Of old people and Tarte Flambee.

Well, this is it. The last town on our tour of Germany and France. We have really enjoyed our trip. We have seen such lovely places, and met so many kind and friendly people. However, it will be good to get home, too. I really miss everyone there, especially this year, with our power problems. The reason we have battery power now is because Tony asked a British man to top up the laptop. It's a good job he's got the cheek of the devil.

The village of Molsheim was nice, but I am not going to describe yet another pretty little place. I think my most humourous memory of the place will be when a Dutch lady asked Tony if he was a war veteran! I shouldn't laugh, as I was once asked if I was evacuated in the war! We must look very old!

Another nice memory will be the Tarte Flambee picnic. It sounds racy, but it was a lot more prosaic than that. The tarte is a speciality of Alsace, and we campers (in shorts and crocs), all sat eating it outside the "library" (and the loos). The tarte was bit like pizza gone wrong. It was tasty, and cream-based, but not quite as good as pizza. We washed it down with beer and coke, and it was a nice occasion. I wonder why Tony's blogs are learned and historical, and mine are usually about food. There's a message in there somewhere!



We finally decided to stop off at Nancy on the way to Calais, and that's where we are now. We went into town earlier, and I have to say I was impressed by Stanislaus Square. It's as good as anything in Paris, and better than Berlin. I think it's my fave place this trip. We ate our sandwiches in a lovely park (more food), and the sun kept coming out, so it was a great day out.

On Friday we will set off for Calais, with an overnight stop on the way. Then it's the wine buying session, before arriving in Dover on Sunday.

We have struggled with this blog a bit, and I hope you haven't all been bored to tears. We will let you know when the next one will be, when we go travelling again. Thanks for reading!

P.S. Thanks to Dolan Tours.com for this trip. When he was not taking shortcuts, or ignoring maps, the tour guide was very good!

Strasbourg

I am glad we went to Strasbourg because it turned out to be a gem. It really is a beautiful city, and if the cynical Rough Guide to France says that then it must be true. It has a bit of everything - old half-timbered, medieval buildings which are so predominant in Alsace, and in contrast it has the very modern architecture of the European Parliament and institutions. Both are impressive.

The cathedral, which is dedicated to Our Lady - Notre Dame de Strasbourg, must be one of the loveliest cathedrals in France. Its single and very ornate spire dominates the city. It rises straight up out of the medieval buildings which crowd round its feet.

The old city, which is quite compact, sits on an island formed by the River Ill and various canals. There is water everywhere. We took a lovely boat trip along various water courses to see the sights of the city. This included the old section full of medieval houses called La Petite France. The boat then took us out to the buildings of the European institutions - the Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament.



We had visited both of these areas the day before, just wandering through them quite slowly as we like to do. We had taken the tram out to the European Parliament for the city has an impressive tram system. The campsite was about 3km south of the city centre and we used the tram each day to get in and out.

We enjoyed just wandering around the city, stopping often, as we do, for coffee and icecream. To cap it all, I could get a Guardian each day.

We are now in Molsheim, a beautiful wine town about 25 km west of Strasbourg towards the Vosges Mountains. We are having a quiet, relaxing few days here really doing nothing. We read and walk into town for coffee. Sadly, we have just about run out of books. We need a Kindle each! We have to make up our minds in the next couple of days whether we should stop in Nancy on the way back and visit its famous square, or just stay here and go directly to Calais at the end of the week. It's a hard life.

Alsace.

Alsace is a part of France that is new to us and it is very pretty. It is also very Germanic, which is not surprising, as it borders Germany. Alsace has been fought over and swapped between France and Germany for hundreds of years. In Colmar, just 30 miles from the border, you could hear plenty of German being spoken as well as French. The German might not actually have beenGerman at all, but "Elsassisch" or Alsatian, which apparently comes from a high German dialect and is still spoken by the locals. We are on the "route du vin" which follows lots of small wine towns and villages along the eastern side of the Vosges mountains from Colmar to Strasbourg.
We have been very lucky to get places at the campsites at Colmar and Obernai during the busy holiday period. The site at Colmar was particularly nice as we had a view of the river. One evening we watched a heron catch a huge fish. On two evenings a stork flew in and came quite close to the van. It was fairly calm in the face of all the tourists taking pictures of it. There are a lot of storks here. They nest on chimney pots and spires in the towns.
The humans were interesting too. One evening six men paddled up in rubber dinghies. They wore baggy old clothes and berets. They got out, put up a tarpauline over a rope and settled in for the night, before setting off again the next day. It was like a scene from a gentle retro French film.
We really loved Colmar. You would think that by now we would be sick of medieval half-timbered buildings, but Colmar was exceptionally beautiful. By the canal the former homes of fishermen have been restored in bright colours. It was such a nice surprise when we came upon it. It's a tourist trap, but very picturesque.
We joined the locals in the market again, and bought fresh pasta and salad for tea, which was a treat, as cooking with the grill in the hot van has been a bit overwhelming.
One of the highlights of Colmar was the art gallery, where we saw the Issenheim Altarpiece. This is apparently quite famous. Anyway, it was very powerful in its depiction of the crucifixion. It was painted in the 15th century, but it looked quite modern in its realism.

Obernai.
When we moved to Obernai, I thought it would be very similar to Colmar, and it is. However, its charm lies in the fact that it is smaller annd quieter than the other towns. As we walked into town, we saw children on an old fashioned carousel. Then, when we came around the corner, we saw the old market place, which was beautiful in the sunshine. Yesterday we enjoyed walking around the town, and today we strolled around the ramparts which still surround the town. This little place remained unscathed by two world wars, which accounts for its authenticity and beauty.
We are hoping to post a last blog from Strasbourg, before we head for home. But this depends on the latop battery life. Love to all, family and friends.