14/10/25 Not High Energy Tourism.

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Just a warning: if you've come for exciting travel news today, you'd best go somewhere else.  We're no longer practising high energy tourism here. 

Our travel plans had to change to allow shorter train trips and avoid crossing the English Channel by ferry with someone who was quite capable of being struck down by mal de mer in a backyard swimming pool.  Seasickness was undesireable in and of itself, and doubly so for someone with a bad back.

Thing was, the train seats allocated to Eurail passengers had already filled up with tourists who had gotten the jump on us. Several hours of the morning went by while we figured out workarounds and then it was time for morning coffee and of  course the last of yesterday's macarons had to be eaten.  It was nearly lunch time before I wandered out of our unit, and I'd barely finished breakfast.  Oh well, when in Europe...

I checked out the covered markets which were, technically,  in a historic old building.  Unfortunately it had been renovated in the 2000s after lying in ruin for some some years and the renovation was not inspiring.

The spices were pretty though.

I took a slow pace around the town, stopping and looking at things, getting side tracked by interesting alleyways and nearly getting run over by the Tourist Train which kept popping up in unexpected places.  It had an electric motor too, so it could really sneak up on unsuspecting pedestrians.

The fountain outside the covered markets gave a hint of what the original building may have looked like.

The tanner's district: white (ish) houses with open floors on top where the tanners used to work their hides. It didn't make sense to me, lugging hides all the way up there, but I'm not a tanner so what would I know?

Then I went home for a nap, to digest those macarons and ensure my vicarious tourist was looking after his back.

I got a message from a lady I met on the boat tour two days ago: in the time it had taken me to eat macarons and take lots of photographs she had been to Brugge and back and was well on the way to Florence.  I got exhausted just thinking about it.

High-energy tourism saw me out again for a late lunch/early dinner, (Linner?) trying out a Tarte Flambe, one of Alsace's signature dishes.

I wandered the long way home after Linner, saying goodbye to Colmar's half-timbered houses, unexpected alleyways, and the Leuffe River.  



And then it was time for a nice cup of tea and a quiet night in while I packed our bags for tomorrow's train.

It was a window day today. Here's a couple:






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