Our Side Trip To Colmar, France

We spent several days in Paris after our return from visiting Nantes, France. Do to ongoing protests that they have every Saturday in Paris and the fact that the police restrict metro traffic and that some areas are not really all that safe wherever the protesters decide to do their thing, that it can make it difficult to get out and about. Tear gas and water cannons along with burning motorcycles aren't really our thing so we decided to get out of the city.  I got online and purchased train tickets for us to get out of the city on Friday and come back on Sunday thus we left before all of the excitement begins and return after it all ends...at least for the weekend.

So we decided that we would go to Colmar. France, which is East and fairly close to the border of Germany. We had been there on a rather brief excursion this last Sept when we were on a river cruise/land tour. We had talked about possibly going back for an extended visit but did not really think it would be happening this soon. European train travel sure makes it nice and easy to get wherever you want to go...a very relaxing way to see the countryside while on your way to exciting destinations.

We stayed at the Hotel St. Martin for 2 nights while we were in Colmar. Here are some photos of the hotel which takes up sections of 2 buildings.

Below are various photos from Colmar

These young ladies belong to the Angry Mannequins Club

This building appeared to be caving into itself

This street performer was excellent

Canal scenes are from the La Petite Venice section of Colmar

After spending 3 days and 2 nights in Colmar we took a train back to Paris. We stayed in Paris for a couple of more days before having to take our flight back home.So what is next for us...A Baltic cruise and a return trip to Venice. 

Back From Our Vacation

We recently returned home from our vacation to Paris, France. I am working on the photos from that trip and will be posting about that trip in the near future.
Upon our return home we had the painting to the front of our house finished.
I also ended up pulling a couple of bushes from the front that have not been doing well. Those bushes had been in the ground for at least 15 years and one of them gave me a hard time and didn't want to come out but I was finally able to get everything out.
In one spot I plan on putting in a nice rose bush and I already put in a couple of hostas plants to fill in the area.
Here are the before and after photos of our house:

We still have some landscaping to get done and then in the Fall we will be having a new deck put in.

Whole House Backup Generator Is Up And Running

Our install of whole house backup Generac generator has been completed and we are up and running. This gives us peace of mind should the electricity ever go out, whether it be for a short period of time or for an extended period of time.
We remember what it was like when we stayed in our home during a hurricane that hit he Outer Banks a few years ago. The absolute worse part, at least for us and granted others had it much much worse, was when we lost our electrical power and it took a solid week to get it back on. Besides the food that was lost it was the lack of air conditioning that really made us miserable especially with the high humidity levels caused by all of the water and moisture everywhere.
We now know that no matter whether we are home or away our frozen food and refrigerated food items will be safe and that we can live somewhat comfortably until the power is officially restored.
Besides getting the generator installed, the painting of our house has begun. Depending on the weather, the house should be finished sometime later this week. Before and after photos will follow once the project is complete.
We will be getting our deck torn out and getting it rebuilt using the TREX brand composite decking...no painting and extremely low maintenance...maybe washing it down once in a while. We plan on extending our deck by a foot all of the way around, just to have a little more deck space. More on that project in the future.
Here are a few photos of the new Generac generator: