Where is Bertie? He remains unmoved, in Obernai.
Weather: Overcast but warm and humid. A few rumbles of thunder around tea time.
Shortly before I stepped out of Bertie's door this morning, I came to realise that I was hearing a lot of vehicles moving around outside. It then occurred to me that we had read yesterday that Thursday has been market day in Obernai since the fourteenth century. When I did step outside at 9am, it was to find that this vast car park was more than full, with cars squeezed everywhere, whether legal or not. People were heading in droves towards the town.
I decided to go a slightly longer way around to join my intended route, rather than going along the ramparts. A good call as it turns out that's exactly where the market is located and I've proved before that trying to run through a market that is in full swing isn't good for anyone.
My chosen route was a little disappointing as it had more hard surfaces than I would have preferred (like when in the Moselle region a couple of weeks back, many tracks through the vineyards here are tarmac), and the weather didn't help either, with a cloudy sky and severely curtailed views. Having made the effort to get up high, it would have been nice to have been able to see further.
Grape harvest in progress - all being picked by hand.
Views
On the plus side, the route took me through some residential streets where I enjoyed oggling the houses (including some new builds).
I even found the capacity to whinge (if only to myself) when I found myself on a dirt path, although only because that's where all the flies were hanging out.
It hadn't seemed possible, when I set out, that the town and car park could get any busier, yet busier it was.
Next on the agenda had been to go into town for tea and cake, at a Salon de Thé that we'd eyed up yesterday. Suddenly it seemed that we shouldn't have waited, as surely on market day, with everywhere so busy, it would be full of hungry and thirsty people.
First, though, a walk through the market, which proved to be large (strung out along the ramparts) and varied, with standard goes-wherever-there's-a-market stalls, mixed in with local farmers selling their own produce.
We arrived at our tea shop to find it ... empty! That was a surprise!
Yes, that Black Forest Gateau was huge, but we did go sharsies.
Half an hour later.
Making our way back through the town, now well into the standard French lunchtime, the other eateries weren't even half full either. With the market in the final throes of being disassembled as we walked back through, and with the car park still being rammed, it's a mystery as to where everyone was. What were we missing?!
We got back to Bertie to find that the small car that had been alongside him when we went out had been replaced by a motorhome and, on our approach, we weren't sure whether we were going to be able to open our door, so close were they (it was a tight space). I had every faith that it wasn't their ideal parking space and that they would move as soon as something better became available, and so they did.
A brief 'stay or move on' discussion resulted in 'stay'. There was nothing else we wanted to do here, but we both had some work to do, so there was no real value in going somewhere else, particularly with the risk that it may be noiser or slopier than here.
The only slight negative of spending another night in this location is the cockerel that lives about three meters behind Bertie!
Weather: Overcast but warm and humid. A few rumbles of thunder around tea time.
Shortly before I stepped out of Bertie's door this morning, I came to realise that I was hearing a lot of vehicles moving around outside. It then occurred to me that we had read yesterday that Thursday has been market day in Obernai since the fourteenth century. When I did step outside at 9am, it was to find that this vast car park was more than full, with cars squeezed everywhere, whether legal or not. People were heading in droves towards the town.
I decided to go a slightly longer way around to join my intended route, rather than going along the ramparts. A good call as it turns out that's exactly where the market is located and I've proved before that trying to run through a market that is in full swing isn't good for anyone.
My chosen route was a little disappointing as it had more hard surfaces than I would have preferred (like when in the Moselle region a couple of weeks back, many tracks through the vineyards here are tarmac), and the weather didn't help either, with a cloudy sky and severely curtailed views. Having made the effort to get up high, it would have been nice to have been able to see further.
On the plus side, the route took me through some residential streets where I enjoyed oggling the houses (including some new builds).
It hadn't seemed possible, when I set out, that the town and car park could get any busier, yet busier it was.
Next on the agenda had been to go into town for tea and cake, at a Salon de Thé that we'd eyed up yesterday. Suddenly it seemed that we shouldn't have waited, as surely on market day, with everywhere so busy, it would be full of hungry and thirsty people.
First, though, a walk through the market, which proved to be large (strung out along the ramparts) and varied, with standard goes-wherever-there's-a-market stalls, mixed in with local farmers selling their own produce.
We arrived at our tea shop to find it ... empty! That was a surprise!
Making our way back through the town, now well into the standard French lunchtime, the other eateries weren't even half full either. With the market in the final throes of being disassembled as we walked back through, and with the car park still being rammed, it's a mystery as to where everyone was. What were we missing?!
We got back to Bertie to find that the small car that had been alongside him when we went out had been replaced by a motorhome and, on our approach, we weren't sure whether we were going to be able to open our door, so close were they (it was a tight space). I had every faith that it wasn't their ideal parking space and that they would move as soon as something better became available, and so they did.
A brief 'stay or move on' discussion resulted in 'stay'. There was nothing else we wanted to do here, but we both had some work to do, so there was no real value in going somewhere else, particularly with the risk that it may be noiser or slopier than here.
The only slight negative of spending another night in this location is the cockerel that lives about three meters behind Bertie!
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