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)

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!

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.

Alsace- We're coming!

We are at it again: Home Swapping with another family. You just can't beat it when it comes to economical ways of planning a vacation abroad or the States - no contest!
It's our 5th season. We had 4 years in a row of successful home exchanges.Well, one turned out to be a bit itchy but the others were all wonderful! I think we had 9 so far!
Our destination this year is France again but a part that is not well known here in the US unless you are a wine aficionado. The Alsace area produces  wonderful wines that are similar to German wines but to some drinkers maybe a little less suspect...:) As a former wine importer and distributor, I had plenty of opportunity to sample and compare them. Rieslings, Pinot Blanc and Noirs, Sylvaner and the inimitable Gewűrztraminer.
And the Alsace region is gourmet country! The cuisine is a little hardier than the typical French haute cuisine or cuisine nouveau you find in Paris or Lyon, again resembling German country fare. If you look at the proximity to my home country on the map, that is not surprising. The other factor is that Alsace belonged to Germany until World War II. Germany ceded the region to France under the Treaty of Versailles. For history buffs and other interested parties, there is more on Wikipedia.

Across the Border: Strasbourg

... Except there is no real border anymore when you cross over from Germany into France, only a sign saying: “ You now entered France!"  and that the speed limit is 120 km/h on motorways and 90 km/h on national roads. Strasbourg is merely 50 minutes away from where we were staying in Baden- Baden and well worth a visit. In fact, Alsace is one of my favorite destinations for quick day visits. The best time to avoid huge crowds that are almost always present, is when summer school holidays are over in September. Truth be told that the month of October is indeed the best for gourmet travelers because the first fresh wines are available, all types of venison and mushrooms.

The whole region is well renowned and loved for its quaint, picturesque and medieval towns, dotted with timber framed houses which all seem to have an abundance of window boxes with flowers spilling out. Whether you drive to Riquewihr, Kaysersberg (birthplace of Albert Schweitzer), Obernai or Colmar ─ you are always in for a treat. The year before, our choice was Colmar, my all-time favorite, smaller than Strasbourg but with equally big crowds of tourists vying for sightseeing spots and restaurant tables.

Since my hubby had not seen the capital of the Alsace region and the seat of the European Parliament as well as the European Court of Human Rights. The city’s population has almost doubled in the last decade, with the greater urban area now comprising just under 1 million inhabitants.

The adjacent area to the northwest covers the magnificent natural park and mountain region of the “Vosges”, an ideal location for hikers, bikers and nature lovers. You will find fewer tourists there. I spent a whole week during my college years on a very isolated but romantic “gite”, i.e. a cottage.

We had tried to find home swapping partners on the French site, in vain. We almost made a deal, i.e. signed the exchange contract, when the French found out that it’s likely to be very hot in Florida in the month of August. Indeed. Though there are many picturesque towns of a similar nature on the German side of the border, the French has a more exotic feel to me, being German. And the food in the restaurants is different, even the baguettes are better…although a bit more expensive. Strasbourg, by the way, is very expensive territory with a normal iceream sundae I enjoy in Germany on a regular basis costing here almost twice as much.

With this being our last excursion of this year’s European stay, we enjoyed every minute in spite of the crowds, and we took plenty of photos. The weather was only glorious. We wished we could have stayed along the banks of the river Rhine which runs almost all the length of the border between the two countries. We brought home some regional delicacies like “foie gras” and wine. We skipped the pottery that is typical for this region, colorful stoneware, but just too heavy  to bring back on a plane. Hubby and I, both agreed that Colmar had a more intimate feel to it. But now we had “done” the entire Alsace.
All there was left to do after this excursion was pack up or numerous gigantic bags and clean the house we had spent 3 happy weeks in for our departure back to the US.

Last Stop: Baden-Baden

Our next stop: Baden- Baden. Eventually we arrived at our final destination and second exchange partner near Baden-Baden. There is always some excitement when you reach your new exchange destination. You have a certain picture in your head from the description of the owners on that website and pictures that you have seen. One has to be prepared that once expectations aren’t always met. In this case we got lucky again. The townhouse was a lovely abode with a small garden in the back and the balcony on the first floor. This time our abode is a little smaller, a duplex as we say in Ireland, but sufficient for our needs. The location nestled against a hillside and its views over the beginnings of the Black Forest were priceless. It being a lovely summer day, we opened all doors and windows to air the place and feel the fresh mountain the breeze rush through it. Most German private homes have no AC. Fresh mountain air cleared the house at night even on the hottest days when the barometer nearly reached 40 degrees Celsius.
There were no unpleasnat surprises, no missing light bulbs like in France last year or broken sinks. Neither did we have to feeed unannounced pets like fish or guinea pigs! 

One downside, however, needs mentioning and that was a bad Internet connection due to the surrounding hills.

Baden- Baden is a world renowned spa resort and also famous for its high-end casino. 

The German word Baden means  to bathe.  In the last century, the elite of European countries came here for the "cure". This mostly consisted of drinking certain water from mineral wells that are still being  made available to ailing people who want to improve their health -- for a few Euro now. Then it was most glitzy. Even the Roman used that already during Roman times. From here, it’s easy to get to the French border into Alsace, France.

The Kurgarten (spa garden) at the Kurhaus annually hosts Baden-Baden Summer Nights, an outdoor event featuring live classical music concerts. I was looking forward to spending time in the Fabergé Museum. Maybe a trip to the Therme (Thermalbad), hot mineral waters you can swim in; good for arthritis but  a bit much on a hot summer’s day.