Off-roading the Wine Route (Route du Vin)

What d'ya know, we're stuck!
I guess our sporty little BMW, equipped with snow tires, is still no match for 'off-roading' the Route du Vin. Our attempt to find a recommended, family-run restaurant for lunch called (Auberge) St. Alexis, in Kaysersberg, forced us to do the hike we only half-heartedly mentioned doing, but didn't seriously mean it. The restaurant, if you can get to it, is situated in an opening in the forest about 6 km to the north west and about 350 meters higher than Riquewihr, the nearest town. I still really want to try it and it would be nice to do a (planned) hike up to it! We also heard it is approachable from the top too so you don't have to go all the way up this windy, hilly road (but what fun would that be?)

I forgot how to say 'We're Stuck' in German or French, but thought it would be nice to leave a note since we were blocking the only road down..

There's my friend.. in charge of finding help up the mountain, while I scope out the deserted home across the way..see her...the little spec in the middle.








The only signs of life around us as we sat pondering just how we would even make it back down the same road we'd just come up let alone make it anywhere for lunch, were 2 barking dogs, a mule and a cute, spunky sheep! Luckily we were prepared for a hike, although I don't think we fully intended on actually taking one, we had no choice but to wander back down the several kilometers or so to seek help. I'll let the pictures tell the story..










Signs of human life finally approach, some nice older men on their daily 5k walk..we recruit them to help push the car out (and a 3rd even though he walked with a cane..what the heck)









I'm nervous.. getting orders in french and german by old men (another was blocked by our car and came out to offer his assistance too, also assisted by a cane...aren't there any men under the age of 70 around here?!)









Success! 4 very nice, old men and Carole push me out of the snowy ditch and I managed to back down the hill in reverse (not an easy feat for me, as a few friends who have experienced my 'skills' would attest to!) Unfortunately, none of them were winemakers (Never hurts to ask!)
One of my happiest days (now)...









So back to that Wine Route... 'Weinstrasse'... Route du Vin... whatever I just wanna get on it at this point!

Strasbourg Highlights

Oh how I love the Alsace Region, I can (somewhat) easily communicate with the locals as they speak both French and German. Although I've almost given up on my french, even though I love the language still, my mind only seems to accommodate one other language. But I still love hearing it and remembering the days when I could have a broken conversation. But that's not all I love, the people of this region are incredibly friendly and warm, I really enjoy the rich foods available (we stocked up at LeClerc supermarket on our way out of town too to bring some of that goodness back home to Munich!) And of course, there's the Route du Vin, which I've yet to completely explore as we had a little snafu this trip and last time I was in the region with my husband we only stopped in one little town for lunch and a winery.

So, to be more specific, here are some of this trip's highlights (and many thanks to my gal pal Carole, who thoroughly researched accomodations, restaurants, and other highlights for the trip!)

Accomodation:
"Appartement Sonnenschein." We loved our cozy little apartment in La Petit France, about a 10-minute walk from the Cathedral and right across from a school (don't worry, we didn't hear all the hoopla just saw all the cute little kiddies in their classrooms) in a charming, cobblestone neighborhood. A cheerful woman named Bettina owns this renovated apartment in a 17th century typical Alsatian half-timbered house, called "Appartement Sonnenschein." There was even free WiFi which was a must for us! She speaks about 5 languages too, including English (native language is German). We actually found the place at this site There are parking meters around the apartment, but a short walking distance away (towards the Modern Art Museum) is a relatively inexpensive parking garage where we paid about 7 euros/day. More info can be found this very helpful site: www.parcus.com

- Other places we considered but did not stay at in Strasbourg are: Hotel Diana Dauphine (3-star, 69 euros/night, 'in the heart of Strasbourg', not incl. breakfast, Parking costs 12 euros/day) -- Ibis Hotel (which was right near our parking garage but didn't look nearly as nice as our apartment, even though we weren't inside), cost 72 euros/night, and the Hotel Royal Lutetia (65 euros/night, not incl breakfast). I think we got real lucky with our place!

Culture:
- Musee Tomi Ungerer - the locals, this includes Betinna and Christoph from the restaurant we visited 3 times, raved about their local artist/hero Tomi Ungerer. Bettina had several small books at her apartment of his work, which ranges from children's illustrations, to uh.. 'adult' themes, sometimes quite perverse, but never boring! After growing up in and around Strasbourg, he eventually moved to New York and became an immediate hit in the advertising world. Quite a range of illustrations and definitely worth a look. A big inspiration for him was Romanian-born artist, Saul Steinberg, whose work was also exhibited while we were here. Corbusier once wrote to him, "You draw like a king". He's considered a master of drawing and I loved his stuff. I thoroughly enjoyed perusing his work which ranges from graphic symbols and satirical cartoons to calligraphy and a sort of 'visual writing', and much more. The museum was just the right size to not feel overwhelmed, or obligated to stay too long.

Sights:
- About the only official 'site' we saw was the Strasbourg Cathedral (de Notre-Dame), originally built in the Romanesque style, fire destroyed most of that and by the 12th century building continued but in the Gothic style. But really strolling through the entire city and along the River Ile (don't miss La Petit France and the half-timbered houses too) is all the 'sights' I need. Inside the cathedral, take a look at the astronomical clock in the back corner, there's lots of neat things going on in and around it - mini statues, different stages of life passing before 'Death', interesting clockwork and a big, loud rooster. On my first trip a couple years ago, I climbed to the top for some pretty great views (it was too cold this time!)

I was waiting around outside the cathedral and liked this clock too:












These darn beautiful rose windows never seem to disappoint: