Day 69 – new city day
Aug 4 (Mon) – to Colmar
- We woke up a little early for breakfast at our hotel.
- When our rideshare came to get us, we noticed that the city was very, very quiet. Most people started their holiday summer break. Our driver was going on holiday the next week.
- Once we were on the train, it was lovely. We had seats in the Quiet train car. I was able to edit a lot of photos after ignoring our blog for so many days.
- There were a couple of French gamers near us. They both reminded me of South Park’s sloppy World of Warcraft nerd.
(And RIP to Jarod Nandin. His cosplay of this was amazing. Fucking Covid took him.) - I’m proud of my French attempts. It might be horrible, but in two cases, people thought I spoke/understood far more than I do. They kept talking to me as if I understood more than my “prepared”/rehearsed speech of “bonjour” and “deux Coca Colas s’il vous plaît.”
- Our hotel was just across the street from the train station.
- For dinner, we found (and took a long walk in the heat to) a kebab place for food. It was the kind of place where you order at the counter. We tried to pay then, but they wouldn’t let us. Then, as a matter of habit at casual places like this, we left. They had to remind us to come back in to pay. We felt terrible…but we had tried to pay.
- We made a grocery run for breakfast and lunch foods…foods that would have a sad ending.
Day 70 – Colmar
Aug 5 (Tue) –
- (Happy Birthday, Daddy.)
- For breakfast, we munched on the stuff we bought at the grocery. I also used this time to edit/write while he figured out the bus to get us to the next town.
- Our plan was to bike and picnic, so we made sandwiches for our day. But that was a swing and a miss. When we went to rent bikes, the shop was closed. Elevator trip #1. And back to our room to do more “work”.
- After 1400, we went back to the bike shop. She asked us a million questions and then told us she doesn’t have any left to rent for the day. She gave us an address, but it was just the Europe version of “Lime” bikes. But the town doesn’t really have any. You have to make a reservation, and then they bring the bikes to you. That seemed like far more hassle than it was worth. We decided to take a bus, but for that, I wanted my purse, so Elevator trip #2.
- We spent some time figuring out the town bus routes, but then a storm tried to blow in, so we went back to the hotel and took Elevator trip #3.
- Siesta 2… and more writing/editing “work” …still trying to catch up from when I was sick.
- And the whole time, two different housekeeping staff members were letting every door in the hallway slam over and over and over again. I tried opening the door to look “for the noise” and then at them, twice. I tried propping open our door so they would know we were here (since that Do No Disturb sign wasn’t working worth a damn) and working (since you can see the desk from the door.) Nothing worked. Mid-morning, we got an email from the hotel asking us to give a smiley face or a frownie one. He gave them a frown and said “some door keeps slamming shut.” If the managers saw the comment, they did not address it. And, as I was writing this, it happened again and was even louder than before, so I marched down to the desk and ultra politely asked them to address it. The Front Desk Attendant seemed horrified and said she would tell them right away.
- She even wanted to make sure we didn’t want our room cleaned today. No, no we don’t. It’s a funny thing. We always leave the Do Not Disturb sign up. We don’t want them in our room. We don’t need anything. We are pretty tidy. In Europe, they seem very concerned that they didn’t clean our room every day. Later (and at another hotel), we got a note that they tried to clean our room “as requested” but were unable to. Um, no, we never requested. In fact, we followed all the written policies. So, a town or two later, at check in, I told them, “…and we do not need housekeeping.” She said they’d make a note in our file.
- We finally made it out of the hotel. After quite a bit of walking, we found the (free) shuttle that loops around town. We took that to the old town and found a place for drinks. Sitting outside was lovely, but we hadn’t yet seen any of the town, so we abandoned post and moved along. We wandered and photographed for a while. Then, we popped into a pub for a last drink, waiting for restaurants to open.
- For dinner, we found a nice restaurant and ended up next to fellow Americans for a wonderful dinner and lovely conversation, too. Sydney and Ranella are from central California and also have a motorhome. They were delightful dinner companions.
- Then, it was time for “French curfew”, so we bought some wine and ubered back to our hotel.
