Page 5
Europe
2005
Page 5
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Our second day in the Alsace region
is spent at the Schlumf
Museum in Mulhouse which is a 30 minute train ride away from
Colmar. Once again the
train is bang on time and the return tickets very cheap. The museum houses the
largest and most valuable collection of Bugattis in the world, and it's
somewhere I've wanted to visit ever since the collection was discovered
back in the late 70s. There's a fascinating story here
of how the secret
collection of priceless classic cars was discovered by angry workers at the
Schlumf brothers textile mill.
One of only a handful of the huge Bugatti
Royales in existence
The lighting in the
museum is kept deliberately subdued to preserve the cars, it can take a few moments
for the eyes to get used to it.
It does provide an ambience of mystery to the place though. Some of the cars
here are priceless
The most famous &
evocative Bugatti of them all, the Type 35. This hall is dedicated to it
and it's incredible success as a race car
Returning to Colmar in the afternoon we stroll around the "Little Venice" area of the old town. and take the following photos. It really is lovely here.
Little Venice is a lovely area
of the town to
stroll around with it's waterside bars and restaurants...............
...................But other parts of the town are equally as nice
Where we stayed, the Hotel St Martin
- same place as on our 2004 bike tour
A lot of the buildings
here have a very heavy German influence. Considering the history of the town
that's hardly a surprise, it's location so near to the border would more or
less guarantee that at some time it would have fallen within the German
boundary.
A potted history of Colmar.........
".............. Founded in the 9th
century, this was the place where Charles the Fat (Yes really!) held
a diet in 884.
Colmar was granted the status of a free imperial city of the Holy roman Empire
in 1226.
In 1632 during the the 30 years war the city was taken by the armies of Sweden
who held it for two years. The city was united with France in 1697.
With the rest of Alsace, Colmar was ceded to Germany in 1871 as a result
of the Franco-Prussian War. It was only reunited with France after World
War One."
On our last day in Colmar we take a run over the Border into the Black Forest on
the bikes. The idea is to just go ride some of the roads
there so no photos are taken . Tomorrow we continue north and into
Germany for the next nights stop at Losheim in Germany.
The bikes packed and ready to leave
Colmar for Losheim in Germany
After a long and quite boring run north to Losheim it's mid afternoon
and we're now booked into the superb See
Hotel which is situated at the side of a small lake about a mile from the town
centre. As
usual, being a German hotel it's remarkably clean and comfortable and the
staff although they speak no English are amiable and helpful. Our evening meal here is excellent, and there's lots of it. As we
sit on the terrace with a few buckets of beer we're entertained by a
German Oompah Band, who admittedly sounded better the more we drank...maybe it's ploy to get us
all to drink more!
This part of Losheim is quite novel. The lake is about a mile or so outside the
little town, and a whole leisure industry has grown up around it. There are
bars, restaurants and of course the hotels. There are also outdoor activites
including barbecue areas etc centered around the lake and judging by the amount
of youngsters there it seems very popular for school / club outings. Great place, we
enjoyed it.
Nice
view to wake to in the morning - from our balcony
The final stop of our tour
is to
be in Brugge, Belgium. Following a bright sunny start we soon run into some ominous looking
clouds, so after about 20 miles we stop to put on the waterproofs, which so far this trip we haven't needed. The run north is done almost entirely on the
Autoroute in
the kind of rain that comes down like ballbearings........ occasionally moving up a gear and turning into
cannonballs! We stop at a service area after 100 miles or so for a bite
to eat and when we continue the rain has eased a bit.
This is a long boring run of about 275 miles but we arrive in Brugges
mid-afternoon and locate our hotel. Cordoeanier in the heart of Brugge behind the old square.
They've changed all the parking rules in Brugge, with no street parking allowed in the old city at
all so we've arranged with
the hotel owner to leave the bikes in a lock up garage on the opposite side of
the narrow street
to where the hotel is located.
The
first thing to go wrong is when the woman from reception takes us over to open
the automatic garage door. We've put the bikes in but the door is on a timer and
after a certain length of time shuts itself. Before we manage to get all the
luggage etc off the bikes, the huge door begins to close
automatically and the woman fearing we would be
locked in panics and tries to stop it from closing by grabbing hold of it and
forcing it to stay open. We yell at her to
stop but too late, the door springs off its runners with a loud clatter. It's a good job Wesley's a tall
guy, it takes ages fettling it but he manages and we eventually get it back and running smoothly again - stupid bloody
woman!
When we eventually
get to our room, Wee Jimmy Krankie and me aren't very impressed. It's a very shabby hotel which looks like a damned good scrub wouldn't do it any harm.
Certainly the stained pillow cases are long overdue replacement, in fact a good wash wouldn't do them
any harm either. When we look closely there's matted hair tangled up in them, and it s not ours! It's only for 2 nights so we put up with it, anyway its position just off the
Market Square was ideal for us.
For the evening we've booked ourselves a meal at the excellent T'Pudjie
restaurant at T'Zand, near the theatre. We've been there before and it has to be
one of the best places to eat in Brugges, the food is just fantastic. This
visit is no less brilliant than the last time we ate here, Morticia and Wee
Jimmy love it, especially the Cocktails.
The next day is spent mooching about Brugges in the rain and thinking about
getting home after 3 weeks touring on a motorbike.
(Photo Wesley)
We leave for Calais and the ferry early, in bright sunshine.
The 3 weeks have flown by and we've covered a fair few miles in excellent company, it's been great having our wives along as
well, although we did
have to behave ourselves just a bit. I think the girls now
appreciate that when we go off on our "Boy" tours they're not so much holidays
as "Voyages of Self Discovery"............Well that's what we always tell
'em anyway! The
bikes
have been superb, none of
them has missed
beat but that's Hondas for you - ultra reliable. Wee Jimmy Krankie
has thoroughly enjoyed herself but alas this would turn out to be my last long bike
tour so it would have to remain
her first and her last.
Finally.................
I've been itching a bit since we arrived in Brugges, but by the time we
arrive
at the
ferry, I'm like a mangy dog, as is Wee Jimmy. It's been very warm so we put it down to
that. However when we get home we discover we're covered in bites.... In the Alps it may have been the hills
that were alive, but in Brugges it was our bed
at the Hotel Cordoeanier........it had fleas. That's another place crossed off my list of places
to stay ever again.
During the winter months we'll be busy planning more tours for 2006.