This morning was chilly, but without rain. Breakfast was some orange juice and
pastries from the Monoprix near our hotel. We then wandered around the canal area of
Colmar for a few hours while I took some pictures in the morning sun. Around 11 am,
we got in the Saxo and headed north toward Strasbourg and its famous cathedral. Our
first stop, however, was at a self-service car wash. This would be our last full day
with the trusty Saxo. The next day we would drive back to Paris and return the car.
Unlike most car washes in the US, there was no warning beep just before the time
expired. Also unlike the US, however, there was no inflated minimum amount required
to activate the system, so the warning was not really necessary. The vacuum cleaner
was so weak that it might have worked in the low gravity of Mars. On earth, it was
useless.
Our early-afternoon objective was the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg, the
second largest castle in Alsace.
Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg
Crowning a prominent crest in the rugged foothills of the Vosges Mountains,
the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg is visible from much of the Alsatian
Wine Road. Many visitors to this corner of France no doubt wonder about this
impressive-looking and dramatically-situated landmark, and a significant
number make the trek up the mountain to investigate. The castle is one of
the most popular tourist sites in Alsace.
We approached the château through the small quintessential Alsatian town
of St-Hippolyte. This walled town, located on the River Doubs, offers scenic
views of the castle with the river and nearby farmland in the foreground. After
stopping for some pictures, we followed a winding road into the Vosges Mountains.
Occasionally, we glimpsed our destination through breaks in the stands of
fir trees.
Near the top of the hill, the switchbacks were lined with parked cars. We left
the Saxo along the road and followed the crowd. The path to the castle was steep,
but not the price of admission, which was 7 Euros apiece.
The nucleus of this classic fortress-like castle dates from at least the
early 12th century. By the end of the 15th century,
the castle was in the possession of the Hapsburg Empire, and during this
period it was structurally enhanced to withstand recent technological
advancements in European warfare. The castle was severely damaged when
Swedish troops ravaged much of Alsace during the Thirty Years War, another
European religious conflict, and was a total ruin by the beginning of the
20th century.
Extensive restoration occurred in the years before the First World War but
the results were controversial. Although some attention was given to historic
and archeological detail, the dominant influence was the imagination of the
man that supervised the reconstruction project. Historians and architects have
been highly critical of his obsession with recreating an idealized and
romanticized medieval castle rather than an accurate representation of the
original structure. The modern day Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg may
not be authentic, but it is picturesque.
The castle grounds consist of several nested terraces, increasing in height,
and decreasing in area, toward the west. Massive exterior walls of pink
sandstone, in places more than 25 ft thick, converge at semi-circular
artillery turrets. The sandstone walls are perforated by numerous small
windows, many shuttered with thick wooden panels, and archery slits at
regular intervals.
The self-guided tour begins at the eastern, lowermost end of the castle,
and visitors work their way upward and westward toward an artillery bastion
at the highest point of the complex. Along the way they pass through
rooms filled with exhibits of period weapons and furniture. The interior
portions of the castle are cold. The thick stone walls keep out the
warmth of the sun as well as invading armies. Many of the windows are
decorated with stained glass and portions of the ceilings with frescoes.
Defensive features are ubiquitous. Drawbridges, artillery platforms and
tightly spiraled staircases, which are easier to defend, are featured
throughout the complex. The Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg is really
a palace built within a fortified castle.
Defensive locations typically offer commanding views, and Haut-Kœnigsbourg
is no exception. The castle grounds overlook the Plain of Alsace, and in
the distance, the Rhine and the dark hills of Germany's Black Forest are
discernible.
Along with most of Alsace the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg passed
back and forth between German and French sovereignty. The soil that it
sits upon has been French since the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles
at the end of the First World War. Most of the current inhabitants of Alsace
will tell you that they prefer it that way.
We left the castle just before 2:00 pm and headed toward Strasbourg. Along
the way, we encountered constant reminders that we were within a few miles
of the German border. German-language radio stations were more common than
French-language radio stations, and signs to German cities outnumbered those
to French cities.
Strasbourg
We entered Strasbourg about 2:30 pm and followed the signs and occasional glimpses
of the cathedral spire into the town center. The parking garage at Place Gutenberg
was Complet (full), so we tried the Austerlitz garage slightly further from
the cathedral. This was the same parking garage that we parked in the previous year.
This garage was also Complet, but I saw a woman putting shopping bags in her
car and assumed she was about ready to leave.
Just before she pulled out, however, she got out of her minivan, opened the hatch
back, and started searching through her bags for something. She continued this
process for nearly ten minutes. The fact that someone was obviously waiting for the
spot in a garage with a very limited number of available spaces was apparently of
no concern to her. Finally, the inconsiderate woman found what she was looking for
and we got the parking space.
This was not our first visit to Strasbourg. In the Spring of 2003, we spent two
nights at the Hôtel Suisse next to the cathedral. Strasbourg is like a large
Alsatian town embedded in the heart of a modern big city. An island (literally)
of ancient churches and colorful half-timbered houses is surrounded by modern
thoroughfares lined with department stores.
The area near the cathedral was just as we remembered, except that the panhandlers
seemed to be more numerous and more aggressive. The greatest disappointment of our
previous visit to this city was that the cathedral spire was being renovated and
was covered in scaffolding and netting. Unfortunately, this was also to be the
greatest disappointment of this visit. The spire looked exactly the same.
North of the Cathedral
I wanted to visit Place Kleber, a major square that we missed the previous year,
and Carolyn wanted to shop around the cathedral. So we agreed to meet near a
restaurant that we became fond of during our last visit to this city. As I left
the square in front of the cathedral, the wind was gusting and shop owners were
beginning to bring their souvenir racks inside to prevent them from blowing over.
I quickly found Place Kleber, but the views of the cathedral were uninteresting
because the spire, which was all that was visible, was obscured by the scaffolding.
In addition to Place Kleber, I also wandered around the nearby Place de Broglie,
which was the site of a very colorful flower market. Before meeting Carolyn,
I headed south to the Palace Rohan and got some pictures of the tour boats that
dock in front of the palace.
The Great Cathedral
Reuniting for lunch on pretzels and cokes, we then headed for the cathedral.
Although the touristy thing to do is to walk up the 332 stone steps to the
spire platform, we tried this the previous year only to discover that, due
to the ongoing renovation, visitors were not allowed onto the viewing balconies.
We had no reason to believe that this situation had improved, so we were not
motivated to climb these stairs again.
Easily the top attraction of Strasbourg, the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame
is a perfect example of a Gothic cathedral. To describe the interior as
cavernous is probably trite, but it is the only word that comes to mind.
Running the gauntlet of beggars in the cathedral square, we followed the
southern edge of the Grand Isle to the famous Petite France
neighborhood. We also revisited the Vauban Barrage, which is a bridge
that historically functioned as a dam allowing the outermost portions of the
old city to be flooded as a defensive mechanism.
"We Are Three Boston Terriers"
Earlier in the afternoon, as we drove into Strasbourg, we noticed a man with a
Boston Terrier. This was only the second Boston Terrier that we had ever spotted
in Europe. We once saw a woman walking a Boston in Frankfurt, Germany.
Returning to our car, we saw the man with the Boston again. I said hello and
told him that we have three Boston Terriers. At least that's what I meant to
say. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized that I unintentionally
said we "are" three Boston Terriers. I said "Nous sommes," rather than
"Nous avons." I quickly corrected myself and he seemed relieved to know
that I didn't actually believe that we were Boston Terriers.
Carolyn petted his dog (no language barrier there), while I showed him pictures
of our Bostons that were stored on my digital camera. As we were talking, his
girlfriend came out of a nearby bakery with an armful of bread and joined the
conversation. They were very friendly and interested to meet someone that had
Boston Terriers. They explained that the Terrier de Boston was very a
uncommon breed in Europe.
Their Boston had the energy of Panda and the face of Shelby. This happy and
affectionate little dog reminded us that we had something to look forward to
when our vacation was over.
Just before we reached the parking garage I spotted a camera store and bought
two batteries for my digital camera. At just under 30€ apiece, these were
about twice the typical US price. Back in the Saxo, we followed the signs for
the Autoroute and had no problem getting out of Strasbourg.
Back in Colmar, we decided to splurge once again and returned to the Indian
restaurant that we discovered the previous night. The next day, we would drive
through Lorraine and Champagne on our return to Paris.
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