A Quest, A Drive and Tears

After our walk through Colmar, we went for a drive into the vineyards and had a picnic lunch at one of the many rest stops along the way, where Noah practiced his new 'smile' for the camera.

Then our afternoon continued productively but in a much less touristic kind of way.  We weren't satisfied with the way Catherine's car seat was installed in the car and went in search of a hardware store to pick up something to correct it.  We found big-box-store-heaven a la Dartmouth Crossing just outside Colmar and after a few loops here and there took a chance on what looked like a building supplies store.  

Finally satisfied that Catherine would be safe in any possible situation we set out for a (now short) drive along the Route De Cretes - once a communication line along the front line, through the Vosges Mountains, during World War I.  The drive was beautiful but there weren't many places to stop for pictures.

On our way back to Colmar, we had to stop for a few pictures of our awesome rental car (eat your heart out, Andrew).  It's possible this may turn Doug from being a VW man to being a BMW man.  Either way, we are spoiled for future rental cars.

Noah was one pooped little boy when we got back to our hotel.

With all of us tired, we went for what we hoped would be a nice but quiick dinner.  As luck would have it, the recommended restaurant was booked solid and we ended up at a different one with painfully slow service.  To make things worse, poor Catherine was having tummy pains and cried through most of the meal.  Thankfully, we were sitting outside in a square with a fountain, so could take her away from the other diners and sound of the running water seemed to calm her.

Then it was back to our hotel for baths and a much-needed sleep!