Christmas Markets, 7 December 2023

We were very comfortable, if cold, spending the night in the car park at Sélestat. Of course, there was no electricity, so we had to rather ration the heating.

We thought we had better go to Ribeauvillé as soon as possible, to try to get a space in the aire there, but we stopped at Lidl en route to see if they sold mulled wine (of course they didn't - can you really see the French selling it in bottles?), and by the time we got to Ribeauvillé, it was too late, too late... And by the time we realised it was going to be too late, there was a long queue of hopeful motorhome waiting to try to get in!

So I said sod this for a game of soldiers, and we looked up Camping-Car parks, which have the merit of telling you how many spaces they have available! The nearest one was at Dambach-la-Ville, but although it was very nice and there was space, it was rather in the middle of nowhere. This one, at Andlau, is much nearer the centre of the village. 

I was fairly tired today, so didn't go out except for walking round Lidl, but this is Swan Whisperer territory par excellence, and he went for a long, healthy walk this afternoon which he thoroughly enjoyed, while I stayed in and read and did puzzles and so on. 

When he came in, we had a cup of tea, and may have dozed off for a bit. Then it was time to get supper, and I cooked a chicken, leek and mushroom casserole, which I served with mashed potatoes and carrots and Brussels sprouts. Followed by yoghurt. It was lovely! 

We plan to stay here tomorrow - I want to walk round the village, and there is a restaurant we might go to, for lunch if not for supper. And I expect the SW will want another long, healthy walk. I did ring the campsite where we are going on Saturday night on the off-chance that they would have space for us tomorrow night as well, but they sadly didn't. 

I haven't taken any photos today, so here is one I took last night. 

Christmas Markets, 6 December 2023

Sélestat, St Nicholas Day

Today seems mostly to have been taken up with finding somewhere to spend the night! We had hoped to go to Colmar for the next two nights, but hadn't been able to book into the campsite, and this morning someone reported on Park4night that the aire there was full. So we thought we would try Egolsheim, where there was a very nice, if expensive, aire. Unfortunately, however, the Swan Whisperer had been for a run (not really unfortunate - he loves it) and we were held up more by an extremely slow convoy on the motorway, so by the time we got to Egolsheim, it too was full. So we used the services and had a bit of a think. Finally we decided to come here to Sélestat, where the aire turned out also to be full, but there is a big, free car park just outside, and we are not the only motor home to have taken advantage of it!  So after lunch the Swan Whisperer went for an explore while I had a rest, and after a cup of tea we went for a very pretty walk round the Christmas markets here. They are so much better after dark!

There was an exhibition and stalls in what I think most have been a community centre of some kind, with stalls and, on the top floor, an exhibition of Christmas tables, some of which we liked, and some we didn't.

I am not very good at taking photos at night, but such others as came out will be on Facebook. After wandering around, we came back to the motor home, but the stall en route that said it had mulled wine didn't seem to, when push came to shove, but only sold horrid churros. We didn't bring any from Lidl (will have a look tomorrow to see if they do it here), so had to make do with beer, and then I cooked a butternut squash and chickpea curry for supper, which was lovely. And then it was time for the Advent course on Zoom, and now it is bedtime! The weather seems to have improved and there was hardly any rain! Long may that last. 

Christmas Markets, 5 December 2023

Ecomusée Alsace

We were too hot in the night, as the electric heating kept the WoMo lovely and warm. I slept fairly well, but the Swan Whisperer says he didn't, which is not surprising given that he had had no exercise!

We were away by 09:30 for another long, long drive across France, stopping only for a quick shopping and top-up of diesel, and then later for lunch. We finally got here about 15:45, just in time for the museum's reduced-price entry to kick in.

We were a little disappointed by the museum; somehow it wasn't nearly as good as we remembered from a few years ago. On our last visit at this time of year, there had been some sort of Christmas pageant, which I had not felt well enough to attend and the Swan Whisperer hadn't understood, but nothing like that seemed to be on offer today.

Lots of Christmassy decorations, and a very splendid Santa's grotto, with the elves busily stacking his sleigh, and carols - proper carols, not Christmas songs (but why English ones?) were played, but it was difficult to see which houses were open and which weren't, plus it was cold and drizzling, so I was quite glad to come away.

There is a restaurant which is both in the museum and in the nearby hotel, which said it was open for dinner, but its website hadn't been updated since 2021, when it would not have been, so we didn't try. I had been going to cook, but fell asleep, and in the end the Swan Whisperer made a demigod cheese and tomato omelette with leeks and chips, which was gorgeous!

No heating tonight, other than a quick blast before supper, as we are not on electricity, so we have retired to bed for the sake of warmth, and will read or watch videos until it is time to snuggle down. 

Christmas Markets, 4 December 2023

Clermont-en-Argonne

I had just got off to sleep last night when the fridge started beeping at us plaintively to tell us we were out of gas! So the Swan Whisperer got out of bed and went to change the gas, but after a few minutes, the fridge beeped again. So I got out and reset it, but then of course I was lying awake waiting for it to start beeping again (it didn't) and then wondering whether the Swan Whisperer had relocked the door when he came in (he hadn't), and whether I needed a wee (I did). So it was about 4:30 am before I finally got off to sleep. French time of course, but even still. 

However, it had not frozen overnight, although it was very cold. But a blast of the central heating meant that it was warm to shower and dress (I refused to get out of bed until it had been blasting for several minutes!). We had breakfast, although it was raining so hard that the SW declined to go for a run or even to go and fetch croissants. Nevertheless, it was about 10 before we finally used the services and set off.

Our first port of call was the local Auchan, where the SW got diesel and more gas, and I did a shopping. I'm sure that place is six times bigger than it was when I was last there. One nice thing is that I got a new loyalty card last time I was there, and it is on my phone, and I was able to use it for scan'n'shop. They have a rather clever system whereby you return your scanner to a slot outside the paying area, and then when you get to a till, you rescan your card so it knows who you are and what you have bought. I did have to have 3 items checked, which was just a random check,  probably because I hadn't used the system before, but that didn't take long. 

By then, the SW was back, although he had parked round the other side of the complex, so I had to go back through the mall to get to him. Thank goodness for Google location sharing services, as when I zoomed in, I could see exactly where he was, and I didn't have to phone him and try to work it out from his description. 

Then it was a long, dreary, wet drive along the A26 - over 300 km of it. We did stop for lunch, but that was all. I slept in the morning, but after lunch did a bit of knitting while trying to find some music to listen to that wasn't boring. 

We have, as I thought been to this aire before, one winter's day when we were in desperate need of services and couldn't find any that were not locked out of use. Although we haven't used them this time, we know they are there, plus also showers and loos should we wish to use them. 

I tried to do a bit of a workout as I hadn't had much exercise, but it was cold and wet so I only lasted 5 minutes! But that breath of air was glorious and I felt the better for it. The SW has barely left the WoMo today, escept to use the services and to buy gas. Unlike him, but the weather has been so very horrible. 

However, because we have electricity here, the WoMo is lovely and warm. It won't be tomorrow, as we don't have any services where we plan to park up, but hey. We can go to bed early! 

I was just about to make a chickpea curry for supper - I mean, to the point of getting out the vegetables and spices - when I suddenly realised that one thing I forgot to pack was cooking oil! However, I had bought a ready-meal of kidneys in madeira sauce, which we both love, so we had that with spinach folded through it, and a potato-and-leek mash. Followed by those lovely French compotes with cream on the top. Delicious. I will get cooking oil tomorrow and we can have the curry then, unless we ďecide to eat at the Ecomusée. 

I suppose that if I were nice I could see whether we can stream Mastermind and University Challenge to our television. That, after all, is what VPNs are for. So nice not to have to go to bed more-or-less straight after supper, which we do have to when there isn't electricity. Gas is not finite, and it's a bore when it runs out in the middle of the night. Oh, and the SW has repaired his reading-light, or rather, installed a new one, so clever of him! So that's good, when we do go to bed early. 

Tonight's photo is of the bowl I bought last Holidays, very cheaply, to use as a mixing bowl when required and to mash potatoes in, as we didn't really have anything suitable. We could use the bottom of the steamer, but then you have to decant the water somewhere (it's not a good idea to put it down the sink as it makes the grey water reservoir smell even worse than it already does). 

Christmas Markets 3 December 2023

So we are off on our annual trip to the Christmas markets of Europe.  This time, we are going to Alsace, which we have done before and are looking forward to doing again. 

I was preaching this morning, so we couldn't set off until after that had happened, and by the time we got away it was about 11:45. It was a very smooth run down to Sussex - we had got the first 25 minutes or so of the journey just going down to church - and we arrived there just after 1. After a delicious lunch of soup (made by my mother), bread and cheese (supplied by us), we loaded up the WoMo and set off. We were away shortly before 4, and arrived at Folkestone just on 6 pm, to be offered a crossing an hour before our booked one. And in the event, we were loaded on to the one 90 minutes earlier, which was terrific. 

Even so, it was past 8 pm, French time, before we were parked up in the aire at Calais and cooking pasta and (pre-made) sauce for our supper. 

It is a bit colder here than it was in the UK, but not by much, and just as wet! The forecast for the UK had been horrible - snow and freezing rain - but in the event it was much milder than it had been. All the same, because the heating in the church I was preaching in had failed, we were really quite chilled. I am looking forward to curling up in bed with warm pyjamas and a hot-water bottle! 

I didn't take any photos today, so here is one of a ginger monster that I took yesterday on my way to tai chi! 

Early autumn holiday, 8 October 2023

Of course, when you actually want to wake up early, you don't stir until the alarm goes off at 07:30! So it was a bit of a rush to have breakfast, start packing up and be away shortly after 9, but we managed it.

It's about a 45-minute drive to Cité Europe, where I did a dash into Carrefour for the things I hadn't been able to get yesterday, and then we went straight to the terminal. We were offered a crossing 30 minutes earlier than the one we'd booked on, but I'm fact it was only 15 minutes earlier, which was as well given the length of time it took to get through passport control, etc. We only had to wait in the holding pens for about 5 minutes.

After which it was a smooth run to no 6, which was expecting us to a very delicious Sunday lunch, as my nephew and his partner were there, too. They all went out for a drive round the woods while we packed up and cleaned the WoMo, and then it was time to go delayed by the Swan Whisperer'leaving his phone on the WoMo and having to rush and retrieve it.

We got back to London about 7:30 or so, unloaded the car (the eggs got dropped, so supper was an omelette!), did a bare minimum of unpacking, and so to bed. 

Early autumn holiday, 7 October 2023

The last full day of our holiday, sadly. Still, it's time to go home.

We bade our hosts farewell, buying some more of their utterly delicious yoghurt while doing so, and then headed into a nearby town to do a Last Shop, only they didn't have citrus tea or the extremely delicious chickpea salad that we enjoyed and I'm not sure what it contained (I think parsley, lemon and garlic, and perhaps a little olive oil, but wouldn't swear to it) . So if there is time tomorrow I want to pop in to Auchan or Carrefour or somewhere similar. Not the end of the world if there isn't time.

After this, we drove to the beginning of one of the more famous "pavé" section of the various cycle races, especially Paris-Roubaix, the Pavé d'Arenberg, where we also had lunch as we had timed it well! 

We decided the aire in Calais was too soulless, not to mention too expensive, for a Last Night, so we decided to go to this very nice aire in Esquelbecq, where we have been before. No sign of the peacock, though!  It's about 45 minutes from Calais, so we'll have to get up betimes (we can, when we have to!). 

I had been asleep on the drive over, and the Swan Whisperer wanted to "rest his eyes" (ahem!), so I went out for a short walk in the immediate area, which is indeed as nice as he said it was last year! He did similar when I came back, although I'm not sure where he went. I went to the local convenience store, but they didn't have what I wanted, alas. Also looked round the church and the brewery (its shop, not the actual brewery). Photos on Facebook, as per.