Happy New Year - Happy New Swaps!

The old year isn't quite over yet and the new season of Intrepid Home Swapping has already begun.
We had a winner for the free membership, David S., who will put his house in Turkey on the company's registry.

We're after signing two agreements with two German families. Yep, off to the fatherland again. After all it's my home country and we're enjoying it every time. The first exchange will be in Berlin, a maisonette with air condition! An absolute rare gem in Germany. Then we will "take the waters" again in Baden-Baden, a very high -end spa resort, with a casino and thermal baths in the most scenic area in the south west close to the French border. We already arranged to go and visit this summer's exchange partners again in Alsace.

Still not convinced about home swapping.Maybe one of my travelogues will hook you.Here's my latest, Season 5:

Try it out for free!

If you've followed my blog, you know that we are home  swapping enthusiasts. Even more so since hubby retired and we're living on a fixed budget. It makes perfect sense to swap homes to save a big chunk of money on accommodation AND a re rental car.
Season Six is upon us. For weeks I've been perusing the suite we have subscribed to for 5 years and I added another one for more choices. It works on the same basis and we were offered a special deal: a third of the annual premium = $49.
First I thought it was too early to start looking in September, but no, some members had made arrangements already. As soon as Europeans know when they will be on vacation in the following year, they tend to start thinking and booking. (These school holiday weeks vary from state to state in Germany each year.) In France, it's a given that they will want to travel in August. Same with Italy, but I haven't had any luck there yet even getting  the usual number of responses. Some people are just too busy...or lackadaisical?
We have two prospects now where contracts are under way, both to Germany: Berlin and my favorite region in the south west near Baden-Baden, close to the French border.

                                                            (Casino in Baden-Baden)

The new company I signed up with is offering a free membership for a year to test home swapping. That is a value of ca. $129! I'm offering it to people who are seriously interested in this ideal way of traveling.Offer only lasts till the end of this week. Contact me at Hernibs1@comcast.net and you are in business!
Happy Travels!

Planning tips

If you're planning a trip to Alsace, you must not forgot a number of historic towns that put this tourist hot spot on the map: Obernai, Riqueswihr, Kaysersberg, Ribeauville, Guebwiller and Rouffach. They are all beautiful, traditional exciting towns. As we had done a few in the past, hubby insisted to skip the overly touristy stuff this time.But for any first-timer, they are a must.Work out a plan how much you can fit in your scheduled stay. How much eye-candy you can take it. My advice would always be to hit these tourist spots in early May and in the fall. Because of the weather which can become overly hot in the summer and because of the busloads of visitors you will encounter in the summer.

Ribeauville

We just subscribed to another home exchange company who made us an offer we couldn't resist: a full year's membership at only $49! Doubling our chances of finding a wonderful swapping partner, this will keep me busy, because their filter system doesn't work either properly. In addition I had to set up our own house description on their site which always takes a few hours. Luckily, I could copy and paste. Anybody who has ever been on an internet dating site will be aware of competitions out there and will want to maximize their chances.

Like every year I'd like to conclude this season with some general tips for home swapping. So here are some additional tips:

Obernai

For more invaluable tips read my latest travelogue on Season 5. Enough information to make it a successful and enjoyable adventure for you too!
Once you've tried home swapping, you'll want to repeat this great experience. We can't wait to start the selection process for next year.

Guebwiller

With home swapping the world is your oyster! Good luck and happy travels!

Siggy Buckley

Season 5

Home exchange is a unique alternative to mainstream tourism

I thought you might be interested in the underlying ethics and rules of the company we have been working with for 5 years now before I wrap up this blog and turn it into an eBook. It surely is important info about the whole process which will give the undecided some more safety of mind.
I've copied it from their website- without you giving the name of that outfit. Contact me and I will give it to you and it will be in that eBook as well.

Home exchange is a unique alternative to mainstream tourism, and has been for decades.

An ever-growing trend

The recent emergence of a more personalized approach to travel, as well as the worldwide economic slump, have both contributed to the current boom in home swapping. Attention from the press (thank you!) has also done a great deal in promoting the cause of home exchange. It has never been more popular – attracting an ever-growing group of open-minded people – as well as numerous new home exchange websites, often one-man-band operations offering free access to members and boasting staggering numbers of homes around the world.

At x we do things differently

Pioneers of home exchange since 1953, we are an international association based in Brussels, with 27 multi-lingual representatives around the world offering advice and local support to our members. X is the original network of active and reliable exchangers in the world. Our goal is to continue to defend the original values of home exchange: trust, mutual respect and support, open-mindedness and genuine interest in other cultures.

Request an interview or meet home exchangers in your region. This was news even to me!

Having them outline their business policy, I need to point out that for over a year we have been annoyed about their website.Major changes were made, resulting in time consuming screw-ups which haven't been fixed yet. Why fix something in the first place that hasn't been broken? Since hubby has a fairly good insight into building major websites and internet systems, we're put off by the ineffective way this company has been handling these glitches. Not that they don't offer personalized help about every mistake and question I have. Still, it is a time-consuming enterprise to start looking for exchange partners. I had to experience this in spring for our 2015 exchanges.And now that I have already started to look again for 2016 it is no better. Their filter systems do not work.
Let's say you're looking for house exchangers in Great Britain with no children who are non-smokers and have no pets, their  suggestions (site) will still give a big number of smokers or pet owners among them. If you're looking for  a specific area, it is not as easily accessible as it used to be. Based on an alphabetic system before, you now get houses and members all over the country you're interested in.Again a waste of time.
In spite of several complaints, nothing much changed. Extraordinary for such a big company that operates world-wide to be so under serviced in the technological department. To give us an extra 4 months membership, for us, is not the solution. As we say in German: We had the money to begin with!

Farewell to Villa Villekulla (Kunterbunt)

Did you read Pippi Longstocking when you grew up? Pippi Longstocking was the protagonist of a series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. A tomboy living with her monkey, Mr. Nilsson, in a colorful villa, Vill Villekulla, was my hero as little girl. Ah, yes, and she had a horse living with her in it.

Because of the multi-colored decorations and wallpapers in our swapped home in the Alsace, my friend who visited us called it "Villa Kunterbunt" - meant in the most endearing way. We loved it and its decor.

(bathroom)

It was time to pack and make arrangements for our return trip. Readers of this blog may remember that we often have to pay for a rental car to go to the house we are swapping. There we often pick up the home owner's car and have it at our disposal. 

The same happened this year. We had to go and pick up a rental car. Since that was not possible (due to their Terms & Conditions) in Strasbourg, it was a longer way to Stuttgart from where we flew back. The next day, having closed up the house,  we drove back to the airport and returned the rental.

It seems a bit of a nuisance to do the distance  (90min) twice, but it's the only possible way of getting back to the airport.

Our exchange family was lucky . They had a family member to collect them when they arrived (in Frankfort). At least I had helping to clean the house. It was a heart-felt good-bye with the 89 year old "Oma", grandmother' of our exchange family. She had looked after us and welcomed us in a very endearing way.

(kitchen) 

Maybe we'll see each other again.Maybe indeed as we have heard since form our exchange partners that they are interested in repeating this stay.

So we spent the last night in an airport hotel in comfort instead of getting on the road at an ungodly hour. Transatlantic flights depart around 9.30 -10.00 most of the time. With the drive to the airport or 90 min plus an extra 2 hours necessary for check-in we prefer to arrive at the airport the night before.

The inconvenience of stripping beds and cleaning a whole house is just too much for me to bear on an early morning. So you see: planning and organization is the name of the game of a successful home swap. More tips to follow in the upcoming eBook: Insider Tips for Successful Home Swaps.

(livingroom)

                                                   (spacious terrace on garage roof top)

Wrapping it up...

All good things must come to an end! The three weeks we spent in France went by so quickly...Isn't that always the case when you're having fun?
With 5 seasons under our belt now, I'm quite confidant to recommend this type of travel. It is a safe and inexpensive way to explore countries you always wanted to go. Planning it well, however, and in advance is necessary when you aim for 2 or more exchanges.
Let me sum up what seems to be vital:
- Choose  a reliable, well established home swapping agency online. You can compare prices and what they offer- also what type of clientele they have. Send me a message and I will reveal who we have been booking with.  (I just don't want to promote that company here for all to see as they refused to promote my blog. I think that is a fair quid pro quo..?)
- Prepare you online profile well in advance. The pictures of your house are the most important ingredient. If they allow you to put up 20 pics, do so. I hate to look at possible homes who only reveal glimpses into a couple of rooms. Those who have no photos up don't seem to be too engaged and serious about it.
- Our online agency shows the response rate of individual members. I never bother to send an inquiry to those whose response rate is low. Who would you rather expect an answer from? The ones who reply 98% of the time or those who only bother 14% for whatever reason. Maybe they are highly eligible properties in supreme locations where everybody would like to vacation and they are inundated by offers. Even then they could apply the short cut answer: NO THANK YOU.
-You will also see the professions of your potential exchange partners on this online site. I like to take that as an indicator of what to expect. A lot of members have their own webpage now where they provide even more information about their properties and suggest  sights in their surrounding areas.
- There are agencies for seniors only. This means you're only dealing with couples, not families with children. Maybe that will take some of your trepidation about the safety of your home. At the same time, they are likely to have smaller homes. Like we have now with the result that we are of no interest to some families with three or more children any longer. Last year we still could accommodate them.This year we had to send our regrets. You will also find that seniors are interested in longer stays because they don't have to go back to work or school  anymore.
- Start your search early! Germans for example will start planning as soon the new travel brochures are out and as soon as they know when their children will be on holidays. That varies each year from state to state within Germany. French families are likely to search an exchange in August as their offspring is off then. October-November seems to be a good time frame for your inquiries. Closer to Xmas people are busy with the holidays. Again in January, I find members are susceptible to offers. Especially us inquiring from Florida when our European counterparts  are still in the throes of Jack Frost!

Time to Cool Off

Towards the end of our trip we had a scorcher of a day again. While in Berlin, I had visited a public swimming-pool but naturally it was mobbed. The grass for lying down and tan had long turned brown. In this part of the world where we were vacationing, our home swappers had left us a leaflet about a natural pool - bath in the open or Freibad- situated in a forest near Gaggenau, on the German side. "In harmony with nature" is their slogan. Being the environmentalist that I am- and the organic Ex Farmer's Wife- this description piqued my interest.
Located about 1 hour away, the experience was worth the drive, especially since the car had AC. We were about 30 minutes from the border which is an open border now like with all the European countries. No stopping or passport control. Suddenly you can tell from the different shape and colors of the tragic signs that you are in a different country.
It is a public, municipal pool which most German cities and towns possess but pool doesn't look like your typical pool but is just hewn into the landscape with stones all around and as walkways into the water. And all the surrounding meadows were still nicely green! Obviously it was not heated and several degrees too cold for the taste and comfort of these Floridians. We walked in at the shallow end step by step and the cooling effect was very welcome. It also had a jumping block for the adventurous and a shallow grotto where a number of children were playing.

This pool in Gaggenau is the oldest in Germany. Built in 1929, its waters came from local rivers. By 1957 its appeal had grown so much that it had to draw water from the local water main supply. Since 2006 , again it is run without having to add chlorine.Microorganisms and plants in special regeneration pools minimize the growth of algae. From there it is pumped back into the swimming area. Even in high temperature like those we were experiencing and many customers in the water, the purity is guaranteed.
The entrance free for adults was a reasonable EUR 3, whereas the Berlin one charged EUR 5,50. A nice extra!
On the way back we stopped at a German Aldi -which now has made it to these shores in the USA as well. A cheap chain for food and other household times. I was surprised to see that the whole roof was covered with solar panels. In the southern part of Germany, most private houses have at least part of their roofs under solar panels. I had never seen it on a shop.
Why can't we do it here in Florida? I'm ashamed to say that I had panels on my previous house in Kissimmee that I rented to Disney tourists.But here? I haven't even seen one in the greater Jacksonville or beaches area.

A Gourmet's Paradise

If you like food and wine, the Alsace is the ideal vacation area for you. Its mix between French and German guarantees a wonderful combination of love for excellent food prevalent in both countries. It is famous for its wines which are very similar to German wines, but have a better reputation worldwide for reasons unknown to me. I refuse to blame the bad rap on that Black Tower  or Blue Nun people all drank allegedly when in college. Lucky the ones who have moved on!
Our swap partners had left us some Pinot Gris that was divine. It is my favorite white wine competing, however, on my palate with a dry Riesling. We wanted to get more of it and found out that it only sells around the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Strasbourg and on the Internet.

Another grape is totally unique to the Alsace: the Gewuerztraminer. Don't despair if you can't pronounce the name. It is a very fruity wine full of different aromas, strong, perfume scented,some say it has an exotic lychee-nut flavor. This delicate variety is difficult to grow. Funnily enough it is a red grape and the wine is white if a bit yellowy or coppery at times. Gewürztraminer wines are an excellent match for fresh fruit and cheeses (especially Alsatian Münster) and a good complement to many simple fish and chicken dishes, especially recipes that include capsaicin (hot pepper) spices, oriental five spice, or even curry.
It's a shame that you can't take too many bottles with you on the plane. There is only one remedy: Drink it while you're there.
For a really nice informative 10 min video that also shows the scenery click here.
The Alsace comes close to perfecting dry hard salamis like the one made half of hog and half pork.
These are easier to transport but forbidden to import to the US in case you're tempted after sampling some. With some luck, you find them in a good delicatessen.

Pates are a must.  With chicken liver,truffled, a la provencale or a multitude of different other flavors, it's all there for you for the tasting.

I particularly enjoy the baked varieties, baked en croute. My husband wouldn't touch any of them as they remind him of cat food.

Last but not least the most famous Alsatian dish : Choucroute; a dish made with lots of meat, sausages and the essential ingredient sauerkraut. Honestly, this is a dish more suitable to fall and winter weather than the high temperatures we had to endure.

And a dish that everybody will recognize, the Quiche Lorraine. Lorraine is a region in northeastern France bordering Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. The capital, Metz, just to the west of Strasbourg. I hope I haven't made your mouth water too  much- or else...go shopping for some decent food!

Strasbourg- the old and the modern city

Like so many of the smaller idyllic, picturesque towns, Strasbourg has an old part of town and preserved its medieval houses.

You may know that Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions, such as the Council of Europe (with its European Court of Human Rights, its European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and its European Audiovisual Observatory) and the Eurocorps, as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. The city is also the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine and the International Institute of Human Rights. A pretty nice, cosy quarter of town where these buildings are situated. I could certainly live here. And they have Italian ice cream Gelaterias! An extra bonus as my Irish housekeeper would say.
It is also only a day trip away from Frankfurt and you can tie it in with the Black Forest.

Most tourists are interested to see the cute, photogenic houses in their twisting lanes with the Cathedral of Notre Dame completed in all its Gothic splendor in 1439.

               

We were there on a Friday afternoon and picked up my best friend who came on one of these long distance buses for a very keen price: EUR 41. The train ticket would have set her back by over 200!
Naturally we ambled straight to the Cathedral...like everybody else.In other words:it was busy.But I have never been to Strasbourg or any of the other Alsatian towns when it as not busy.

 The altar area fascinated me most because of the blue shine it had in this light anyway. The multi-colored glass stained windows would have been worth many shots too.
                         

Here are some street impressions that make you want to go- if you have the travel bug like me that is.

With hundreds of restaurants vying for your business it is always hard to tell the good ones from the tourist rip-offs. The closer you get to a tourist attraction like the Cathedral, be aware that some of these great sounding or looking restaurants don't need to offer great food and service because busloads of more tourists will come every day. Maison Kammerzell is the most renowned, maybe oldest house with the longest tradition. My friend had fond memories of eating their as a youngster with her parents there. So naturally we did her the favor and headed there. At the higher end of the price scale as expected, we had a wonderful seat outside overlooking the madding  crowds.

The restaurant was busy, I give them that but service was bad. We waited for our food almost an hour and when it came, mine was cold. I like my food warmer and usually, here in the States, ask them just to zap it. We waited another 30 min. By then hubby and my friend were through their dishes, kindly   sharing them with me. My appetite was gone and I hungered for another ice-cream, honestly. The management was not pleased when I told them I had lost my appetite and was unwilling to eat the food when it eventually appeared; never mind pay for it. In an establishment like this, I had expected they'd warn us that one of the dishes needed extra time for fresh preparation and maybe send an appetizer together with an apology. Not so. 

Well, I had room for what I was yearning for now.Got it on the way back thru the busy streets. There is so much more to see but the heat of almost 90 degrees had worn us out already.

Lonely Planet says, "History seeps through the twisting lanes and cafe-rimmed plazas of Grande Île, Strasbourg's Unesco World Heritage-listed island bordered by the River Ill. These streets – with their photogenic line-up of wonky, timber-framed houses in sherbet colours – are made for aimless ambling...The alleys are at their most atmospheric when lantern-lit at night."

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/alsace-and-lorraine/strasbourg/sights/neighbourhoods-villages/grande-le#ixzz3kWnSZcoU"

While sitting outside the restaurant, four heavily armed French soldiers made their way through the crowd. We had read that Strasbourg's Cathedral was among the most protected historic buildings in Europe in these terrorist endangered times. The next morning, we woke up to the terrible news of the attempted attack on the Amsterdam- Paris train, Thalys, which was prevented by three brave American young men, tourists themselves on their way to see Paris.

When Tourists & Refugees Meet

Strasbourg was going to be the topic for my next post.
Listening to the news of political developments all over Europe, the Refugee Crisis, which have to do with vacation make me sad, however, and rethink our trip: How lucky we are, how privileged to have the means and freedom to travel wherever and whenever we choose to. I never thought I'd write about this topic!
Refugees, asylum seekers, economic refugees flood the gates of Europe. They come from troubled or civil war ridden countries via Turkey, they risk their lives on tiny boats over the Aegean to little Greek islands, Kos and Lesbos, that are only a few miles away.Over 7,000 only last weekend.300,000 in total so far; that is more than in all of last year.When they are in Greek, they are in Europe and close to a safe, civilized and dignified life.
The problem is that these islands are popular tourist destinations. This is peak vacation time and Greece needs the income of tourists badly to survive. But these refugees who are often washed ashore want to survive too. Some hotels have put fences and guards to keep the paying tourist apart who are paying for their annual holiday and are entitled to their cocktail brought to them on the beach while a few meters away a refugee lathers up with some soap and shampoo he was given and swims out to wash it all off." I know it's not good for the sea, but I need to look after myself first."
Approx. 140,000 come over the border into Hungary who started to build a fence - like the Berlin Wall with barbed wire on top. Continuing into Serbia, they walk for days to reach trains that take them to Montenegro and again, they are in Europe with all its social benefits.Montenegro declared a state of emergency. No refugee wants to be registered there as the ultimate destination is Germany, Great Britain or Sweden. They walk along the motorway from Calais to the Channel Tunnel.Whole camps have sprung up where thousands wait to make it onto the train under the Channel somehow. Great Britain is blaming France for not doing enough.I saw them personally in smaller numbers when I was still doing my wine import routes that way. Heart-breaking, frightening, embarrassing: you drive by in your safe car and can't do anything..
200 thousand have come from Libya to Sicily or Lampedusa. so far 2,3000, however, have drowned because  of overloaded, inadequate vessels, lack of life jackets for people who can't swim. Human traffickers are involved on all routes charging thousands of dollars.In another tragedy,over 70 people suffocated on a truck in Austria trying to reach the West, probably moved my human traffickers.
German is considered the "Schlaraffenland", the land of milk and honey or Cockayne. (See Wikipedia: "Cockaigne or Cockayne /kɒˈkeɪn/ is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist.")
We're expecting 800,000 refugees/immigrants this year alone. That is 40% of all humans fleeing one disaster, regime or other  in the whole world. About 104,000 came via the Serbian corridor this year already.The Minister of Economics, Sigmar Gabriel, assures us that Germany needs these people in our workforce as our numbers are dwindling. At the same time, the governor of Bavaria admits that his officials are tired and overworked and that people are not all registered and fingerprinted as they should. So they can slip through the net; not be registered and just disappear. Let's hope they are not all criminals.
All this in the light of the biggest refugee crisis Europe ever experienced since World War II - and this is not the end of it. It reminds me of my own family's plight, just a few individuals of 13 million people who were on the move in 1945-47. (See my short story below).

In the Balkan war crises we got 250,000 asylum seekers whereas France AND GB together got 50,000.Not only do the Germans pay for Greece's malaise but for the rest of the EU and now the rest of the world. The horrible truth and irony is that our weapon exports to the likes of  Saudi, Egypt, Yemen, etc.doubled! Tell me there is no direct connection, please!

Now let's resume our vacations. There are only few days left.American children already are back to school; the French will start again on1 September. We'll be home soon too.

Lalique

If you have an interest in glass and crystal, the name Lalique will mean something to you. On a coolish day, after yesterday's deluge, we drove ca. 40 minutes to Wingen sur/Moder to see this exceptional exhibition. The name is famous worldwide, but hardly anybody knows that these ornaments are produced here and not in Paris.

Glass has been blown in this area of Alsace/France for hundreds of years.Workmen originally moved here from Germany because the necessary types of sand and other minerals are to be found here galore.

This map shows how the factories concentrate in this area. And now to the superb, delicate, impressive artifacts on show there.

A tiara, a brooch showing two butterflies and the head of a horse took my breath away.The pictures need no further comments.Enjoy!

The coffee shop served some decent meals in spite of a bad write-up on TripAdvisor which had also mentioned the Chateau across the road did wonderful food.Except it was only available for prebooked functions and groups.

Strasbourg Travel

With a Metropolitan area of over 700,000, the seat of the European Parliament and its Court of Human Rights besides several other institutions, you would believe it was well connected  by air traffic. Surprisingly few airlines offer flights to few destinations.Do all the EU officials come by car with their drivers? My friend who spent the weekend with us came by bus from Cologne (ca. 370km). Yes, since travel has been deregulated only 3 years ago, there are long distance coaches that come from as far as Hamburg in the north and go on to Munich and beyond for a fraction of a train ticket which would have been close to EUR250 retour: She paid EUR 41 both ways!And a modern, comfortable bus with WiFi, toilets, hot and cold drinks as well as snacks. With only one short stop to pick up more passengers. Until then Deutsche Bahn (German trains system) had the monopoly to offer travel options.
I had expected to find flights from here to Berlin when I was looking around.But maybe German politicians take government planes? Or the frog green Bus"Mein Fern Bus" i.e., My long distance coach or Flixbus or Postbus too waiting for her bus to arrive, I struck a conversation with a South African couple who had done the full length of German and now waited for their bus to Freiburg. If you know me a little you know that I like talking to strangers, especially about travel and our hobby Home Swapping.
We had a great weekend with her and also my son who came to visit.The weather was gorgeous  to that we made full use of our huge balcony-terrace.
More about Strasbourg tomorrow. It deserves its own chapter.

Going for a Drive

A friend asked me back home,"And what do you do all day if you are away for so long?" Seriously.
Sometimes nothing.Depends on the mood. Read.Sometimes visit touristy spots (see post about Berlin and more to come). You also have to go shopping and cook occasionally unless you can afford to eat out every day.Go to the swimming-pool (scroll back a little).
Sometimes you get visitors like friends who want to use your hospitality if you are in an interesting area or even house your grown up children or other family members where you have spent too many nights.I wrote and warned about that before.If you overdo, you end up being like a B&B with  a lot of work!
Yesterday we just went for a drive.

The northern part of Alsace, the Vosges, has more forests and natural beauty than the southern part with all its famous touristy towns that all look like taken from picture books, so quaint.We were on our way to a town called La-Petite-Pierre (never found out where the big one is) when we saw signs for a Castle Lichtenberg. We confused Miss Maps big time when we changed our route and went to see that castle first.Her insistence was so annoying that we had to switch her off.

What a steep climb, but we got our constitutional in. The Little Pierre had mixed reviews, so I wanted to see it for myself.We found a lovely tearoom, because obviously you have to make stops and fortify yourself. Does it get any better? Great cakes, if expensive (5.50 a piece; EUR) and some bric-a-brac.

Also a few architectural gems which come close to the wonder world of lower Alsace. There by the way, the surrounding countryside consists mostly of vineyards.None here.

Yes, these dilapidated houses exist too.
Studying this war memorial of WW I and II, we discovered almost exclusively German names. We wondered if they died for France or Germany. This part of the world belonged to both countries at different times; actually, it changed hands four times in 75 years. Germany conscripted young ca. 100,000 Alsatians. Many of them volunteered for the navy in order to avoid fighting their brothers.  We were also surprised because when reading up on the area we learned that Hitler considered Alsace as German.

Giving you Ideas....

Had to use this huge map to give you a better idea of the area I 'm talking about.From Wissenbourg in the North to Mulhhouse the countryside is blessed with exceptional wine growing areas and touristic, quaint old villages. If  you go, Strasbourg, Colmar are a must.And in between a dozen of gems I wouldn't want to miss out on if it were my first visit. Currently, we are staying in the Haguenau area with our home swap.It's not exactly bang in the middle of this beautiful region but w have more forests and nature sights here up north/west. The area is called Les Vosges.
Pure chi-chi sightseeing you can do in towns like Obernai,

 Kaysersberg where the house where Albert Schweitzer was born can be visited.

,Ribeauville,

Munster where the famous and very aromatic cheese hails from.

Where to start?
Each town basically has its own wine specialties, wine fests and degustations...You can spend your day slightly inebriated just from all the tastings. At this time of year, in addition, they show their splendor in millions of flowers in window boxes and parks and gardens.