Previous
Friday August 24, 2012
Cabane de Prafleuri to Bern
|
Saturday August 25, 2012
Bern to Colmar
|
Next
Sunday August 26, 2012
Colmar, Eguisheim, and Munich
|
Saturday morning I woke up early and tried to do laundry at the hotel
laundrymat. I was delayed for an hour or so waiting for the
morning shift to come in at 7am - they were the only ones who could
sell tokens for the laundry machines. After I finished laundry
and showered, Kent and I wandered around Bern. Kent had already
been out and wandered around.
Skinned rabbits, something you don't
see at every market
Bärenpark
Bern from Bärenpark
We
went all the way down to the Bärenpark, where the bears thankfully have
a relatively new and large enclosure replacing the old tiny cement
bearpit.
On the way back we found Einstein's house, which was
closed due to water damage. Kent managed to see the Cathedral on
his earlier venture out, but it was closed for services by the time we
got back
there.
Kent in front of the closed
Einstein-Haus
We decided to head to Colmar. Paul has a friend who lived in
Switzerland for a while, and he recommended Colmar as a decent place to
spend a weekend. I got my Rick Steve's book out on my Kindle, and
ended up calling to reserve two of the best rooms in one of the nicest
hotels in Colmar. They even gave me Rick Steve's rates.
Paul and I decided to take a slightly earlier train to get to Colmar
while the rest of the crew finished laundry and shopped. We
crossed the border in Basel, which was not a very nice town. The
French side of the train station was decades out of date and
entertainingly run down.
Basel train station, on the French side
Basel - Paul's pic
Hiking into Colmar
Once in Colmar we had about a mile hike
to downtown and our hotel. The Hotel St Martin itself was amazing
- we had
a parapet overlooking Grand Rue (Main Street). We quickly
realized this town was almost the Alsace-Lorraine equivalent of Las
Vegas - we saw a few bachelor and bachelorette parties walking up and
down the street. We picked up some beer at the store conveniently
located directly across the street, and proceeded to people
watch.
Our room in the Hotel St Martin
Hotel St Martin
View from our room, looking down Main
Street
View from our room, looking down Main
Street
Bachelor party wandering Grand Rue,
Colmar
We saw 3 bachelor or bachelorette parties
Our room
Mike, Kent and Ray arrived perhaps an hour after we
did. We settled in, people watched some more, and then
decided to wander the town and find dinner. I was lost most of
the time I was in Colmar. I often have some
problems with Rick Steves' maps, but this was exceptional. We
tried to find La Petite Venise and eventually succeeded.
La Petite Venise
La Petite Venise
Since it was
Saturday night in a touristy part of France, every restaurant was
packed... and no one seemed to speak a word of English. We went
back toward the hotel and sat down at the Restaurant Au Koifhus.
We waited for at least 20 minutes before deciding that we would never,
ever get service at this awful place (waiting 10 minutes to speak with
someone up
front didn't help either; they totally ignored us). We then sat outside
down at the Restaurant
la Musardiere
after they assured us they could serve us. Shortly after we sat
down it started to sprinkle, and they were able to move us
inside. After ordering and emptying our beers, we waited perhaps
45 minutes before we were ALLOWED to order dinner, and then waited a
few more days before dinner was actually served. We had once
again failed to have a decent French meal. At least we didn't get
rained on while we ate.
Previous
Friday August 24, 2012
Cabane de Prafleuri to Bern
|
Saturday August 25, 2012
Bern to Colmar
|
Next
Sunday August 26, 2012
Colmar, Eguisheim, and Munich
|
