... 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.
