Durango Colorado Wed 23/8

Yesterday was very relaxed. Domestic duties such as a visit to the supermaket and the laundry were required. Then we walked the mile into the historic downtown and browsed the shops. Discovered a "French" bakery which bakes almost authentic bagettes. We will be calling there in the morning to purchase one for our lunch. The American bread is usually too sweet for our preference. We visited the railway station which has been fully restored as a museum including  an operating steam train which makes daily trips up to Silverton during the Summer. Bob tells me it runs during Winter as well weather permitting. There are a few of these trains in the region and we had a ride on one with Lou and Mike in our travels with them.
Durango is a pretty town and has some well preserved old buildings allthough like many of the towns through here the buildings post date a major fire in the late 1800's. We visited the Information Centre to obtain a map of the River Walk and walked it back to our hotel. We also found out how to use the "trolley" bus which goes past our hotel down to the historic district.
After lunch and a nap and another cup of tea we paddled around until shower time and set off for dinner. We caught the trolley downtown and perused all the resaurant offerings until we found a menu to our taste and price range. It was a good choice. We sat outside in a walled garden set up with a series of gazebos. It was very pleasant surroundings and temperature and the food was good.  Generally we have found wine to be expensive often buying by the glass. However I have discovered the Californian Zinfandell wine which is a little different to our Aussie offerings but very drinkable so we splurged on a bottle.  As we sat finishing our meal we heard melodious singing and then we saw a Barbershop group stroll into our part of the restaurant. They stood by our table to sing two songs and as they finished the dimutive  conductress engaged Bob in a twirl, to his delight. It was a good night. We then caught the Trolley back up the hill to our motel. The Trolley is operated by the City and a donation of $1 is the fare, 50 cents for seniors. It runs ever 20 minutes from 9am till 10pm and seems to always be on time. It is a great service and just adds to the overall tourist focus of the town. We have enjoyed our stay. Today we are off to South Fork, another community relying on tourism but much smaller.