Colmar

Well, it's been a while, oops. I think we have pretty much told all about our first couple of weeks and we can move on to more recent stuff. Speaking of recent stuff, about a month ago (recent?) we took a little trip to Colmar, France. It is about a 30 min train ride and 45 min bus ride which tours through little towns, including one completely surrounded by a moat and city wall. It was really neat. Erika really enjoyed the seat belts in the bus. When we decided to get off the bus (we were a little unsure which stop) we chatted for a little bit and then realized we forgot our bag on the bus. So Jodi ran after it and banged on the front door to get them to stop. The bus driver was really nice about it. At least we remembered the kids. Colmar was great, and if Jodi had her way, I would be transferring to France ASAP. The architecture is completely different than Freiburg. Now that we think about, Freiburg is gothic-y, post-war-trying-to-look-ancient, and very orderly/put-together (great efforts considering most of the city was ruined by Allied bombing accidents in WWII), whereas Colmar had a rustic and romantic feel to it. I think this will be a definate sidetrip for anyone that comes to visit. We checked in at the tourist place, and then walked the town, and ate delicious pastries - something that is unattainable in Germany (good desserts that is). Some of the highlights were: seeing a big-rear bird (the biggest swan I have ever seen, don't trust the movie), hunting for bathrooms (a common theme of any outing with Erika), a large carousel, a beautiful modern park, a gondola ride in petit Venise, Erika's Paris dress, and Jodi enjoying old doors. During our hunt for the bathroom, we found some crazy public toilets. You have to pay 30 cents to open the bomb-shelter-style facility, and the door magically slides open to display your beautiful purchase. I almost vomited. It was dripping wet inside and smelt like an outhouse. The craziest part is that the toilet didn't have a 'hole' where the excrement gets flushed down (see pictures). I know, I am still figuring it out. At first, I thought it must spray the entire interior after a deposit because it claims to self-clean. I could just picture the gushing water and flying feces. Jodi thinks she's got it figured out, and if anyone else thinks they have an idea, we are open to suggestions. Erika vetoed the bathroom, and we continued our search. And yes, we came back and paid 30 cents again to take the pictures. I don't think we came across as tourists though. (Yeah right, taking pictures of a bathroom). The gondola ride down the river was probably the highlight, although Reese could have done with a 2 min ride instead of 30. He enjoyed running through the water fountains in the park and giving the swan a drink from his cup. By the way, sorry about the stellar video quality.

Next time: a tour of our 'finished', humble abode.

Jodi and Jeff