Our Cottage in Schwindratzheim, France
We've seen a variety of crops in the fields as we've crossed France in the last few days. There have been fields of corn left drying on the stalk, lines of cabbages and, very interestingly, piles of potatoes. The fields look different from those at home. For one thing, you seldom see a farmhouse standing nearby. Instead, farmers live together in local villages and go out to work their fields each day or when the fields need attention. How different from a southern Ontario landscape where you see solitary farmhouses in the midst of the fields. Another difference we noticed was the way the fields and crops are more defined. Our fields tend to be outlined by fence lines, straight lines of rocks and stones and towering trees. Here the crops were more circumscribed by cuttings in the crop between sections. It made for very neat looking fields.
Alsatian villages are very neat and covered with flowers, even at this time of year. Alsace has a strong Germanic influence, so it looks quite different from most of the rest of France. In the villages, the houses are largely closed off from the narrow streets. The ancient farmhouses (remember the farmers live in the villages) tend to be U-shaped -- a house plus a barn and other outbuildings surrounding a small courtyard or barnyard. The open end of the U faces the street, but is likely closed off by a wooden gate and wall. The cottage we had rented was just one of these houses. Bruno, the owner told us it dated from 1800. We thought this was interesting in light of the fact that Mom's ancestors left the region in 1836 and identified themselves as farmers. Perhaps they lived in just such a farmhouse.
We asked Bruno many questions of the cottage we had reserved. In his broken English, he told us it used to have coos. I was puzzled at first, but thought he was talking about a chicken coop.
"No," he said. "Coos. How do you say it in English?"
Then it dawned on us. Cows. Our cottage used to be a cow barn.
And a beautiful cow barn it was. Completely renovated, it was a spacious two-floor, three-bedroom, two-bath home. The ground floor had a complete kitchen with a dining area, a large foyer, a full bathroom and a very large living room. The second floor had a bathroom, laundry room/closet, a large open sitting area at the top of the stairs, two very large bedrooms and one smaller bedroom. The windows showed that the walls were about two feet thick.
Outside the cottage were mounds of late season flowers and grass throughout. One morning I was in the yard taking photos of the flowers when I saw a creature flitting from blossom to blossom. My first impression was that it was a very big moth, but then I noted its flying pattern -- it was just like a hummingbird. About a third the size of one of our ruby throated hummingbirds, I watched it closely and just couldn't decide what kind of creature it was. I looked it up later on and discovered that it is known here as a hummingbird moth -- a moth that acts very much like a hummingbird. Fascinating!Strasbourg & Baden-Baden
After a nice Alsatian lunch, we headed about an hour north to Baden-Baden, Germany. Our goal was the Caracalla Spa, a pool complex built on the ancient hot springs there. We had a wonderful, wonderful time! In fact, we had such an enjoyable time, we came back again the next afternoon! I highly recommend it.
Chateau Haut-Koenigsbourg
Auberge Saint-Alexis
Our next goal was a remote forest inn (As I read this to the others, Mom said definitively, "Now that was a day!") that serves remarkable meals every day to hikers and anyone else who can find them. I read about Auberge Saint-Alexis online and thought it sounded like just the place Dad and I enjoy looking for. (Mom and Krista not so much!)
We drove from the mountain-top chateau back down to the vineyard covered valley. Several picturesque villages later, we came across the road I thought might be the correct route. Up we went, first between old stone walls and then for about 10 kilometers through deep forests, up hill and down on a narrow, winding, single lane (but two-way) road.Many hairpin turns later, we finally reached a tiny sign that indicated the turn-off for the auberge. At this point the road changed from narrow and paved, to a steep, narrow and rutted, rocky, muddy track. About 200 meters later, we rolled out of the forest into an open field area. In the centre was a small church and an ancient farmhouse covered with vines and surrounded by fabulous flowers. We'd found it!
We went into what we thought was the right door and were shown into a very small dining room with only four or five tables. Our table was right against the tile stove that kept us warm throughout the dinner. We later found out that the main dining room next door was filled with a bus tour group.
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| In the foreground is a chapel that has been in the location for centuries; it was closed to visitors. The Auberge is the smaller building in the background. |
Now that we've had our second visit to the Caracalla Spa, we're all very clean and ready for bed! Tomorrow we head southeast to the Swiss Alps.
Listen for our yodelling!
More Photos
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| Just around the corner from our Schwindratzheim accommodation was this street: Street of the Jews. From medieval times there was a considerable Jewish population in Alsace. I would guess that this particular street held the homes and/or shops of some Schwindratzheim's Jewish community -- at least until World War II. |
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| Dad is exiting the door of our accommodation. Two of our bedrooms opened onto the balcony. |
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| Another view of the barn past the windows of our accommodation. Notice the wagon in the open area. |
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| If you look closely at the board used to close off the end of this wagon or cart, you'll see that it dates from World War II. Interesting! |
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| Our cottage, looking toward the wooden wall and gate that closed off the courtyard from the street. |
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| More shots of the hummingbird moth ... |
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| A square in Strasbourg. Notice the very old, ornate buildings. Lots of great souvenir shopping. Did I buy anything? No. Too many options. I guess I'll have to go back! |
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| The beautiful Strasbourg cathedral. |
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| Inside the cathedral. |
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| A friendly face. |
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| Inside the Alsacian Museum. |
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| In the Alsatian Museum, this bench was part of the exhibit on the Jewish community. As I recall, it was originally used by a mohel. |
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| One of Strasbourg's famous canals. |
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| Even in autumn, flower boxes were everywhere. |
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| A statue of Gutenberg who worked on his printing press here. |
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| Haut Koenigsbourg is on the top of a small mountain overlooking the fertile Rhine valley which is sprinkled with cute-as-a-button villages and vineyards. |
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| The hills are covered with mature forests. They made me think of the fairy tales that talk about woodcutters and travellers hounded by wolves. |
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| The castle itself is made of the most beautiful red stone. |
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| Mom, Dad and the Kid rest a bit while I make arrangements for us to view a film about the castle. |
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| Yes, that's a windmill on top of the buildings making up a wing of the castle. |
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| The vine-covered Auberge Saint-Alexis. |
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| You can see from this picture how large the leaves on the vines were -- much bigger than Mom's fist. |
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| The Auberge's main dining room. |
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| The garden outside the Auberge. |
