We went to the same campground we stopped at in 2002. We remember that it was raining then and we were not allowed to pick a site at the lower level, which was at river’s edge. The next morning we saw why. Swans were swimming over those sites. The river flooded in the night. The remarkable thing, for us, is that we do not remember how we found this campground the first time. We did not have the books we have now, which list many, many campgrounds and how to get to them. But we remembered it was on a river near Colmar. This year, we found one that was on the river, decided on it, and it was the same one.

When Adelle wrote Take Your RV to Europe in 2003-4, there wasn’t much doing in the way of WIFI. Boy, have things changed. We noticed a WI FI sign on a rest stop on the highway! Our blood pressure stays low when we can use our own computer because we don’t have to use a French keyboard, which is very different from what we know.

There was no problem getting to Colmar or to the campground. We wanted to do two things in town: walk around and just see the old architecture (which is justly famous) and to go to the Bartholdi Museum. Remember him? He designed and built the Statue of Liberty! But the museum is open from 10 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm. Lunch time, you know. No point in going right away.

So we had a leisurely lunch and walked to the bus stop across the street. We had time to let Ron take a picture of something many of us have never seen – a blooming chestnut tree. Many years ago a deadly blight began to kill all the chestnut trees in America so only those of us who were around when Ron and Adelle were teenagers have ever seen them. When we were kids, everyone learned the poem "Under the spreading chestnut tree…" I guess that doesn’t happen any more. Anyway, we took the bus that stops at the entrance to the campground. In 15 minutes we were in the middle of the old town. Us and about a million other tourists!

Ron was really taken with the bus service. You stand at the stop and an electronic sign tells you that the bus is 3 minutes away, then 2 minutes, and then finally, ARRIVE. You look up and there it is, just coming into the stop. It really is a marvel.