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Last Updated: 03. Mai 2000
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France
The Alsace Region
Alsace Wine
Colmar
Mulhouse
Alsace Wine
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The best wine that we had in Europe was on our 21st Anniversary. Our first hotel In Kaiserslautern was the Stadthotel. The staff was friendly and helpful, even though our German language skills were very minimal. After a few days in a cramped one-room hotel, we started to look around for another alternative living arrangement - that was roomier. We settled on the Hotel Schulte. The restaurant at the Stadthotel always had wonderful aromas floating through the air. We splurged for a relaxing dinner at the Stadthotel for our anniversary. The staff was helpful - assuming that we knew very little German. The restaurant's owner came over to translate the menu but then she discovered that we did actually know some German - at least to order a meal. We spoke with the owner for a while about our special occasion. She recommended an Alsace Gerwurztraminer for our meal. It was perhaps the most wonderful meal and wine that we ever tasted. We will always remember it! Ever since, we have been trying to find the same wine. Perhaps we would find it in the Alsace region.
So, as we drove through the Alsace region, we planned to have another memorable dinner with an Alsace wine in order to celebrate my birthday. However, we were disappointed due to transportation difficulties. When we arrived in Geneva, our campground had a wonderful restaurant. In fact, the locals ate dinner at this restaurant, so, the restaurant had a reputation beyond the campground. We had "large shrimps" (actually prawns), as per our French waitress. It was delightful.
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Colmar
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One of the least memorable meals was at the Colmar campground. Not all campgrounds have excellent restaurants! However, for the midday meal, we had a pleasant meal in a local Colmar café.. We enjoyed tarte á l'oignon:
One of the things that we noted in Colmar was a schizophrenic effect because it cannot decide if it's a predominately a French region or a German region - actually it's an Alsace region which is a wonderful but hybrid mixture of both cultures. For over 1,000 years, either France or Germany has owned the Alsace region. Germany thinks that the Vosges Mountains are the natural border while the France thinks that the Rhine is the natural border. In reality, the regional boundaries are the Vosges Mountains on the west and by the Rhine on the east. Because of the historic character of the town, the American and British were careful to avoid bombing this town during the Second World War. So, today, we can appreciate the half-timbered old burghers' houses, characteristic red and green tiled roofs, and cobbled lanes.
Unterlinden Museum with it's impressive Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece was a must see on our list of tourist sights. I know, another museum, but what an impressive piece of art. It was one of the most powerful paintings ever produced. The resurrection scene is a common image from the 70's. It reminds me of the old hippie days.
Although Bartholdi was not a master artist in the league of Michelanglo, his museum was still important. Bartholdi was the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty. So, we saw many models of the Statue of Liberty in different scales and with slightly different stances. It was interesting to read about the construction and production process of this sculpture. After viewing the Bartholdi, we walked around town to find his other sculptures.
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Mulhouse
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Our main reason for going to Mulhouse was to visit the Museé de l'Automobile. - Schlumpf collection. This museum contains an extraordinary range of motor vehicles. Some of them are real works of art, with elegant bodywork and flowing lines, their wheels, hub-caps, controls and a myriad of other details beautifully finished in a variety of materials. There were many Peugeots and Citroëons as well as electric cars. The decorations, elegant lines and smallness of the Europeans autos are delightful to inspect. The autos may have an appearance of smallness but in reality these autos are roomy inside.
When we left the museum, Erika told me, "Mom, there are other types of museums besides art museums. This museum was a special museum for my dad and me." Well, I guess after visiting so many art museums, that put me in my place.
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Die Fotogalerie von der Frankreich
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