Day ??? mmm..... 4, I think

Another fabulous day in France is winding to an end. This morning we departed Nancy for Strasbourg a 2+ hours drive. As we are using the expressways we are seeing the rear of a lot of villages, but the little hamlets/villages up in the hills still make a pretty view.

Strasbourg - what a really delightful city. There have been at least four times that the ownership has changed between Germany & France and that is one of the main reasons that it was chosen as the EU capital.

We toured Petite France - the really old quarter - along the river with a mixture of German & French architecture. Half timbered buildings, three different shades of local stone and more. Our guide, Catherine, was delightful and very interesting. Great story about why it is called that too.

Seems that when the French soldiers returned from a series of battles in foreign parts, they bought home a new disease, Syphilis. This became known as the French Disease as the Germans took power in the city again. The hospitals were the soldiers were treated were in that neighbourhood. It's a very lovely area, with very nice buildings, but I had to wonder how many of the locals are familiar with the history.

Another feature of the city is the cranes. Not the machines, silly, the birds. They are protected beyond any sensible protection. Several years ago the numbers of birds returning to Strasbourg in spring was diminishing rapidly, so they started a feeding program on the mains park and the birds are still fed there everyday to encourage them to return. What is even sillier is that the birds no longer have to build nest either, as a team of 10 people are employed to take care of them - 24 hours a day. Still, it makes people happy.

After driving around the city for 45 mins we took to the streets and finished our time with her on foot. Most of the time was spent around the cathedral and nearby squares. This was amazing. Words will do nothing to describe it, so I will post pictures tonight too.

After checking into our hotel in Colmar we headed to St Marie aux Mines where the base is for the patchwork meeting. Another OMG event. The drive there is passed massive castles plonked onto the sides of hills. No photos of those tonight - forgot my camera.

St Marie is a very small quaint village up in the mountains. Photos tomorrow.

Tonight I am personally VERY excited as my niece is arriving by train from her home in Tocane St Apre. Janice will be spending the next few days with our group are we journey to Tocane as part of the tour. Tonight I am personally also very tired, but the train doesn't arrive until after 11pm. Oh well, it isn't like I see her everyday.

Couple of funny stories.

Day one at CDG airport in Paris one of the group got locked inside the toilet & had to press the emergency button for help. How useful, that was her need was urgent she had chosen to use the mobility toilet.

Tonight, driving home from St Marie, one of the ladies swears she saw a penguin in the field. No she had not been drinking and yes it was still daylight.

As you can tell, we are having fun!

Tomorrow we will train to Selestat, bus to St Marie and look at quilts and related stuff for 10 hours and then, just a for a treat, on Sunday we will do it all again.

And now for the photos.

p.s. please post some comments, the tour would love to hear from you, or are you all blown away in the tornado?