Rosh H day 2, Alsace w/ my mom
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
52
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Alsace,
France
Monday, September 27, 2004
Here is our trip to the Alsace region with my mom this past July. First is my mom's version, and then mine (which, as expected, is 3 times as long as her's despite being on the same trip). But before that, I forgot to write about my 2nd day of Rosh H so here's that first...
ROSH H - DAY 2
After spending the first day at the 'alternative' congregation with Julie, she stayed at home as she never goes to temple the 2nd day of Rosh H and I went to the Portuguese Synagogue (http://www.esnoga.com/). I have never been there for services before but I've been a few times as a tourists.
The building was built in the 17th-century for the community of Spanish Jews. You might be saying 'if they're Spanish Jews, why is it the Portuguese Synagogue?' When the descendants of those who fled the Spanish Inquisition established a community in A'dam, the Dutch were warring with the Spanish so to avoid the backlash, they identified as Portuguese instead. Smart, huh? Kinda like how I have a Canadian flag patch on my backpack to avoid the backlash of GW's blunders...this is a joke - it's far easier to explain GW than it is to explain Celine Dion!
Anyways, the building is beautiful and I would encourage all of you to check it out if you're ever in A'dam. It is huge, offering seats for about 1000 men downstairs and another couple hundred women upstairs. The building is square with ceilings about 50 feet high. About 50 gold candelabras with about 25 candles on each illuminate the building - no electric lights. There is also no speakers or microphones, just the natural acoustics of the building. The floors are concrete with fine white sand - I'm not sure the origins of that but it is traditional for Sephardic temples. The services are lead from the middle of the congregation, almost like a service in-the-round. The benches surrounding the bima are a dark wood with storage bins under the seat for the congregants prayer books, tallis, and others personal items. The benches look very uncomfortable with straight backs but for some reason, they are not too bad. There is no heating either but again, it was comfortable and almost refreshing on my tushy.
As for the service, it was not as inviting as the day before. In fact, it was rather sterile. Once I passed the tough security to get inside, there were about 10 men inside (barely a minyan) and no women. The men were all wearing traditional outfits of black suits with hats. The hats were either Abe Lincoln-type top hats or smaller with wavy brims that look like matador hats. Everybody seemed to know one another and they all knew that I was new. And yet, nobody approached me. It was very cold. There were 2 boys who looked bar mitzvah age that greeted each man as he entered the building. They would approach them with a handshake and some small talk, but none for me.
Eventually, the service began with foreign chants. I am an Ashkenazi Jew so the melodies didn't sound familiar at all. I had a tough time following the service since they didn't announce any of the pages (although even if they had, it would've been either in Dutch or Spanish so it wouldn't have helped me at all). One man, probably in his 30s, lead the entire service with 2 older man in their 70s standing on either side of him, almost as if supervising. Surprisingly, about half of the congregation looked like they were in their 30s. But as the service continued, I was finally able to find where we were and the service became a bit better. But even without knowing where we were, the echo of the prayer in this big empty historic hall was amazing! The chants lasted a long time, singing one syllable for a few seconds each. It was very beautiful, again especially with the cool echo! It almost sounded like Arabic.
After about an hour, the service hit intermission. It was kinda strange. People began walking around a bit, greeting each other a bit. A few men would huddle together to catch up on some things - given the empty woman's section upstairs, I'm guessing they weren't talking about the chicks in schul. Finally, after sitting there for over an hour, a few men approached me and welcomed me. It was nice, but not nearly like the day before.
Next was the torah service. Again, not as beautiful as the day before still pretty cool. First, the ark needed to be unlocked, which I thought was interesting. Next, the pre-bar mitzvah age kids undressed the torah, putting the silver pieces on holders that seemed to be made especially to show-off the ornaments. Those called up to the torah would be done so in a mixture of Hebrew and Spanish. It was interesting to her 'Senor Stein ben Moshe v'Mirriam' called to read the torah. The last thing that I found cool about the torah portion was the man reading from the torah obviously hadn't memorized the portion. But rather than open the torah and read off of a piece of paper like a cheat-sheet, he would read directly from the torah (which is difficult to do since it doesn't have vowels or tropes, musical directions of sorts) with the magbia(?) (the guy who follows along proofreading from a book and correcting his mistakes) making hand-signals to direct the reader as to whether the words he was reading should be sung in a high pitch, low, wavering, etc. It almost looked like he was calling for a squeeze play. But seriously, it was pretty cool to see. Being able to read the torah is tough enough when you have practiced it but this guys looked like he was just seeing the portion for the first time so I guess I can't criticize him for not knowing the tropes (melody) but the hand-signal method was pretty creative.
Anyways, it was an interesting service. I enjoyed it a lot but more for the environment than the service. In comparison to the 1st day of Rosh H, it was unimpressive. But I am glad I got to experience a service in this beautiful building.
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Well, that's that for the Jewish holidays. So now, here is my mom's t-pod from our trip to the Alsace followed by mine...
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After a wonderful 10 day Scandinavian/Baltic cruise, I arrived back in Amsterdam for a few days of R&R before embarking on our French adventure. Julie and I met Stephen at the car rental office and by 4PM we were sear belted into our royal blue Nissan Micra and heading out of Amsterdam for our first destination, Arlon, Belguim. As we drove, looking out the window, I was struck by the similarity of the landscape to the Midwest. I was reminded of the many trips from Chicago to Madison and the hour of flat fields, haystacks, many cows, and farm equipment. Honestly, Dutch cows look the same as their cousins in the Midwest!! We crossed the border between Holland and Belguim with hardly any demarcation other than a small blue sign on the side of the road....same landscape, same cows. We arrived in Arlon in time for dinner. With Stephen at the wheel and Julie as the navigator, we easily found the center of town. In the town square, I was surprised to see an old army tank. The tank was left there as a tribute to the Americans who liberated this small village on September 10, 1944. I was touched by the gesture. It made me feel proud to be an American. We spent the night at a small hotel in town. Stephen adds: Actually, after dinner we continued another 15 minutes south which got us into Luxembourg.
July 23
In the morning we left Arlon, Belguim and crossed the border into Luxembourg (see Stephen's comment above). Again, nothing more than a small sign told us we were there. Unlike in the States, there's no border control and no one inspecting passports. We headed to the Centrum, parked the car, and started out in search of breakfast. We soon found an outside café serving petit dejuener and enjoyed flaky croissants, rolls, real butter and coffee. After breakfast we were fortified enough for Stephen's walking tour of the city. We walked from one end to the other, enjoying the architecture and ambiance of this beautiful, upscale city. It was similar in style to most of the other cities I seen in Europe...lots of charm, at least one beautiful church, at least one impressive statue, a nice pedestrian shopping area and lots and lots of outdoor cafes. We went on a tour of the Casements. These are a series of underground tunnels that were used for the defense of the city many years ago. We climbed down hundred and stairs and then you guessed it, had to climb back up. It was cold, wet, dark and dank and not very interesting for me although the kids seemed to enjoy it. It was at this time that I told them that I was finished with caves!!! We left Luxembourg in the afternoon and upon Stephen's insistence, stopped at the American Military Cemetery. What an incredibly moving and awesome sight.....5,000 American soldiers are buried there. We walked through semi-circular rows and rows of graves marked by a simple white stone cross or Magen David. The names, dates of death, and home towns of each soldier are engraved on the markers. One white stone is left on each Magen David as a sign that someone was there to visit. There were 2 large murals depicting significant battles nearby and a small sanctuary used for visitors to say a prayer. General Patton is buried in this cemetery and his grave is separate from the others. We left the cemetery feeling glad that was allowed compulsive Stephen to get us there and insist that it would be a good idea to see it. We then continued our journey to Alsace, France. In several hours we arrived in Eguisheim. During the trip, the landscape outside the window changed considerably. The lowlands of Holland that turned into the rolling hills of Belguim and Luxembourg, again turned into the mountains of France. As we approached Alsace, the mountains were covered with vineyards....as far as the eye could see. After several tries, we finally navigated the winding maze of this quaint and picturesque city and found the hotel. We checked in, carried out bags up several flights of winding stairs and settled in. The rooms were large, clean and very modern.....needless to say, we were all delighted. Dinner that night was in the courtyard of the hotel. It was thoroughly delightful and we enjoyed our first taste of cheese flambé....just like pizza without the red sauce. It was delicious.
July 24
We left quaint Eguisheim and drove to the big city of Colmar. Colmar was the birthplace of Bartoli who designed the Statue of Liberty so a giant replica greets you as you enter the town. We went on our requisite walking tour of the city and soon found a museum. It was an old monastery and the architecture of the building was interesting but I did not enjoy the art work within. It was very religious in nature and not that enjoyable to me although the kids did seem to like it. We walked around the city for awhile and then decided to go on to Kaysersberg. Kaysersberg is the birthplace of Albert Schweitzer so a giant bust of Albert greets you at the entrance to the city. As we made our way down the main street, I thought I was on a set at Universal. The city quaint winding cobble stoned streets adds to the ambiance. There was nothing special to see however, the feeling of walking around and just enjoying the atmosphere of yet another little Alsace village, made the experience very worthwhile. We next stopped in Wittlesheim for dinner before going to the festival. During the summer, there is a traveling wine festival. Each night it moves to another small town in the area. Benches and long table are set up everywhere and wine merchants sell small shot glasses of their wine. Huge brick ovens turn out millions of cheese flambes. Oompa bands played regional polka sounding music and hundreds of people from nearby towns showed up to enjoy the festivities. It reminded me of a street or block party anywhere USA. Everyone was friendly and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. We met an interesting fellow from the area who worked for the Timken company in Canton, Ohio. Unfortunately, that night none of us had ever heard of this company but he seemed very proud of his employment there. I have later found out from my sister-in-law Chris that this company was a major employer in the Canton area and that the closing of the plant last year has added to the economic depression in that part of Ohio.
July 25
In the morning we took a walk through the vineyards of Eguisheim. It was an awesome experience. The vineyards use no irrigation system unlike those of Napa Valley. It was amazing to me to realize that these vintners rely solely on Mother Nature to provide them with a bumper crop of grapes each year. In fact, later in the day we bought wine from a young man who proudly told us that his family has lived there on this land for 12 generations. I found that simply amazing as an American who lives thousands of miles apart from her family and who can't trace her ancestry back for more than a few generations. We took a ride to Haut Koenigsberg where an incredible castle awaited us. We took a walking tour of the castle and the grounds and thoroughly enjoyed the day. The views of the surrounding area from the castle's windows were spectacular. As far as the eye can see, rolling greenery is everywhere. We headed back to
Eguisheim just in time to watch the end of the Tour de France and cheer on our very own Lance Armstrong as he won the race. It was them time to walk around the city for the last few souvenirs before getting ready for dinner. We decided to have our last dinner at an upscale gourmet restaurant. We had a lovely 4 course meal that even included a cheese plate. The best was the dessert. I am a connoisseur of apple tarte tatin and I must say that at this restaurant, it was a memorable experience.
July 26
We left the Alsace early in the morning to begin out trip back to Amsterdam. We stopped several hour later in Trier, Germany. We walked through the pedestrian mall that makes its way through the center of town. The streets are lined with shops, restaurant and outdoor cafes. Again, we say the requisite church and statue. We sought out the Judenstrasse which led to the once existing Jewish Quarter of the city. The first Jews appeared there in 1066 and were expelled in the 1400's only to be asked back in the 1600's before being asked to leave again permanently in the 1940's. Karl Marx was born in this city and today a museum of his life is found here. We enjoyed watching a tour group of Asian men descend upon the museum like a swarm of locusts. We walked around the city and found the Jewish synagogue. It was closed so we couldn't go in but it gave me a good feeling to look up and see the large Magen David on the roof. Yes, even in Germany Jews are still living and practicing Judaism. We had a wonderful lunch at Subway and Julie was a very happy camper. It was soon time to leave the city and make our way home. As we left the mountains of Germany and crossed again into Belguim the landscape began to return to the gently rolling hills. Other than the small signs at the border and the language on the passing signs, you would not know that you've left one country and were in yet another. I couldn't help but hear the words of John Lennon's Imagine in my head as I thought about how wonderful it is to live in a world where neighboring countries can live side by side in peace. Yes, the EU has done it. It has managed to form a mutually beneficial arrangement where each individual country can retain its autonomy yet at the same time live in harmony without enforceable borders. It gave my a wonderful feeling and at the same time saddened me even more about the situation in the Middle East. We stopped at a McDonald's for dinner and the Big Mac I ate wasn't any better than those in the States. It was kind of neat to remember that we had breakfast in France, lunch in Germany and dinner in Holland. We arrived back in Amsterdam very tired yet thrilled with our trip.
Once again, sharing this amazing experience with my children far outweighs what I actually saw or did. Stephen and Julie could become professional trip planners if they choose to. They have this travel thing worked out to a science. If anyone of you out there is even thinking of a trip to Europe, do it before they move back to Chicago. It will be an experience you will never forget. The next day I was back in the States and on my ride home from Miami airport I saw a giant American flag waving in the sky. After being in Europe for a month, it was a wonderful sight. Even though traveling was great fun, there's no place like home.
Lovingly written by,
Roz
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THURSDAY
After a full day at work, I met my mom and Julie at Budget where we picked up our rental. The man who checked out the car to us was ridiculously specific when recording the existing damage to the car before handing me the keys. You would think we would be driving a Ferrari...but we weren't, we got a Nissan Micro...yes, it was as small as it sounds. But it worked for us.
So my mom jumped in the back, Julie grabbed the map and the CDs and assumed her spot in the front as navigator/deejay, and I steered the car onto the busy A'dam streets, aiming towards the Ringroad.
It was well-known that there was tons of construction in Antwerp but the roads were pretty clear so we cruised through Antwerp in less than 2 hours (which is really good time), all the while, the 3 of us sang out the tunes of the Forrest Gump Soundtrack and other Roz-friendly CDs. The landscape in the Ardennes region of Belgium is beautiful and reminded my mom of the Midwest - rolling hills and cows helped in that matter.
However, the relaxing drive came to a halt when we hit big-time traffic. We were in 1-lane traffic for over 45 minutes. It was so annoying. We basically rolled along, and the strange thing is the traffic could've been avoided if the highway commission would've only closed the small stretch of highway which was being fixed instead of what seemed like the entire stretch from Brussels to Luxembourg. The slow-going really set us back.
So by the time we made it out of the construction site, we were just outside of Arlon Belgium and about 30 minutes from Luxembourg. I was hoping we could make it to Luxembourg for dinner but after 4 hours of driving, it was now 8 PM and Julie was getting hungry - I knew I should've brought an emergency box of raisins!
So we got off the highway for dinner in Arlon Belgium, where the biggest pedophile in Europe is currently serving a prison sentence. We didn't see him but instead followed the signs to 'centrum' and parked the car on the center plaza. Just beside the parking lot was a familiar sight to this region - a US tank left from the WWII liberation which occurred on Sept. 10, 1944. It's a nice reminder to the townspeople and as an American, makes us feel good!
After looking at the tank for a bit, we found a restaurant for us to eat at right on the town square. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones wanted to sit outside and take advantage of the ideal weather so we took a table inside (La Brasserie) where Julie and my mom shared mussels - a Belgian delicacy - and a steak which turned out to be really tough and not too good. I had sole in cream sauce with really good tater-tots and French onion soup. Of course, being in Belgium, I also picked up a beer (Ciney Blonde, one of our favorites). The waiter was really helpful but the restaurant was not great. I did, however, remember how to ask for the check - le addicion (spelling?) which was only EUR 60.
Being around the French reminded me a the song Julie's dad taught me while we were in Paris - 'one marine he ate a bean, par le voux, the second marine he ate a bean, par le voux, the third marine he ate a bean, he pooped all over the submarine, inki-dinki-par le voux' - which I of course sang until it bothered Julie thoroughly. I also tried to teach my mom how to speak French...just scrunch your face and sound angry!
We walked around town, although practically everything was closed and empty since it was late. But luckily the ice cream shop was still open so we grabbed some cones and walked back to the car.
While my mom thought we slept in Belgium, we actually left Belgium and entered Luxembourg, a short 30 minute drive. Once entering our 3rd country of the day, about 5 minutes later we were at the hotel. The hotel (Campanile) was just off the highway near the airport. It is a cheap hotel chain (EUR 75) but knowing that we'd be getting in late and only spending a day in town, we wanted someplace cheap and easy to find. So the Campanile was perfect. We got a small triple with one king bed and a small bed just inches off the floor for my mom, but it had a clean bathroom and after 4+ hours of driving, I was thrilled to see a pillow!
FRIDAY
We awoke and checked out of the hotel, loaded up the car, and drove 5 minutes into town. We had a little bit of trouble finding parking. We drove in circles until finally we found a spot and ditched the car.
We walked into town and began looking for petite de jeuner, French for breakfast of croissants, pastries, and coffee/tea/hot chocolate. We were able to find a few outdoor tables just off the Place d'Armes main square (Confiserie Namur). Julie also found a place that sold our favorite pastries from our Paris trip in April, macaroons, which she bought as a snack for later.
We next went into the tourist info on the Place d'Armes where we got a self-guided walking tour. Luxembourg City is a lot more beautiful than we had expected. The buildings are ornate and the city is clean and relaxing. The city is built on a bluff which has historically provided the city with a good defense mechanism and also creates a beautiful environment. The city is primarily filled with pedestrian streets so it is a very easy city to walk.
So we walked around for a bit, enjoying the beautiful exterior of the Place d'Armes, the City Palace, the Grand Ducal Palace, and a few picturesque squares filled with impressive buildings and statues. We visited Constitution Square which is on the edge of the bluff and overlooks the Petrusse valley and river below. Also in the square is the Gelle Fra Memorial, a tall column crowned with a golden lady holding a wreath which was built to remember the Luxembourgers who perished in WWI.
Being near one of the casemate fortifications, we decided to pay a visit to the impressive casemates which was originally built in 963 by Count Siegfried. Over the course of centuries, 3 fortified rings, 24 forts, and 16 other strong defense works, connected by 23 KMs of underground tunnels, were added to provide even more safety to the people of Luxembourg.
But the casemates could only be viewed with a guide, which leaves every hour and the next tour wouldn't be leaving for about 30 minutes so we stopped into the Cathedral of Our Lady, built in 1613. It was really pretty and a perfect place to wait until the next tour of the casemates.
But the casemate tour was set to begin so we head across the street and joined the English-speaking group. We started by climbing down 100+ stairs into a dank and dark hole - we would climb over 450 in total, some of which were built onto rock while others were built INTO rock by using dynamite. The walls and stairs were slightly wet from the groundwater that was dripping from above.
The guide walked us through tunnels, which could hold thousands of soldiers, to visit the sophisticated rooms which at one point were used for everything from workshops to kitchens to slaughterhouses. The casemates were self-sufficient and people could survive within them for weeks and even months. The casemates were not only used for protection but counter-attacks could be launched from the small 'windows' of the forts too. Some of the rooms housed cannons which would be manned by over 150 soldiers and could fire the artillery over 400 meters - but could only be used once an hour so that the barrel could cool off.
The casemates have been used more recently too - during WWII, 35,000 locals hid in the tunnels prior to the air raids. They even built toilets in the casemates, however there was no plumbing so written on the 'stalls' was a reminder written in German stating "don't forget the sand" to cover up your toilet business.
Even now, the casemates are being used. Since the walls are so impenetrable, a bank uses some of the rooms as a safe and the electric company uses some for power transformers.
My mom didn't really love the casemate tour but it was similar enough to a cave that Julie and I loved it! After the tour, we continued walking along the self-guided walking tour. We found a really peaceful square where we relaxed for a bit and enjoyed the macaroons that Julie had bought earlier. After our break, we walked along Corniche, known as "the most beautiful balcony in Europe". The title might be accurate! It offered gorgeous views of the valley, river, and buildings below. It was absolutely breath-taking, almost worthy of a visit to Luxembourg in itself.
After strolling along the walk, we returned back to the Place d'Armes for a bit of lunch. Julie and my mom shared a really good fruit salad while I had a tuna sandwich. I sat on the steps of a small gazebo and watched a band perform for the lunchtime visitors of the square. They played jazz and were really good. One of the musicians played all sorts of children's toys and kitchen utensils. He would use a wooden spoon to beat on a frying pan during one song and then use a plastic pineapple filled with some sort of rice to provide the rhythm for another song. It was really a cool environment and mellow music.
Since we still had over 3 hours of driving ahead of us for the day, we decided to get the car and head south. But before we did, I was able to convince my mom and Julie that we should stop at the American Cemetery, which was just 5 minutes outside of town.
This was the first time I had been to an American Cemetery in Europe...and as strange as this sounds, it was awesome! It was a beautiful green among lush forest, filled with endless rows of perfectly placed and immaculately clean white crosses and Stars of David. While it seemed like an infinite amount of graves, it was 'only' 5000. Buried amongst his soldiers was George Patton.
The 50.5 acres of land had 2 huge maps which showed the landing of D-day and subsequent advance through France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, a prayer chapel, and memorials to the unknown soldiers. As we got back in the car, I asked my mom and Julie for an adjective and the three we came up with were "proud, sad, and awesome" - "proud" because our country had come to a foreign land to free others; "sad" because so many young men had died; and "awesome" because just the sight of the endless 'faceless' graves showed just how big this war was. It was something to see and I'm glad I was able to convince my mom and Julie to stop for a visit - although I was the driver so they really had no choice =) But still, I think they were happy we stopped.
Two interesting things...I was happy to see that the city offers public bus service to the cemetery. It's nice to know that the city does all it can to encourage and lessen the burden of visiting this important site. I also thought it was interesting that the cemetery offers 'clean' stones for those wanting to place stones on the graves of Jewish soldiers since 'dirty' ones were marking up the graves and the 'clean' ones the cemetery provided would not. I thought this was cool because it allowed those Jews who wished to carry out their tradition to continue to do so while keeping the cemetery pristine.
So after a 7-hour visit to Luxembourg (which incidentally is about all you need in order to feel like you saw the city), we got in the car and continued south. This was when I realized just how small the country was. Within about 15 minutes, we went from the northern boarder to the southern. Luxembourg was really nice though!
But just before entering France, we pulled into a highway gas station. This was the busiest gas station I had ever seen. There were about 25 gas pumps and each had a line about 15 cars deep. I later learned that Luxembourg has the cheapest gas in northern Europe so everyone fills up before leaving the country.
We were now ready to enter France. But before we could do so, we were stopped at the boarder. This was the first time we had been stopped crossing boarders. Now that Western Europe has created the European Union, the boarders are seamless. All boarder patrol stations have been removed but for some reason, there was still one crossing from Luxembourg into France. We didn't really have to stop, more like slow down, but I still thought it was strange.
But we made it into France and drove for hours, through the rolling hills. My mom dozed off in the backseat and we eventually made it to Strasbourg, the beginning of the Alsace region. We had decided that we would be staying in Eguisheim, a small town about 3 miles outside of the 2nd largest city of the Alsace, Colmar. So we continued south along a small highway until we got to Colmar.
But once we got to Colmar, there was construction which had us a bit turned around. We continued to follow signs to towns that we had never heard of, not really knowing if we were going the right way or not. But I used The Force and finally, we saw a sign reading 'Eguisheim'. So we followed it and came to another closed road.
Apparently, Eguisheim would be hosting some sort of festival so the main road through town was closed. We drove around in circles for about 30 minutes trying to find the hotel. We even pulled to the side of the road and my mom went inside to ask for directions. But the directions didn't help much either. So we left town and tried again. We were all getting very frustrated, especially since the town only had about 5 streets. But finally, we found it. So we ditched the car and checked in.
The hotel (Auberge du Rempart, EUR 99 per night) was clean and spacious. It appeared to have been remodeled recently with modern bathrooms. I think my mom was thrilled - especially when she looked back onto the apartment we stayed at in Prague. The room had a big bedroom and a second bedroom with 3 small beds - ideal for little children...or a mother. The bathroom was a nice sight to see as well.
We dropped our bags in the room and went downstairs for dinner. We ate in the hotel's courtyard, which had a really pretty fountain. We started with tarte flambé, a pizza-like crust covered with cheese and onions (and ham for those non-kosher folk) and cooked in a wood-burning fireplace. It is a regional delicacy that we would see all over. It was good! For dinner, I had fish with rattatoie (spelling?) and sauerkraut, another delicacy of the region. Julie had steak and my mom had chicken with noodles.
Since the Alsace has bounced between French-rule and German-rule, there are tons of German influences on the region - like the half-timber houses and sauerkraut on the dinner table. The region has switched between the 2 countries because, as Sir Rick Steves points out, the Germans think the natural barrier are the Vosges Mountains while the French think it is the Rhine River.
Anyways, after dinner, Julie and my mom went upstairs and I walked around town for 10 minutes. I walked a block into the center of town to see the huge crowd that had amassed for the wine festival. It was crazy. It was like the whole town was there. There were old people. There were young people. There were teenagers. It was nuts. The square was packed with picnic tables, all of which were filled shoulder-to-shoulder with townspeople.
There was a table filled with local teens who all looked much too young to be drinking but then I remembered I was in Europe and people don't really care about young people drinking here. They even served pretzels - yum! There was a truck that had one of the sides open, revealing a stage complete with a pianist and drummer and colored strobe lights. There were a few couples dancing too. It was quite the scene. But after a long day of driving, Julie didn't want to hang so I went back to the hotel and called it a night.
SATURDAY
We woke up after a nice night sleep and went downstairs for breakfast. We had the typical breakfast buffet but also really good hot chocolate. We next stopped into the tourist office to get some info about the region and then got the car. As we left town, I was shocked to see that the hotel was just beyond where the road was closed the day before. That was very frustrating, since had the road closure been 2 buildings farther into town, we would've found the hotel right away and saved 30 minutes of driving in circles.
We drove about 10 minutes to Colmar. We dropped the car in a parking lot and walked through a park, where we saw a bride posing for pics. She was very pretty...but she was dragging her white wedding gown through dirt. It was weird. But we went into town from there.
It was a nice town but we were immediately glad that we had decided not to stay in a 'city' of 70,000 people but instead in the village of Eguisheim, which had a population of maybe 2,000. Colmar is a very nice town but it's not the same. But Colmar was big enough to have a pharmacy, which Eguisheim wasn't, so we stopped to get my mom some cold medicine which she desperately needed.
We stopped into tourist info and got - you guessed it - a self-guided walking tour. Just as we left the office, it began to rain. My mom started to freak out a bit as she had spent hours working on her hair in the morning. I tried to get her to push through it but she didn't want to. I convinced her to walk quickly to the shop where we bought a couple umbrellas. Just as we walked out of the shop - you guessed it again - it stopped raining.
We went to the only tourist attraction of Colmar, the Musee d'Unterlinden. The museum is in a 13th-century Dominican convent, filled with Christian art. Julie and I rented audio tours and LOVED the museum. This just goes to show the power of a good audio tour since neither of us have any real interest in Christian art. The guide pointed out tons of the nuances of the art. It was really very interesting. My mom didn't really enjoy the museum (an understatement) though. The highlight of the museum was the Isenheiner Alter, a huge altarpiece created by Mathias Grunewald between 1512 and 1516. It is a actually a series of 3 different paintings that can be revealed layer by layer by opening the alter like windows. It was really awesome.
Besides the main centerpiece, the museum had a few other cool pieces. Something I found interesting was that Judas was depicted throughout the museum as a man with a big nose, a feature that has historically been reserved for Jews. Maybe I'm reading into this too much but can we connect hatred towards Judas to hatred towards Jews? Maybe that's too much? But anti-Semitism has been around for quiet some time so who knows.
Also, there were a few pics with demons on them which looked awfully similar to the characters from 'Where the Wild Things Are'. I thought that was cool.
Since my mom had left the museum about 45 minutes earlier, not really finding the museum interesting, Julie and I found her and began looking for lunch. Ironically, it was beautiful weather out now and our umbrella investment would not pay dividends...but that's a good thing!
We walked around town for a bit. We looked at some really cool-looking buildings and even saw a woman breast-feeding right there at the lunch table, not even attempting to cover up. It was awesome!
We found a sandwich shop where we picked up a few things and found a bench. I had a really good fish sandwich. We sat right by some weird motorcycle tricycle thing. Everyone who passed by it stopped to look at the motorcycle. It was very weird.
We walked around town for a bit more, grabbed a crepe (yum), and did a tiny bit of shopping. One of the funniest things happened when we were buying a postcard. Julie went to pay and started counting the number of cards she was buying. The cashier was a bit psycho and grabbed them out of her hand and began counting them herself while freaking out. Julie and I both just looked at each other and laughed. It was weird, like Julie was counting them wrong. Very bizarre!
But from there, we got the car and head back onto the Wine Route, a 170 KM long country road that connects all of the small villages that are world renown for their wine production.
As we drove along the Wine Route, we were surrounded by perfectly placed endless rows of vineyards. We drove for about 30 minutes to Kaysersberg. Along the way, we passed through a downpour which lasted only a few minutes. The weird thing is the rain occurred exactly where the 'rain warning' sign was. As if it was expected.
Anyways, we made it to Kaysersberg and dropped off the car. Beside the parking lot was a statue of the town's most famous son, Albert Schweitzer. This was another really cute town, full of half-timbered homes. As we walked through town, we stopped into the Sainte-Croix church where there happened to be a wedding being held. It was really cool and very pretty - I wonder if this was the same bride we saw dragging her dress through the dirt in the park in Colmar?!?!
Just above town are castle ruins. We decided to take the short 5-minute walk uphill through some vineyards to the ruins. Julie and I climbed the 113 steps up the ruins while my mom decided to wait for us on a bench since she is still a bit sore from our walk up the church tower in Prague 3 weeks earlier. The view from atop the castle ruins was amazing. Below was the town and in the distance, endless vineyards and towns equally as quaint as the one we were currently in.
We walked around town a bit more before deciding to get the car and setting out to find a vineyard where we could sample some local wine. We were hoping to find a perfect setting overlooking the scenery like we did a month earlier in Italy but I don't think something like that existed. Oh well, we still found a nice place (Cave Vinicole de Kientzheim) where we tried a few glasses of white wine. We decided to buy a bottle of Tokay, something I'd never heard of but thought was good, for EUR 5. Incidentally, I asked the lady serving us if I could have one of the glasses that had the name of the place on it - she told me no. I wanted to steal one badly but chose not to.
From Kaysersberg we headed back towards Eguisheim but decided to stop in the neighboring town of Wettolsheim for their wine festival first. The wine festival that had been in Eguisheim the night we arrived was now in Wettolsheim. And the following night, it would be in another town. The wine festival moves throughout the Wine Route all summer long.
So we parked the car and walked around town, looking for something nice for dinner. The whole town was empty but they seemed to be setting up for something big. There were no restaurants - the town appeared to be smaller than Eguisheim. Finally we found a restaurant (Le Hagueneck) that was open. It wasn't good at all and the only thing on the menu I could eat was pizza. Julie and my mom both got chicken in cream sauce. They didn't like their meals either.
After dinner we walked out into town and took in the scene. We bought a couple souvenir shot glasses, which would be filled with wine throughout the night. We walked around town and noticed that practically everyone in town was eating tarte flambé. It was a similar scene to the previous night however in Eguisheim all the tables were set up in one plaza while in Wettolsheim, tables were set up mostly in the main square but also throughout town. We also noticed that there was tons of security for some reason. It was as if the President would be attending or something.
The wine was really good but we decided we would grab a seat and listen to one of the bands. We grabbed a seat next to some people who were talking. We soon learned that while it appeared that they were long-lost friends, the couple didn't know the other man. The third-wheel was a Dutch man named Rudy. The couple were from Bruges Belgium. Rudy liked to talk a lot. He talked to us for a long time. He told us all about himself - he used to work for a company in Canton Ohio called Timpkin. He talked about Timpkin as if it was McDonalds, wondering how it was possible that I hadn't heard of it. Strangely, we found out later on that my Aunt, who is from Ohio, has heard of Timpkin and even knows many people who have worked there. The sad ending to this story is that Timpkin has recently left Ohio and laid-off thousands of people as a result. Pretty sad.
As we sat and listened to Rudy jibber-jabber, I noticed that Julie was being asked to dance by a man in his 50s. She politely declined but I would've loved to see her strut her stuff to German umpah music with this old man. The visual alone is making me laugh!
We had enjoyed our night and decided to head home. On our way to the car we passed something worth noting - it was one of those carnival machines that have a joystick that allows you to direct a claw which hovers above toys which you try to grab with the claw. This machine was filled with pink 'stuffed animals' that were supposed to be penises. The strange thing is, similar to the night before, there were people of all ages including young kids. Maybe it's not appropriate to have a toy machine filled with penises when there are kids around but that is not so in Europe.
Anyways, we left while there was a huge line of people waiting to get in for the festival. We're so old! As we were getting in the car, we noticed some teenagers trying to scheme a way of getting into town without having to pay the entrance fee. They decided to hop the fence. I thought this was a funny ending to our night.
SUNDAY
We began the day with a 50-minute stroll through the vineyards of Eguisheim. The village, as well as every village in the region, is surrounded by 7 varieties of grapes. The Alsace produces world-famous white wine. So we walked along the vineyards and enjoyed the beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery of the endless vines and picturesque towns. While walking, I couldn't help but connect in my mind the perfectly symmetrical rows of grapes to the orderly layout of the graves we had seen just a few days earlier in Luxembourg.
We passed many signs that describe the wine-making process. Since they were in French, we had difficulty figuring out what they said but my mom searched back to her high school French classes and did all she could - which wasn't much =) My mom also told us about these vineyards in comparison to those in Napa Valley. Despite growing up in California, I have never been to Napa. She said the vineyards are similar and Napa also allows you to walk through the vines but she expressed her surprise when she couldn't find the irrigation lines. The grapes in Napa are watered but as we learned later in the day, the Alsace grapes are not watered but grow completely naturally. Apparently, the climate is ideal for grape-growing and in fact, the wine-producing guild that monitors the wine of the region doesn't even allow the growers to self-irrigate so even if they wanted to, the growers aren't allowed.
Following our walk, we visited a stork nursery. The storks, indigenous to the region, had virtually disappeared. Recently, they were bred and released into the wild and the population is now back where it was. Since the signs were also in French, I'm not sure why they died down or why they are back but it is pretty cool. The birds have returned and one of the 1000-pound nests could be seen atop the town's church. You could see the nest and if you look closely, you could see the skinny birds holding human babies in their beaks.
We next got in the car and headed to Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg, a 12th-century castle with grand views of the Alsace, Germany across the Rhine River, and the Vogses Mountains. The castle was furnished so I think it was a bit more interesting than the Prague Castle we had seen a few weeks earlier. It was a very nice visit but we were ready to head back to Eguisheim and sample some more wines.
We visited a cave in town but we were not in town at the right time of the year to really get to see anything on a tour in terms of the wine-making process. We did go into one of the caves but it was really just a big room, almost like a barn, with huge wooden kegs filled with wine. We sat for a bit and sampled some wine before moving on to another wine-makers shop.
Our favorite winemaking place of the weekend was run by a 24-year-old man - unfortunately I don't remember his name. His English was very good and he spent a lot of time explaining the wine-making process and the history of the region to us. Most interesting to us, he was the 12th-generation in his family that have been in the region making wine. His family dates back to 1610 as wine-makers. His brother moved away from home and is a scientist while he stayed to run the family business...it kinda reminded me of me and my bro. He was really interesting and seemed to really love the fact that he was continuing the family legacy. It was really interesting.
My mom decided to walk around town a bit and look in some of the local shops while Julie and I went back to the hotel to relax. We watched the final stage of the Tour d'France on French TV. It was kinda cool watching Lance Armstrong dominate the race while in France. As an American, I was pretty proud of Lance. I would later find out that while Lance's achievements are impressive in the US, in Europe he is viewed in a lesser light. Apparently, Lance races 1 race a year while his competitors race all yearlong. So while his competition is tied from a year of races, Lance is able to show his stuff as a fresh athlete in his 1 race a year. It would be similar to having Shaq sit all year preparing for the NBA Championship series. You would expect that he would dominate and would be embarrassed for him if otherwise. This should not take away from what Lance has done but I guess I am a bit less impressed. It is also interesting that while the US media really pushes Lance as a hero, they have never mentioned this before.
After our rest, we walked around town for a bit before finding a nice restaurant to celebrate our last night in town. We went to a really nice restaurant (Le Pavillon Gourmand) where we sat outside enjoying the nice evening weather. I started with a salad and Julie and my mom both started with foie gras (liver). We also shared an onion tart. Next, I had pike perch flambé with Riesling wine while my mom had roasted duck and Julie had chicken in Riesling wine. Dinner ended with ice cream for me, crème brulee for Julie and apple tart tatin for mom. What a perfect way to end the day.
MONDAY
Our hotel's restaurant was closed so we had breakfast at a neighboring hotel. My mom was shocked to learn that a hotel would close while there were potential customers. We explained to my mom that unlike in the US where 'the customer is always right', people balance their work life with their personal life. While this sometimes equals poor service, it is also somewhat refreshing and Julie and I have begun to really like the way of life. So while there was money to be made by keeping the hotel kitchen open, the hotel has decided that Mondays are closed no matter whether it is tourist season or not.
After breakfast, we got in the car and headed back to A'dam. We had decided that we would split up the 7-hour drive by stopping for a few hours in Trier Germany (340 KMs away), which was about midway. As we moved through the Alsace, we noticed tons of wooden statues of Jesus on the crucifix standing over the vineyards. We thought that was odd and don't know exactly why this is...was this like a scarecrow but instead of scaring birds, he was there to scare off the devil?!?!?
We also passed a restaurant called Buffalo Bills. Julie and I wondered aloud what Buffalo Bills was. It looked like a fast food joint. Do you think they had bbq beef sandwiches? Or ribs? Or would it just be the usual German food? We never went inside to find out. Oh well.
But as we made our way towards A'dam, we knew we had crossed into Germany when suddenly, Dido was on virtually every radio station. Damn German radio! My mom thought it was interesting that you could just cross over boarders like driving through states. I guess it is pretty cool. The only way to know that you are now in another country is 1 moment the street signs and billboards are in French and suddenly, it's all in German.
En route to Trier, the highway we needed was closed so we had to detour about 30 minutes through small towns and along normal streets until we were able to pick up the highway again. While driving on the streets along the border, I wondered if you are on a public bus, do they just stop and let you walk across the boarder to the new country's public transportation system or do the 2 neighboring districts work and fund the system together. Hmmmmmm?
We made it to Trier and were immediately shocked by how huge the city was. I was expecting a small town. We parked the car and were soon pleased. While the town is huge, the old city center is very small and intimate. I suppose it is like all European cities - A'dam for instance is a lot bigger than what the tourists see.
Trier is Germany's oldest city and a former Roman stronghold. We began our visit by walking through the Porta Negra, the only surviving Roman gate of the six that was a part of the city wall. The Porta Negra gate is very impressive looking and while it is made of red sandstone, time has turned it dark and thus the name 'negra'.
We walked along the main pedestrian street, following Rick Steve's walking guide and taking in the beautiful sites and commotion of the busy shoppers. As we walked to the main square, we stopped at the old Jewish quarter.
The quarter is very inconspicuous - if we weren't looking for it, we would never have found it. At the beginning of the main street of the neighborhood was a sign that told about the history of the Jews in Trier. The Jews arrived in 1066 and occupied 60 houses. They lived in town until they were expelled in 1418. It was very interesting.
From there we made our way to the main square, Hauptmarkt. It is filled with fruit stands, colorful buildings, fountains, and above all, people relaxing. The buildings were gorgeous and the square had a real buzz. But the biggest buzz was the rumble in our bellies and luckily, Trier has a Subway. Needing a bit of home and craving a sub sandwich, we ran to Subway and got in line. Julie was psyched!
After lunch, we went to the Dom (cathedral), Germany's oldest church. There was an interesting battle that occurred between the church and the townhall, with each one building its building higher and higher trying to outdo the other. The church is huge but the interior is nothing too special. But there is the 'Holy Robe', which they claim is Jesus' robe which was brought to the church by St. Helena from her pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They also have the 'Holy Nail' which they claim was a nail from the crucifixion. I don't know about all of this. Is this really the nail from the crucifixion? So weird. But religion is a very powerful thing and people believe.
After the church, we walked around town a bit more. We found a working temple but unfortunately it was not open. While we were walking around the building, we saw a few people come out of the temple. We asked them if they would let us inside as my mom was really interested in seeing a temple in Germany. Going back to the lack of service in Europe, they told us to come back in a few days. We told them that we wouldn't be in town in a few days but they didn't budge. Oh well. But while we were not able to go into the temple, I know my mom was happy to see that there was a Jewish community back in Germany...a sentiment that I had felt the 1st time I saw a working temple in Germany.
As we continued walking around town, we stumbled upon Karl Marx's house. While deciding whether we should go in or not, a busload of Japanese tourists swarmed and went nuts with their cameras. As interesting as the house would've been, it paled in comparison to the comical sight of all these Japanese taking pics of the house and of each other in front of the house. It was very funny!
Following the Marx house, we walked around town a bit more and did a tiny bit of shopping. It was now time to get back in the car and finish up the ride. We drove another 425 KMs back to A'dam with a brief stop at a McD's for dinner. This was my mom's 1st Big Mac in the probably the last 20 years but after a month in Europe, this was a good way to ease her back into her life in the good ol' U. S. of A.
But after 1,729 KMs in 4 days - 708 KMs of which were driven that day - we were back in A'dam. But probably the coolest part of this trip can be shown in this last day - we had breakfast in France, lunch in Germany, and dinner in the Netherlands. Wow, that's cool!
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Well, now we're only missing Athens, Italy, and Munich. Getting there.
Speak with ya soon.
-Stephen
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