Road Trip

Vineyard near Husseren-les-Châteaux

My parents are volunteering in the Black Forest for a few weeks, giving me a good excuse for a spontaneous road trip.

Splashing in the fountain, Eguisheim

I drove south through Germany on the A61 motorway, aka autobahn. The one thing everyone seems to know about the autobahn is that there is no speed limit. It can be a bit startling to be passing a truck that's going 80 km/hour (about 50 mph), only to be passed on the other side by a car going close to 100 mph. Add in rain and construction diversions, and it turned out to be a fairly stressful drive. Luckily the weather was partly clear and I was able to enjoy the spectacular scenery just south of Koblenz, aka the Romantic Rhine, an area I hope to revisit soon.

Despite weather and traffic I arrived safe and sound, and in time to enjoy a good German meal with my folks. It was great to see them again, and we had good travel stories to swap as they had recently been in Tanzania and we had just returned from Greece. It's pretty obvious who I got my travel bug from!

Cobblestones and 16th century residences in Equisheim

We spent Saturday exploring the Alsace region, my first visit to that part of France. It's a beautiful area, a hilly patchwork of vineyards spread nearly up to the forested tops, ornamented with charmingly historic villages. Although now part of France, it is historically tied to Germany as well, as shown by place names like Kaysersberg, Obermorschwihr, and Steinbach.

We shopped for fruit at the Saturday market in Rouffach, enjoyed a delicious lunch of French and German specialties (the onion tart was especially yummy) in Eguisheim, tasted Riesling and Pinot Noir wines in Ammerschwihr, and listened to an impromptu organ concert at the Romanesque church in Kaysersberg. I was surprised at the good wine values, and it was interesting to see how the French spend a sunny afternoon - eating good food, then shopping for wine to accompany future meals. I could get used to that!

Marché du samedi in Rouffach

For the trip home, I chose a route through France, partly to avoid some of the construction diversions that helped slow me down on Friday, and partly just to see some different scenery. The French motorway was definitely different - the pavement was rougher and there were no rest stops. But with a speed limit of 130 km/hour, at least I wasn't startled by cars zooming by.

The most interesting sight I saw on the return trip was the disused, seemingly abandoned border checkpoint near Lauterbourg, France. Seeing those rusty, dusty buildings helped me better understand what Europe gained by unifying. I imagined a world of abandoned checkpoints, where instead of wasting time and energy fearing and distrusting each other, we enjoy a good meal together and then shop for wine. I could get used to that, too.

Photo credit drw25