The Vosges mountains are a very popular biking destination — in summer. In winter, they're popular for other sports, involving the white fluffy stuff. We didn't know this corner of France at all, and since my bike is undergoing repairs, we took the car on a Tuesday afternoon, and arrived at around 22h in Colmar. We'd decided not to take risks and skirt the Vosges, something that we'd discover was a good idea the following days...
The 1st two days we had brilliantly sunny weather, so we combined visits to cute little towns with a few little hikes through in the mountains. We discovered quickly that couldn't even get close to the mountain passes we'd have had to pass should we not have detoured the mountains. The amount of snow was probably ridiculously little for some of you, but without experience, proper tyres and a set of chains in the trunk that we could manage to get on, we left the car twice to continue on foot. (Those chains are at least 20y old ... theoretically the right size for the stock C3 tyres, but just too small apparently - as if tyre shoulder geometry has changed since the chains were made.)
When the weather started to deteriorate, we visited the Haut Koenigsbourg, a medieval castle/stronghold that was restored by the last German emperor when the Alsace was in German hands. Not unlike the Pierrefonds castle I posted pictures of last year. Except that this one is built with the local stone, which has a distinguished "old pink" colour (which is used for almost everything in the region, including the cobble stones, which gives a very nice cachet to the place). Further cultural visits included the Hansi museum in Riquewihr, dedicated to Jean-Jacques Waltz (French) and his work, and to the
Unterlinden museum he was curator of, in Colmar.
To change a bit (including from the local cuisine which is hearty to say the least), we made a little jump to the German side, to Freiburg im Breisgau ... where we even got to sample some of the local carnaval customs (rather bleak compared to my old memories of carnaval in Maastricht!).
I took a number of shots from the car, I think it's evident we'll be back on 2x2 wheels when circumstances allow!
Photographic evidence
Todd, I want this one as a smiley!? :silly:
The 1st two days we had brilliantly sunny weather, so we combined visits to cute little towns with a few little hikes through in the mountains. We discovered quickly that couldn't even get close to the mountain passes we'd have had to pass should we not have detoured the mountains. The amount of snow was probably ridiculously little for some of you, but without experience, proper tyres and a set of chains in the trunk that we could manage to get on, we left the car twice to continue on foot. (Those chains are at least 20y old ... theoretically the right size for the stock C3 tyres, but just too small apparently - as if tyre shoulder geometry has changed since the chains were made.)
When the weather started to deteriorate, we visited the Haut Koenigsbourg, a medieval castle/stronghold that was restored by the last German emperor when the Alsace was in German hands. Not unlike the Pierrefonds castle I posted pictures of last year. Except that this one is built with the local stone, which has a distinguished "old pink" colour (which is used for almost everything in the region, including the cobble stones, which gives a very nice cachet to the place). Further cultural visits included the Hansi museum in Riquewihr, dedicated to Jean-Jacques Waltz (French) and his work, and to the
Unterlinden museum he was curator of, in Colmar.
To change a bit (including from the local cuisine which is hearty to say the least), we made a little jump to the German side, to Freiburg im Breisgau ... where we even got to sample some of the local carnaval customs (rather bleak compared to my old memories of carnaval in Maastricht!).
I took a number of shots from the car, I think it's evident we'll be back on 2x2 wheels when circumstances allow!
Photographic evidence
Todd, I want this one as a smiley!? :silly:
