Today was another day of fine weather. I had read somewhere that the Alsace region of France has some of the most stable, sunny weather, and our experience certainly confirms this.

We had a lazy start today, partly as we’d planned to spend today exploring Colmar, so there wasn’t quite the rush to leave early and have lunches packed for a day trip. Once going, we wandered through the streets, past the macabre House of Heads, heading in the general direction of Little Venice, but stopping to look at the Dominican Church again, the indoor and outdoor markets, and the Tannner’s quarter.

"Little Venice" is probably a bit of a stretch – there are some lovely houses and restaurants low down right on the river, however there’s just the one very slowly moving canal, with a few tourist boats.

Our plan was to take a gondola ride, and we managed to find the little jetty alongside one of the restaurants on the water, and were given instructions to book at the bar. On booking we were told that the next available time was 2pm, so we walked the ten minutes home, promptly had lunch, and then returned to the jetty to queue for the boat (one of the best things about Colmar is that everything is so close, and with no cars in the centre of the town between 11am and 6pm, you can really walk to most places, quickly and safely).

We boarded the little gondala and the driver took us very slowly along the canal, first to the east, and then turning around and returning past our starting point heading west. For most of the way there were great inside views of all the buildings backing on to the water, and the guide pointed out various features, including one toilet drop, where a small section of a house overhung the river, for centuries past when the river was used as a means of waste disposal.

Towards the end of the half hour journey we moved under some low lying bridges (I had to duck to fit under) to less built up, and more treed areas, and we immediately felt the cooler temperature on the shaded parts of the river. Travelling by gondola is a very peaceful way to travel, however unfortunately it was over all too soon, and we made our way home, buying a discounted roast chook en-route with some of our remaining Euro cash.

After arriving home at around 3.30pm, we decided that we could still squeeze in something else, so we took the short drive to the village of Kaysersberg. If Riquewthr is supposed to be one of the prettiest villages in France, Kaysersberg must be one of the others challenging for the top spot. It’s another really pretty fortified village, with lots of sloping roofs, exposed beam buildings, a little river running through the middle, and a ruined castle up on the hill. It belonged to the Germans from the Franco-Prussian war (1870) through until the 1st World War. The castle remains, a fortified bridge and parts of the old wall all point to the town’s turbulent past.

We again ambled through the town, late in the day as it was, and eventually found the path up to the castle. Until now Oscar had been complaining that he was tired and couldn’t walk, however consistent with other times, he finds a second fuel tank for stairs, exciting tracks or forest paths, and he bounded ahead, leading us up the steep path, then stairs to the castle. All that’s left now is one tower, up on the hill, and Oscar again went charging ahead up another narrow stone staircase (we’ve seen a few of these). Again the view was amazing, this time looking right over the town, with all the steep roofs on display, with rows of vineyards off the side.

It was well worth the effort of a late afternoon drive, and we spent a few moments just absorbing what will be one of the last views of French countryside for some time.

We found another access point to the castle which returned us much closer to the car park, and I then jogged back to the original starting point to pick up the stroller, whilst the kids played in a nearby park.

We arrived home a little later than planned, but very happy with another great day, finished off with the roast chook and some cold veggies.