The Great Cat Escape

Travelled:0km
Stay:Turckheim free parking,no services N48.08555 E7.27739

It has been a very unusual day. We started with a walk into the village and the purchase of breakfast...croissants of course, which we had back in Bluey. 

Gary and Anita who are on their way back to the UK are travelling with their dog and cat. Unfortunately their cat has never travelled before so is very stressed and has been dosed up. It so happens that it didn't get its morning dose and managed to escape her harness. We spent half an hour trying to catch her, she found a few hiding places under their car and motorhome, escaping us each time before she had had enough of the games and found a motorhome engine bay to hide out in. Unfortunately the owners of the said motorhome were nowhere in sight, so after trying various methods of encouraging her to leave her spot, we realised that we would have to wait her out. So we set up camp, so to speak,  and kept watch. 

In the interim we got the gendarmerie to see if he could find contact details, Mark and Gary tried to find a way to open the bonnet amd I went to see if the pompiers (firemen) could help. Then after lunch, ie 2pm, I called the insurance company (in France each car has to have a green slip from an insurance company to declare that they have at least the obligated third party insurance to legally drive on the road). They were very helpful and called the owners of the motorhome. Luckily they were home and he came straight away. Now the next drama began...Gin the cat was not at all happy with us disturbing her peaceful and safe hidy spot and fought tooth and nail, literally, to not be moved. But she lost the battle, was sedated, put in her cage and then war wounds were assessed.

 Gary and Anita copped the worst of it. We quickly cleaned up and sterilised but thought it prudent to visit the chemist and the doctor. By 7pm we were doctored and ready for some much needed R&R. 

Tomorrow dawns another day and hopefully Gary and Anita will make their Thursday morning ferry crossing from Calais without any more incidents and we will head back into Germany to experience the Black Forest and Cuckoo clocks.

Turckheim France

Travelled:58km
Visited:Turckheim (France)
Stay:Turckheim - free parking, no services N48.08555 E7.27739

Drove into France today to Turckheim, just near Colmar to catch up with friends Gary and Anita who are traveling through on their way to the UK. We spent a lovely relaxing day and enjoyed visiting the Alsatian village. Every where we looked there were beautiful half timbered houses with colourful render. It is surrounded by a medieval wall with 3 gateways and is set in amongst the vineyards.
For dinner we went out to one of the many restaurants and had a very filling sauerkraut dish. On the way back to Bluey we spotted our friends and spent a pleasant couple of hours chatting.

Another day in Freiburg

Travelled: 20km

Visited: Frieburg

Stay: Frieburg- same as last night

We enjoyed our visit in Freiburg this morning, wondering around the various markets scattered around the town. We had our brathwurst sausages for breakfast and a punnet of raspberries. Got to keep healthy! 

Autum colours.

Artichoke flower.

This vegie is a mix of cauliflower and broccoli.

The left gargoyle has water coming out of his bum!

When we returned to Bluey, Mark found that the shower hose was broken so we asked the fellow looking after the parking where we could go and buy a new one. With the address in Camy and after a pit stop we were ready to go. Unfortunately along the way a car tried to squeeze his way past us and consequently didn't quite fit. The result is a broken side indicator light and a bit of a dint. He kept on driving and we followed thinking he was trying to find a spot to pull over, we quickly realised that he had no intention of stopping! So now we are on the hunt for a new light! The Ford dealer here doesn't have any in stock. Luckily a globe will still work in the interim. 

Feeling quite annoyed, as you can imagine, we were not in the mood to go on to our next destination. We returned to the parking we stayed in last night and our spot was still free, so we here we stayed and did a bit of maintenance, had a late lunch-early dinner (is there a word for that?), and then rode back into town to treat ourselves to a slice Black Forest cake and chatted to a friendly New Zealand couple.

On a technical point, I was feeling frustrated that our ipads were trying to download the new software update and used up all our mb for the day and thus putting us over the 10GB threshold for the month, resulting in our internet slowing down to 32kbps...making it difficult to do our usual blog uploads (photos will be loaded later) and researching. Luckily the month is nearly over and we have 2 days roamimg left with our French mobile plan. 

Life is full of surprises, ups and downs, but the show must go on.

Freiburg

Travelled: 180km
Visited:Freiburg
Stay:Freiburg-reisemobileplatz €9/24hr, € services

A cold start to the day. After a bit of research we decided to drive to Freiburg. We went through some pretty countryside and forests. 

In the middle of nowhere there was a tree with unusual  statues!

By the time we reached Freiburg it was a beautiful sunny day. After parking in our spot for tonight we rode the short way into the old quarter and then walked around. At the tourist information we were told we could buy Bluey's green zone enviroment sticker at the council next door. After showing the registration papers and handing over €5 we were now legally able to drive through any green zone city in Europe. We then had a late lunch and tried to walk it off so we could fit a slice of Black Forest cake but couldn't, so it will have to wait until tomorrow!  We followed the walking map and saw the main sites including the Town Hall, 

the House of Whale with gothic windows,

 the Regional Council Building, 

Munster the gothic cathedral made of red sandstone,

 the Historic Merchant Hall, 

one of the city gates to the main road.

On the way we saw some other things too.

Then it was back to Bluey for a refreshing drink and to enjoy the sun while it is here!