Today was mostly fine with temperatures in the low twenties. After a sleep in I walked all of fifty metres to a boulangerie/patisserie and quickly fell back into our Paris mode of ordering chocolate croissants and a couple of baguettes for the day.

Amelia wasn’t feeling that well so I took the kids out for a walking tour of central Colmar and did the obligatory stop at the couple of parks we came across to give Oscar a play. Speaking of Oscar, as we made our way home (and when I wasn’t watching) he took it upon himself to drink a whole lot of water from a fountain with the words “non-portable”(urghh)! So far he’s been (mostly) okay. We also visited one of the impressive churches on the way home, however in writing this now I can’t remember which one so I’ll save the detail for another time.

Lunch was baguette, ham, cheese and an apple (trying to keep the fibre up!), and then we headed out in the afternoon to a toy museum. Costing all of six euros for the four of us, it was money well spent. The kids loved looking at all the old toys, many of them from my own childhood. They played on the really early model Playstations and Nitendos, and had lots of fun despite the appalling graphics and clunky joysticks.

Half way through the owner of the establishment ushered us into a mini-theatre and we listened to a puppet-doll narrator (with very limited jerky movements) give us an intro, and then the curtain was raised and we saw a whole orchestra of musician dolls, playing all sorts of instruments. With the number of dolls there was a bit to look at, which was just as well as they all just made one movement i.e. arm up and then down again. They did this for one complete song and then the curtain fell, the narrator puppet doll finished off, and that was it! The concerto had little added benefit, but considering we only paid €6 for the whole visit, I wasn't complaining!

I finished off the day with an ice-cream, but the kids wanted to use their ice-cream allowance on mixed lollies from the lollie shop, so we spent a fun 15 minutes carefully choosing a selection of lollies and progressively weighing them to ensure they stuck to their budget. Just before home I gave the kids a ride on the carousel (€5 this time), and it’s surprising how something as simple as a cheap ride is a big deal for them.

Dinner was a couple of supermarket pizzas and salad. Overall it was a pretty simple (and cheap) day, but the kids actually rated it as one of their best. For me, I really enjoyed the chance just to walk around Colmar’s inner city. The main inner stretch is restricted to pedestrian access for most of the day, so you can just amble along at your own pace, and enjoy the beautiful coloured buildings.