Alsace/Allemagne:

Day 6? You mean it hasn't been longer? I feel like I've done so many things that it couldn't possibly have all fit in a week. But it's true.
Today we woke up to a beautiful 9 degree (C) mountain morning and we drove to Kayersberg to see the museum of Albert Schweitzer because mom adores him.  I really liked some of his quotes that were on display.
I'm sure there is a more eloquent translation, but my own translation of one I liked is:
The great enemy of ethics is insensibility. Being Good means keeping your eyes open.
Great inspirational quote.
So after our quick stop and drive through the little city we moved on to Strasbourg. I did a project on Strasbourg back in high school french class and I always wanted to go there. Mostly I remembered it being famous for its huge Christmas tree and world famous Christmas markets, but obviously it's summer. I was still excited though and I was looking forward to finding the places that the pictures came from.
There was a lot of construction going on so driving in the city was a pain. Eventually dad dropped us off at the cathedral and went to go park while mom and I bought tickets to see the very famous, huge astrological clock that moving statues at certain parts of the hour. At noon every day there is a presentation and a video and the most action on the clock happens at noon. I recorded a lot of it. This was a highlight for dad- being an astronomy fanatic, he loved all the different displays on the clock. It shows the current location of the planets, the phase of the moon, the hours when the sun rises and sets, the current position relative to the stars, and probably some other stuff that I forgot. Being a lover of fine mechanics, he wishes he could have seen the gears and inner workings.
After we were done at the cathedral we drove over to Strasbourg's Petite France. The lovely, picture perfect area of town that is on all the post cards.  It was truly beautiful. I can be satisfied in knowing that I have been there and walked around and I had a delicious Creme Brûlée ice cream cone.
We ate some of our car snacks: bread and french cheese. Best road snacks ever- but with lots of crumbs.
Next on the list: a new country!! Deutschland! The number of countries I've been to in Europe has just doubled.
We bought diesel in Gengenbaugh.
Longest stop of the day: the Black Forest folk museum.  This is NOT what you might think when you hear that name. It IS a collection of farm houses built from 1599 to the 1700s. They are still standing and one huge house in particular housed the same family line for 13 generations- nearly 400 years. It was an expansive plot of very green land with animals and busy tractors just next door.
I thoroughly enjoyed sitting on the benches and watching the scenery around me. As I was watching the tractors at work this adorable little boy came and stood right beside me, even leaned on my leg a little. He was chattering away in German and I obviously didn't understand a word but I didn't want to say anything in English cuz that might confuse him and scare him away. He was too cute! I wanted to take him home with me, but that would obviously cause intolerable problems.
As my parents were exploring the largest of the houses, I witnessed the best moment of the day outside at the water trough. There was a beautiful pure white dog with the body and fur like a German shepherd, and she was drinking out of the water trough with such glee and excitement that she wasn't licking up the water, she was trying to eat it! Seriously, chomping mouth in the water. But every 5 seconds she would get so excited that she would dash off, spin in a circle and come right back to drink some more. You can probably imagine what she did when her owners splashed water on her face. Seriously it was the funniest thing and she was obviously the happiest dog on the planet and it was all because of the water trough. I wish my parents had seen it.
The last funny thing was as I was sitting on a bench at the end of the visit and I saw three girls trying to put away an easy-up. I walked over and offered to be the fourth to make it easier. It's a good thing too because it quickly became clear that they had no idea what they were doing.  They couldn't get it to fold in on itself so I indicated to the last little locks on the inside of each of the corners and asked if they had pulled those. None of them had and they gave one feeble try that didn't work and decided it was 't what they should do, so as they continued to fuss around I walked to each of the corners and easily released all the locks. As soon as the last one was released it easily folded on itself and they all exclaimed in joy 'thank you! Dankeschön!' No problem, I said, bitteschön!
Yeah- I'm cool.
Last city of the day: Obernai.
Mostly we had a delicious kebab dinner. Then we walked for a little while around the city where the old rampart walls are still standing and have become a part of the structures.  Some of the homes have front doors at the rampart-street level, but they have little bridges to their door because their yard is practically a moat! Hard to picture, I'm sure, but trust me- it exists.
So we were able to get home pretty early again and get ready for another big day!