Wednesday, June 26, 2019

They built this city on....

A bit of a "Noel day" really!

A full on day of Volkswagen information and visits… Noel’s happy place!!

Day started with a mock up breakfast in our barrel mini-hotel… due to not really being set up for camping. Our intention had been to possibly utilise campgrounds a little for our trip, but to brutally honest we are finding that accommodation via Booking.com, HomeAway.com or AirBnB seems to work out almost as economic when convenience it taken into account.

First visit, after gaining our hot cuppa at the nearby McDonald's (no hot water boiling facilities at camp for the ill prepared) it was across the road to the VW Foundation Museum. 

Although the city of Wolfsburg has multiple VW attractions, the most well known being the glossy ‘Autostadt’ complex, we chose this smaller hidden away museum. Although the Autostadt apparently is more focused on new vehicles and multiple brands it was obvious the museum would cater to Noel’s unusual tastes!!!

I must fit somehow....Caro has a Euro in her pocket



This facility has a large number of vehicles, all VW, and ranging from 1944 through to the present day. A couple of hours wandering through, and even Caro took more photo’s than Noel!

After walking through the town a little more including a brief glimpse in the foyer of the huge Autostadt complex, grabbing some lunch en-route, we arrived at our pre-booked VW factory tour. Although an English speaking tour, with some 35 people, I think we were the only 2 not multi-lingual. A sign of New Zealand’s isolation I guess and no requirement to know more.

A fascinating hour long tour in which we were taken over 5 km’s through the factory on open bus/trolley. Wolfsburg is the largest car plant in the world (for any brand) and the original part of the factory was constructed from 1935 onward's for the production of Hitler’s ‘peoples car’ (the first beetle’s). It soon changed to full on war production, then post war at the insistence of the British Army it was converted back to car manufacturing. This was to provide employment to the German population and boost the struggling post-war economy.

Some facts and figures gleaned…
  • 3500 cars per day produced
  • 16 hours production from flat sheet steel to finished car!
  • Proposed that this will drop to 10 hours when full electric car assembly implemented (which opens new debate given the emerging discussion re advantages/disadvantages of electric, ie is it about the effect on the environment or is it about increasing profit?)
  • 60500 employees over 3 shifts, 5 days a week
The level of mechanisation and robotics was amazing to watch as the vehicles came together, were painted, drive-line installed, interior installed and out they popped… a bit like war of the worlds images watching the hundreds of robotic arms twist and turn the cars around.

Sadly photo’s were not allowed inside the factory so its all on Noel’s internal memory (which is showing signs of crashing more regularly so don't expect too much by the time the trip is over!).

Back to the campground, and a wander around the adjoining scenic lake to dinner at a ‘bay side’ restaurant. The signs of how the city exists are very evident, the lake constructed by VW, the huge stadium next door the VW stadium etc. A jovial non-English speaking waiter trying to teach us some German rounded off the evening.

We've got to get out of this place...

Up and organised reasonably early and plugged ‘Dresden’ into our GPS and off we went, a 4 hour drive expected. Our next period of travel is through the old Eastern Bloc areas that although we may have wanted to visit 31 years ago, it was impossible to do so.

Lots of cereal country, reasonably flat, with a large number of wind turbines dotted over the horizon. We are really not sure where the animals are, for such a large meat eating country they must have them hidden somewhere!!! We have only seen a dozen livestock in Germany, and half were Llama’s!!! We did actually see one small mob of dairy but presuming everything is housed.

Busy motorways, huge number of trucks… really a solid line of them in the inside lane with the outside 2 lanes a juggle of cars passing, trucks passing other trucks etc. A constant watch on the rear view mirror required as although our cruise control is set at 122 km/hr any cars taking advantage of the no speed limit caught up pretty damn quick!!

For a while we travelled on the main highway to Berlin, this section was the same road we took 31 years ago on ‘Horse’, our Honda CX500 road bike. At that time, Berlin city was split in the 2 sectors of West and East. You had to drive out of West Germany, to travel through East Germany on one of about 2 or 3 designated routes, to reach West Berlin.. an enclave of western civilisation at the time.

In 1988 the road had been heavily patrolled by Trabant security cars to ensure you did not stop. No sign of a single Trabant today! We can still remember the bike being mobbed that day at an official rest stop by East German men wanting to view some Western technology… how times have changed.

Today we deliberately detoured and arrived in Colditz township… with a stunning and imposing castle looming above it.

The castle history dates back to pre 1200 when it was decided by the Romans of the time to build a significant castle. After this, in the early 1400's the "Lords of Colditz" dynasty ended when the then ruler sold the town and castle to the ruler of Saxony. Shortly after the Hussite's (religious order) attacked Colditz and the town and castle were burnt to the ground.

It didn't fare much better after being rebuilt as a servant baker accidentally burnt it, along with the town again!! Can't imagine he kept his job, or if he did it would have been the toast department!!

So the present castle took shape from the early 1500's, when it was also the site of the largest zoo in Europe. The rebuilding moved into Renaissance style as it progressed and subsequent rulers expanded it further to its total 700 rooms. Interestingly, during the 1800's it was used as respectively a house to feed the poor, ill and arrested people. Then a mental hospital for the "incurably insane"??, then a sanatorium for the wealthy and nobility, then TB and psychiatric patients... talk about a chequered history!

It's most famous period, as far as hitting the international stage, was obviously WWII when after initially being used by the Nazi's as a political prison it was used from 1939 onward's as a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp for officers who had become security or escape risks. The German's believed it to be the ideal site as it is situated on a rocky outcrop above the River Mulde.

And hence why it became infamous to people of our age (ie those of us who watched too much TV in the 1970's) familiar with the "Colditz" factual drama.

Checked and yes, an English speaking guided tour available. We soon worked out that it is mainly an English speaking destination, a combination of the TV series from the 70’s and the fact many German’s possibly downplay WW2.
 View of Colditz Castle from the main square of Colditz township


The 2 hour tour was fascinating, and led by a very enthusiastic local who enjoyed telling the stories of not only the escape attempts by the prisoners held there but also some descriptions of the 'other side'. We covered much of the castle, and included a lot of stairs!

Although a high security prison, it had one of the greatest records of successful escape attempts (around 35 who made it to neutral territory after getting out of the castle), probably due to the fact many of the prisoners had escape attempt history. The methods were many and varied, and an excellent museum supplemented the information and area's shown in the tour. Some of the methods were mind-boggling, and one wonders at how the men could continue.... a tunneling attempt which almost succeeded, but failed, after a number of years digging just because a floor collapsed.

The most outrageous, which never got attempted but was very close to doing so before liberation occurred, was construction of a glider inside a small space in the attic and a couple of prisoners were to launch it off the castle roof.

A sign of the good relationship between the prisoners and guards was that only one attempted escapee was shot dead and that was by accident. Also the prisoners upon liberation by US troops could not believe how harshly the liberators treated the guards with beatings etc... but the Colditz prisoners had no knowledge of the atrocities committed by other arms of the German forces.

Highly recommended visit should anyone be travelling in the area.

The view down into one of the escape tunnels
Replica of the attic glider based on an actual photo. In the early 2000's a recreation of build occurred which they launched off the castle roof.... successfully!

Following the end of the war the castle reverted to a mental hospital under the communist regime. Since the amalgamation of Germany the castle is now a popular youth hostel, as well as the museum and preservation efforts.

So... back in the car and on to Dresden....

Friday, June 21, 2019

Enjoying the Mosel River area


I'm fed up, and out of here...

The Germans love their food, and this became obvious at our first hotel breakfast (provided with the room rate). Full range from cereal, several varieties of bread, meats, cheese, eggs, cake etc etc. Needless to say we tried our best :)

Left Saarburg and headed to Trier through reasonably flat cereal country. For the next 4 or 5 days we are going to hit some of the same country we travelled through 31 years ago… but can’t remember much so it all seems like new! (probably like a gold fish swimming in a bowl?)

A river full of history... and wine... don't forget the wine

Trier is very touristy, with noticeably quite a few US tourists around. It was also Saturday so a lot of locals in town for the shopping. But we were reasonably early so got a park for the car in a central city building.

Trier is in the Mosel wine region and is located on the banks of the Mosel river. It may be the oldest city in Germany, founded by the Celts in the late 4th century BC then conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC. One of it's other claims to fame is being the birthplace of Karl Marx.

In the 4th century AD, Trier was one of the largest cities of the Roman empire, with a population of around 75,200 (today’s population is around 110,000). From Roman to German, to France, to the Kingdom of Prussia and then back to German ownership over the years. Trier still has well preserved town gates, roman baths, an amphitheatre etc from the Roman Times as well as later churches and palaces.

Trier was heavily bombed in 1944. It officially celebrated it’s 2000th anniversary in 1994 and has several UNESCO world heritage sites. We walked through the town, which was very busy, and via some cathedrals up to the Roman sites. 
Remains of Roman Gates and town wall 

Locals, and tourists, gearing up for the Saturday market.... yummy strawberries found! 




View of Trier city from nearby hill we climbed... after a bit of assertive discussion with car's GPS to get us to bottom.

After purchasing some strawberries at the market we left and drove along the Mosel River with vineyards overlooking the winding road. The vineyards are amazingly steep, disappearing from road level up the hills. Although we saw tractors towing spray tanks, it was obvious nothing could drive among most of the vines, and we found out that any spraying etc is done by dragging hoses, and/or necessary equipment, up the hills by hand. Alternatively many had little mono-rails winding up, with motorised carts which could be moved from one rail to the next as required.

Stopped at Bernkastel-Kues, another very old and picturesque town. Again the Romans were here first. A very touristy, but pretty, town which is a main stop for tourist boat cruises. Our first sight of these large (as in long) floating hotels with a number moored for the passengers to walk the town.

We walked up to the Bernkastel Castle, in 1291 Bernkastel was given town rights and the Castle (burg) landshut was built. It subsequently burnt in 1692 and has never been rebuilt. However it does have a café, gift shop and flush toilets now which are possibly not original!



Arrived at our AirBnB located in Traben-Trabach, a lovely smallish town split by the Mosel river and surrounded by vineyards (of course!). Once it was 2 separate towns but amalgamated in 1969. It has been documented as early as 830 AD, and was seized by France in 1683. A fortress overlooking the town was constructed by Vauban, the leading French military engineer of the time. It was mostly demolished (by the French) when the French withdrew in 1697  and it then became German rule again.

Our arrival coincided with a literal cacophony of church bells, the sound was almost overwhelming and we did wonder what was going on and if it was to signify our arrival! Our hosts were lovely, as was the downstairs apartment of their house, and they immediately explained that at 6 pm every Saturday the two (now joined) towns have a competition to see whose church bells are loudest!!, and this happened to coincide with our arrival.

They also told us that Germany was having a long weekend thus most business would be shut including the Monday, apart from restaurants and tourist services. That explains why it had been hard to find accommodation when we were trying to book a few days prior.

Our host is a wine export agent, but also owns a small family vineyard. Patrick kindly offered us a tour of their family production the next morning. They have 4 hectares of very steep land and produce 7 types of wine…. Intensive and complicated!!! The land and winery has been in the family ownership for centuries.... sort of puts Gibbston Valley in perspective! The wines of the area are mostly whites: Rieslings, some desert and a little Rose, but very nice!

 The range of wines produced by the family.... and no, we didn't, it was 10 am in the morning! (but we did sample their very nice sparkling (slightly) wine during our stay)



After our personal wine tour we headed for the pre booked bike rental, this was very lucky Noel had done so as the queue for bikes was large and most bikes gone. With bikes, and carrying lots of water, we spent a very pleasant day (20-25 C) biking down the Mosel River cycle paths to Zell and back.
Lunching on the way, a 40 km ride in total. A lovely way to see the countryside, with bike paths on both sides of the river tar-sealed/paved all the way. The tracks go for 280 km +, so maybe another time?


 Just one of many of the freight barges plying the river, complete with full housing and 2 cars on board (lifted off by inbuilt crane) for when they moor.
 Bikes, vineyards, trains, boats... all on or beside the fantastic riverside trail
No, not both for Noel.... Caro has discovered Radler....

With the holiday weekend there were lots and lots of people: biking and walking, also rowing and tour boating on the river, lots of campers parked along the river banks and lots and lots of motorbikes and flash convertible cars cruising the winding river road.

A fantastic day!

Language wise we have slipped easily into aspects of German, such as "zwei bier bitte" which now roles off the tongue easily! (must have come flooding back from our visit to the Munich Bier Fest 31 years ago).

Meals are mainly meat.... or meat. The staple seems to be wiener schnitzel, and you order with different combinations, mainly revolving around the meat, or the meat! For example, one night Noel had schnitzel with cranberry sauce, the next night schnitzel (crumbed) but with a potato mix whilst Caro had cream sauce over... you guessed it, schnitzel!. We are deliberately hunting out salads occasionally as it is all a bit much ... meat!

Bread is also a big item, and a variety always available and seemingly a bakery in every town/street corner.

Hey mum, are fairy tales real?


Left Traben-Trabach and followed Mosel for a while longer, some stunning towns and castles along the river such as Treis-Karden.

We found and walked to the medieval, still complete, castle of Burg Eltz. The castle is still owned by a branch of the family that lived there in the 12th century… 33 generations ago!

The castle towers are up to 8 stories high, 30-40 metres. It was crazy busy, assuming the public holiday Monday effect still but there was lots of different languages/accents in the crowd. So although we did not do a tour we wandered around the parts that were open, once again ye olde café and flush toilets are present.

We had visited here 31 years ago, not nearly as busy… and don’t recall any cafes although we were the classic tight budget backpackers in those days and were obviously more focused on our 2 minute noodles than buying coffees.

Carried on to Koblenz through farmland, wheat country mainly. Koblenz is another stunning town, located on the confluence of the Mosel and Rhine rivers. 

Another UNESCO listed 2000 year old city. It has the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, originally built on the site in the 11th century it is located across the Rhine and now accessed by aerial gondola or bridge. It was blown up by the French when they lost control around 1801 and subsequently rebuilt around 1820’s by the Prussians.

Koblenz is a university town and has church’s, an electoral palace and a very big statue of Kaiser Willhelm I, who was the king of Prussia and the German Empire. Koblenz was heavily bombed in WWII but most parts have been rebuilt.

On the day we were there, as it was that public holiday Monday, a Bier (beer) Festival was in full swing in the park area at the confluence of the 2 rivers. Very popular occasion but unfortunately we couldn’t partake in the beer as Noel still had to drive, and Caro is a sympathetic companion, to our hotel on the banks of the Fulda River just north of the city of Kassel.

The hotel seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere, but is located on a river bike path as most of the clientele were pedaller's (of bikes, not illicit products). A party barge, which really didn’t look too ‘sea-worthy’ was puttering back and forth along the river with the occupants obviously having a grand old time.

It rained that night and was still drizzling the next morning. Headed off following the river for a while, and possibly passing a speed camera by the sudden flash (the towns have few speed signs, it is a bit hit and miss if you are within limit or not, we will find out we guess!). Heading away from grapes and through forest and farmland: wheat, barley, oil seed rape, maize and fodder beet.

Stopped at Hann Munden, a lovely town on the confluence of the Fulda and Werra Rivers. With half timbered houses that are over 700 years old, the ruins of an 16th century castle, the remains of 12th century town walls, a town tower from 1885 and some big old church’s. Definitely gave the impression we might not have been the first visitors ever. Obviously still on the river side bike paths, lots of cyclists just leaving town after their nights accommodation. The town is meant to be very touristy, although we must have been ahead of the crowds as it was pretty quiet.


Carried on to Gottingen, a large university town with the Uni first founded in 1734. Lovely old buildings and church’s but we just lunched and left. 

Drove to Goslar (we worked out we had already visited here 31 years ago) winding our way through forestry and a National Park in the Harz mountains, a lovely drive.

Another UNESCO heritage medieval town with half timbered houses, some town walls and gate, an imperial palace and, yes you guessed it, big church’s. The town was originally based on copper and silver mines that are over 1000 years old but closed in 1998. A WWII Luftwaffe airbase near the town, and several war supplier companies, had been close by along with 2 ‘sub camp’ concentration camps however the old town escaped any bomb damage.


Then it was onto Wolfsburg, and our camp ground ‘mini hotel/barrel cabin’ for 2 nights. A huge thunderstorm overhead after our arrival was impressive.
A first!... a "barrel cabin' at Wolfsburg campground. Quite comfortable, although it did have a slight leak in the night but it was an extreme thunderstorm!

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Which country today?

Drive 3 countries in one day... only in Europe


Away from our accommodation by 8 am and on our way to Luxembourg City, a 3 hour drive. The GPS makes navigation very easy… Caro is loving it! The Peugeot is a lovely car to drive, now that Noel has adjusted to the various new techy bits… the auto engine cut off when stopped at lights/intersections seems a bit over-promoted, as anyone who had ridden in Noel’s 1962 Kombi last year would know… it did that too!!! (The Kombi has been 'fixed', perhaps should have left it the way it was… obviously ahead of it’s time)

Arrived and parked up in Luxembourg City by lunchtime as we are booked on a bike tour at 1 pm.
Only ourselves and Paul our guide, who was a lifelong Luxembourger who was in his 60’s.. so a great knowledge of the area to pass on.

Luxembourg City is the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ( or just Luxembourg) which at 2586 square km's and a population of around 600,000  makes it one of the smallest countries in Europe. The city is built around the confluence of the Alzette and Petrusse Rivers. Originally a strategic location for the Romans it was formally acquired by Siegfried I (a Count) in 963, when cathedrals and castles were built. A fortress was built around the rocky bluffs in the 16th century to enable defense and it became a formidable and impregnable site for any attackers. 


 Quite an amazing church, literally built against the cliff face and so small inside that the pulpit can also be seen from outside for those unable to get in.


Through varying political manoeuvre's its ownership has changed over the years involving a  number of nationalities. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 the Congress of Vienna made Luxembourg into a Grand Duchy meaning the territory is ruled by a Grand Duke or Duchess. The city fort and old town area became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994.

We rode past the Grand Dukes residence, around some of the churches, houses, forts and historic parts before reaching the new area of European Parliament. This newer area, has since the 1970’s until today, been focused on new builds and really appears quite sterile compared to the rest of the stunningly beautiful city… a shame really. Paul our guide as a local strongly bemoaned this fact also.

Luxembourg is a wealthy country, after WW2 the banking sector was attracted due to low operating taxes. The economy is still banking based along with the technology/data industry. The tax for outside companies must be low as they have all the brand shops and lots of shoppers. Fuel is also cheaper than elsewhere in Europe, some 25 cents less per litre! So it appears the philosophy is to be quantity but they definitely appear to have quality also. Luxembourg has one of the highest wealth per capita for Europe, according to google it's the 2nd richest country in the world.

Other interesting facts is that almost half the countries residents are foreigners. Voting is compulsory for all citizens between the ages of 18 and 74 years but foreign residents  (about 45%) are not allowed to vote. 87% of it's citizens are Catholic. The Prime Minister is gay and  euthanasia has been legalized. So it all makes for a vibrant, bustling, trendy city.

After the bike tour, and then an ice cream, we headed to Saarburg in Germany for tonight's accommodation (but not before filling up our empty fuel tank on cheaper gas before crossing the border!!)…. So it’s Guten Tag now rather than Bonjour….

Saarburg is a small German town set along the Leuk River, which flows into the Saar river which is large enough for boat transport. The town is overshadowed by vineyard covered hills and is an historic town of at least 13th century. It has the remnants of medieval gates, towers, a castle, waterwheel and a Glockenspiel. A nice place to spend the night… into Wiener Schnitzel country!!



Sunday, June 16, 2019

Enjoying Alsace in eastern France

Soaking up the French atmosphere

Feeling more alive this morning after a good sleep, and had a lovely breakfast (supplied).

Another quick walk around Provins, the place is relatively quiet with tourists but teeming with all ages of school children. Obviously on end of year day trips... lots of them :)

From Provins we drove on quiet rural roads to the town of Troyes, still lots of gently rolling cropping fields: cereals, lucerne, lupins (break crop?) maize and some onions. Looks very productive country.

Troyes old town is eye popping beautiful, mostly dating from 16th century, lots of mainly Tudor buildings lining the meandering paved streets... could well have been the set for Harry Potter. There is several huge Gothic church's, it is located in the Champagne wine region.


We spent a couple of hours wandering around, every corner a photo opportunity... and it was hot, 30 C plus.




Because our GPS told us we still had 4.5 hours drive to get to Colmar, our next 3 nights accommodation, we took the toll roads to speed things up (although Noel's jet-lagged mind struggled a little at the first toll booth,  we got there!). At 130 km/hr speed limit we covered the ground... our car handled this no problem. 4 - 6 lane motorway, lots of trucks with not so many cars. Got us to Colmar around 6 pm, checked into our AirBnB which looks great and has a washing machine... bonus!

Wander around to find dinner revealed another beautiful town, lots of Tudor (more painted)... so rows upon rows of gingerbread houses, just stunning. Also lots of tourists!

 Get on ya bike...

Next day dawned, we were awake early so wandered through town just after 7 am. The buildings are amazingly cute and no tourists at that hour to block our way :) Medieval and Renaissance buildings, 15-17th century surrounding a 13th century church.

Colmar was founded in the 9th century, it has had a checkered ownership of varying conquering countries. The last being Germany in WWII and was the site of much fighting of combined French and USA troops which resulted in liberation in 1945. It is on the Alsace cycling wine route which is around 200 km long in total and is surrounded by vineyards.

The day evolved into another 30 C day, a bit of trip planning and washing and then down to the nearby railway station to hire bikes. We followed a very loosely marked trail which took us to the town of Eguishein... another medieval village filled with beautifully restored buildings.


We then meandered (ie lost!) to the town of Trucheim riding through vineyards that don't have boundaries but had lots of tracks through which it seems fine to ride through. Trucheim is a walled medieval town, again the buildings are stunning.


Back to the bike rental by 5 pm, pretty much by following our noses (and the gestures of a road worker that we asked) rather than the instructions. Seemingly spent half the day lost but worked out fine.... the thrill of the adventure!!

Day 4 (quatre)

30 C again, loverly…. We are going to Strasbourg on a midday train (sounds like a song coming on?) so in the interim we went for a drive into the hills above Colmar to fill in the morning. Following Route des Cinq Chateaux (the 5 Castles route).

It is a 20 km stretch of road winding up through the forest on the foothills of the Vosges range. The first stop was les Tois Chateaux D-Eguisheim or “3 towers” overlooking the Alsace plains. These buildings date from the 11-13th centuries. The oldest of the towers (all castles originally) was constructed in 1026 AD.


A quick stop at Le Hohlandsbourg, which is a castle… this was paid entry and as we were limited on time we just took a picture! Then a walk into Chateaux Du Pflixbourg… a castle/fort that was noted on records for the first time in 1220 but thought to be from the Bronze Age (3000-1200 BC) so quite old then!!

We took the train to Strasbourg, around 40 minutes, through vineyards and fields of cereals along with some market gardening.

Strasbourg (population around 280,000) is the capital city of the Alsace area of France. It is a formal seat of the European Parliament, a role it serves along with Luxembourg and Brussels. The historic city centre became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988 which coincided with its 2000th anniversary, having been mentioned in documents as far back as 12 BC. It was noted as a Roman camp prior to that time.



Strasbourg is on an island set between the Rhone and Ill rivers. Over the years its ownership has been fought over between France and Germany, with the influence of both cultures clear to see. Now even though it is French rule the people prefer to call themselves Alsatians… a French/German mix.
The old town is a mix of old architectural styles, narrow winding streets and bright flower pots. The Tudor type buildings looking like Gingerbread houses;(more of them!) Just stunning!!

The temperature dropped back to 12-15 C during the day, with rain threatening but not effecting the start of our activity of a city bike tour. 5 clients, an American family of Mom and 2 teenagers along with ourselves. Our guide was a Polish lady.

First stop was to view the original city wall, not much left but some has been incorporated into other buildings so it is still useful some 2000 years later!

There is the Vauban Dam, which is a 17th century weir built as a city defense wall. There are churches…. So many elaborate churches!! The Cathedrale de Notre Dam is a huge intricately carved 142 m high structure built over a 400 year time frame (and you thought your tradie's were slow sometimes!!) One wonders how this was achieved without cranes etc… an amazing building and that was only on the outside as we did not view the inside.


Unfortunately at this point it started raining but we rode onward through what was the German town square/buildings from the 1870’s when Strasbourg was ‘acquired’ by the Germans.

We then rode past the European Parliament buildings which meets once a month for 4 days. There was some lovely state housing, and lovely parks and gardens, in that area. The European Parliament building itself is quite memorable, a new design but deliberately built so it looks unfinished, or a work in progress. This was done to reflect the forming of the European Union…. the debate must be on as to if a portion needs removed once BREXIT is completed!!


The Alsace area is the spring/summer home to the stork (as in the ones that deliver babies). They winter in Africa and return to this area to nest and rear their offspring. As the numbers were dwindling some towns have placed large metal rings on their high-points to encourage nesting… and this has worked. Plus there is some flat topped trees that appear purpose built for nest sites! Interestingly Storks utilise the same nest all their lives.

The gardens area of Strasbourg has lots of Storks, the Colmar area also has them. In autumn the young are pushed out of the nest by their parents… a quick lesson, they either fly immediately or end up wandering around on the ground until they realise how to get lift off!


With the fantastic bike tour over we wandered a little more before having a meal and catching an evening train back to Colmar. Strasbourg is a lovely city, although the first large city visited in Europe.


Another menu to puzzle over... at least this one had pretty pictures!




Tea for two?

Saturday, 3 August: A 4 hour stopover in Dubai airport... just staying in Terminal and walking to stay occupied. The whole terminal appeared...