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

Setting a Land Speed Record in Paris

A kind invitation from an American friend  took me to Paris for a fabulous three days and two nights in the City of Light. I think we set a land speed record on the second, and only full day, of the trip.


We started the day with coffee and a croissant. Since I had never been to Versailles, my friend agreed to start our day there. Versailles is both a palace and a village, now a suburb of Paris. We took the suburban RER railroad to the village, then walked to the palace. What an amazing place. The grounds were huge - to see all three palaces we walked what felt like miles. We definitely earned the gelato we indulged in as we marched through the grounds.

Back on the train to Paris, to Sainte-Chapelle, an amazing sight on this sunny day. We were surrounded by literally thousands of stained glass scenes. We emerged with our spirits lifted in spite of our sore feet.
Sainte-Chapelle is on the Île de la Cité, the island in the Seine which is also home to Notre Dame. We stopped by Notre Dame and saw the inside of the church. We hoped to get up into the tower (the best part of Notre Dame for Victor Hugo fans) but the line was already cut off when we arrived at about 5 p.m. Consulting our museum list, we saw that the Cluny Museum (also known as Musée national du Moyen Âge, the National Museum of the Middle Ages) was still open, so we hot-footed it over there.


The gem of the Cluny's collection is the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, but also houses a number of interesting architectural items. Among these are the original heads of Notre Dame's Kings of Judah statues, lopped on by mistaken revolutionaries in 1792. Also at the Cluny is a room of stained glass windows, some from Sainte-Chapelle, brought down to human level and scale. My favorite, shown above, depicts the angel Gabriel blowing his horn to wake the dead on Judgement Day. By the time we finished up at the Cluny, we were starting to feel a bit like the zombies in the picture.


To save our feet we hopped on the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe. It was moving to see veterans, some middle aged but mostly much older, laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier and posing for pictures, looking very dignified in their full uniforms. We ascended to the top via the 284 steps and were rewarded with wonderful views of Paris old and new.


Since it was late night at the Louvre we decided to walk down the Champs-Elysees and through the Tuileries Gardens, a massive park stretching from  the Place de la Concorde to the Louvre. We agreed the long walk was worth it as we approached the pyramid entrance to the Louvre and walked right in. Late hours at the museum are wonderful! We had time to admire the old Dutch masters, including the Louvre's two Vermeer paintings, as well as the Winged Victory of Samothrace, before we were ushered out by museum attendants who had significantly less enthusiasm for the museum's late hours.


A pleasant dinner with wine on the Left Bank and we were tucked up in bed by midnight. A great day with a tireless friend, and if not a land speed record for Paris, then certainly a personal best.