturesque classical Swiss mountain landscapes. Most of it still obscured by clouds, fog and occasional rain. Seriously classical glacial carved valleys with extraordinary steep cliffs that would swallow Mt. Dandenong in a gulp briefly exposing their majesty before disappearing again. When finally disembarking the bus and walking back to the hotel it was another brollies up time. All in all an extra two days on the trip in order to chase a bucket list item than can be ticked off, but could've been much better if we hadn't have hit the worst weather day either side of a week. The ultimate judgement of value will come from the quality of the videos.

Reasonably stonkered, after a quick refresh headed out for some traditional Swiss fare - fondue for starters and then pasta and risotto for mains. Well yes... ok they are Italian, however schnitzel gruebens weren't on offer and we hadn't actually hunted down a place that had musicians playing cowbells whilst wearing lederhosen. Too much food and way too expensive. The second is a serious consideration for not returning to the country, whilst the alps are spectacular and worthy of further exploration on clear days and could be considered priceless,  not sure thats why the term was coined. Still good fun though. Tomorrow a new phase of this journey kicks off. Posts may become erratic.

Summer in Interlaken

 Another pressure day of travel, interchanges and the associated stresses of needing everyone and everything in this modern world of ours to work seamlessly, otherwise it all falls apart. Early breakfast in the hotel was the shortest leg as the dining room was 2 steps away from our smelly room. There was a common theme in all Spanish hotels in that they really should spend the effort to flush their pipes occasionally. There's definitely a market for Buildings Colonoscopy services here. The complex drive back to Bilbao AP was seamless, thanks to Waze. It's still steamy and foggy here with some very impressive nearby hills obscured by it all. Bilbao is a destination all by itself which we are completely ignoring in order to ride a small cog railway elsewhere. So the Guggenheim remains unseen and unsighted, poor thing.

Last stop in Spain and we finally get a decent coffee and tea at the AP. Has something to do with knowing the key words apparently. The SwissAir hop to Zurich AP was a nice plane and we got free food. Not bad for an hour in the air. All our previous flights this trip have had screaming kids, this one was replaced with a nonstop cougher sitting right behind us. If we catch it we'll know where it came from.

The stress of plane to train was totally unfounded as the second is placed directly underneath the first. See...this is how efficient airports are designed, built and run. Once again it drives home how backwards our little home town is. For the connecting train your Blogger had astutely reserved seats, unbeknownst it was in the "family" carriage, which has a really cool playground to keep the little tykes amused. Yes, on a train, they have a kids playground. Return of the screaming children. Seems that no matter how much lattitude you give 'em  it will always end up in tantrums. We weren't that concerned by the whole situation, was pretty funny actually, however can guarantee the captured video of the passing country will have the audio removed. Some got off at Bern (yay), and were promtly replaced with a couple more who could only communicate by screaming (boo).  The very fast double decker beast in which we were in then headed to Interlaken and the majestic Alps came into view. Prior to this, Switzerland looks like any other modern country (suburbs, roads, rivers, well tamed countryside etc. etc.), now we could start to see what all the fuss is about.

Up the higher reaches one can actually see glaciers, from down below, from the train. Back home you may see a snow capped mountain in the distance in winter. Here at the end of summer (it was 31degrees here in the valley below today) up there it's so cold everything is still frozen, and you can see it. It's wierd because it looks so close, but it can't be. Seriously high mountains. No wonder no-one could ever invade this country, the hills are simply too high to sneak around the back and hit 'em from behind.
The views from the VFDD beast as it wound its way along the shoreline of the vast lake were fabulous. Locals were sunning themselves on waters edge, some were swimming in it, and upon arrival the sky was full of paragliders gliders, slowly riding the warm updrafts created by the valley below and the sheer cliffs surrounding them, eventually circling their way down to softly touch on the grassy field next to the olde town.
So it was a beautiful warm balmy afternoon, with the threat of thunderstorms looming no-one seemed too concerned.
After a wander around town, soaking up all this ambiance, whilst trying to stop automatically using Spanish polite words (e.g. saying "grassyarse" here could possibly be taken as an insult...even if close to the truth) we briefly parted ways so blogger could go back to the room and remotely capture the stormy sunset whilst non-blogger secured and held down a table under an umbrella outside one of the many restaurants. Good food at exorbitant prices. Not unexpected though as this really is upper first world civilization. i.e. they have nuclear power, a haldron collider, their own currency in the middle of the EU whilst holding all of the world's wealth in banks thst no-one can touch because they also provide security at the Vatican. They also serve nice free rolls on their national airline. It's the little things that count in the end.

Our room is on the fourth floor of an establishment that was probably the high end of luxury back in the 1920's. Whilst some modifications have been undertaken since (e.g. electrical power outlets in the rooms and a moden lift to get to them) pretty much everything else is the same. It's a good quality towel that can continue to be reused after all that time..
So there you have it... Interlaken, surrounded by volumous peaks, glacial coloured waters running through the heart of it and a whole lot of people from all over the world sharing the ambiance with the locals on a warm, autumn day.
What could possibly go wrong.

Last free day

A somber greyness covered the town this morning with the distant Pyrenees mountains covered in a misty shroud which rolled down and filled the nearby valleys as well..combined with a warm sea mist coming in from the Bay of Biscay the chance of capturing a good sunrise on the gopro was well and truly lost.

Your friendly blogger got up early and drove up to the lookout to give it a go anyway. As it transpired nothing much happened except the whole scene got a bit brighter. Given the tenuous position of the rig sitting on an impossible to scale rock wall and an increasing breeze threatening to cast it over, the mission was abandoned half way through. Took a wrong turn going home and ended up driving through the heart of the town to be back in bed before non-blogger had woken up.

After breaky at the hotel we jumped on a couple of hire bikes and peddled through the town around the beach to drop the bikes at a bike station (confusion reigned for a while as there were no spare portals) and continued walking to the base of the same hill as earlier. This time we caught the Funicular up to the top. It seems very popular so there was 20 minute stand in line inside a large concrete hall next to a smelly black lab. Yes Spain is so relaxed they let dogs onto feneculars.
Sprawling over the top of the hill is a tacky theme park which luckily was not overcrowded. Seems mostly aimed at primary school age and schools in so they weren't there. Non-Blogger suggested we go on the roller-coaster which we did and was a definite life highlight..... not really. Luckily capturing the 90 seconds on video will ensure it's never forgotten. Must've been really scary for some peeps behind us as they kept screaming.
After that adrenaline raising experience (the screams not the ride) we headed back down the funicular to collect two new bikes only to discover one of the previous ones hadn't docked properly and we'd been paying for it the whole time. So we traipsed back to the last station found the bike and realized the dock was broken, so docked it in another spot but the app wouldn't let us get another one. Bugger, so we ended up walking all the way back around the bay to the old town, luckily we were in no hurry. A spot of lunch "pintxos style" and we parted our ways. Non-Blogger went shopping whilst the other treddled back home go do the laundry. In the corporate world this is called separation of duties. Good timing as the laundromat was empty when he arrived and they were queuing up as he left.

More  insights as to how the locals live their lives in their apartment towers with the squares in the middle where the small tackers run around with glee kicking balls and playing on the same equipment that's in kids playgrounds all over. Teenagers sulk around sneaking noshes when the folks aren't looking and the grey older ones sit on plastic chairs at the ground floor cafés, smoking cigarettes and watching their world go by. The local real estate agents window reveals that one can buy into this hedonistic lifestyle for a cool 640k euros (3 bedrooms). So thats AU $1million to bring up your family in a shoebox (can be seen as in the middle of two roads if you like) ... and kids today reckon they have it hard..
So now set for the next stage of this adventure with all smalls cleaned and ready for action. In the meanwhilist (during the meanwhilst?) we had one more stint in Spain to endure. This involved using the all-now-familiar bike riding app to locate two treddlies to take us back to town. This service is an amazing addition to the ambiance and general functionality of the town, whilst there are flaws in the system (e.g. the previous not-docking-properly-due-to-a-faulty-dock experience costing us the equivalent of a whole new set of bike wheels) it enables the locals to pop hither and tither at a moments notice with ease. No helmets makes it so much easier, and pleasant. So whilst some backwards democratic countries decide to ban these things and/or the local idiots think it's a great idea to throw them in the river, modern forward thinking countries embrace them.
We rode our two clackety iron stallions along the riverside with the overhead green canopy providing a colourful aura in what was still basically a grey day. Nice and warm though. Monday afternoon, all the locals are thinking about getting home to their families. Not so in the old town where all the tourists go to throw around their dosh and soak up the ambiance that in doing so one creates. This is the principle that founded the town in the first place and they've perfected the art since. By now the rowing local hordes had had their fun and taken their boats, their fans and their hangovers home to leave the town to all the other tourists who come to experience the local culture.
Speaking of which, your two current protagonists in this blog had decided that last night in Spain should include a seriously good paella. So we tracked down our previously booked restaurant (it's a complicated place..all the streets look the same) and was dragged downstairs into their salubrious quiet dining area where all the patrons have to talk quietly for fear of others actually of overhearing what you're saying (upstairs on ground level the entire town is a cacophony of noise - so this was a stark difference). 

The next table of 4 (older than us) all ordered steak and chips. They had strange accents. Non-Blogger couldn't pick it (and she's proficient at this). This here blogger was astounded that you can travel all the way to another country and consume fare that any steakhouse around the world can serve.
Could feel all eight eyes wide staring at us as the extremely impressive paella landed on our table. Now that's how to soak up the local culture. Aussies showing the way.
As it transpired they were from Norway and so an interesting conversation about touring in our respective countries and we have a lead (a similar conversation in Seville had us landing in Cadiz a few years later, who knows...apart from snuffed parrots pining for the fjords there is distinct desire to check out Slartibartfast's work. So we'll see what happens there). The paella was fabulous. Cost us a fortune but you get that sometimes You get a picture for free.
We chose to bike home. The 2kms walk which had previously proven to be stressful was amazingly easy on wheels. The warm breeze flowing through your hair in the well (yet subtly) lit bike paths sent Non-Blogger into a speed frenzy as she soaked up the experience and took them all on. Not that there was anyone to take on, but it was difficult to keep up. If this is Europe personified then we're all in.

A look at San Sebastian

Our room in the hotel is wierdly located in that to get to it we need to traverse the breakfast area. Realised later on in the day that if we leave the room door open in order to vent the musty smell (suspect it's due to water sitting underneath the floating floor in the bathroom) everyone in the common eating area can see right in. Luxury San Sebastian style. Still, they pitch themselves as eccelectic so there you go.

We had a 10 am appointment with the walking tour and a 25min walk into town to get there so it was comfortable start to the day. Was hoping to stop at a shop to grab some replacement sunscreen as this here bloggers snosh is glowing and needs protection.

Unfortunately being Sunday morning nothing was open. We did manage to get some later at an exorbitant price in the heart of the old town. The price of protection in the modern world...The tour ( as always) was great. Got some insights into the history and culture of the place. It's remarkably different from the rest of Spain we've seen to date. E.g. it's history resonates from being a luxury hideaway for the monarchy. No mention of the Roman's or the Moores marauding through here, setting up shop and marketing gourds as a commodity before some other race comes through on a crusade pushing scones and jam as the go to. This local sitting on the byways of oceanic routes was populated by the Basque's who were doing very nicely with their own little fiefdoms and thus cultures defined by the mountainous ridges with the only real way of getting from one to another was via the sea. Nowadays they have tunnels carved though them (80kms per hour please) which annoyingly means people have to seriously get along.
So the towns history is one of the hierarchy wanting to spend time here and whilst it's built to olde' worlde' charm it's a bit of a farce as compared to the southern cities. Apparently it's been totally burnt down a few times (some French architect came up with the idea of houses made of sandstone i.l.o wood and they're still here...whoa..three little pigs thinking there.) through various battles and wars etc.They sided with the Germans in WW2 (only because the dude in power at the time was more right than left - hey Pauline ..lest we forget) and got away with it by only sacrificing a small amount of useless locals to that cause.

They've had their revolutions and the locals still want independence, even though they sort of have it financially anyway (all state taxes, that are then passed on to the feds). Our guide didn't really want to be drawn into the whole debate, however his attitude resonated
.. One country (get along), one continent (get along), one world (get along), one solar system (get along)...etc.
So they have an old town, built in place of one that had battlements, a newer town built in the 1950s ( thus validating  the previous comment about the Carlton tower blocks) and the Gross area. Which apparently used to be really so and one expects that's where the term originally came from. Nowadays it's full of surfing yuppies and is actually quite pleasant. So it's now the Abbotsford/Cliton Hill/Northcote vibe part of town ...with a beach. Unfortunately they let a minimalist architect build a couple of large square blocks on prominent location called them Cubes and then let everyone argue about their artistic relevance.
We managed to hit town at exactly the same time as a multitude of locals from the surrounding area for the rowing regatta.
Woo whoo. 4 days of trails and tribulations as they group wise paddle furiously out to sea, turn around and head back into the harbour, followed by a flotilla of powered vessels and watched by tens of thousands around the shores and adorning cliffs and many more on TV (as the broadcast vans are there). The notion if a couple of Aussie tourists having a quiet stroll around a quaint seaside Spanish town was quickly squashed. The place was heaving.
After the walking tour, blogger dragged non-blogger around the promotory looking for a good slow TV capture point and was disappointed to find out ( yet again) it's all inaccessible until after sunrise.

Went down to the main beach where non-blogger walked through the crowds to test the temp of the water. Wasn't inspired enough to make the effort to return (especially without shade as by now the sun was beating down).
It was pretty hot and muggy as we struggled back to the distant hotel room where the traditional siesta kicked in after walking so many km's.
Sort of re-energised, we struggled for while but eventually managed to get onto the town bike hire app and subsequently rode back into town instead of the long arduous walk. Here the local food thing is pintxos where they have lots of small(ish) serves of pretty much anything mostly sitting on top of slices of bread sticks. Lots of seafood though combined with anything else they feel is appropriate. Delicious stuff, combined with some very good local vinos we did a hop to hop thing through a few places before ending up in a pretty horrible one at the end, chosen because it was empty, and it was so for good reason.

Blogger failure here, ended up standing out the front of the laundromat next door to finish the drinks (stemmed wine glasses - very classy). On the bright side though it was still cobblestoned streets and the cool sea breeze was preferable over the smoke stained air inside (and without the loud screaming of some foreign sports commentary banging on about inconsequential events on field far far way).
Decided to stroll all the way back to the pad as the storm clouds in the distance were starting to make their presence felt. That could be the last of our hot balmy weather..
Seemed to have dealt with the smell of the room by leaving the aircon on and the door to the outside balcony open. Only problem there is it opens to a wide canyon of 10 story high blocks of rooms/ apartment balconies/windows which at the bottom is where all the bins get emptied, staff relax with ciggies, cars grind up and down tight parking lot ramps. Ahhh suburan life in tower blocks. Apparently for a significant majority of peeps in the world this is home.
Long live the bubble as the double glazed door closes for the night.