Vin of the Alsace

 Today we have a private guide to tour the Alsace. Today’s guide is the wife of our guide yesterday. The company is a small French company who provides private guides and day trips. The interesting fact is all guides drive Teslas. Dan was excited and spent the day since we had lots of driving asking car questions.  Today our guide is Stephania she is originally from Romania, lived in Italy then moved to France.  

Stephania organized and planned our tour. We started out at the Haut du Koenigsbourg castle   Great castle built of red sandstone in 1100 or so but restored in 1901.  It was a great castle and you followed a set route through all the buildings. There was often written information that was in English so we had a better appreciation of the castle. Dan did learn the down side of a private guide and that was we only had one hour in the castle.   Hardly enough time.  We got the the castle at 9:50 which was a great time by the time we left it was overrun with people. Then a stop at an out of the way church. Steph had pretzels and champagne for a snack. Steph showed Dan how to open a champagne bottle without using his fingers to pop the cork. A fun party trick. 

Next stop a winery. This was a little disappointing. Service was slow and I didn’t like any of the wines. A charcuterie tray was provided with all types of cheese and meats.  A black cheese that had a great flavor. The winery did let us taste everything on their menu. 

We then got to explore 2 of the Alsace villages.  These were both similar to Rothenberg Germany with the 1/2 timbered houses.  Lots of stores although it is Sunday so the only thing open are restaurants and souvenir shops. A fun vibe to walk through. I would hate to see it in the middle of summer with all the tourists.  

The weather has been great for today lots of sun and mild.  I have been surprised by the area as it is nothing like I thought it would be.  The Alsace region is like miles of grass and farmland interspersed with villages. This part of the Black Forest is is in the Vosges Hills of France. The other surprise of the area is storks. They are the areas icon. Nests are all over, we had never seen storks in the wild let alone in the quantity we have seen on this trip. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Travel conundrum

 Our first travel glitch has occurred. We were checking for seat reservations for the train from Passau to Baden Baden our next stop. Checked with reservations and was told there are no seat reservations in Germany. Alas low and behold there are reservations  We ran into this problem in the past 1 time but had no issues. This time we weren’t so lucky.  We have decided if no seats we will just sit in the dining car and nurse a glass of wine   There is always a way Since this trip is so well planned with only 5 train connections I will go ahead and reserve the rest of the seats.   Better not to be stressed.   Or else we will look at more regional trains Update to today’s travel.  We connected in Frankfurt. No problems we were even on the same platform. Of course almost every seat was accounted for and we felt like sneaks in the night awaiting someone to say sorry that is my seat in German that we have no idea of what is being said. Unfortunately this tra...
Read more

Almost home

 We did the final train rides. Freiburg to Munich with one transfer then to the airport using local trains.  The local trains were bedlam. People all over and attendants to help people find the correct trains.  Crazy busy from one side of the platform to the other and back again. Trains to the airport changing numbers etc Sorted out and arrived dragging the bags. You would think we bought a ton of stuff. Not so.  We always staff at the airport as it eases the transfer. We are to leave at 9:15 local time and still need to get through TSA and passport control.  So I sit in the lounge as the alarm went off at 5:30 to learn the flight has been delayed 1 hour and 15 minutes. Gate agent assured us no problems should make the connection.  It took Dan forever through passport control they couldn’t find his entry stamp. All is well now just the waiting game.  Looking back on the trip. It was a great trip sure some minor inconveniences lost items broken wheels a...
Read more