Originally written and posted on February 04, 2005.

We were warned again that our water would be off from 8:30 to 12:30 today. We had already made plans for the morning so we had to wake up early and shower instead of lying around and bathing well after lunch. It is definitely going to be a chore to go back to work in the Fall. My body has completely adjusted to staying up late and sleeping until late in the morning. I don’t know if it is my lack of exercise, eating later and later in the evening, or the constant sleeping in, but I find it very difficult to get to sleep before 3 AM anymore.

Last night I went to bed at about 1 o’clock but could not get to sleep. I lay there, staring at the ceiling for the longest time. About 2:30 I couldn’t take it anymore and got up and took a book to the bathroom. I sat on the toilet reading, hoping that this would wear me out so that I could sleep. I finished a chapter and could feel it working. Then, suddenly, the light went out. We have these little florescent bulbs everywhere and the one in the bath has been fidgety lately. I got up and fidgeted with it a little while to no avail. Not wanting to wake Amy up I cursed my luck and headed back to bed. Luckily the little reading and my disgust with the stupid light wore me out enough that I was able to sleep.

This morning we went to the archeology museum again. We took Pamela, Jason, and Ivica. I managed to take a few pictures this time since my blog friends yelled at me for not having pictures the last time we went. I will try to post them in a day or so.

It feels like Spring here. That is to say, the temperature has been above freezing and the sun has popped its head out of the dreary, gray clouds once or twice. Even with this little glimpse of happier times, I have noticed a change in the local French people. The women have brought their skirts back out and the men are donning less heavy coats and even leaving their jackets unbuttoned. Maybe February will breeze by and March will be full of sun and smiles.

We finally made it to the city library yesterday. Unlike the National Bibliotech, where there are no books to browse, but computer catalogs to search; you can actually pick up a real book and sit down to read it. In France, libraries aren’t free. There is an annual fee you must pay before you can check out a book. But even with the fee, it is still cheaper to go there than to buy books at the store, or rent movies. They had a nice English selection and I spent most of the afternoon making my decision on which books to check out. They say they have a selection of over 900 DVDs but all that were not checked out on this day was a measly 9 or 10 DVDs. Still, we managed to pick out the 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, which I will be reviewing shortly.

A few days ago we were given notice that our water was going to be turned off from 8:30 until 5 pm Wednesday. After much discussion, Amy and I decided to make a day trip of it. We got up early Wednesday morning and showered before the water was turned off. After checking the train schedules and some more debate we decided to go to Colmar. It is a quaint little city about 30 minutes, by train, South of Strasbourg. Colmar is the former home of Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi who created the Statue of Liberty. His home has been converted into a museum. There are several old churches built by the Dominicans in the 13th and 14th Centuries. The city is beautiful, or, I believe it is in the Spring. It had the cold, gray bleakness of winter while we were there. The city has done a good job promoting its tourism and history. There are plaques giving information in French, English, and German at numerous points of interest throughout.

We bought a tourist map for .80 Euros and walked across the town visiting the various churches, schools, and nunneries. We visited the art museum. It is located in a beautiful old church. Most of the artwork is from local artists and is of a religious nature. With our ticket, we also received an audio guide. This was very interesting at first but became exhausting after an hour or so. There are only so many times I can listen to someone explaining the significance of yet another painting of the crucifixion scene.

We ate at a little pastry shop. Amy had a coffee and an apple tart. I had a delicious raspberry cream tart and hot chocolate. We caught the 6:10 train to Strasbourg and returned to an apartment with running water! It’s the little things that keep us going.