26/08/2022
It’s probably a blessing that we tend to forget some of the very annoying experiences in our lives. Like returning a hired car to an obscure location in a carpark surrounded by incidental roadworks that no GPS could possibly know about. The lady behind the counter was equally apprehensive when she saw us. Sugh! English! Not her strong point at all.
With our first cryptic challenge of the day successfully completed, we headed back to our little flat via a shop to get fresh croissants for breakfast.
I have a ritual when I do research for our trips. Rock Concerts, Classical music events, festivals, zoos or wildlife parks. And I was excited to find a zoological and botanical park in Mulhouse. From the maps, it looked like it was close enough to walk there, so we did. Humph! The entire way I could just hear my entire Pilates class either cheer me on, or point fingers and laugh at me for missing so many classes recently. Sure, it was walkable, up a fairly steep incline in the current excessive heat. But it was most definitely worth it. If only for the polar bears. And no, I don’t necessarily think that keeping animals like polar bears so far from their natural habitat, but I also really do appreciate being able to see animals that I would, otherwise, never be able to see. Like the Okapi, and the plump Tapirs, and the very expressive lemurs.
We loved spending the afternoon in the park. To the extent that we were quite happy to walk back home again (well – it was downhill, at least).
Seeing that it was our last evening in Mulhouse, we treated ourselves to a nice supper on the beautiful town square. The Alsace region of France has been passed between German and French control many times since 1681, when Strasbourg was conquered by French forces. That means that the culture here includes a lot of German stuff, like Flammekuche, or tarte flambée, a specialty of the region of Alsace, and Veal kidneys in mustard sauce with Spätzle (guess who had the Flammekuche!)
Tomorrow we head for Lyon by train. It will no doubt be a challenging day navigating the trains. But new adventures await.
What were Simon and Garfunkel thinking when they sang that song? Don’t get me wrong, it has nice wordplay, but really . . . You’d expect some of their other songs to be about washing the dishes and maybe ironing clothes. Not the first band (and certainly not the last) to sing a whole song about something so simple . . .
Glad you’re having a ball Wesmè