Bonjour, mon amis!

We made our way to Colmar, France today, a small city in the Alsace region, that boasts a very well-preserved old town center.  My broken German was no help to us today, but fortunately Chris maintains an equivalent amount of broken French, which was enough to get us through the day.  We arrived shortly before lunch time, so our first stop was to a park and playground for a picnic. 

The architecture in the old town is gorgeous.  Many of the shops have intricate signs hanging outside.  I have read others' descriptions that say it looks like the streets of Disney World or a movie set, except it's the real deal, and I'd have to agree.  We had a small map that I picked up from one of those tourist trains that we knew Josh wouldn't be able to handle, but it wasn't too helpful.  The center of Colmar is one of those places that you just need to wander through, and enjoy getting lost in the process.

As is the theme with this whole trip of ours, Colmar with two preschoolers is not exactly what the average tourist would enjoy.  The kids just don't understand the joy of wandering and seeing new things, and they always want to know what fun thing is coming next.  We don't indulge them all of the time, because of course it's important that they learn about real life.  However, for our own sanity, we do often try to plan trips around outings or sights that they will enjoy, at least a little!  For that reason, our next stop was the Musee du  Jouet, the toy museum.

Checking out firetrucks.

Racing to see where the train would go next.

Watching the jazz marionettes play and dance.

The kids are constantly hungry so our next stop was to one of the bazillion outdoor cafes.  Many of the eateries here feature the local delicacy, tarte flambee.  Chris and I ordered different versions of tarte flambee which is basically like a super thin crust pizza, but with creme fraiche instead of cheese, and no sauce.  The kids got pizza pizza and Layla enjoyed her fancy water glass!

Bon appetit!

Waiting for pizza while mastering magnetic tangoes,
one of the best travel toys that I found for the trip.

Josh demonstrates another great travel activity.  There are a bunch of cards with wipe-off activities.
Highly, highly recommend you purchase this Usborne product for travel, or restaurants,
or any time the little ones have to wait. Better than the smart phone.

We wandered some more and passed this amazing cathedral and also Little Venice. I mentioned that the kids don't love to just walk for walking's sake, but it turns out they do ok if you give them ice cream for the stroll.  The allergy cards that I had printed in French worked their magic today and the kids got soft serve in cups instead of cones.

After ice cream it's important to digest while riding horseback, so we headed straight back to the park to catch a ride (or two) on the magnificent carousel.

Ride #1.

A view of the second level. 

The amazing ceiling. 

Ride #2. 

Riding the carousel works up a sweat (no, not really, but throwing a fit when you aren't allowed to ride a third time does!), so our final stop was to the sprinklers.  I had a hunch something like this might happen, so we had extra clothes for the kids.  They had a blast!

Wet.

Wetter.

Wettest!

That's the two of them, right in the center.
Chris and I had retreated to the shade.

From there it was on to the train station and a bus back from the SBB.  Josh, who hadn't napped at all today, was a beast through the last leg of the trip.  But 2 minutes into the bus ride he was passed out and eventually cheered up for a quiet evening at home.