Daisy has left Paris and is off to wine country. And they’re driving on roads full of French drivers – mon dieu!
Anyone else going travelling soon?
This time last year I was in Fiji and am sorely wishing I was back there.
Daisy’s on the move
Daisy has left Paris and is off to wine country. And they’re driving on roads full of French drivers – mon dieu!
Anyone else going travelling soon?
This time last year I was in Fiji and am sorely wishing I was back there.
Here we go, here we go, he we go…bang!
10 minutes down the road and a small, white, speeding car smacks into our rear left and zooms of. Our first ding already.
This photo was taken 2 minutes before. Stupid driver…where’s my cane?
BTW, don’t you think, “Daisy’s on the move” sounds I am going to the toilet?
Yeah, we’re keeping up with your movements…..and bidet you well.
😂😂😂😂
Just checked the bingle. Phew. No damage. It sounded worse than it was.
Huh.
A feminine product at the roadhouse.
This was meant to post. Damn. Must be the French countryside. Pics won’t post.
I will post that one later.
On the way to Colmar.
That could be in the Adelaide Hills.
Yes, parts of the countryside are similar to ours in winter.
Here we are.
Check out this HomeAway rental:
https://t.hmwy.io/Jy5o7fM3IX
Colmar. The Alsace is so pretty.
That’s really weird. For some reason my “feminine products” wouldn’t post, and I cropped and recropped. I wonder if it might have been to do with the colour.
Anyhow it was a picture of bags of potato chips at the roadhouse; “Lady Chips”.
It amused my small mind. 😂
My mind’s even smaller. They’re called that so one won’t get fat, I read. Tres sexiste, non?
It still sounds kind of dirty though, doesn’t it?
Thanks, Dave.
Damn. I should have bought some. The ones I saw were bright purple. Perhaps aubergine.
I wonder what the man chips do.
Chocolate croissant.
More gorgeousness.
Our street in Colmar.
It’s beautiful.
Amazing, hey. And people live here.
The pen is as dangerous as the camera. Maybe worse. 😂
Damn.
Shopping in Colmar. I bought two of those snow shaker things. One for me and one for Woolif’s mum who has lost her short term memory. Every time she shakes it will be like the first time.
I’ve kind of always liked them.
Relaxing in Selestat. We has scallops, salad, chips and café frappé.
The menu….
I love menus that I can’t understand what I’m ordering, but that’s taking it a little bit too far, heh.
Something with fresh something. Sounds safe.
Two some sort of raw pieces of meat with fries (French, I’m assuming). Sounds a bit odd but okay.
Some sort of cabbage dipped in chocolate?
And lots of things with potato.
I’ve got this. You can count on me to keep you deliciously fed.
THAT’S exactly how we do it, Bobi.
And once we found out the word for cabbage, we eliminated all those dishes. Not that I hate cabbage buy I don’t want want a pile of it.
Sauerkraut/choucroute is rather popular in France in Germany (it is actually one of the most known German dishes^^). Basically it is white cabbage that is fermented. Usually garnished with black peppercorns and/or speck and you heat it, you do not really eat it raw.
In the area I am from, the Sauerkraut is usually eaten with mashed potatoes, caramelized onions and pork sausages “Bratwurst”. It was okay for me as a kid, but the older I got, the more I hated Sauerkraut. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerkraut – This is how it looks. It is very strong in flavour, quite acidic. I prefer the red cabbage version, which is rather tasty, especially for Christmas!
PS: That is why we are often called Krauts. 😀
That German though…. 😀
Yes, we love the French/ Germanic fusion of the Alsace. I find it wonderful that you can drive short distances and find different foods, culture, language and architecture. Wonderful
I would be good with the fries and salad. Other than that no idea what I’d get!
Some things we already know, some things we google. You can use a telephone ap. You hold your phone over the menu and it works like a magnifying glass, but instead of making the words bigger (well it does that too a bit), it translates. It’s like magic but it’s a bit hard to read. It’s easier to look up the words. That way you know them for next time. That was in another Village. The menus in Colmar usually include English. After French and German.
You have to be careful or you might find you’ve ordered gizzards or a plate of raw mince.
Yeah, I nearly Googled “frog”.
One safe option is Flammekueche in Alsace. 😀 It is superthin rolled yeast dough with crème épaisse mixed with fromage blanc (not sure how to properly translate it, but it is like very thick cream and the fromage blanc is a mix between quark and cream cheese) or crème fraîche, onion slices and speck/lardons. Then it is baked for a few minutes. They usually also have a vegetarian option. It is very delicious and aromatic, even though I do not really like speck.
If you mean a tart flambé, I just had one.
Yeps, exactly that. It is actually German, but very much adopted by the French cuisine. 🙂 In German it simply is Flammkuchen.
We usually have it during Wine Festivals. Or Zwiebelkuchen, it’s an onion tart. Just only never try the onion tart with new wine, basically the wine which is in an early fermentation process. You will never ever get off the toilet again. Ever!
German cuisine (this also goes for the cuisine of Alsace) is extremely hearty, German even more so. Lots of meat.
When you are in Germany, make sure though to try a Dampfnudel. It is freaking delicious, especially if they are cooked properly and have a crunchy crust on the bottom. Definitely check out local bakeries for proper bread, look especially for loafs made with spelt and rye. “Schwarzbrot”. But be careful, a good loaf can cost around 4 Euros.
Yes. I’m not a fan of it. It’s too heavy for my liking. But it’s doable.
We went to Kayserberg today. The max today was 37°and I loved it. We had fabulous homemade quiche and a blueberry tart that must have had about $30 worth of berries just in our slice. I could go that again.
It’s magical that people actually live in the fairty tale cottages in these villages. It’s like Hansel und Gretel.
Some of the Alcase food, isn’t doable. Once, in a ‘nice’ restaurant, we saw a guy served a plate piled high with a layer of mashed potato, a layer of cabbage, then on top a load of sausages and pork that looked raw because I assume it had been only lightly steamed. It was pink and soft.
I am finding all of the portions too big. I order salads but they are huge and fattening with loads of fattening things in them.
I have taken to ordering entrées as much as possible.
The cakes, I am fine with. 😋😋😋😋😋
Eeew. We are at a restaurant and at the next table a pretty young girl is eating raw mince. Harry and Maggies dinner when I won’t give them chuck steak.
Sounds like Steak Tartare. It would be made with the best cut of meat.
It’s not my cup of tea but I do know people who like it.
I’m guessing that’s it’s no different to eating sashimi, which I only do when I know that it’s absolutely fresh.
And it’s flesh.
As I get older I am heading towards vegetarianism. It’s my contribution to the fight against global warming.
And speaking of global warming, I hear Europe is in the middle of a heat wave. From here, that sounds lovely.
Yeah. It was steak tartare, but to me it’s still pet food. Raw cow.
And yes, it’s a glorious heat wave, although, it’s not the 40s we can get. I’m loving it because I don’t mind heat but hate the cold. It must be hot for the French because a lot of the news is about how hot it is.
It. Is. Not. Glorious.
I prefer around 20 degrees. I can deal with 25, but everything above that and my brain fails.^^ Plus I am a pale woman that gets burnt in the sun easily so I always wear long sleeves.
What might be nice temps for you guys, for most Europeans east of Spain and North of Italy and Greece it is just awful. Traveling with public transport is the worst as trains are not having ACs here, except for the TGV. Busses sometimes have them, but you won’t realize that being in a packed bus with sticky, sweaty and stinky people. 😉
Yes, this is a complete whine post. 😀
It’s so funny being a summer lover in a place where 34° is a heatwave. It’s like being an average swimmer in a group of Koreans on holiday in Vietnam. They clap like you are Michael Klim. 😂😂😂
Oh and Woolif just infirmed me (because I am trying not to look, it had a raw egg in the middle. Don’t worry. I know not to order this.
Out of the corner of my eye I can see her savouring that raw mince, and I can hear the savouring too. 😣
It is common here, same with Carpaccio. I would not eat it, especially with the current high temps. When it is hot, I also avoid Sushi.
Btw, the French love egg yolk in general. The first time I had a Pizza in the restaurant here, it come with a near raw egg on it. -.- It was not mentioned on the menu either…
Pork is very often used in Alsace, German influence. Especially in the area where I am from. Since I was a kid, I hated it. Everything is so heavy to eat, even though people call it “hearty”. It is just heavy and stays in your stomach like a brick. Also stay away from anything that is called “Saumagen” and “Leberknoedel” when you head to Germany. Same goes for stuff called “Schlachtplatte”.
Ha ha ha. I am pretty sure that I would have been careful about ordering “Schlachtplatte”. 😂😂😂😂
BTW, I love the sound of German and I love speaking it.
I feel you are the only person liking the sound of German.^^
In high school my girlfriend used to like it too. She loved when we learned the sentence Hans is nass. She thought it was amusing.
There aren’t many language I don’t like. I don’t like when people are too loud.
Your trip sounds absolutely amazing. Kaysberg does look like a fairy tale village or even a village where one could imagine Hobbits would live.
Hobbits must live here because I took this photo in Kayserberg yesterday. It’s a stream with sunlight on it. As you can imagine, I took lots of photos of it.
There were no tricks and it was just taken with my phone.
Every village is similar but different. They are within cooee of each other; 10kms or less. Each village changes, depending on the time if day, or season. We went to Kyserberg yesterday morning and it was very quiet and still. We went back this afternoon to take more photos of that stream, and the place had a very different look.
BTW, I thought I might find the stream not glowing gold and you could compare it, but it was even more vibrant.
All of our village touring has been from our base in Colmar. It only takes up to 20 minutes to reach a village. It’s hard to choose a favourite village, but I had I think perhaps Eguisheim and Kayserberg might be top of my list. And I had a great time in Selestat.
Fairytales everywhere. Today we went to Eguisheim. It’s one of my favourites. Then I just had to ho back to Kayserberg to see if the stream was still golden. It was.
Eguisheim…. It’s so hard to choose a pic…
This might sum up Eguisheim…an eyefest.
Eguisheim beauty…..
It’s a lovely hot day in Eguisheim. About 37 °.
See the little girl taking a dip. As did I. 💖
And one more because I love this pic.
No one more, one more. It was a day of close ups. Beauty and fairy tales everywhere.
Onnnnne more.
I am suffering from a small attack of Envyitis.
You and me both. It all looks lovely, Daisy.
Oh, that’s so cute. The cat I mean. I will try and think of something horrible to tell you. Oh yeah. I wouldn’t live here.
And they have really weird washing machines. The one we have atm is like something from the 50s…but it’s new. It’s really strange. You have to lock the clothes in an inside, metal compartment before you start the cycle. I keep forgetting.
Oh and you have to get used to getting emphysema from 2nd hand smoke.
Don’t worry Bobi. I’ve had as much crap in my life as the next person. Well, maybe not as the little girl living on the streets of Bombay. 😢
But I’ll enjoy it while I can.
Now you’re getting crepe.
Now that’s funny. There is an ad on here that keeps suggesting I need to get rid of my crepey skin. 😂😂😂😂 Other than that…can you believe I haven’t eaten a crepe while here. What’s the big deal. They are just pancakes.
I did have one with ice-cream and Grand Marnier on the last trip. (Shrugs). The ice-cream and alcohol were nice.
But I’m not being totally unappreciative. I have been enjoying the coffees, scallops and cakes. 😋 The French are very liberal with their scallops.
Which made me question…what do the French call the English Channel. Not the English Channel. 😂
Moving to Strasbourg tomorrow.
https://t.hmwy.io/52swouk4MX
On the move again, to Strasbourg. Good music. Nice sunshine. I’m impressed that Woolif is able to drive everywhere. Then there are things like working out how petrol bowsers and toll stations work.
I no longer know my left hand from my right.
I saw some children today and had the urge to cuddle them. I miss my grandkids and the kids I teach. Maybe when we reach ttaly someone will let me squeeze their Bambino.
We have been patting all the dogs.
Mostly small breeds here.
We got new gumboots
I want to have fall too. And rain!!!!!!!
I saw a little doll like creature today who was being especially cute looking down at us as we descended using the escalator. It’s a shame they have to grow up.
I hear it’s really hot 🥵, eh.
This is France atm.
http://vigilance.meteofrance.com/
Strasbourg will stay hot, but we have a drop from 38 today to 28 tomorrow. I. Really. Really. Really. Hate. Summer. A lot!
In the South we had a record breaking 45,8° Celsius. A lot of deaths so far related to the heat as well, especially in Spain.
We are loving it, especially as it’s part of the reason we come. Mad Dogs and Englishmen….and Aussies walk out in the mid day sun. 😁😁😁😁
And our apartments are breezy, with fans. I hope the weather stays hot for the next 3 months.
When we first arrived in Paris it rained a bit, but not enough to stop us doing anything because it was only light and occasional. The main thing; it hasn’t been cold.
Bobi, I was thinking the exact same think. Yesterday saw a cute tile on a scooter and said in my head. “Why can’t they stay like that?”.
For vacation it might be nice. 🙂 Not so much when you use public transport to get to work. But well, it is usually just a few weeks. So I will survive. I am just a total autumn person. I also like spring a lot because those two season are just beautiful.
No complaints about the weather in Strasbourg.
It’s supposed to reach 38° today. That’s not that hot when you have AC, a swimming pool and the option of beaches, but it’s different for people who don’t. I think that’s why the news here makes a huge deal out of anything over 34°.
But thankfully, our apartments have had such thick wall to keep the heat out, and have let the breeze in at night. Also the owners have put fans in all the rooms.
I don’t mind walking in the heat. There was a long heatwave at the start of our last trip, so we expected it.
Zhee, we have Deutsche tv now. Arthur is watching something with words like “muss gehen” and “alles kinder”. You can see I have forgotten my highschool German. 😭
Woolif just burst out with “Montag!”
I have to be honest, I have no idea what is really on German TV. I watch just two German shows online, one is being available on Youtube, the other one on ZDF Mediathek, which can be accessed even through a French IP. When I visit my sister, we only ever watch the German GBBO version. Other than that, no TV.^^ And my sis only watches Shopping Queen sometimes and otherwise it is Prime or Netflix at her home.
But I remember that back in the days, when I still lived in Germany, TV throughout the day was horrible. Talk shows, soaps or weird reality TV programming, especially on cable.
Woolif and I are sitting in a lovely Alsace restaurant having a midday brunch. No, it’s after midday, and we are inside with the AC, while everyone else is outside in what might be mid to high 30 degrees. Funny that.
Strasbourg. It’s not all this pretty. I was put off last night, when we walked up a main square, by the litter, homeless drunks and squalour. Then you see this.
The same as many places I suppose.
Well, it is not like Paris is all dreamy and charming either.^^ If you landed at CDG and possible took the B train into Paris, you travel through some of the worst parts anyway.
Versailles is the same. Some charming places, but late at night or in the early morning, everything is just full of litter and it is dirty.
PS: The first time I have been in Strasbourg was a day I will never forget. A stupid pigeon flew over us and its poop droppings went right into my hair….
Now that we have had the time to explore more places, yes it averages out.
I think it was just particularly bad that day. We have been up that same street again and it wasn’t as bad.
But throwing cigarette butts in cobblestones? 😣 Yes, people did that in Colmar and France.
Cooling off after a very long walk in the heat wave. 😂 The tunnels are the best.
In Australia, people would just think you’re drunk, daisy. C’est la vie.
Thanks for explaining/ your alibi.
Everyone here probably thinks I am drunk; 2x Gabapentin, 1x tegtretol and ….cobblestones. Really wobbly cobblestones. 😂😂😂😂
Ist das fraulein drunkenkopfen?????
(They sprechen French and German here. It sounds funnier in German)
Zoe can correct mine errors. 😭
I meant Zhee, not Zoe.
It’s the Strasbourg version of going to the beach. 😁
Zhee, we are taking a very long stroll around Strasbourg and see how pretty it is.
Strasbourg has won me over. 😄
And St Peter’s Strasbourg is the most gorgeous and splendiferous cathedral I have ever seen. Which ever way you looked. It had at least 6 chambers and was as amazing looking to the front as it was looking back. One photo can’t do it justice and it’s hard to choose a pic.
Impossible to choose.
St Peter’s was stunning everywhere.
Go to my fb, Grace Begley, if you want the video. The guy was great. Compensating for not having a monkey?
Driving into Germany now. Very beautiful, green pastures. It’s funny how much it changed just when you cross a border. Better quickly stop speaking French and brush up on my German.
Guten Tag!
I hope you enjoy Germany. 🙂
My mother is in France right now, but it is only 3km for her anyway. It is fun how you just can cross borders without a wall, no passport control etc.
And weird how suddenly it changes.