Finally a connection !

Sunday 20:00
Reflections on a day
It’s late – I’m staying in a first class hotel with third rate internet service. It costs $1.50 an hour and the service is marginal. So I will write now, before the Ambien kicks in and will transmit tomorrow.
Wow – what a day. Left the hotel at 08:00… headed north towards Strasbourg, looking for the Maginot Line – something the French did so well but oh so wrong. We found lots of sites. The first was the casement esch near Hatten… just a big bunker. The next was a large complex in Hatten, which was full of military hardware and a huge bunker. I did not realize how intense the fighting was in Alsace. The Germans invaded in 1940… the people of Alsace fled to SW France. The men who stayed behind (125,000) were conscripted into the German Army. Towards the end of the war, the towns were flattened by the Americans and Germans. Pretty depressing to see what these people went through 70 years ago.
On to Fort Schoenenberg, which is a fortress buried 30 meters underground and is 1000 meters long (we know… we walked all 1000 meters). 600 men lived underground, until the French capitulated to the Germans in 1940. I thot about the money it took to build this monstrosity… what a waste of time and materials… and for what? Oh, the insanity of war.
Onward… headed back to Colmar, polished off two jugs of Grande Reserve Reisling (Huber & Bleger…7.90E each) and went out for Chinese. Ahhhh… Chinese food in Colmar… Amazingly good!
Tomorrow we hit the one museum in Colmar, then to the wine road. The weather is getting better, no rain today and cloudy/sunny weather. The wine is good, as is the food. Wish you were all here.
PC

Monday 11:30 am
Up at 8 after a good night on Ambien. Hit the big museum in Colmar… a lot of old shit and some Jesus art. After awhile, they all start to look the same. Went to Monoprix, which is the Fred Meyer of France. They don’t give their stuff away here. Around noon, drove south to Eguisheim, in search of a bite, a splash of vino and some free internet. The latter seems to be hard to come by in this neighborhood. Nothing like the USA, where free wi-fi is the norm. Oh well… I can’t wait a while longer to see if the Ducks won…then again, who gives a shit if the Ducks won… I’m having a ball 5k miles from home.
The afternoon plan is to head to Kayserville and or Turkheim… grab a bite and a glass and just relax in the sun. It’s sunny but cold… think I underdressed. But as I always say… one can always buy more stuff. Only problem is that I have to carry it, and that backpack ain’t getting any lighter.
PC
Monday 12:00
I left that stupid coffee/internet shop. I thot the owner was a bit of a prick. So I left Dave & Rosanne there hacking on some funky pc’s and I walked outside. I’m sitting in a small square, in the shade of a maple tree. The sun is bright, but it’s jacket weather. The streets are small, as are the cars. There always seems to be too many cars in these villages, weaving in and out between pedestrians, dogs, cats and kids.
France this time is nice. It feels like trying on an old coat… warm, comfortable and you know not to put your change in your left pocket, because there’s a hole in it. It feels like tourism is down here, though. A bit of a recession… something everyone feels, but no one wants to talk about. Most of the tourists are old geezers, like myself. The major babes have all gone home to their jobs in Paris, so I’m left checking out the blue hairs from the tour bus. Such is life.
I kind of miss Provence… I think I fell in love with it last year. It feels more like California… this feels more like Oregon. Nothing wrong with that mind you… it’s just that I want a bit more foreign intrigue… Alsace is meat, potatoes and reisling… Provence is fish and rose. Alsace is Hansel and Gretel, Provence is Sophia Loren.
Don’t know what Germany and Austria hold… probably more of the same… where people talk like they have a mouth full of hot potatoes. C’est la vie!
PC