Epinal to Colmar (13 Apr)

Today we are catching the train from Epinal to Colmar. A charming town, situated in the north-eastern part of France's Alsace region. We are slightly hesitant about how our train trip will pan out and believe it will be train/bus/train again, with a lengthy 2hr 30min layover. 

Again we are fortunate with the weather and happily sit outside the Saint-Die-des-Voges train station awaiting our bus replacement. Once it arrives, we stow our suitcases in it's bowels and board the bus. They are a bit high tech over here and as I hold my ticket to a weird looking machine it won't read it. The Bus Driver (who doesn't speak English) jumps out of her seat with a frown and intimates I'm supposed to hold my ticket in front of the camera - like I know which option that is on the weird machine!!

In the end, she can't get it to work either, decides to look at my ticket and then says OK & let's me pass to grab a seat!! About an hour later and with some fast driving we arrive at the train station which is only 20km and one train stop away from Colmar. Once again we drop our suitcases off to be looked after by Nanny bags and head off to explore whilst waiting to be able to access our next airbnb.

We find a fantastic park and decide to have crepes for lunch - which are so light & yummy before heading back to collect our suitcases and finding our airbnb. We back track through the park and are delighted to find our accommodation is only about 50m away from it's northen end.

Our home for the next 2 nights is extremely well situated to access all the sightseeing places with minimal effort. One of our airbnb's best feature combines 'a small space with the necessity of life'. What is it, I hear you ask? A mini sink embedded as part of the cistern. Brilliant 😅😍

Having met our host and getting the lay of the land, we head off to immerse ourselves in some sightseeing. Colmar is a charming town with picturesque beauty and a rich history. First we discover this incredible tree in full bloom looked at from 2 sides:

Having walked around the corner above we witness the Dominican Church whose construction commenced in 1283, but most of it's construction dates back to the first half of the 14th century. If you look closely you will see me standing to the left of the door (about the middle of the pic) to try and show how huge the cathedral is: 

We decided it was time to grab some supplies - namely cheese, biscuits, wine & dinner. The day was glorious, so we prepped the cheese, bickies & wine and looked who popped by to join us:

She doesn't say much, but enjoys a bit of cheese and wine!!

We finished up out on the deck enjoying the balmy weather and a bevvy.

We are very excited about tomorrow as we are being joined by an old High School buddy & her hubby who are popping over from Switzerland to spend some time.

Whoo hoo :)