Hier (24 avril) je suis alle a Haut Koenigsbourg vers Bergheim. Château Koenigsbourg était le point fort. J’aime les vieux châteaux forts parce qu’il y a toujours une impression d’histoire quand on a explore dans eux.
Quand j’ai essayé partir le château j’ai eu un peur car je n’ai pas trouvé ma voiture. Il y avait beaucoup de voiture a bord la rue et il n’a pas été ou j’ai crois que je se l’aie gare. Pour une minute j’ai pensé qu’il a volé. Finalement, je suis marche un peu plus loin et il y l’avait ! Tel soulagement !!!
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| Part de Chateau Haut Koenigsbourg |
Aujourd’hui (25 avril) j’ai conduit beaucoup de kilomètres, d’abord je suis allé à Neuf-Brisach une ville forte par l’architecte Vauban. Il est très intéressante parce les fortifications compris était octogonal parfait.
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| Cute - Ribeauville |
J’ai visité Munster ou j’ai vu les cigognes dans leurs nids. Puis j’ai conduit un part de Crêtes des Vosges avant visitant un autre belle ville, Kaysersberg.
Je suis « stuffed ».
Yesterday (24 April), I went to Bergheim for a quick look around which is a small but important village in the wine business. It was on the route to my main visit which was to Chateau Haut Koenigsberg which overlooks a number of villages high on one of the hills. It was very windy route to get there and when I got there, there were cars everywhere trying to park. I took a risk and headed with the car further up the hill and as luck would have it there was a spare place. Because of the slowness of the traffic it had taken quite a while to even get to the point wehre I parked. There was a nice heart pumping walk to the Chateau. The Chateau is quite something. It was a ruin at end of the 19th century and the Kaiser, who was in possession of Alsace at that time decided he wanted to do something impressive and so got a renowned restoration architect of the time to restore the Chateau to what it might have been like in 16th century or thereabouts. The work was completed around 1908 and it is a real gem. It is not overdone. There are period pieces of furniture, and of course the usual armour and axes and swords for hacking people to death as they seemed to do frequently in those times. The whole restoration took about 8 years and used some advanced technology for the times. During the time I was there my battery decided it was about to go flat!! So not many photos for me to look at which is probably a relief because the size of the place means that you have to be in a plane to get any sense of it as a whole.
When I have finished savouring the history I wandered back down the hill to get the car to go on my way. I had stomach churning moment of fear when I could not find the car where I thought I had left it. I walked a few hundred metres up and down the hill trying to find it. I thought I knew where it was but it turned out that it was parked further down the hill than I thought. I was consciously trying to think of how I would tell the rental car company in French that I thought it was stolen, and then having to tell the Gendarmerie the same thing. It would really have tested my French to the limits. It was with some relief that I found it when I walked quite a bit further down the hill.
I noticed quite difference walking around Breisach, it was slightly quieter as there were very few rattly diesels which is the noise of France’s streets. I saw the price of fuel at a station there and it was easy to figure out why. Petrol was around €0.88 ($1.65) litre and diesel was €1.45 ($2.80) a litre whereas in France diesel is about the same price or a bit cheaper whereas petrol is around €1.65 ($3.20). The economics of petrol in Germany make sense on that basis. The other interesting thing for me was that the Germans tended to drive bigger cars on the whole, perhaps a reflection of both being a wealthy country and having cheaper fuel than their neighbour. These are just impressions and I could be wrong!!
Next on the journey was Munster where I got to see a few nesting storks, then a drive through the Vosges on route called Cretes des Vosges, and then dropping down to another picture postcard village called Kayserberg. I had a light meal of a Flamme Tarte which is very much like a pizza but with a very flat crispy base. It was very nice sitting out in the warm air served by a waiter who was very bored and just wanted to talk to his friends.
Yesterday (24 April), I went to Bergheim for a quick look around which is a small but important village in the wine business. It was on the route to my main visit which was to Chateau Haut Koenigsberg which overlooks a number of villages high on one of the hills. It was very windy route to get there and when I got there, there were cars everywhere trying to park. I took a risk and headed with the car further up the hill and as luck would have it there was a spare place. Because of the slowness of the traffic it had taken quite a while to even get to the point wehre I parked. There was a nice heart pumping walk to the Chateau. The Chateau is quite something. It was a ruin at end of the 19th century and the Kaiser, who was in possession of Alsace at that time decided he wanted to do something impressive and so got a renowned restoration architect of the time to restore the Chateau to what it might have been like in 16th century or thereabouts. The work was completed around 1908 and it is a real gem. It is not overdone. There are period pieces of furniture, and of course the usual armour and axes and swords for hacking people to death as they seemed to do frequently in those times. The whole restoration took about 8 years and used some advanced technology for the times. During the time I was there my battery decided it was about to go flat!! So not many photos for me to look at which is probably a relief because the size of the place means that you have to be in a plane to get any sense of it as a whole.
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| Kayserberg |
The next visit was a pretty village called Ribeauville which I quickly walked around thinking I probably will come back as was very nice but I had no battery and I had been through enough self-imposed stress with thinking the car had been stolen.
Today (25 April), I went to another fortified village called Neuf-Brisach which is a rather unique fortification consisting of a revolutionary idea in the 17th century by an architect Vauban. It consists of a series of octagonal ditches and fortifications. It was most interesting but best seen from the air I think, which is where all the pictures have been taken from.
As I was so near its namesake on the other side of the Rhine I decided to go across. I then remembered that I had virtually no German, except as I drove into Germany a few words came to mind such as danke, bitte and few others. It was very nice little place right beside the Rhine. In fact it seems that at this part of the Rhine it is quite modified for electricity generation and there are locks for boat to go through. While I was wondering around I noticed that there was a protest going on over the bridge which I think was against nuclear power. Both French and German people were protesting with the usual chants that I could not quite hear, I had lunch there and fortunately the waitress spoke French (fluently of course). So at least I could order my meal of pork schnitzel (I am in Germany) which was very nicely done.
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| Le Rhin - Breisach |
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| Cigogne (storks) Munster |
Ribeauville est tres joli, super mignon. Je suis tres contente que ton voiture n'etait pas vole! Quel relief!
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