Blogs from Alsace, France, Europe

Riquewihr, 25. – 26. September 2012 Vom Hochwarzwald bis nach Riquewihr waren es nur gut 100 km. Die Distanz hatten wir schnell abgespult. In Riquewihr mussten wir dann leider über eine Stunde vor der Campingschranke warten, da die Platzwartin bis um 14.30 Uhr Mittagspause hatte. Wir nutzten die Zeit für Mittagessen und einen Gang über den Platz, bei der Gelegenheit suchten wir uns schon mal einen freien Platz aus. Die Altstadt ist vom Campingplatz aus in etwa 30 Minuten zu Fuss zu erreichen. Leider begleitete uns beim ersten Bummel durch die wunderschöne Altstadt von Riquewihr ein leichter Nieselregen. Ein Glas Federweissen und ein Bierchen konnten wir aber trotzdem im Freien unter einem Sonnen/Regenschirm geniessen. Auf dem Rückweg zum Campingplatz begann es dann wie aus Kübeln zu schütten. Gut waren wir mit einem Regenschirm und unseren Regenjacken ... read more

The morning of our departure from Paris was fairly frantic. We had arranged to meet our apartment hosts' representative at 9 am to exchange keys...our train for Strasbourg left at 11:30 from Gare de l'est...we knew that we could take the Metro there but not really sure about how long it would take...and cleaning/packing just seems to never end. She showed up at 9:15 and wanted to be able to leave right away because she had an appointment at 9:30...!?! Okedoke, we gave her the keys, thumped gigantor suitcase down the stairway and hung out in our favorite coffee shop for the next half hour, drinking awesome cafe au lait and filling Fifi up on CROGGHERS. We made our way to the gare with ease and found ourselves, of course, with plenty of time to spare. ... read more

JULY 29 Before leaving our special hotel, we had an amazing German breakfast that kept us well fed for our drive to Strasbourg. It took a few attempts to arrive at our hotel with all of the one-way and pedestrian-only streets, but we dropped our bags and were off for a day of exploring. We visited the phenomenal Notre Dame Cathedral, all of Petite France (including L'Academie de Bier), enjoyed some cappucinos and food outside, and walked until we could no longer. We had a phenomenal dinner of different kinds of spaetzle in Petite France on the river to finish off a wonderful day in a beautiful city.... read more

Well, we're back in France as promised. Left Switzerland just as the skies were beginiing to clear and arrived in the beautiful Alsace region of France Sunday afternoon. After a pleasant stroll and a great lunch we did our laundry while we waited for the owners of our pension to return from their vineyards. Monday we went to a great museum with some Martin Schongauer works and the world famous Isheim alterpeice. We also rode bikes around town and Lizzie did some clothes shopping. The whole town is just so quaint and picturesque, and our pension is just like the rest of the town - not a square corner, a straight street or a non-sagging roof anywhere!... read more

And so the exciting, busy and intensive week of Bouge Ta Ville began - to explain simply, it's a week where about 200 young people get together every two years to transform and manifest the glory of God to their city. The concept began in Mulhouse, the city where I was doing it last week and is beginning to spread to other cities across France which is VERY exciting.... It all kicked off on Saturday afternoon at a huge church of around 2000 people in Mulhouse. I was relieved and excited to hear other English speakers when we arrived at the welcome part (I had been worried that I'd be the only English speaker and that I might not understand or be able to participate in everything.) I had put my name down to work with ... read more

Up pretty early and picked up the electronics from the office. All charged up and ready to go. The owners were also Tandem Cyclists and were very interested in the trike, thus before we headed out we offered them a spin. They returned with smiling faces! Weather - very windy and threatening rain as leaving Neuf-Brisach. Sprinkled on and off throughout the day. Lost several times, really poorly marked trails, especially any time we were near a town. Everything was closed due to the holiday but fortunately we had food to picnic on and found the lovely historical area to eat in. There is a large church in every town so it is easy to find these spots. We managed to find our way through the large city of Mulhouse & get to a fairly nice ... read more

Day 9: Neuf-Brisach all day. Had a great day in this little town. The campground owners were exceptional and let us charge all the electronics & even gave us an umbrella to walk to town for the evenings festivities. We walked to town & then took the trike in for the afternoon and to ride the parameter of the Fort. It is quite incredible with beautifully kept homes, and we even spotted a residence for seniors/elderly which was nice. A note is that in France & Germany we've notice few people use canes or crutches or and many with no walkers, but rather they use what I would call a pair of canes with arm braces (like Forest Gump) or hiking poles- just interesting. We wandered into a local establishment for lunch and clarified that sharing ... read more