27 Seconds

27 seconds--that's how long it took for the 200 or so bicyclists in the Tour de France to pass our viewing position in Mulhouse. Add another 3 minutes for all of the cars to pass by that were carrying the spare bikes, and we spent maybe 30 minutes on our "Tour de France experience" from the time we claimed viewing space street side until we left to continue our other afternoon activities on July 11.

The Tour de France peloton rolls by on their way to the

official starting position of Stage 6.  A very high 

concentration of very fit young men!

After the cyclists came the cars toting the teams'

spare bicycles

It was a fun thing to see and we didn't mind at all that it was of such short duration. It allowed us to easily make it to the local cinema to see an afternoon showing of the movie "Yesterday" in VO (Version Originale).

5 minutes before showtime we were the only people in the

theater, but were ultimately joined by a few others.

It's been a relaxing several days in Mulhouse. We had no huge, significant "must do/must see" items on our list, so we simply did things as the mood struck us: evening strolls through various neighborhoods and local parks; checking out the local market, said to be the largest in eastern France; visiting the small fine arts and city history museums; more trumpet try outs for Lon at local music stores; occasional cycling jaunts; and checking out the city's Bastille Day celebration on July 13 (the day before the actual Bastille Day).

The Port of Mulhouse. C.A.R.I.B. III is in the center-right

of the photo.

Local bands, police, and firefighters during a Bastille Day

ceremony.

The "covered market" portion of the Mulhouse Market.

The amount of food offered was so overwhelming that

we left without buying anything.

The fresh produce section of the outdoor market. An additional

section of similar size "behind" us offered clothing, shoes, and a

variety of other goods. Also overwhelming.

Ah, the Good Old Days! Gossip too

much and you got to wear this heavy

"head" around your neck.

We discovered that the woods on the outskirts of one of the small villages near Mulhouse contained the remains of the battery of a heavy German gun that had been used to threaten the town of Belfort during the Great War. The platform that supported the Canon de Zillisheim (a gun originally designed for naval use) and the associated tunnels still exist as part of an outdoor "museum." With a range of 47.5 km, shells were fired toward Belfort 41 times between February and October 1916. The static nature of the installation ultimately made it impractical and the gun was removed for use elsewhere. Our interest in WWI history gave us the perfect excuse to hop on our bikes and check it out.

Lon approaches the main entrance to the 

underground tunnels. We briefly entered, but

didn't feel entirely comfortable staying inside.

Lon overlooking the gun emplacement site.

On the stairway leading down to the 

Command Center

Today we experienced "half-timbering on steroids" in the Alsatian town of Colmar, located about 25 miles (and a 20-minute train ride) to the north of Mulhouse. The city has a well-preserved old town and is a center for Alsatian wines. Like the rest of Alsace, Colmar spent much of its more recent history ("recent" being post-1871) moving between French and German control.

The streetscape is a mix of canal and 

colorful half-timbered buildings

The "Little Venice" neighborhood of Colmar along the 

Lauch River

The "Statue of Liberty" is the

symbol for the Colmar

 walking tour because. . . 

. . . the French sculptor who

created the Statue of Liberty- 

Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi-

was born in Colmar

As pretty as Colmar was, the fact that it had a "tourist train"

meant that it was more overrun with tourists than we like.

Tomorrow we "turn around" and head back the way we came on the canal. We had been looking forward to having Lon's cousin Frank Cedar as part of our crew for several days, but he caught a "bug" just before travelling and thought it best to cancel his trip. We'll have to give him a "rain check".