For this week’s Monochrome Madness, I’m showing a few images from Strasbourg: its historic city centre, including the area near and in the Cathedral, and a few odds and ends such as a weather vane, a single lonely wolf (?) on a riverside brick wall, and a few of the many bikes there.
In my head, I’m still on holiday. In my head, I’m processing all the new sights and experiences of the last few weeks. Among those sights was the Vosgienne. A smallish cow, black and white with a pronounced white stripe along its backbone, it has short delicate horns. And you’ll find it – of course – in the Vosges mountains. Locals value its creamy milk in cheese production, particularly of bold-flavoured Munster cheese.
My header image is of one we saw on our trip to the Transhumance celebrations. I bet she was glad to get rid of that weighty cowbell. She’d have had one on her mountain pastures too, but it would have looked more like this one here:
It’s our last day in Alsace. Alas. Tomorrow we leave, returning home via friends of Malcolm in northern Germany. We had a day of lakeside walks at le Lac Vert, a hearty meal at a mountain auberge, more walking on bucolic mountain paths, and a final wander round Munster, where we walked into the Catholic parish church and found a wonder of a modern clock,’l’Horloge de la Création’, with no fewer than four faces. A satisfactory last day. If any last day can be satisfactory.
The bonus card for today is a short video of contented cows, their bells tunefully chiming as they grazed. Sadly, they’re not the native black and white cows of the Vosges. But you can’t have everything.
We aimed high today and went in quest of castles, all visible from the valley below, as they are all top-of-the-landscape and visible for miles. Alsace is littered with them. Our first was Hohlansbourg, a mighty curtain of a fortress. We could have walked from there to the next three, but it would have taken a long time. Those next three, all from the 11th and 12th centuries are built in a line and are only steps apart. Quite ruined, nobody calls them anything but ‘les trois châteaux’. The picture postcard shows the pleasant walks up to them from – not the valley floor – but the car parks, still some distance away.
You’ve seen a town or two in Alsace already, but here’s another, Eguisheim. What fascinated us here were hugely wide front doors, all up several steps. What was that about? No horse-drawn delivery cart could make use of them. Also – we saw two storks wheeling above our heads. The Alsatians love their storks, and encourage them to build nests on their houses to bring good luck. Normally they leave in August. Increasingly warm winters are persuading them to give Africa a miss, and stay.
Finally, a curiosity – to us. On our way home we called in at the shop run by the local high school. It specialises in agriculture, for pupils looking for that sort of career. Every département has one. The shop stocks the produce not only of this school, but many other agricutural lycées: note the wine! As well as other local produce. A good end to a varied sort of day.
A day of contrasts: this morning, a not entirely successful walk in which we quite comprehensively failed to find the path for the latter part of our morning. Never mind. The woodland was atmospheric, the autumnal views across the Vosges just starting to become a spectacular blaze of colour.
Then later, a visit to an unusual church in Colmar, St. Matthias. It was completed in the 15th century by the Franciscans, but in 1715, the church was divided in half … to serve the Catholic community at one end, the Protestants at the other…
In this case, the Catholic end of the church has become a concert hall. And we have just experienced a powerful performance of Haydn’s Creation there. The choir who performed, Passion Bach 25, recruits area-wide, and draws members from both Alsace and Germany. The accompanying orchestra was German, and the choir will perform this work in Germany as well as here in Alsace. We were so lucky to be there.
I couldn’t decide whether to post high-rise dwellings for those working-from-home, 1580s style (as tanners, so not popular with the neighbours: it’s a smelly job) … climbing up to the top floor looks a little taxing …
…. or the staircase from the very wonderful Unterdenlinden Museum, once a convent, now an art gallery right up there as One of the Best (a post one day soon?)…..
… or a very earnest, if tiny little figure, spotted on a confessional in St. Martin’s Cathedral …
So much else qualifies too, but three postcards is quite enough, I think.
Technology is still defeating me, so I’ll send you uncommented-on shots from our marvellous day in Strasbourg.
And there you have it. A header showing the cathedral. Details (old) of Strasbourg; details (new) of Strasbourg; the bikes of Strasbourg; streets of Strasbourg.
My computer and I have had enough together now. Before I throw it out of the window, I’ll press ‘publish’.
Technology strikes, so just one photo today of my wonderful day walking the area of the peak known as le Petit Ballon, while Malcolm enjoyed a day’s cycling.
A charming little town just up the road from us. It’s one of the most significant wine villages in Alsace, though not so much on a Monday when almost everything was closed. Fun to explore though.
This little town has many delights. But have a care! It also has La Tour des Fripons. It was one of the two towers protecting the entrance to the town. But it did double duty as a prison. Hence the name. A ‘fripon‘ is a ‘knave‘.
Our real objective for today was the Memorial Museum at Linge. Here was somewhere that brought to life one of the many horrifying periods of WWI, in this case high in the Vosges mountains. It’s a tale that needs telling, but not tonight. Expect a post sometime after our return home.
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
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