Di spotted it first, we were in Paris at the time walking down the hill from Montmatre; that universal leveller, the international thread that bonds all humanity, trady butt crack. Doesn’t matter where in the world you go, there it is, some bloke leaning on shovel, guts muffin topping the front of his king-gees, hairy butt crack hangin out the rear. A baguette replaced the meat pie but apart from that – the ensemble took me straight home; coke, crack and carbs, the same the world over.
Easy transition-day to day. A train pre-booked for Turckheim at 1pm so plenty of time to enjoy our hotel suisse breakfast; cold meet, cheese, boiled egg, pastry, coffee and fresh orange juice, before a brief stroll around the town then off.
We’d stuffed up a bit with the cathedral, did the roof climb but spent the rest of yesterday exploring the town. Today was Sunday, so Mass and no entry – not without a lot of Hail Mary’s anyway.
So we entered the Musee de Notre Dame across the square from the Cathedral and were very grateful we did. It holds the world’s third largest and best preserved medieval architectural drawings. They were stunning, showing plans and sections of the Cathedral. They had this amazing digitisation that morphed the drawings into the 3D cathedral. Some of the drawings were coloured, apparently like brochures to describe the design to wouldbe patrons – 800 years old! (I know we said the Cathedral is 1000 years old – it is. The initial building forms the inner more basic shell that they aggrandised 200 years later).
Changed trains at Colmar for Turckheim all up about 36min fast-training, 46min wait at Colmar, a brief walk across the bridge and “hey presto”, Turckheim. Turckheim is our start and end point for walking. We walked a little path around the old village this evening and found the club walk sign markers no problem – so we’re feeling more relaxed about that. The terrain is beautiful, these steep, vine-planted “balloon” hills (literally ballon de Voges over here) with little medieval villages snuggled into the valleys between, like a brick in a bean bag – though way more picturesque. In the middle distance there’s snow on the hills which seems such a contrast to the 32 degree day and 28 degree evening.
There’s a change coming we’re told – and rain, as you’d expected when you’re walking. However the forecast is 21 and mainly clear so I think it will be perfect.
The Hotel we’re in, Les Deux Clefs (The two keys) is four hundred years old. The timber beam in our room is a foot wide and the broad timber hallway floors squeak and creek as you walk about. The living area is a stylish but eclectic mix of Asia, Africa and France; Giant Buddha head, rhino, elephant, rich red Persian rugs, paintings, china ornaments, glass jars full of stones and trinkets – it’s all here.
Tomorrow the big walk begins.
PS Jordy you’d enjoy where we had dinner. The wal were strewn with broad swords, shields, longbows, quivers of arrows and longbows. On reflection, I’m not entirely sure that walls can be “strewn”? It seems more of a gravity-lead, all over the gound kind-of-a-word doesn’t. Anyhow, there you have it, walls “strewn” with weapons (be-strewned perhaps?). Three young lads crossed the car park with their push-bikes, shields and boradswords on their backs, dressed up in medieval garb – off to some event.