Hotel Tales and the Statue of Liberty in Colmar

Trivia: Did you know that the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty in New York City is a native of Colmar, France? His name is Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. The statue was a gift from the people of France to the United States of America.



Statue of Liberty in Colmar









This goes naturally that when you arrive in Colmar, you will also see the Statue of Liberty, but a smaller version and the statue is placed in the middle of a roundabout instead of an island. I learned that there is a replica as well somewhere in Paris, and it was rumoured that the face of the Statue of Liberty is modelled from Bartholdi’s mother.



There is a museum dedicated to Bartholdi and to his works in the city. I was tempted to go but I am not really the museum type. I actually go to museums on very rare occasions. Nevertheless, some ofBartholdi’s works are found on the city streets as he designed several fountains in Colmar.



Hotel where I stayed in Colmar



In Colmar I stayed at the All Season’s Hotel Colmar Centre, a hotel that is part of the Accor & Ibis Group of Hotels. They have a slogan that says—Budget Hotel with Design Interiors for Family which I find misleading because the rooms start at 109 Euros. Is that budget? And what is design? At least this so-called budget hotel came with a free breakfast and use of the wifi.









The business-like room and the view. Remnants of what was once a brewery.







Pictures of the hotel taken from their website.









The colourful breakfast room and my breakfasts. I am not a breakfast person and when I am travelling and a free breakfast is included in the room, I always felt forced to eat them. I loved the juicer that they have. I pressed that orange juice myself.



The reason why I booked this hotel is because it is the cheapest hotel available in the centre with an 8 review score at booking.com. Yes cheapest in the centre at 109 Euros for single pax. There was another one that I really liked but I’m not happy forking out double the price. I’d rather spend the extra money on my dinners. They also advertised that the hotel is a former brewery, and that somehow piqued my interest. That actually closed the deal for me, although I found out later that there was really not much to see of what was once a malt production house.



Nevertheless, I find the hotel a bit like the business hotels I stayed at except that a) the breakfast room is too colourful and b) I am seeing a lot of retirees in groups



My Hotel Tales



On the first night I was in the lobby drinking tea and reading a few magazines. I just had my starred dinner at Le Rendez-vous de Chasse Restaurant and didn’t want to have coffee there as I was already stuffed. When you order coffee at fine dining or Michelin-starred restaurants, they usually bring you an array of sweets with it. I cannot handle that. So I declined coffee and settled for tea at the hotel lobby.







What I quickly noticed in the lobby are the group of retired women playing cards. The old dames were from Germany and they were very friendly to me, flashing smiles at my direction as they played and while I sipped my tea. I saw a few of the dames elegantly dressed. I wondered if I could emulate these elegantly dressed women when I reach their age? Interestingly, they were not the only retired women group that checked-in at the hotel. During breakfast I saw 3 groups, all German retired women and the groups did not know each other.



Hmm, must be the season for pensioned off ladies to go tripping around Europe.



On the second night I sat at the bar and ordered a gewürztraminer. I just came from dinner in Basel, Switzerland and in the mood to have a light nightcap before going to bed.









I overheard another group of retirees talking. 3 Belgian men and an American couple.



Belgian man 1: ‘We are from Brussels.’

Belgian man 2: ‘Brussels you know is the capital of Europe!’

American woman (in shrilly voice): ‘Oh really!!! So, um... do you guys feel French?’



*Belgian guys looking at each other, confused, with eyes wide and about to explode*



Belgian man 3: ‘Uh, what did you say again?’



Me listening at the bar: *palm on my face*



UGH. Total fail. You never ask a Belgian if they felt French (or Dutch). It’s like saying to Americans that they are Canadians, or an Irish that they are English. The cue was already there when the Belgian guys proudly said that Brussels is the capital of Europe! *rolls eyes* (sorry, cannot help it!)



Oh well, when you are travelling you really learn a lot, about people =)

James Joslin :: In a Matter of Debt

Yesterday afternoon I was going through my "Whitley County" folder and re-discovered a document that I forgot that I had. It was one of those where you got it but you'll do something with it later. So now, later has finally come! This is a page (there were no page numbers) copied from the "Troy Docket" book at the Whitley County Historical Museum. Well, at least it was there back in .. when I made this copy!

It may be or could be the reason that James and Abigail Joslin sold the remainder of their land to Edwin and Joseph Joslin less than a month after this case was filed. I'm still not convinced though. Where, or how, did two young boys, age 14 and 12 respectively, come up with $50 each to purchase the land? Or, perhaps, the $50 was written into the "contract" because that was fair market value? And James "sold" the land to the boys to keep it in the family?

Essentially, in this case, James owned up to the fact that he owed several debts and agreed to pay them. Price Goodrich then put up security and the debts were paid on February 7, 1845. But, I wonder, who actually paid the debts? Did Price? Regardless of how they were paid or who paid them, the debts were satisfied. When all was said and done, James and Abigail no longer owned their land in Troy Township…

=+==+==+==+=

Troy Docket. No page number. Filed July 16, 1844.

Francis L. Machugh Plantiff vs James Joslin Defendant } In an action of debt. Be it remembered that on the sixteenth day of July 1844 Francis L Machugh filed the following as a cause of action against James Joslin on which the following proceedings were had to wit: Four notes discribed as follows No 1 bearing date December 19th 1841 due one day after day amount $6.68 No 2 bearing date November 24th 1843 due one day after date amount $5.00 No 3 bearing date February 25th 1843 due one day after date amount $7.00 No 4 bearing date July the 16th 1844 due on demand (waving all relief on appraisment law) which the plantiff ordered erased and the relief law extended.

On the [blank space] day of of July 1844 a Summons issued directed to George H Stocking constable actionable on the 7th day of August 1844 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon

This day August the 5th 1844, came the defendant of this cause and ordered that Judgement Should be entered against him for the amount of Said notes interest and costs

It is therefore considered that the plantiff recover of Said defendant twenty five dollars and fifty cents debt and damages and all costs with interest thereon at the rat of six percentum per annum from the date of this Judgement

Justices fees summons $ 0 12 ½
Judgement 0 25
Bail 0 25
Const fee Service and interst $ 0 30

I Price Goodrich do hereby acknowledge myself security for the above defendant James Joslin for the payment of the above Judgement with the interest which may have accrued thereon at the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from the rendition of the same and all costs Witness my hand and seal this 5th day of August AD 1844. Price Goodrich {Seal}

Issued on execution January the 6th 1845
February the 7th 1845 execution returned, money made in full
Received of George H Stocking cons $27.78 in full of the foregoing Judgement. James Grant Justice of the Peace

Jemez Fire Smoke

These are photos I took from my yard of the smoke cloud that we can see of the Jemez fire that is near Los Alamas, New Mexico. It does look like a normal cloud but it really is smoke. We have seen it every day since the fire started last Sunday. This morning it had come over us even more and is making it hard to breath. We hope they get it stopped soon. The Los Conchas fire is now said to be the largest in New Mexico history as the Wallow fire is the largest in Arizona history.

Beaded Horse

Sarah had to make a stop at the Dona Ana courthouse where there was a beaded horse she wanted me to see. But first as soon as we got there I saw palm trees. First palm trees I had seen in about 10 years. The drought has taken it's tole on the palms as did a very hard freeze last spring. I had seen were lots of the palms hadn't survived but these had done well here. This is the biggest, fanciest county courthouse I have ever seen. The one where I live is very small and looks to be over a hundred years old. Makes me wonder how Dona Ana County can afford this new building.
The first horse we saw was right inside the building and is life size and beaded. Yes, beaded with those very, tiny, seed beads that the American Natives like to use to make jewelry. There was actually a picture made from the beads that showed the Rio Grande Valley going through Dona Ana County. There were lizards, roadrunner, an owl, on the horse made out of beads. It was very beautiful. That is me standing by it. Next we went upstairs and saw a horse made out of newspaper. Yes, I said newspaper. It was made by a grade school class to show that recycled newspaper can make some nice.

Easter!!

May you have Egg-zatly the kind of easter day you want. Make sure it is a good one.
Happy Easter one and all.

Schooldaze

When I began posting my yearly school pictures, I didn't know that the footnoteMaven was going to make "School Days" the topic for the next edition of her "Smile For The Camera" carnival...

Hmm, since I'm in Kansas right now, it seems appropriate to send you off to a post from two years ago... Past its Prime. Or perhaps two posts from earlier in .. - Hale Brubaker was a teacher at Crow's Corner School in Whitley County, Indiana in 1904 and his niece and nephew attended Scott School in Troy Township in 1914.

Well, I suppose, since this is supposed to be a post for a "photo" carnival, I should include one here... so here 'tis, a portrait of me drawn by a schoolchild in 1978 while I was on assignment at the Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan.

Finally

We planted the garden pretty late.



So all we're getting now, in the way of vegetables, are long, skinny things.



Japanese Eggplant, Zephyr Squash, Cucumbers. No tomatoes yet.



The little cucumber that could. We bought what turned out to be an amazingly good plant, I think from the local Ace Hardware. Never bitter, despite my horribly uneven watering. And really, really prolific! This amount is from one day. (One plant.) I see cucumber-pushing in my future.

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Don't forget the Friday Ark.

Cancun El Centro

Last year I was in Mexico for work and had the chance to spend extra days traveling in the region for pleasure and leisure. I went to visit Chichen Itza, the Tulum ruins, spent a day in Playa del Carmen, and stayed in Cancun as well. Since my previous employer sponsored us a luxurious stay at an exclusive resort near Puerto Morelos which means I had enough of the sun and sand and the all-inclusive hotel resort food (this is worrying my eating habits), I decided to stay at a hotel in Cancun El Centro and not in Cancun Hotel Zone for the rest of the days that I was not working.

Except for the food, architectural ruins and the language, Mexico reminds me a lot of the Philippines.

I find the old centre of Cancun a bit raw and less touristy compared to the Hotel Zone where its a chockfull of (north) American holidaymakers and partygoers. I did wander around the old centre and even went to the mercados to look for something to bring home but I did not find anything I like.

My only souvenir in Cancun was a Maya tile calendar given to me by the hotel personnel who were wearing, interestingly, thick winter coats because it’s -+18C outside while I am wearing a short sleeve blouse, thin leggings and slippers. They were very nice people, they helped me book my last minute trip to Chichen Itza, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Check out my collage fotos of Cancun El Centro below:

Cancun El Centro scenes. I ordered Nachos at the hotel and look what I got, some rolled tortillas with frijoles refritos - not really a Mexican food fan anyway. Nachos I learned is a Texan thing and not really Mexican. Upper right foto you can see a street food vendor selling tortillas. Below foto with the tall buildings is my hotel room view.

Rotunda monument in Cancun. The Mexican Peso. I did a little walk into this park and saw this colourful row of houses. Bought myself some nachos to munch in my hotel room.

And I sauntered into this concrete park as well with a covered podium. There were a number of stalls selling native Mexican items.

Daily life on the streets of Cancun El Centro. The buses, the traffic (scary to cross the streets there!), the roads, as well as the people there remind me of the Philippines.

All fotos are uploaded to my online Multiply album, and to see them one by one, please go here: Cancun El Centro - Mexico

What the Rest of the Family Is Up To

While we hang out in South Carolina, the rest of the family is doing their thing in Florida and Illinois. The princess is growing up, like little ones tend to do. She is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen. Ashleigh is fantastic at sending me pictures and videos of the little peanut so I can see her smiles almost daily. Ashleigh is working tons of hours and still cooking up her daily feasts. I don't know how she is juggling it all, but she is.



Ambir is busy working, being a girlfriend and modeling. Yes, our super model is doing some formal modeling now which is no big surprise to us. She has always loved to be in front of the camera so it's only natural that she be paid to do so!



Aric is busy working and taking care of his own house and all the things that go along with that. He is also attempting to get thrown out of stores every chance he gets by having too much fun there by playing like a child (or fun adult). I don't have any photos of his craziness like dressing up like a cat, so I'll just have to visualize it. We are looking forward to seeing him very shortly.



Auburn is working two jobs and in her little bit of spare time she does things like jet skiing. It's a rough life! I thought it was so sweet that the only thing she wanted for her birthday is for Austin to come and visit her. Who would have thought that they would actually pick to spend time together someday?



We are here, still soaking up the goodness of South Carolina. We are enjoying it and we are also looking forward to seeing our Florida kids soon!

More from Washington DC

Tombstone Tuesday :: Rest in Peace

On the campus of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College near Terre Haute, Indiana
Winter of 1981I didn't read the other side of the stones so don't know who is buried there.Copyright © 1981/.. by Rebeckah R. Wiseman

St Patrick's Day Weekend Fun

My schedule has changed so I now have one weekend day off each week. That has been a wonderful thing and it worked out very well this past weekend where we had lots of things scheduled. Saturday night Rich and Donna invited us over for dinner. Tom and Karen joined us. Karen brought the shamrock above.



I thought I had pictures of the food, but somehow I don't. We had chicken kabobs, potato salad, another salad that was a slaw salad, potato skins and dessert and Margaritas. Everything was delicious!! Along with the great food, we had fun getting to know each other better. I loved hearing more stories about how each of us met and became engaged. We had a great time!



Sunday Nathan and I slept in and then took one of those Sunday drives and this is one of the things we saw:





It's hard to see exactly what it is from my pictures but it was a truck with a seat like they have on the airboat rides on the back. Too funny!



After our Sunday drive, we stopped and picked up pizza and headed to Rene and Mira's rig where Bob and Vicki joined us. They added Ceaser salad, drinks and strawberry shortcake to make it another great dinner.



We went to see some of their Alaska trip pictures. We always love spending time with both of the couples and to get them together is a double treat. Their pictures were incredible and the scenery they captured was amazing.



We left in the middle of this to go and see Mike Thomas perform here at the park. I have been to one of his shows before and really enjoyed it. This was Nathan's first time seeing him perform. He enjoyed it too.



We then went back to see the rest of the pictures and chat for some time afterwards. Weekends like this are perfection for me! Loved all that we did and hope to have more time with our pickleball friends before they all head out.