In search of .....

 Monday 19th May

Today started out a little bit unplanned. I googled and found a patchwork shop in the nearby village of Huguenau, so that was the destination for the start of the day. Turned out the shop was at the back of a ladies house. A very small range of fabric but for the first time I actually found some French fabric - and at a reasonable price. Just a couple of pieces to tuck in the suitcase. There were 3 ladies there doing a sewing group - only one doing patchwork, the other 2 sewing clothes. 

So, where to next. We decided it was coffee time so headed in to the centre of town. Hmm! Monday! Not much appeared to be open. We eventually spied some umbrellas and tables out the front of a coffee place, and a parking spot nearby. Parking done and we walked around the corner to actually find centre ville which was a real find, a real surprise. Another lovely village. Had coffee here, and a great lunch. I had a dish of grilled prawns with a sort of cheesy creamy risotto with spinach, leek and zucchini, and with a light gravy on the prawns. Delicious. We were actually reminded of the strange parking meters here - in some places they are free between 12 and 2 and if you put money in that spans those times, it adds on, so your parking finishes in to the next time period.

You're in France - why would you???

Dog of the day. It was a beautiful day
and lots of people out with their dogs.

Not sure what this building was but liked the paintings in the windows.

The church was undergoing major renovations so couldn't get much of a photo.

An interesting door.

This building was the Biblioteque museum. Beautiful building.

The rose window inside the Protestant Church in Haguenau.
The church was built around the 1870s by the Prussians
as they had control over the area and the army needed a church.

Albert Schweitzer came from the area near Haguenau.
He was a humanitarian and was known for his medical work
in Africa. He won the Nobel Peace Prize.

From there we drove over to the Rhine river (about 30k) to view the Pass a Poissons - the fish swimming up river. Not a lot of fish movement today but the season is just starting. We fell over the border again into Germany. Dora told us we had parked the car right on the border. The signage in passing from one country to the next is not very prominent - mostly the big sign telling you what the speed limits are in the country. 

One of the fish through the viewing window. 

The Rhine river - it is huge.
Not sure we can compare it to any in Australia.

Odette and Alice sitting on the border.

The arrow bottom centre is the car
and the dotted line in the middle is the border. 

As we have travelled around we have noticed a lot of town signs upside down. I figured there must be some meaning behind this so I looked it up. Yes, it is a protest by the farmers to raise visibility of the challenges they face with regulations and restrictions placed on them.