 |
|
|
« November 2007 |
Main
| January 2008 »
Obernai is located at the crossroads of the three large regions in Alsace: vineyards on the wine route; the Vosges; and the rural plain which starts from the town gates. Obernai is an important center of wine and beer production (my kind of place). The vineyards date back to 680 and Kronenbourg beer is the biggest brewer in France.
Our Hotel La Cloche is a 14th century house under historical protection. If we don't tightly close the curtains in our room, every tourist walking by can look directly into the bathroom and bedroom even though we are on the first floor...a low first floor. This would not be a pretty sight... Obernai is also known for food. From traditional restaurants to typically Alsatian "Winstubs" wine bars to one-star Michelin guide restaurants...lots of choices.
Hotel La Cloche quaint restaurant
Continue reading "Exploring Obernai" »
I am getting very spoiled from all these delicious buffet breakfasts. There are usually croissants, kugelhopf, baguettes or hard rolls, eggs, cold meats - salami, ham, etc., plates of cheeses, jelly, jam, butter (not margarine but real butter), fruit, yoghurt, coffee and more. It would be impossible not to have any energy after eating like this and how am I ever going to go back to my Total Cereal with skim milk!
On the road, up past the castle above Andlau (closed for repairs), and past Landeck, another castle with many tourists since it is Sunday and OPEN. A French group even asked US if we knew the way to another location and after chatting a bit, we discovered their daughter is coming to Chicago as an exchange student! All together now...what a small world... Everyone we've spoken with on the route has been very surprised to meet some Americans on the trail and wanted to stand around and schmooze. Today was no exception. Many mountain bikers on the same hiking paths as us and two of them would have stood for hours talking to us.
new way markings on the trail -- one the symbol of "Way of St. James"
Continue reading "Andlau to Mont Saint Odile to Ottrott to Obernai" »
Today was our 30th wedding anniversary and what better way to celebrate (I'm being facetious) than by hiking 19-20k/12 miles to Andlau (every kilometer/mile counts when you are on your feet all day). It's cloudy and in the low 70's, good hiking weather.
Out of Chatenois and along the road for a while and up to Chateau Ortenbourg in ruins. Then through Dambach that originally belonged to the Lords of Bernstein, a branch of the family of Eguisheim-Dabo, parents of Saint Odile and the Alsatian Pope Léon IX. The names Bernstein (Barenstein) and Dambach (Tannenbach) explain the coat of arms of this small city: a bear fond of honey who puts his two paws on a fir tree. The city is the home of more than 30 wine growers. Dambach also has preserved its medieval enclosures with moats, doors and impressive towers.
Chateau Ortenbourg sign
Continue reading "Chatenois to Andlau Via Dambach" »
Thankfully, no problems finding our way out of Hotel Touring in Thannenkirch since it was marked with GR5 signs all the way. Up through the forests heading in the direction of Chateau du Haut Koenigsbourg located in the Vosges mountains west of Selestat, on a high hill. This was a strategic location and used throughout the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years War. It was first mentioned in 1147 and was attacked and burned many times. It is a fairy tale castle, listed as a monument historique since 1862 and one of the most famous tourist attractions in this region.
German Emperor Wilhelm II started restoring the fortress at the beginning of the 20th century. ...View image... Inside is a museum of furniture and weapons from the Middle Ages and there were many tourists who had arrived by car to visit. If it had been a clear day, we would have been able to see (along with the Alsace plains) the Vosges, Black Forest and the Alps. Again, only on a clear day....you can see forever... Today was not one of those days. Haut-Koenigsbourg is open all year with the exception of holidays.
Chateau du Haut Koenigsbourg
Continue reading "Thannenkirch to Chateau du Haut Koenigsbourg to Chatenois" »
Tearing ourselves away from Ribeauville, it was time to find the GR5 (the main trail) out of town leading up to Chateau St. Ulrich. First we went one way through a forest...decided this was not right...circled back around a parking lot....this was right....and started up through many vineyards until the trail came to a dead end. Definitely not right. Back down through the vineyards to the extremely right-in-our-face-how-could-we-miss GR5 red and white blaze. We two dorks then headed up on the correct path to Chateau St. Ulrich.
The Chateau St. Ulrich is a 12th century castle, built by the Lords of Ribeauville. It still had a very impressive keep, large tower and seigniorial abode. There were quite a few tourists coming down who had probably visited Ribeauville for the day and took a hike up the mountain to see the three castles (or chateaus).
Chateau St. Ulrich
Continue reading "Finding The Way From Ribeauville to Thannenkirch" »
A great buffet breakfast at the Hotel Le Riquewihr, bags left at reception, admired the very old stove displayed in the lobby...View image... maps in hand, it was back through Riquewihr, out the Dolder Gate and on the road. Through the vineyards, we met two Chicagoans from the Lincoln Park area bicycling the wine route. They too had an organizer that took their bags from town to town and we're all having a great time on this very sunny day.
In one of the vineyards there were placards telling about the grapes, Riesling, grown in this particular vineyard. You could see the three ruined fortified Chateaus built by the Lords of Ribeaupierre in the distance, Ulrichsburg, Girsberg and Haut-Ribeaupierre, our destination later on.
Rosacker Winery
Continue reading "Leaving Riquewihr and Walking To (and Through) Ribeauville" »
Christmas Greetings to everyone celebrating today. Hope Santa Claus was good to you and gave whatever was on your list - minus the lump of coal. If not, stronger hints are necessary!
Belated Happy Chanukah and Joyous "Every Other Holiday" in the World. ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I are celebrating today in Cambodia - hopefully, avoiding the remaining land mines, doing our bit to prop up Cambodia's economy with massive shopping, and exploring the country and people outside of Angkor Wat.
Continue reading "Christmas Greetings" »
There are so many other activities in the Alsace region. Canoeing, all terrain bike tours, quad biking in additional to the hundreds of kilometers of bicycle tracks. There is also an old train "touristique," The Ried Express...View image...that leaves from the restored train station (built in 1880) at Vogelsheim. This train goes to the San Souci pier where you board a boat for a 80-minute cruise on the Rhine with views of the Black Forest and 13th century Gothic Cathedral of Breisach. After that, the train takes you back to Vogelsheim.
There was still time for more walks through Riquewihr in the evening since the hotel didn't serve dinner. We walked back into Riquewihr and up and down the little side streets before eating. One street had a little family owned winery with their bottling operation set up right there on the street. One person putting bottles on the conveyor line, bottles filled with wine, corks pushed in, someone else taking the bottles off and sticking them in cases. ...View image...Interesting and hypnotizing.
Domaine Jules and Daniel Jung
Continue reading "Riquewihr to Thannenkirch via Ribeauville" »
Food is one of my favorite things -- eating and looking -- and Alsace had a cuisine specific to this region. A few of the typical Alsatian dishes were:
- Baeckeoffe: A casserole of potatoes garnished with a selection of meats marinated in white wine and cooked in a terraine (or casserole). The Baeckeoffe we tried was made with pork, lamb, potatoes and carrots. Tasted just like an ordinary beef stew to me.
- Choucroute (Sauerkraut): Sliced, fermented cabbage and potatoes served with a selection of smoked and salted meats (sausages). I love cabbage but have never really developed a taste for Sauerkraut.
- Kougelhopf: The name means "raised dough (with yeast) in the form of a ball..." Kougelhopf was omnipresent, large and small, everywhere we looked and ate. Some was delicious...some not. Kougelhopf was displayed and sold in almost every bakery and is another symbol of Alsace, food-wise. It's made of leavened dough and available in sweet and savory versions. Looks like a big hat!
Kougelhopf
Continue reading "The Food of Alsace" »
Filled to the brim and overflowing with tourists. Riquewihr was once called Winzerdorf (wine village) and served as a trading hub for Alsatian and German wine ( Riesling and other great wines produced here). It looks exactly as it did in the 16th Century. Riquewihr is a fabulous little medieval city situated between mountains and vineyards, but only 7 miles from Colmar and minutes from other famous Alsatian villages like Ribeauville, Hunawihr, Eguisheim and Kaysersberg.
Riquewihr is also classified among the "Most Beautiful Villages in France" because of the half-timbered houses dating back to the 15-18th centuries and the amazing Dolder Gate. ...View image...By now, ex-Marine and I were trying very hard not to become blase with dates of 1100, 1291, 13th century, etc. In Chicago, anything older than 100 years is destroyed and as a result, all these medieval villages were nothing short of miraculous to us.
Dolder Gate
Continue reading "Riquewihr, The Ultimate Medieval Village" »
Continuing from Kayserberg to Riquewihr was the most difficult section of the day. Up to the Chateau, very steep, and closed for repairs. Many more ups throught forests, dodging fallen trees and it was interesting how instead of removing some of these trees, they were just left there...sometimes with little ladders to climb up and over them. Not easy to squish under a huge tree, wearing a pack.
More ups through forests with chestnut trees, the hairy chestnuts all over the ground and on the trees. At first glance, they look like little sea urchins. I carefully picked one up because the spines on the nut casing are very sharp. There were also wild berry bushes everywhere. I think they were wild blackberries...because they weren't furry like raspberries...and these bushes were killers with sharp thorns. It was impossible to dodge all the thorns and both ex-Marine and I walked along, blood dripping down legs and arms. In the 20+ years we've been hiking around Europe, this was the first time we've ever seen such a plethora of wild berry bushes and chestnut trees.
furry green chestnuts still on the tree
Continue reading "Continuing The Walk From Kayserberg to Riquewihr" »
The day started cloudy and overcast with rain forecast but up to now, no rain. Back to Hotel Les Vosges for breakfast, brought the suitcases down for transport to Riquewihr, and out the front door of Hotel des Deux Clefs early. Left Turckheim through the Brand Gate per instructions, and up the hill through the many, many vineyards to Niedermorschwihf. (We never even attempted to pronounce most of these towns...impossible for us.) From there to Ammerschwihr, a picturesque village dating from the 16th century but badly damaged towards the end of World War II between 1944-45. Onwards and upwards until Kayserburg, putting on rain jackets...taking off rain jackets...each time the drizzle became hard enough. Took off the backpacks, pulled the jackets from the large trash bags inside the pack (keeps everything dry), and put them on, threw the backpacks on..and....the drizzle stopped again...drove us nuts.
The vineyards were a vivid green, completely symetrical with the rows of grapes climbing every hill and dominating the landscape. Walking through the little villages, there would be signs and/or displays on most houses advertising a regional wine for sale. From this point forward, we'll show a little more respect when drinking wine now that we recognize how extremely labor-intensive the wine growing business is.
walking through the vineyards with Turckheim in the distance
Continue reading "Walking From Turckheim to Kayserberg" »
The very ancient Hotel des Deux Clefs was directly opposite the church and the church bells drove me crazy all night, ringing on the quarter hour without fail. No looking at a clock necessary. I just had to count the gongs. Tonight will definitely be an ear plug night...that's for sure!
If you base yourself in Colmar, you have two possibilities of visiting cute medieval villages. Turckheim is 5k/3.1 miles from Colmar. You could bike, walk, drive or take the 12-minute train ride. Another great place would be Eguisheim, 5k/3.1 miles southwest of Colmar. Eguisheim is considered to be the birthplace of wine growing in Alsace. The Romans planted the first vines in the 4th century. Eguisheim was built in concentric rows and, in the center was an 18th century Chateau where Pope St. Leo IX was born. The streets along the former moat have a picturesque promenade and views of the ramparts. We didn't visit since our time in Alsace would take us through many more of these villages.
Eguisheim map
Continue reading "A Day Hike Around Turckheim" »
A big breakfast, schlep with suitcases to the train station and a 12-minute train ride to Turckheim. Our hotel for the first two nights was supposed to be Hotel Les Vosges**. Greeted at the Hotel and told that our accommodations had been moved to the Hotel des Deux Clefs*** two blocks away from Hotel Les Vosges but all meals would still be a the Hotel Les Vosges. Don't know why they moved us but we're not complaining. The Hotel des Deux Clefs (The Two Keys) is an ancient hotel, first mentioned in 1583 but the building itself dates from 1540 and is considered a Maison Historique (historical house). The former name was "The Black Eagle."
Turckheim (pop: 3,594) is best known for its surrounding medieval wall, the only one in Alsace. The wall has three doors: The Munster Door; The Door of the Brand (the Route des Vins starts here); and the Door of France. The Munster Door (or gate) was called the "gate of sighs." People sentenced to death passed this gate to be executed and 26 witches were burned between 1572 and 1626. Ah...the good old days...
Munster Door/Gate, Turckheim
Continue reading "Turckheim Sightseeing" »
In the heart of wine country, it was time to learn a little about the wines of Alsace. (We just like to drink it and knew next to nothing about it.) They have been growing wine in this region before the Middle Ages and reached its zenith in the 16th century. The Alsace wine route spreads along the plains and up the foothills for over 170 kms/50+ miles with over 26 trails that can be driven, bicycled or walked through the vineyards and villages.
You can also visit the many inns, and wine cellars with tasting rooms. Usually, the producer himself is proud to have you taste his wines. They could be independent growers, producer-merchants or grower-members of cooperatives. Visit the website of Alsace Wine wine site for more details. Colmar happens to be the geographic center of the wine region and the capital of Alsace wines. The Maison des Vins d'Alsace had a wine school and infinite information about Alsace wines.
one variety of grapes
Continue reading "The Wines of Alsace" »
It is sunny and hot. A big buffet breakfast to stoke ourselves up for lots of walking. The Hotel Turenne is full every night during the season (right now) and the dining room was filled with bikers, tourists and walkers. Colmar's big appeal is the typically and whimsically Alsatian houses. Crooked, half-timbered, painted, leaning to one side - all extremely pretty and very touristy. (I'm a tourist and proud of it...) The modern city is outside this area on both sides of the train tracks. Most of the town center is pedestrian only but you still had to dodge an occasional car barreling through. FYI: One of Colmar's most famous natives is Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) whose work included our Statue of Liberty.
A visit to the train station to buy tickets for Turckheim tomorrow. Only 2.40 Euros for two tickets (it's only 3 miles away) and lots of time to read the plaques at every important monument in three languages telling about their history on the way back. The Maison des Tetes is one of the most beautiful houses in Colmar. ...View image...
Maison de Tetes
Continue reading "Another Day Visiting Charming Colmar" »
The United flight to Frankfurt was packed with no upgrades available (United changed equipment to a smaller plane) and our well-thought out "good" seats in economy with a litle more leg room in the Premier section were not to be. After reclining my seat a meager 3", the man behind me jammed my seat back in an upright position. I reclined....he jammed... When a flight attendant came by, I explained the situation and she handled it beautifully, explaining I had a right to recline, it didn't make any difference if he had too little leg room, yadda yadda. There happened to be one other empty seat in the bulkhead and that's where he decided to sit for the rest of the trip. All I could think of was ..."Who needs this? Another trip from hell?"... Oh well...
An early arrival in Frankfurt, transferred to the Lufthansa flight to Zurich and we were almost there. In Zurich's super-modern terminal, we bought tickets to Colmar and set off on our train journey. One hour from Zurich to Basle on the border with France. You get off the Swiss train, walk through the custom's area door marked "France" (with no one there) and now you are on French soil. Onto a regional French SCNF train (known as TER's) and a mere 30 minutes later, Colmar.
Colmar map
Continue reading "On The Way To Colmar, France" »
Air? This was semi-easy. The least expensive air fare at this time was to fly Chicago-Frankfurt on United, change to a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt-Zurich, and return on a non-stop United flight from Zurich-Washington, DC and connect on to Chicago, our final destination.
Train? Visited the Swiss National Rail (SBB) site. From there to Rail Europe site to see if it was more economical to buy some sort of two-country Rail Pass or just buy point-to-point tickets on arrival. (For complete details on trains read Sheila's Guide to European Train Travel.) This time it was more economical to buy point-to-point tickets.
Alsace hiking area for this trip
Continue reading "Planning The Alsace Trip" »
The Alsace region is located in the extreme Northeast corner of France, bordering Germany and Switzerland. Also an area of major combat during World War I and II, Alsace is known for its famous wines and medieval villages, but you may not know that there are easy inn-to-inn (or village-to-village) walking, bicycling and driving tours along this route.
The walk/trek is commonly known by several names: "Castles & Medieval Villages of Alsace" - "The Balcony of Medieval Alsace" - and "Walks Along The Wine Route." Distances between the ancient towns on the famous Alsace wine route are short, and the altitudes (between 430m-645m/1400-2,000' ) not very high. You can make your own arrangements and backpack through this area, or do what we did. Arrange for a tour organizer to handle everything. Many choices of tour operators: Mountain Travel Sobek, Explore U.K., Sherpa Biking/Walking Holidays, and La Pelerine. After reading all the literature, it was a tough choice but I prefered the less expensive price and towns included in La Pelerine's 7 day-6 night package with 6 days of walking.
France regional map
Continue reading "The Alsace Region of France - Castles and Medieval Villages" »
Today is Wednesday and the Dell Inspiron 530 is two weeks old. (Happy Birthday to you....) A second non-working video card arrives. Is this Card #1 supposedly "cancelled"....Card #2 still in limbo...or Card #3 sent by Alex? Who cares... and I still haven't received the UPS return labels. I e-mail Adela and miracle of miracles, she responds. The "team" will be in touch within minutes. Two hours later...a long-distance phone call from Carlos in El Salvador. Dell is now willing to offer me $50 for all the trouble. Surely, I've misunderstood him. Fifty dollars for 13 telephone hours, 14 days of aggravation and a case of the Shingles? Dell can take the $50.00 and insert it where the sun doesn't shine. But, I'm nice to Carlos...he's just doing his job.
"Carlos...send me those labels or this computer will sit on my front lawn until the cows come home and/or Dell picks it up. Whichever comes first." In the meantime, I'm busy writing a letter of protest to Dell Financial because the bill has already arrived. They certainly are quick to do that! This letter will protect my legal rights and I have no intention of keeping or paying for this poor excuse of a computer.
Continue reading "Escape From Dell Computer Hell" »
Between Monday and Wednesday, I write letters to Michael Dell, Donald Carty and Paul Bell (top honchos at Dell) , attach copies of the nine (9) e-mail responses from Dell with Case Numbers, detail all the facts and mail off hoping to get a response. The main focus of the letter being:
- Dell sold me a system that wasn't powerful enough to meet my needs;
- Because of that, I have to pay for a new video card; and
- Why did my "non-technical" self even have to go through all this aggravation when I could have been sold the right pre-loaded system to begin with.
These letters were sent November 12 and no one from Dell has ever bothered to respond.
Continue reading "Is There Life Outside of Dell Computer Hell?" »
The next day...
It was time to deal with another problem, getting Outlook Express to work properly. Comcast Broadband and I spent an hour trying to solve this. Comcast then contacted Microsoft (since it was their software) and Microsoft "graciously" offered to trouble shoot for $50 OR since Outlook Express came bundled on the Dell, I could call Dell and trouble shoot with them. With a knot in the pit of my stomach, I called Dell. This Tech, Ziggy, was in the Philippines call center. I'm not trying to be insensitive but at least I could understand Ziggy and we spent ANOTHER two hours, finally uninstalling Norton Security (bundled in the Dell) that refused to let Outlook Express receive e-mails. The Outlook Express problem solved, I added a new case number and new e-mail from Ziggy to the stack. Ziggy had read my growing log and asked about the "Blue Screen" issue but video editing was the last thing on my mind right then. This day had already consisted of one hour with Comcast, and two hours with Dell. A life outside of this Dell computer would have been nice.
Continue reading "Dell Computer Hell Continued" »
|
