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Mulhouse, France

Vernon had googled what to do in the area and a car museum came up well rated in a town about 30 minutes by train from Colmar. I offered to go shopping but he wanted company so off we went together to view this impressive private collection of just over 500 cars which is now public and owned by the National Automoblile Association and listed as a French heritage site.

The collection started as an obsession for Bugatti cars by two brothers, and if you are a petrol head and interested Wikki has a good bit of history on it. Despite my initial indifference to several hours in a classic car museum it was very impressive and I was able to share in Vernons delight – maybe not to the same degree – but still impressed in my own way.

The acutal museum was very well set out with interactive displays, movies on the history of cars which even in French was interesting to watch all the old clips – especially of early car racing and the crashes and spin outs LOL. They had early engines on display and you could push a button to hear a good recording of what the motor sounded like – from 2 cylinders to 8’s dating from the early 1920’s and 30’s.

Everything was undercover and beautifully presented and restored. The earliest car dated 1892 and really looked like a horseless carriage and then the range moved on through the years to a new Bugatti which I even drooled over.

Most of the cars were luxury European including some Rolls Royce, Citroen, Renault, Puegot, Isotta, beautiful classic Mercedes and lots of other names that have long passed by. There was also an early racing car collection and a childrens collection of 160 mini me luxury cars – often when daddy bought one for himself he wold get one for junior – nice. Truely an impressive collection.

After our classic car injection we did a little wander through the town which had an ok old town centre but was a little ferral and had a lot of immigrant muslim peoples. Headed back to Colmar and freshened up before having dinner in a simple but very good recommended Alsation restaurant where the owner did the cooking. I had Liver dumplings with are like the german ones – boiled first and then they fry them – very nice. We shared another Tarte Flambe and Vern had a dish where the meat is cooked long and slow and then wrapped in a lovely pasta dough and baked giving a spiral effect when sliced. Two more local specialties off the check list and very much enjoyed, hope my clothes fit me tomorrow.

We had a room shift today as when we asked to extend our current room it was no longer available and the only one Leslie had was a small room with a loft bed. Its a challenge to get up the ladder into the bed but very cute decor and a great balcony overlooking the pretty garden. Hope the wire wove base can handle our combined weight 🙂

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