Colmar to Champagne country then home

The next day, after leaving Colmar, we drove through vineyards and farmland. Mostly very attractive to drive though. However, we noticed some of the French towns in the area as we headed inland from the German border are looking rather shabby and down at heel. Apparently they were beginning to suffer even prior to the current economic crisis.

Munster
Not far from Colmar is Munster, an attractive little town which makes a distinctive cheese and has an additional eye-catching town feature. Although we had seen a couple in Colmar, Munster wins the prize for storks on roofs. Many of the town's bigger buildings have large stork nests on them, all filled with storks of course. Must be a permanent feature as the local hotel and pharmacy are both called "The Stork".

Tendon
At last! After finding so many antiques shops closed, or containing 'top end', very expensive items, we found the sort of shops I love: full of clutter, but clean and moderately priced. This little town, Tendon, had three antique shops filled with all sorts of curiosities. I managed to find a number of treasures, helped by one owner, who, when I told him I was also a dealer, said that in France, if the price of the item is, say, 40 euros, you say, "no, no, no, much too expensive", and offer 25 euros and they will probably accept. So were soon learnt not to trust the asking price.

Searching for a hotel
By late afternoon we started to look for a hotel in the spa town of Vittel, but found a number of them closed, fully booked or simply not worth staying at. So, with slight desperation we headed for the next large town. On the way we spotted a large, brightly painted concrete block with the word "Hotel ** " on top. It looked terrible but we decided to check it out.
The inside was much better than expected and two rooms were available with free parking, breakfast included, and all at a reasonable price. The room TVs had CNN, BBC and MTV, and free WiFi in the main lounge/bar. The view from our room window was across gardens and farmland. Even more important, the hotel had a huge restaurant where we all enjoyed an excellent meal of roast duck and wine for a very reasonable price. So one should be careful not to judge from appearances. (Specially when desperate!)

In the morning we visited a huge monument (which has a large attached museum) to General de Gaulle. It is a massive brick Cross of Lorraine, splendidly situated high on a hill, overlooking farmland for miles, just above the little village in which the General grew up. The town was neat, pretty and looking prosperous, the first in this part of the country. In some ways though, it is a pity it was built here, as most of the French will probably never visit this relatively isolated area.
Entrance to the lift is shaped like the French military cap, worn by the General.


Lac du Der
The next day we headed for the nearby lakes district, hoping to find somewhere attractive to stay. The lakes, we were to learn, are not natural, but man-made constructions to deal with the flooding to which the area is prone. There were not as many suitable places to choose from as we hoped, and at the first, a farm stay, with a big restaurant, the young man said we would have to wait several hours for our room. Another also had not yet readied the rooms (about 4pm) and it was so isolated we would have had to drive some distance for a meal. Yet another said they were 'full' but in fact they seemed to be closed. Then suddenly we found a chambres d'hotes that looked like an old half-timbered farm house with guest rooms on offer in a small village with a long name: Giffaumont-Champaubert.

There was a sudden downpour of rain so I stayed in the car, shouting through the B&B gate intercom from the car window, thinking that is where I am hearing the voice of the owner. But the owner was actually talking directly to us from the nearby doorway. John and Barry broke up laughing.

We booked into the newly renovated rooms at just 52 euros per room, (in spite of the proximity of the church bell tower) and then went for a walk to the levee holding up the lake. Jan and Barry walked on and we got the car, eventually meeting at the only restaurant open tonight, apart from bars selling snack foods. We were very early and the first there but had excellent meal -- though pricey at 150 euros altogether. Very rich selection of plates, one like a whole piece of pickled liver. I had fillet steak (probably veal) which was very good but we were a bit disappointed in the desserts.

In the morning, after a peaceful night (the bells are switched off at 10pm) a good breakfast was provided, As usual it consisted of OJ, tea, coffee or hot chocolate, with fresh crusty bread and jams. Today yoghurt and stewed fruit was also included. A French couple from Luxemburg, speaking good English, joined us at breakfast. Then suddenly two Gendarmes appeared at the door. Apparently cars parked in the street had been broken into, and the number plates had been stolen from the car of our breakfast companions. We immediately checked our car, but nothing was missing. It made us realise how lucky we have been, and the reason for usually trying to get secure overnight parking.

Another beautiful day. We stopped for coffee at Vitry-le-Francois at the edge of a huge central square, and then later stopped in the bigger town of Chalons-sur-Marne.







After a walk through the town squares and pretty public gardens, of Chalons

we had lunch at the very busy restaurant, la Bourse, where we had excellent salads and my favourite dessert--- tarte tatin with creme fraiche -- superb.










Epernay
Our destination for the evening was Epernay, the capital of the champagne district.

In Epernay we booked two rooms at a B&B in the nearby country through the tourist office. Jan & Barry went to the Moet&Chandon headquarters on a guided tour and we explored town (having been on the tour in a previous visit).

I bought my French perfume which is not readily available in Perth). We bought some salad and meat rolls and pastries to take away for tea as the B&B didn't have a restaurant. Our rural B&B was the home of a local wine grower/maker (Champagne.) The house was quite modest and the rooms rather curiously decorated (ours had an oriental theme) but in a stunning setting with glorious views over vineyards to the little village below.



Our fellow guests were English, the Fothergills, French residents from Montpellier, who were returning their elderly mother to the UK. They were a very nice trio and we shared travel stories. Madame, our hostess, seemed a bit miffed that all her guests could communicate in English, and when she got the opportunity she talked away in French to all who could understand. (And to those that couldn't.)
We bought a bottle of our host's not inexpensive champagne to go with our rolls and pastries. It seemed a bit incongruous, but the champagne was very good. (2002 harvest)

Last day.
After breakfast, at which Madame, snatched away one of the dishes of butter Barry was using, saying; "That's not for you!", seemed to momentarily accuse us of stealing her teapot stand, and got into a bit of a tizz when we pointed out her dog had left great big turds in the driveway ideally placed for us to step into as we got into the car, we made a clean getaway.
We set the GPS for the car depot at the airport. We had a good journey, initially through Champagne villages (though we nearly ran out of diesel) before returning to the Paris airport via the freeways without further incident.
At the airport we shared a last coffee with Jan and Barry who were flying a little later via London on Qantas and we boarded our Emirates flight for home.

It has been a great holiday, we have seen and done so much that it feels longer than four weeks, but I know within a few days I will probably suffer a little from apres-vacances tristesse as life returns to the humdrum everyday.

Riquewihr and Colmar in Alsace, France

John's comments on leaving Germany:

As a "just looking" tourist I will miss the general tidyness, beauty and functionality of the places we visited and experienced, particularly in Bavaria.
The level of English language understanding and help was a nice surprise.
The restaurant food and wine is very cheap at the low to middle price range, but after a while the lack of variety and finesse began to show.
I will miss the coffee with cake culture which is very strong in southern Germany at least.
(Mostly does not exist in nearby European countries - except Austria.) The Germans have embraced Italian coffee styles. Pity they don't take on French food styles.

The road system is fantastic with its high level of maintenance and unlimited speeds on the autobahns. (We cruised at a sedate 135Km/h, while most other cars passed us.)
Public toilets (council and restaurant provided) are first class in quality of plumbing and cleanliness. Definitely world's best practice! (No, I didn't take any photos.)



Back in France

Riquewihr
This is probably one of the prettiest villages in France. Others must also think so as the main car park outside the walls holds about 20 tourist buses. As I mentioned earlier, wine and gourmet food is in abundance. The expected craft and kitsch shops keep a low profile. To maintain the medieval atmosphere, cars, cables and TV aerials are mostly absent from the centre, although the tourist train winds its way through the streets every hour. Surrounding Riquewihr are large areas of vineyards.

Our rooms were OK, and no church bells, but the hotel was incredibly dark and gloomy inside. We could barely see to walk downstairs. (Well, it is 400 years old!)

Jan was exhausted on our arrival and was looking rather unwell. But she rested a bit and freshened up and was fine for dinner. We had so many restaurants to choose from but we settled on one with choices that appealed to us all. I selected a delicious onion tart followed by a potato dish with bacon, cream and cheese. Both were very rich and filling; John had a cheese and salad starter followed by a meat dish. Jan and Barry also had onion tart followed by trout. I helped John eat his dessert of lemon sorbet in schnapps.

Despite our big meal we were ready in the morning to face breakfast with huge bowls for our coffee or hot chocolate. Jan and Barry asked for tea and the boss indicated the bowls provided. Barry suggested that he needed goggles and flippers to negotiate them.

Colmar
After checking out of our little old 17C hotel we headed back into Colmar, the old centre of which is like a much bigger version of Riquewihr.
Colmar also has a modern economy, not just tourism, though that is important, judging by the number of tourists we saw in the streets and restaurants. We found a patisserie that also provided coffee and tea. This a rare combination in France. Usually pastries are sold to take away only.



We walked town and recognised some places we had visited many years ago, including Le Mareshal, a very expensive hotel overlooking an area called "Little Venice". In the canal we saw a huge water-rat like creature. Tried to photo it, but too fast.

Germany to France

Heading back to France.

We left Mitterfels and drove to the other side of Germany. The journey was almost entirely on major motorways so that we would cover plenty of ground. We stopped in a little town of Erbach for a light pizza lunch where John, much to his surprise, saw the Google Street View camera car. No idea what it would be doing in this tiny town. Probably the operator had just stopped for lunch like us.





Later in the day we got off the motorway to take a more winding route along the river Danube as we were more likely to find accommodation in a scenic area. We settled on the tiny town of Sigmaringen.



Sigmaringen
In Sigmaringen we walked around town and saw the magnificent castle which is the town's focal point. At the tourist office we enquired about accommodation in the countryside, but the only available one was full so we settled into the Hotel Traube, in the town centre, on the pedestrian strip.










We had dinner in the open air at the Hotel, the 'formula menu' of huge choice from the salad bar plus spag bol or schnitzel was really good value. Jan was fading fast, could not make much headway with her venison stew and headed off to bed. She was worried that the hotel's position might make it noisy, but although there were no problems with traffic or people in the bar, we all had a disturbed night for the local church, immediately opposite, rang its bells every 15 minutes all night long! At 6.30 in the morning a sadistic bell ringer rang the big bell about 50 times to make sure everyone got up!

On our departure I mentioned to the hotel manager that we had enjoyed our stay but the bells were a problem, and he said OK, OK, OK, and waved his hand at me in such a manner that indicated that he had heard the complaint many times before. So although we would not recommend the hotel for anyone else, we had a marvelous morning visiting the castle.
It was superb, fully furnished and decorated, with a history dating back 1000 years, and visited by Napoleon. There is a huge collection of military small-arms from the last 500 years. More recently it was briefly (late 1944) used as the headquarters of the French Vichy government as a secret safe-house. The owning family were ousted and put into the nearby castle of von Stauffenberg who had been executed for his attempt to kill Hitler.








Bueron
The next day we continued along the river, stopping at Bueron where there is a Benedictine monastery much visited by pilgrims. We sat in for the brief service and enjoyed the organ music even more than the recital we heard the other day. Very decorative chapel within the church.

Beuron pilgrim












Finally reached France and headed for Colmar.

In Colmar we again enquired at the tourist office for rural accommodation but instead found ourselves booked into a hotel in the nearby town of Riquewhir. This defeated the purpose a bit, but it was cheaper to stay outside Colmar itself. Riquewhir is an old walled town filled with lopsided half timbered buildings, painted in pastel colours. The town specialises in food and wine of the region so there were massive numbers of restaurants to choose from. More in next blog.

Straubing Regensburg Bodemais and all that glass

Mitterfels
Our last couple of days in Mitterfels have been spent exploring a little more locally. This is very pretty country with hills and valleys, forests and farmland, all in shades of green. Farmers have been harvesting their hay while the sun shines. Weather is very changeable, with black clouds and a few light showers suddenly transformed by sunshine that is soon very warm. Jan and Barry went for a long walk early this morning and were pleased to sight a deer, like one we had viewed from the road yesterday.

Straubing
We all went into our most local city, Straubing, expecting a guided walk in English, but it wasn't available, so we did our own sight seeing, much of it inside lovely homewares stores where Jan and I both made purchases. Straubing has a very attractive pedestrian centre with lots of interesting historic buildings, cafes, jazz playing, a market in the street from which we purchased luscious cherries. Every year the city hosts the second largest beer festival in Germany (after Munich.)














We watched a man re-tiling a roof five stories above the street, standing almost vertically without any form of safety harness.

Bodemais
In the afternoon we drove to Bodemais, a dot on the map, but a very busy centre for factory outlet stores selling glass and ceramics, dominated by the massive glass manufacturer, Joska Crystal. The store was enormous, and we only visited the smaller of the two, and we watched some glass blowing and glass etching. Prices were very reasonable.

In the evening we drove around our own little community Mitterfels and found it to be larger than we had previously thought, with numerous dining options. We ate another traditional German meal at a local guesthouse with a bar/restaurant. It was very cheap and tasty, but unsophisticated food. John and I had a serve of 2 minced meat patties served with boiled potatoes and a small side salad with pickled beetroot, carrot, cabbage and lettuce. With large glasses of wine, the bill for two of us was 15Euro (about $27).

Regensburg
Regensburg was our destination for today. The centre of the city is a UNESCO Heritage Site, with the largest intact medieval cityscape. There is little parking close to the centre but after driving around in ever decreasing circles we found a convenient parking spot. Surrounding the old centre is a large industrial estate including BMW and Siemens factories. Our first old town visit was to the Thurn und Taxis museum where we visited the Treasury and Carriage Room. The Thurn und Taxis family were responsible for establishing a mail delivery service and the logo of the horn which announced the mail delivery is still in evidence on all post offices. They were incredibly wealthy princes and today we viewed a part of their treasures. It was all splendid, including, porcelain, gold and silver objects, furniture, guns, and beautiful carriages, but probably the treasures that gave us the greatest delight was the collection of snuff boxes.


A German couple stopped to chat to us, amazed that we had traveled so long by plane to get to Europe. (This is a repeated refrain. I think airlines need to address this issue in their advertising, so that Europeans, and Americans, don't continue to feel it is too far to travel.) They were very charming and told us that although they live in Frankfurt they go to Regensburg every Wednesday for breakfast. We are still not sure if they were joking or not.





The four of us then joined a small group on a guided walking tour of the city for one and a half hours. We had an excellent local guide and learned much about the city, famous for the wealth of its merchant class who built huge mansions with towers. (The towers were totally useless, purely symbolic of the owner's wealth).

There was an curious moment when a group of girls asked if one of them could be photographed with us as they needed a photograph of one of them taken with four people all wearing hats. It was some type of school exercise. These projects set for students seem very odd indeed, but of course we were happy to oblige.

People have been, almost without exception, polite, friendly, helpful, good-natured. Young women working in shops apologise for the quality of their English, rather than expect us to have any German. Menus are often produced in English, or the staff are happy to translate menu items.

After the tour, in very bright sun and walking on cobbled streets, we were all in need of something to eat. Jan and Barry chose sausages and sauerkraut at the oldest sausage bar in the world (800 years); but I felt I couldn't face another sausage so John and I had a French meal at a little cafe in one of the narrow side alleys. My Salade Nicoise was excellent and John had a good salad of shrimps and mushrooms.

The restaurant's downstairs toilets had a glass wall which looked into what seemed like a bottomless medieval pit. A very eerie experience.

We then retraced our steps to visit some antique shops we had seen earlier and made a couple of small purchases.










We joined Jan and Barry on the ancient stone bridge, built in 1135. It has stood the test of time very well, and until recently was open to vehicles, but the practice of putting salt on the road in winter to protect motorists has now done damage to the stones, so they are trying to rescue it from further deterioration. It is a lovely outlook from the bridge to the city.