Baden-Baden, the Black Forest, and Heidelberg

We headed across the border (something you don’t even notice) to Germany. What you do notice immediately is that people drive fast, really fast (there truly is no speed limit on the famous German Autobahn). Why did we choose this area to explore? Because it was easy to get to, has famous spas, and is quite scenic.

Baden Baden is an upscale town that has been a spa resort since the 19^th century. Our time at Friedrichsbad, the Roman-Irish Bath, which opened in 1877, was a highlight of the trip. It is a naked, co-ed spa. Cori and David are close friends, and now they are even closer.

At the spa you pass through various stations, starting with dry heat, transitioning to wet heat – getting hotter in each place – then transitioning to soak in various pools that gradually get cooler, including the ultimate cold plunge. After drying off with warm towels and moisturizing with lotion, you get wrapped up like a burrito and nap/relax in a quiet room, before lounging with a cup of tea. It was fabulous! So fabulous we went back again the next day.

We explored the town sights, observing the quiet elegance, and hiked up to a biergarten for dinner. After dinner schnapps were included.

We enjoyed some outdoor time in the Black Forest, which has lots of pleasant trails. We did three short hikes as stops along the High Road drive. One hike was along a river to a waterfall, another was a walk around Mummelsee lake, and the last was the Lothar Trail, which is an area hit by a hurricane in 1999 that has been allowed to recover naturally. 

Our final day with Cori and David was spent in Heidelberg, our first and only experience with very large crowds in Germany. Heidelberg has a charming old town and a semi-restored Renaissance castle. It was a hot day, and we sweated our way up to visit the castle, which provided great views.

We had a lot of laughs during our time with Cori and David. It is always amazing to reconnect and seemingly pick up where you left off with long-time friends that you haven’t seen for far too long. As they headed home to pick their kids up from camp, we continued our journey to visit the Rhine and Mosel valleys.

More soon,

Shana & Jeff  

Biking through Alsatian Vineyards and Villages

Six years ago, we did our first bike tour. We took the ferry to one of the San Juan Islands near Seattle and had a great day exploring. Since then, as readers know, we’ve done more rides, both guided and self-guided tours (e.g., Versailles, Amsterdam, and Waiheke Island) and have enjoyed them all. But we may have had the best day biking yet exploring the Route des Vins d’Alsace. What made this ride so special? The scenery, the wine tasting, and doing it with friends, of course!

We found a terrific rental company, Alsa Cyclo Tours, with a rental office in Kayserberg, one of the cute towns on the north end of the route and near where we were staying. Their staff had our e-bikes ready to go and they were super helpful in getting us started. While Jeff is a strong biker, he’s not the best navigator – that’s my job. Since I’m not the strongest biker, thankfully Cori had the skills to ride and navigate our self-guided route south to Eguisheim and back, for a total of over 40 kilometers (25 miles).

Leaving Kayserberg we had a chance to survey the scenery – it was stunning:

Nearly the entire route is paved bike lanes through seemingly never-ending rows of vines planted at all angles. Nestled among the vines are countless small villages, each more picturesque than the last. Fortunately, the day was overcast and cool – perfect weather for a day-long ride. We stopped in Eguisheim for lunch and for a walk through the picturesque medieval town – our bums needed a break!

Built in a circle, the village is quintessential Alsace, with half-timbered houses, ramparts, flowers, stork nests, and cobble stone streets. In the center is the Chapel of St. Leo IX, the only Alsatian pope (elected in 1048).

On our return we stopped in Wettolsheim at Jean Louis Schoepfer for a wine tasting. We hadn’t selected a winery in advance, so when Cori proposed a stop there, we had no idea that she had picked the most fabulous winery. Our host was Christophe, the 13^th generation winemaker who happily answered our many questions while generously pouring 9 different wines for us to try.

We selected 6 bottles to bring back to Spain, which he graciously allowed us to pick up the next day – carrying them back on the bikes seemed risky after the extensive tasting.

The scenery along the return was just as pleasant and we had an opportunity to use our e-bike power assist on a hill or two. We rewarded ourselves with a kougelhopf – a local cake – which we felt we earned.

Our last morning in the area we stopped in Riquewihr, another attractive village, for breakfast and a stroll:

We were sorry to leave the charms of the Alsace but knew that the German side of the border had much to offer as well.

A conclusion on bike tours – our favorites include wine tasting! Considering the name of our blog, you can’t be surprised.

Adieu,

Shana & Jeff 

Alsace -- The Next Trip Begins

After four months of not traveling post the Big Trip, we finally set off on July 1 for a trip that would take us technically to four countries: Switzerland and Luxembourg (both very briefly), but primarily the Alsace region of France and the Black Forrest, Rhine and Mosel Valleys in western Germany. We travelled for the first half of the trip with our friends Corrine and David, whom we hadn't seen in some 10 years (!), and we spent a great deal of time driving, as these areas are much easier to get around by car than by train.

The Alsace region is bordered by the Vosges Mountains to the west, and the Rhine River to the east. The historical problem is that the Germans believe the border between the two countries should be the mountains, while the French think it should be the river. Hence, this region has passed back and forth between the two multiple times over the centuries including four times between 1870 and 1945 (from France to Germany in the War of 1870, back to France in WWI, back to Germany in 1940 and finally (for now) back to France in 1945). As a result, the area has a bunch of adorable villages with an interesting mix of French and German cuisine.

Given the history of the region, it was appropriate that our first stop (after picking up Corrine and David in Basel and lunch in Guebwiller, a small Alsatian town) was the Hartmannswillerkopf  -- Vieil Armand Memorial, an area where significant WWI battles took place.

Up the hill in front of Corrine and me is a hike in an area where many of the trenches from WWI have been preserved with lots of detailed information about the battles there. It was extremely interesting, but also sobering to see exactly how small and cramped the conditions for the soldiers were (the movies do not really do it justice).

As you can see, the area around the trenches has been allowed to return to nature and it is absolutely beautiful with stunning views. A little over a hundred years ago, this whole area was trenches, barbed wire and mud.

After our hike, we headed to our VRBO in the extremely small town of Beblenheim (population about 1,000). Our VRBO was very close to the town's adorable little church, which included one of the ever- present stork nests seen throughout the area.

The church became important the next morning when its bells not only started to chime the time at 6 am, they loudly played an entire tune for 4 minutes! We were somewhat amused, but more annoyed as we were on vacation and did not need the early wake-up call, which we decided was some kind of Calvinist work-ethic thing. This happens 7 days a week in most local towns apparently.

That first day, after coffee and pastries at the local bakery, we visited the nearby town of Colmar, home to the Unterlinden Museum, which houses the Isenheim Alterpiece (no photos were allowed in the museum, but it is worth checking out Wikipedia if you have any interest in Medieval art, and I mean who doesn't?). 

In Colmar, we discovered that because people were generally not able to read in the middle ages, the buildings had elegant picture signs to show what they were:

Colmar also has an area they call little Venice where boats (but not gondolas) ply the canals:

Lunch that day was several Alsatian specialties, and (of course) a crisp Alsatian white wine -- there are so many types to try.

We also visited the largest city in the Alsace region: Strasbourg (population around 300.000), home of the European Union Parliament and other EU organizations. But, what the city is really known for is its impressive Gothic Cathedral with its famous astronomical clock.

We have been in many cathedrals and churches throughout Europe, but this one is particularly impressive (and it had a huge number of tourists to prove it).

The city itself, which sits on the Ill river, is beautiful, and we mostly enjoyed ourselves by walking around and looking at the architecture and views of the city.

We very much enjoyed the cities of the Alsace, but the countryside was even better, and we did a great biking adventure along la Route des Vins d'Alsace. But more about that soon.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana