Advertisement
Published: November 8th 2005
Edit Blog Post
3/11/05 - The Vosges mountain range which runs through Alsace is truly amazing. You can easily explore many interesting places in the Vosges via the Route des Crêtes (Route of crests). I took the trip to the peak of the Grand Ballon (1423m) and then onward to Le Hohneck (1362m). Sure, judge on height above sea level both do not come anything close to Mount Blanc. But, on a clear day you can see Mount Blanc way off in the distance form both these peaks.
I stopped on the way through Guebwiller to grab some sandwiches and a drink for lunch. Then I took the drive ever upward, on the winding mountain road to the Grand Ballon. The outside temperature gauge on the dash board of the car started out at 14 degrees on the floor of the valley, it then gradually dropped to about 6 or 7 degrees near the Grand Ballon. Out of the wind and in the sun it felt very comfortable, but once on top of the summit the wind could not be avoided and I hugged my cheap ski jacket close to me as well as my beanie.
The panorama was reasonably clear; unfortunately
I could not see the Swiss Alps or Mount Blanc. There was just enough wispy fog to block the view in that direction. No problem, I took a good walk around on a few of the trails and got a bit puffed thanks to too many Gauloises over the last few weeks. I took a rest facing the mountains toward Freiburg in Germany and contemplated how lucky we have been with the weather. The area I am now visiting will be covered in snow in about a month, so how lucky am I it is still so warm and sunny.
The drive to Le Hohneck had some highlights, aside form some incredible scenery; I took a stop to have a chat to some horses about life as a horse in Alsace. They seemed reasonably happy with their lot in life. Size wise they are shorter than a stock horse, but they are very solidly built, almost like a small draught horse (can you tell I am not a horse expert?). They are very docile and I had an interesting time patting and taking some shots of them.
At Le Hohneck I was rewarded for persisting with the mountain
views by the fact that the strong wind had blown any hint of fog and most of the cloud away by 1pm and I could just make out Mont Blanc way off in the distance (246km as the crow flies).
No more anglais????
After dinner tonight, Jean, Beatrice and I had discussions on subjects from religion to cooking! At the end of the evening Jean proclaimed that we were dropping far too much anglais into our conversation and that from tomorrow we would become an “English free zone”. So, it will be interesting to see how long I can last before my vocab is exhausted - perhaps five minutes? It will be fun trying!
Jean also told me that he recalled learning a new English phrase from Lorenza last year, when they were admiring a friends MG sports car Jean explained to Lorenza that the car was just to try and attract women and Lorenza told Jean our expression it’s a “chick magnet”. I found it amusing that he still remembered the expression. I am sure Lorenza will be impressed she taught Jean something new.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.348s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 30; qc: 140; dbt: 0.218s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
Rob_n_Lorenza
Rob & Lorenza B
French Comtois Horses
I think they are French Comtois horses, check them out here ... http://www.imh.org/imh/bw/comtois.html