Wednesday, July 30: Colmar, Alsace-Lorraine, France

Yesterday we woke to a light steady rain. We filled with fresh water and drove ¼ mile away to an Aire where we could dump both our black and gray tanks and then stopped yet another Wal-Mart type store called E.LeClercs for a few groceries. We were going to continue on the wine trail south to Colmar, but the mist rain and fog in the foothills made us rethink that and we headed down the expressway directly to Colmar. 

The sculptor of the State of Liberty was born here in Colmar and they have this mini statue at the entrance of the city

 We got a campsite right on the canal in the city's marina where we stayed the rest of the day while it rained steadily all day. We enjoyed watching the duck-like birds cruise the canal and then we were treated to a playful river otter feeding.

This "New Jersey" camper showed up in the campground, but I never got to talk with the owner..

This morning, we decided to go into town regardless of the threatening weather to see the old section of the city. We walked about 1 mile into town and found the visitor center when it began to rain pretty hard. We decided to take a mini train ride around the city with English taped commentary. It was not very good – it did describe a few of the old buildings we passed, but gave no real history of the city and played a lot of music.

Our lunch cafe

We walked back to a couple of the buildings to get some photos and stopped for lunch at a river-side cafe in the section called Petite Venice. It didn't look anything like Venice, but it was pretty with colorful half-timbered homes along the canal and bridges festooned with flowers.

Brussels presented this mini Mannekin Pis to Colmar as a friendship gesture

Now this is a great stylized water tower!

We spent most of the day ambling about the city (that's what you call it when you are lost most of the time due to the winding streets and inability to read 'you are here' maps.... We got back to the RV late afternoon for a nap and when we awoke, the dark heavy skies were getting higher, promising better weather tomorrow when will cross the river back into Germany to explore the Black Forest.

Monday, July 28: Ribeauville, Alsace-Lorraine

Woke to threatening skies, but it is not supposed to rain until this afternoon, so we decided to stay on at this campground an extra day so we could tour the village and spend the afternoon doing laundry and internet.

Loved this village - here are lots of photos!

Stork nest in the middle of town

Ancient well in town

An alley off the Rue Grand

Store window with real cat, fake bunny

They really like colorful homes

Closeup of the castle on the hill

Sunday, July 27: Alsace-Lorraine, France

We woke to clear blue skies and headed south to travel the Alsace wine route. We caught it in Molsheim, a few towns south of its beginning. This is wine country with villages close together nestled on the sides of the foothills of the Vosges Mountains.  

This archway was about 1/2 meter too short for us, so we parked outside and walked in.

Most of these medieval towns have changed little with arched entry gates, half-timbered buildings, the town wells and grape presses still standing along the narrow streets. We drove through many of these towns and stopped at one where the entry arch was too short for us to get through. We found a parking area outside the town and wandered around and visited the tourist office to get the wine route map.

Gate at other end of town

We continued through the little towns – Jack did a great job of maneuvering our too big RV through these towns that are not meant for large vehicles, and we stopped at a rest stop for lunch and a nap. We wanted to stop in a town that was having a large wine festival, but we could not find any parking anywhere close.

Note the castle ruins on the hilltop

Flowers in every town along the roads and bridges

They had vines trained across the streets in this village

Typical village surrounding the church in the foohills

Wine and Bear Country!

This one we fit through

The clouds began to roll in as they seem to do in the afternoons and we stopped about halfway through the wine route in a the town of Ribeauville. Internet for Jack, some reading for me and one game of Rummy before bed.

Saturday, July 26: Luxembourg to Germany to Alsace-Lorraine

Jack's online banking problems are back, so he is one unhappy camper (pun intended). We left the campground in Luxembourg close to noon and traveled southeast into Germany through Saarbrucken and along the Saar River. This is an old industrial city and one of the old abandoned steel mills was at least one mile long as we drove and drove the adjacent road and this building never seemed to end! According to the guidebook, it is even lit at night, like a tourist attraction...

We stopped to do a little grocery shopping since stores will be closed tomorrow, had lunch and took a nap. We continued south, back into France's Alsace-Lorraine region. 

We spent the night in the small city of Saverne, slightly northwest of Strasbourg. The place names here are mostly German, but the language in French. The region has switched hands between the two countries over many centuries and now it is a great mixture of the two – they love their wines and their sauerkraut!

From our parking lot campground, we could walk into the city with the hopes of finding a nice restaurant. We did see quite a few, but we were not really hungry yet and the shops in the cobble stoned pedestrian area were all closing up.  Jack wasn't feeling well, so we returned to the RV, made a nice dinner and early to bed.

So, I spent my birthday in three different countries...Luxembourg, Germany and France!