Our ship left dock around 11:00 last night and we headed down the Rhine. We woke up in Breisach, on the German side of the river. Breakfast was a buffet, varied and plentiful. We boarded a bus to the small town of Colmar, in the Alsace region of France. The town of Colmar has changed hands between the French and Germans at least 4 times in one generation. We walked through the old town while avoiding dog poo. Colmar and Alsace are known their wines, so we picked up a couple of bottles. I’m sure at least one of them will be drunk in our room. Colmar is also known for its pretzels (actually called bretzels), so we tried them. They were OK, but nothing to write home about (but I just did?). Our bus had to take a detour on the way back, as the bridge we were supposed to cross over had (French) protesters stopping traffic. They were protesting a nuclear power plant in the area. Colmar is also the birthplace of Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, so we saw a smaller replica of it as we were leaving town.
Lunch was a buffet. Some regional dishes. We left dock and headed for Strasbourg. Our ETA is 9:00 pm tonight. We had some spare time before an overview of the cruise stops. I think today was a light day to give people chance to settle in. The menu started with an amuse buche followed by beef carpaccio with citrus marinade, scallops with beurre blanc sauce, lemon sorbet with pina colada, grilled veal loin with gremolata, Mikado vegetables and potato truffle gratin. Dessert was `Guanaja` chocolate dome with honey ice cream and caramel. It was all very good.
We arrived in Strasbourg by the time dinner was finished. After dinner, a local chanteuse (singer) and accordion player came on board to sing us French and Alsace songs from days of yore.
A picure of Little Venice in Colmar
The old house where they used to set all the prices for textiles, foods etc...
Maison de Tetes. The house has allo sorts of heads sculpted on the outside.
We are going down in a lock. The ship secures itself to the wall, as it goes down, right outside our window.
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