It has already felt like a whirlwind on our second full day in Mulhouse, and yet find that old habits die hard. Even though we stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning, I am somehow wide awake by 630AM, like clockwork. I think part of this is living on a sailboat, which lends itself to rising with the sun. But more importantly, I really had to pee which required finding my glasses in the pitch-dark room and not killing myself on the steep staircase down to the toilet. I had to focus to keep from falling and try to be as quiet as possible, since everyone else is still fast asleep.

Now that I’m awake, it gives me a chance to think in peace, about the days gone by and those that lay ahead. I attempted to make a cup of coffee, realizing quickly that I never learned how anything works in this kitchen and opted to just sit at the table; out in the yard is a lovely swimming pool surrounded by trees. Its easy to appreciate the basic creature comforts of a home, and I’m left remembering the days when we had something similar, longing for that again. Nothing overly cluttered, simple and beautiful.

I was brought back from my reverie when Kitsu jumped up on the table, scaring me half to death, mewing so that I would let him outside. The window was slightly cracked and I opened it enough so he could jump down off the ledge. He walked over to the pool for a quick drink before embarking on his kitty adventures. It was nice to sit and relax awhile and then got out the laptop to do some writing.

Hours passed and soon everyone was awake. Anthony and Hélène have already been such gracious hosts, they left us some super tasty croissants and other baked goodies to indulge in. They also planned a HUGE surprise; a trip to a secret place and an activity. The plan was to tell us once we got to the airport, however that fell apart because there was a mixup with the flight booking. We were all meant to leave together, however the dates were one day off, which means we leave one day after tomorrow (and they leave tomorrow!).

The suspense was killing me all day, but once the mixup was realized, they couldn’t NOT tell us. So the first part of the surprise is the place we are going…

drumroll please

….

VENICE, ITALY!

….

Holy crap!!!! Jake and I were thrilled beyond words.

Venice is not the surprise activity or location of said activity, its simply the closest city with an airport. The big surprise is yet to come, but honestly just going to Venice is HUGE. Something we have ALWAYS WANTED TO DO. The timing will work out as such that the group of us will partake in our activity and then Jake and I will remain in Venice for 4 extra days and they will return home to do their normal life stuff like work.

So that means we have today and tomorrow in Mulhouse and then we are back to jet-setting for a new country.
And so we made it our mission to squeeze in loads of fun.

Anthony and Hélène are super creative humans. They are both involved in theater, videography and have finished writing a script and are getting ready to film in their home in about 3 weeks. We learned that they have already done casting but are still looking for additional help, as movies require a lot of hands on deck to make them come alive. Tonight is a “red carpet” event happening at an art-gallery warehouse and there could be some good connections for their film, however Anthony has a conflict with work and so Hélène is going to attend, with us in tow.

The gallery is MOTOCO. It reminds me of those galleries in Chicago or Brooklyn, large warehouse spaces with lots of raw exposed metal and pipes that juxtapose nicely with creatives; musicians, painters, ceramists, sculptors, etc. Tonight’s debut is a 19-year film director who has apparently made 6-10 minute film shorts that are meant to showcase MOTOCO in a clever, funny and compelling way. Jake and I only understood tiny bits of it, since it was all in French, but it will still highly enjoyable to sit beside the pretentious artist-types (just kidding!!!!! there were only a few like this) at a red carpet event in France.

The MOTOCO space can be rented by artists as well as individuals who want to rent a bed and spend the night in either a gigantic boom-box which is actually a tiny little apartment or sleep in a shell…yes a shell, for only €100/night. Such a bargain.

The best part about the evening was hanging out with Hélène, who is an absolute doll! She is so cool and fun and even though the whole event was in French, we could appreciate and enjoy the experience and got to meet some of her friends. Though we could only speak a tiny bit of French it was really fun and unique.

Afterwards, we went to pick Anthony up from his work event and didn’t arrive back to their home until 1AM. That means we didn’t eat dinner until 2AM. It was like a cinnamon roll but instead of bread and butter/cinnamon, it was made up of a long sheet of pasta with beef rolled in. It was SUPER DELICIOUS!

The next morning our friends were off to Venice while we stayed back at their house to do some chores…laundry, packing (for our little mini trip), cleaning and playing with Kitsu.

And since we have a bit of time, we thought how nice it would be to go explore Mulhouse a bit on foot. Our day “walk” took us down the same path as the tram, wending its way through the city center. We were told the Place de le Reunion is a “must-see”. It was only a few miles in total and the walk felt great. Along the way we passed a massive, towering cathedral and then the village plaza, which has a very beautiful quaint facade, the ferris wheel and

We learned how easy it is to get around the town and took it upon ourselves to do a little urban adventure–French style! This would be more of the sight-seeing variety for our first jaunt in the city. Our goal was to see Place de la Réunion, which is the central square in old-town Mulhouse, and has heaps of charm.

Its fairly easy to get around via bike or tram, but we prefer to walk to really soak it all in. Our path pretty much follows the rail, making it pretty easy to find and once in the heart of the city, we were surrounded by beautiful historic-looking buildings and a massive cathedral, Temple Saint-Étienne. Because of its central location and 97-meter high bell tower (the highest steeple in the area) it has also been given the name “Cathedral of Mulhouse”.

We only spent about an hour milling about before heading back to la maison. We made a huge casserole that we split into two dishes, one for us to eat for dinner now, and the other half to save for our hosts so when they come home from Venice (since they are coming back earlier than us), they will have something yummy waiting for them. We call it “Américan Mac n cheese. See, the accent makes it French. 😉

Our flight to Venice doesn’t leave until tomorrow afternoon, though we have to take 2 trains and a shuttle to get to the airport and have to time them appropriately, so it will be an early start, but we simply cannot wait to learn what the OTHER surprise is going to be, since the first one already seems so amazing.

Stay Tuned to find out…