After two nights in the big city, it was time to head somewhere more quaint. We trained to Colmar, France where we checked into a hotel built in 1565 in the district known as Petite Venice. Lucky for us the hotel had a nice restaurant along the canal since it turned out that much of the town was closed for a winter break. It was very relaxing being in this sleepy, old town.
After much confusion and changes in plans due to an unexpected deportation that actually worked to our benefit (but you’ll have to hear that story in person), Jimmy arrived back in Europe on February 1st after over 4 months away. Lucky for us, Sally looked after the girls so we could have some time alone. I met him in Germany, complete with running down the train platform to jump in his arms, and we trained to Strasbourg, France for 2 nights. We found a nice hotel in the historic city center and spent many hours just wandering around. We visited the Kronenbourg Brewery without realizing the brewing had moved to another city several years ago, we wouldn’t understand a word of the tour, and the French version of Guiness sucks. We had more success visiting the beautiful gothic cathedral and the fine art museum. We took lots of photos, but only managed to get this one of the two of us.
It was definitely worth the walk in the wind to actually enter the Deltaworks. It was very cool to actual enter the superstructure and walk in an area above the swinging gates and below the road, although I didn’t take any photos inside. Then we walked around outside, which was very impressive. For the first time since the barrier was completed in 1986, it was closed in November 2007 along with all the other barriers on the coast as Holland braced for a huge storm surge. We were relieved to learn that they all worked and there was no flooding.
It was a cold day in January and Buddy wasn’t thrilled about the walk outside, but we couldn’t drive that far and not see the barrier up close. We’d actually driven across this barrier on the way to the artificial island where Neeltje Jans was built.
I always enjoy finding unusual signs when we visit a new country. I especially liked the above sign at the National Gallery in Helsinki. Luckily the WC wasn’t full so we didn’t have to use the “one in the ground.” Also, luckily the WC during the husky ride was more than a hole in the ground. There was a compost toilet, which came in handy, but not much fun stripping out of our ski overalls to use.
On our last full day in the Artic, we didn’t have any big adventures planned. We set off to see if we could find any reindeer in the woods behind the igloo village since we’d seen some from the bus. Our search was successful, but the photos aren’t the best since I didn’t have a telephoto lens. Veronica tried creeping closer, but didn’t have much luck before they ran off.
After our 30-minute ride, the girls were happy to finally have a chance to pet one of the tamer reindeer. Then we went into a teepee for hot berry juice and pancakes cooked over an open fire. The girls were thrilled to do the cooking and I was thrilled to warm up my frozen feet. That afternoon we took a bus into town, went to an indoor pool and went out for lunch. Although I stopped eating beef for environmental reasons in 1999, I ate sauteed reindeer with mashed potatoes, and then on our last day had pizza with smoked reindeer, which I preferred. While Veronica was appalled, Ashlynn was very pragmatic about it, although wouldn’t try any.