Well it’s over a week since we left home and we’ve already been to five countries!!

After Cologne we travelled down the German border to Trier, it was a nice gentle journey through forests and along valleys, very pretty. It took us a while to warm to Trier, not helped by cold, damp weather, it has a pretty market square, Roman ruins and a fine cathedral. We actually went to an organ recital at the cathedral, it was advertised as 8 euros each, which we thought was ok for a bit of culture. When we paid on the door the lady changed us 5 euros for 2 … we couldn’t work that one out! The concert was very good though. From Trier we also had a day trip to Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a very stylish city and very green, lots of lovely parks, the city is built either side of a huge tree lined gorge which has lots of paths zigzagging across it. Helen and I are having lots of fun with the Merlin app which identifies birdsong, we heard a three toed tree creeper here 😊

After Trier we travelled down to Strasbourg. I loved this place pretty much straight away. It has rivers and canals, beautiful half timbered houses, a stunning cathedral and a lovely park. Even better, the park has storks nesting in the trees. They are amazing birds to see flying round. Merlin picked up a greater spotted woodpecker too 😊

Today we visited Colmar, it’s only 40 minutes from Strasbourg on the train. We arrived at 9am, before the crowds descended,we were glad we did. We were able to do the classic pretty photos before it got busy. Colmar is very pretty, lots of half timbered houses, it’s amazing how old these houses are, many from the 16-1700’s. We went for a walk through a park on the way back to the station, it wasn’t a particularly inspiring park but we clicked on the Merlin app and were amazed when it identified a firecrest, these are tiny birds and in the UK they are only found in a small northern area of Scotland.

Tomorrow we travel to Freiburg, back in Germany, we’re there for a couple of days before going to Switzerland.

Having travelled in several different countries now, we have a question…. doesn’t anyone else jaywalk?? It is standard practice in the UK that if the road is clear (or you think you can make it 😀) we cross regardless of whether the little man is red or green. Over here in Europe, there is not a car in sight but everyone waits patiently for several minutes until the green man appears…they are so good!!