Paris to Alsace and on to Switzerland

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France-Germany-Switzerland

Day 7 - Saturday July 14 - Paris - Reims

When everyone was still sleeping, I went to Gare du Nord and rented a car from Eurocar.
It is a VW Passat station wagon deisel standard transmission.
I had not driven standard for many years, so it took me a while to
get comfottable with it. Finally we got on the A4
toll road to Reims (150 km from Paris). In Reims (which is not that large)
we had trouble finding our hotel (Au Tambour) which is in the suburbs.
The temperarure in London and Paris had ranged from 18 to 22C, but
today was the start of a heat wave (32 C), so we were glad to have
an air conditioned car and room. The hotel also had a swimming pool
which we took advantage of. That evening we drove to Eparnay, about
20km , right in the heart of the Champagne wine district.
The views of the vineyards were breathtaking. We had supper
at a local small restaurant and sampled their Kir Royale
(Champagne and Creme de Cassis). In the main square , there was
a jazz band playing. Before setting off to Metz the next morning,
we toured the main Cathedral in Reims which was very impressive.
We bumped in to a tour group from Russia. We bought a bottle of
champagne as a souvenir, and started our drive to Metz.

Day 8- Sunday July 15 - Metz, France

Because of the heat wave (34 -35 C for today and tomorrow), we did not do a lot
of sightseeing today. From Reims to Metz, we took some backroads,
passing thru some very pretty and old villages. This is primarily an argicultural
area, lots of wheatfields just being harvested as well as sunflowers. We stopped at Verdun and looked at
the WWI battlefeild memorials (over 1 million men died here).
The we found our hotel in Metz (Novotel). I had a swim then we had supper in the
old part of the city ( 5 mins walk from our hotel).Then we strolled around the old city.
Near the main Cathedral, on a street corner, there was an excellent student choir
from Spain giving free concerts. I guess they are touring Europe.


Day 9- Monday July 16 - Colmar, France

As I write this , we are about to set off for Colmar.
This is on the France-German border about 200 km from Metz.
To reach Colmar, we must cross the Vosges mountains, noted for their beauty,
and travel down the Alsace wine route (famous for Riesling and Gewurztraminer).
The views from the Vosges "Route des Cretes" were breathtaking !
We got to Colmar about 6pm and checked in to the Hotel des Tetes, housed in a 400 year old wine bourse.
We did not have supper there ( its restaurant is rated as one of the best
in France, but entrees average 70 $Can per plate). Surprisingly, the room prices were
in the 3 star category. About 8pm, we took a 20 km drive along the Alsatian "route des vins"
towards Strassbourg - at about 9pm we stopped at Ribeauville and
had a wonderful supper (Choucroute, Quiche Lorraine at an auberge).

Day 10 - Tuesday July 17 - Travel from Colmar France to Luzerne Switzerland

We spent the morning wandering around old Colmar.
It's like something out of Disneyworld !
We also found out that the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty was from Colmar (Bartholdi).
The entrance to the town has a replica of this statue.
The trip to Luzerne passed thru the Black Forest in Germany.
We had lunch and Black Forest cake along the way (fantastic !).
We stopped in Winterthur, Switzerland for about 30 mins.
We took some photos in front of Sulzer House and 37 Sal-Strasse
where I worked and lived for 6 months in 1982.
There was major road construction in Winterthur and Zurich,
so we got to Luzern about 7pm.
We wandered around town a bit until we found a nice hotel:
( 4 star hotel - Hotel Continental Park on Murbacherstrasse, 2 mins walk to the main railway station).
We only have a 4 day stay in Switzerland - just as well - prices are about double those
in Canada for hotels and restaurants.
Tommorow we plan a trip up the Pilatus mountain ( by rack railway).

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