We found a parking spot not far from the city centre. It’s busy today and we find out that it’s market day, and its likely the best market we have attended in France. Our destination is the Hotel Dieu, the hospice begun in the 1200’s as a husband and wife wanted to provide a hospital for poor people.
We wander along the streets, enjoying the views and eventually come to the town center where the streets are cobbled, pedestrian only.
After a great lunch of bouef bourguignon at a little wine bar we headed back to the car and continued on our route slightly northeast along a major route past Besancon, Belfort, and then turn north before we get to Mulhouse toward Colmar. As we furthered our drive, traffic became heavier. We passed many transport trucks from all over the EU. As we got closer to Besancon, the landscape began to change with many more treed areas and pasture land. The hills were larger too, but nothing like the Pyrenees or Alps. We also noticed the names of the cities in this region began to reflect the German influence. If we didn’t know it, if we only had the road signs to go by, we’d think we were in Germany or perhaps Switzerland!
This region switched hands between the French and Germans several times in history. The Germans figured the Vosges Mountains was the border and the French figured the border was the Rhine River, so there is section about 20 miles wide that both countries thought they owned. We see this valley appears quite different than other parts of France we have visited – which is great. As we arrive into the Rhine Valley – we again see loads of vineyards and by now, the vines all have leaves on them, filling out nicely.
We stopped in a town called Guebwiller to buy some groceries to get us through the next few days. This town was about 20 km south of Munster. Navi has the address for our accommodation for the week. We are in a small apt. block that has a great view of the Munster as we are on a slight hill in a lovely setting. All three of us think we’re going to enjoy this week. After a nice dinner, we went for a walk to check out some of the town – a quiet place with the Bavarian look. We are pleased to learn that Munster is hosting a jazz festival (25th year) this week that we’ll want to check out.
Sunday, May 13, 2012 – Mother’s Day at home, so the boys are going to cook dinner tonight – YES! We have fast and reliable Internet this week, so we all begin to get caught up on the news. Interesting how not having it for the last couple of weeks, coupled with only French language TV, has been somewhat of a hassle. Not long ago we would have never thought anything about not being in touch with the daily happenings and would have used the old fashion way of the telephone and letter writing as well as simply do without…
As usual after our traveling / moving day on Saturday, today will be a down day to relax and enjoy ourselves. It is a bright sunny day, so we take advantage of the terrace and sit out in the sunshine, enjoying a coffee and reading.
We find there are storks that nest here.
The village of Munster.
Later in the afternoon we decided to check out the walking trail that passes in front of our place. It led up into the hills to a couple of tiny villages with some great gardens, birds chirping and wonderful surroundings. All three of us enjoyed the hour and a half walk that allowed us a great view of the valley
before turning around and returning to the apt. M and J made T’s requested meal and we enjoyed a nice champagne type wine from Burgundy to celebrate. Later we Skyped some family members to catch up.
Monday, May 14, 2012 – Today we are off to ‘bag’ countries 18 and 19, Luxembourg and Belgium. J concluded that we should do this while here in Alsace as we are only 3 hours south, so figured, why not? We drive north to Luxembourg to check out this small duchy. Our drive took us along a major and busy autoroute past Strasbourg, up to Metz and then directly north into Luxembourg. Not long after driving north of Colmar that we leave behind the vineyards. We could also see remnants as well as still standing fortresses from long ago on hilltops. We recall going through this valley on our train trip last year at this time when we went from Naples north to Hamburg, Germany.
It’s amazing the number of transport trucks on the highways. As we drive we notice that some parts of this region are not very populated and quite wooded. Luxembourg is small, under 1000 sq km with about 500 000 people. Once we entered the country it wasn’t long before entering the city of Luxembourg. We easily managed to find parking in an underground parkade, as it seems that is the best option here in the city. We came above ground into a plaza next to the pedestrian only streets where many locals were. We had no trouble finding a restaurant in this area for lunch – an excellent fare. After lunch we wondered some of the streets and took a few pictures. It was very picturesque and very clean. We wandered along the top of one of the rampart walls and enjoyed our surroundings in the sunshine. It was a little cooler here than in Munster about 18C. There were many buildings with lots of character. We wandered for a bit, before heading back to the car to continue our drive.
We head into Belgium for a short time. We see some cows in the fields and T wonders if they produce chocolate milk. We find a town to stop in and T and J head out to find some Belgian chocolate. They had no luck and concluded just because we came into B elgium perhaps not every store will sell their famous chocolates. Oh well, we hop back on the car and having set foot in country #19, head back into France and on our way back to the apartment.
Along our drive we passed a number of WW cemeteries with hundreds and possibly thousands of crosses remembering those soldiers who perished. This area that we drove through saw much devastation during the wars.
As M had chosen a different route back than we had taken this morning we drove due south from Luxembourg, past Metz and Nancy until we cross over the mountains to arrive back in Munster.
As M had chosen a different route back than we had taken this morning we drove due south from Luxembourg, past Metz and Nancy until we cross over the mountains to arrive back in Munster.
T magically whips up one of her many fabulous dinners and we find the IIHF (world hockey) tournament on TV, so we watch a little hockey. Its not Canada playing (Switzerland vs Slovakia) but it is hockey and J is pleased to watch.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 – Down day today. Not great weather, with on and off rain. Caught up on a few emails and some other stuff. Watched a cool you tube about tiny houses. It sure gave us something to think about and we had recognized a few cities from our recent travels.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 – Today we drove over to Freiburg, Germany, about 50 km from here to send a parcel home via DHL, Deutsche Poste. We found that it was the most economical way of sending stuff home, and we’re not far from the border. As well, we wanted to once again have a wonderful German meal before heading back home.
We had to travel through Colmar to catch the autoroute into Germany, actually didn’t take long to be in the other country. Once we cross the Rhine, we are in Germany.
The area along here is quite flat with some terraced vineyards and other crops. Freiburg is a fair size city
and we easily found Deutsche Poste (with Navi’s help) and luck would have it the Kartoffenhaus – a restaurant that served wonderful food. J had his wish – schnitzel and fried potatoes. T had potato au gratin with salmon and spinach (like a lasagna) and M had a local speciality – Alsatian sausage and cheese salad. One thing about German portions, you never go hungry, food is wonderful and prices are very reasonable!
The area along here is quite flat with some terraced vineyards and other crops. Freiburg is a fair size city
and we easily found Deutsche Poste (with Navi’s help) and luck would have it the Kartoffenhaus – a restaurant that served wonderful food. J had his wish – schnitzel and fried potatoes. T had potato au gratin with salmon and spinach (like a lasagna) and M had a local speciality – Alsatian sausage and cheese salad. One thing about German portions, you never go hungry, food is wonderful and prices are very reasonable!
Our trip back we continued south on the autoroute in Germany and crossed near Mulhouse and drove along the other side of the Rhine. However, we soon found it was very industrialized and not at all what we were hoping for. We did cross over into Germany yet again to see if we could find some German bratwurst – we finally did after driving through a number of little towns (about 40 min) that we weren’t able to find the grocer on the main road. We finally found a grocery store just inside the border! Oh well, we got to see some great little villages.
Thursday, May 17, 2012 – We awake to blue sky and sunshine! Laid back morning then did laundry. This afternoon we went for another walk into Munster to take some photos of the town. The sun is shining and a slight breeze, fairly warm in the sunshine, but in the shade it’s cool. We walked down into the town center, took pictures of the storks that have set up nests on over looking the center. M even got christened by one – good thing the wind was blowing and T had a Kleenex to wipe up the little mess. As we were wandering about and enjoying the town, we noticed many shops were closed.
We did manage to find a great patesserie that was open to pick up some treats for our morning coffee as well as dessert – Yum!
We found a outside table at a bar on the corner of the main square and enjoyed a beer and watched the world go by the center of Munster. The town was humming today with motorbikes and cyclists as well as vehicles passing through town. We both surmised there must by a holiday – Googled it - it’s another French national holiday (they have 4 in the month of May) – Feast of the Ascension.
We returned to the apt, dropped off our treats and picked up J to return to town to go to a concert at 5pm at the Protestant Church in conjunction with the Jazz Festival. The artist is Sydney Ellis from Cleveland, Ohio, performing gospel/blues. The place was full and even though she sang everything in English, the audience appreciated her vocals and her band. We returned home to have our brats, roast potatoes and veggies for dinner.
Friday, May 18, 2012 – Another laid back day. Got things organized for tomorrow’s departure, worked out, and read. We decided to go out for dinner tonight, restaurants don’t open until 7pm and serve until about 9:30 pm (be sure to be there not too late, or they may not serve you). M thought he had seen a restaurant advertising fondue, but when we arrived, it wasn’t offered on the night’s menu. Nevertheless, we chose to eat here. We were very pleased with our choice and it was a busy place, so we did well. Cuisine here is German influenced and the choices on the menu reflect this. Lots of things are served on choucrotte (Saurcraut) as well as schnitzels to name a few things. J ordered escargot (he has acquired a taste for these little guys since arriving here) as well as grilled pork escallope with amazing pomme frites! M decided on a local dish, ham hock served on choucrotte, while T ordered cordon bleu. All three of us had huge portions. M and T decided to try a local Pinot Gris – a little too sweet for our tastes, not at all like the one we had the other day. We reminisced of how in our first couple of years of dating we actually drank Reislings regularly- Yikes oh how our tastes have changed. We had a great time enjoying the atmosphere and then waddled back to our apt. It was a great week here, enjoying the beauty of the countryside, each morning hearing the birds chirp. We enjoyed watching the locals fish in the pond down below our place and see the occasional fish jump. The valley is very green, we even saw fresh snow high above in the pass we had traveled down on Monday, that elevation was just over 1100 m.
No comments:
Post a Comment