Wednesday 29 June 2016

Oom, pa, pa - very German influence

It's been a busy few days with a mix of travelling and things to see.

Sunday 26th June
A few photos from the car races at Spa - for the motor sport lovers.


Motor sport fans - just like Milly and Tipsy.


Sunset at Spa on the Saturday night. They had a race that ran from 7 till 10 and we went back to the track with a pizza for dinner. The sunset was at 9.30pm.

Before we left Spa on Sunday we went to the town of Stavelot where there was an exhibition of the Knights Templar that Rob was interested in visiting, and also the Spa Francorchamps museum. There was a brocante (antiques) market in the town and cars were parked for miles so we were lucky to find a park quite close to the abbey for the exhibition. We just did as the French do and squeezed into a space between 2 trees. As long as the guy behind us had room to get out it was all good. 

The abbey at Stavelot - where the Knights Templar exhibition was held and where the race museum is located.


We then headed for Thionville in France - a halfway stop on the way to Strasbourg. We had no real plan for the trip other than to stay off the main motorway and go via Clervaux for morning tea. We arrived in Clervaux to find a band playing in the main square and it was lovely to sit in the lukewarm sun and enjoy a coffee and cake.

A friend at Clervaux for morning tea. Cross between border collie a Nova Scotian retriever.
Then a group of bikies rolled in from Charleroi in Belgium and created a bit of a racket. It was Sunday which is a day we often find lots of motorbikes and push bikes on the road. They were in town for lunch but we just finished our coffee and moved on.


I plotted a route down the eastern side of Luxembourg. Larochette was our next stop which was just a dot on the map. This little village was down in a river valley and had an amazing castle above the village. They had a festival going on in the main square so we stopped and had BBQ pork chops for lunch - very nice, and tender, and listened to the one man band playing in the rotunda. Very close to the German border here so the music was very oom pa pa.

Lunch in the town of Larochette.

And the castle.....
The final stop on the way was back to the village of Rodemack where there was a medieval festival for the weekend. It was 4pm and we only wanted to get a few photos so we weren't too keen to pay the 10euro each to go in. We decided to move on but not until watching a bit of the 'greyhound racing - medieval style'. Well, maybe not medieval style, but a bit of fun for the dogs and their owners.

The greyhound races. 
So, for a day that started out as just a drive from A to B, we managed to find plenty to see and do. We are finding a lot of hidden gems along the road and these unplanned days can sometimes turn up some amazing surprises.

Monday 27th June

Mondays are sometimes a bit of a pain as a lot of things are closed. We were headed for Strasbourg and decided we had enough time to go via Bitche, which we had noted in a tourist brochure as one of the must see places in France. This village had a citadelle perched on the rock above the town and we stopped there for a tour. The citadelle originally dates back to the 12th century but its main claim to fame was it was impregnable and held out against the Prussians during the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. This was a very well done tour with good English commentary. As it led you through the rooms in the citadelle it retold the battle of the defence of Bitche.
The citadelle at Bitche - pronounced 'beetch', not 'bitchy'.


The citadelle is built into and on the rock - the tour took us up and down stairs and through many areas of the citadelle.
Lunchtime and the only place we could find to eat was the kebab place in Bitche. They were actually OK but we were hoping for a relais style meal. We attempted to visit the palace of Rohan in Saverne on the way to Strasbourg but it was suicide hour on the roads (between 4.30 and 5.30) and Dora wanted to take us into Centre Ville via the 'pedestrian' roads, so we passed on the palace and just drove on to Strasbourg. Again it was a struggle to find dinner. It seems pizza and kebabs are the fast food options in France.

Tuesday 28th June – Strasbourg

Our hotel was well located in terms of getting into the city. It was a short walk to the tram – and as we were at the end of the line we didn’t have to worry about getting off at the right stop. Again I am very impressed with the public transport in this city. They run on time, are not crowded and are frequent.

Our first visit was to the astrological clock in the Notre Dame Cathedral. At 12,00 they show a film telling the story of the clock. Unfortunately the English is not quite the same as the French so I think we missed a few bits. Pretty impressive clock though. The cathedral is also pretty impressive though the inside is not as beautiful as a lot we have seen.

The astrological clock.

Notre Dame Cathedral - Strasbourg.

A few photos from our tour around the city centre. 
Can't remember what this building was called but it had some spectacular wood carving.

Just love all the half wood buildings and houses in this part of France. We have so many photos it is hard to pick a favourite.




Lots of these type of 'business' signs hanging all through the streets of Strasbourg.

A view of  Notre Dame cathedral.

...and the beautiful rose window.



We had a bit of a wander around some if the old areas of town and came across a hidden square that was surrounded by bars and restaurants. We decided we would head back there for dinner. We did a river cruise but unfortunately it started to rain about halfway through so we missed out on a few photo opportunities.

The square where we had dinner. It was raining when we arrived here but  not cold, and they had large umbrellas so there was plenty of cover. We rocked up at the restaurant at 6.30 to be told that they don't open till 7, so we moved to the bar next door, had a drink, then moved back at 7.


Saturday 25 June 2016

It's not all beer and skittles

Saturday 25th June

Well, I’m sitting here warm and dry in our B&B and Rob is at the car races, hopefully at least staying dry. It’s been a quiet day for me, just reading, knitting and editing some photos on the computer.

We left the convent on Thursday morning and after breakfast at the bakery in Sarrebourg (2nd time), moved northwards towards Longwy via a couple of places marked touristy on the map. The map we were using used castle pictures to designate either military or fortification stuff and the first one turned out to be an American military cemetery. Moving right along. Next stop was a place that had a large bunker complex on the Maginot line in WWI. This would have been quite a good tour – underground about 6km of tunnels in a little train trip – but it was not open till 2.30 and it was only 11am. Skip that one too.

Fort du Hackenburg in the northeast corner of France

These bunkers were on top of the hill above the tunnels. They could see for miles out northeast towards Germany.

We found a lovely little church on the top of the hill where these bunkers are, with spectacular views. There was a guy here mowing the lawns and this was the trailer towed behind the ride-on mower. The seat on the trailer is for his dog.
Time to search for a relais for lunch – that didn’t work either and we found ourselves at the next chateau. Dang – not open till 2pm and it was 1.30 but we decided to wait. This chateau looked pretty impressive as we approached it but inside was a disappointment. They have completely renovated it and turned it into a museum but it has lost all it’s ‘medievalness’ and doesn’t feel real. So Thursday was not all beer and skittles.

Walking along the top of the chateau walls. 

There was an exhibition in the chateau of the Japanese Samurai and its history. It compared the training and purpose of the samurai and the Knights.

Pretty impressive to look at from the outside, but a disappointment on the inside. They could have done so much more with what they had to work with.
Time for Dora to take us to Longwy via fastest route and a village called Rodemack which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful villages in France. It was getting late in the day and we were hungry and there was a lot of activity in Rodemack as they were setting up for a medieval festival this weekend, so we didn’t stop to check it out. Maybe we’ll have a look on the way back south after the festivities. So fastest route to Longwy (France) was France, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Luxembourg , close enough to Belgium to spit, then France.

Rodemack is a fortified city and this is the main entrance on the downhill side of the village. Unfortunately we didn't get a photo of the castle.
Yesterday we travelled from Longwy in France to Francorchamps in Belgium – about 2.5k from the racetrack. Rather than travel straight up the main highway we detoured via a little town called Clervaux in Luxembourg where we spent the night of my birthday when we were here 2 years ago. When we were here in 2014 we just stopped at the hotel and ate dinner there, little knowing that there was a lovely village to be discovered only 1km further on. We stopped there for morning tea and just wandered around centre ville (and I bought some sock wool). It’s the type of village that we really love and it was lovely to sit in the sun and watch the passing parade as we had coffee.

It's been a while since we sat and had a real patisserie morning tea. The eclair has custard and cream and strawberries. The green coconut and chocolate ball is a snowball with a coffee centre - a local speciality.

The church in Clervaux - we didn't go inside but may detour here again on our way back south. Clervaux played a part in WWII as part of the Battle of the Bulge happened in and around the town. 

Just a beautiful looking hotel in the village of Clervaux.
From there we headed to the race track to suss out the spectating plan for today. I’m sure Rob will have found a good spot and found someone to talk to.




Deciding where to eat dinner can sometimes be an issue when we are trying to cut costs. We took a trip into the town/city of Spa last night to check out a few places but they were all a bit on the exxy side – there is a casino in the town and that probably forces the prices up. We headed back to the village of Stavelot where we had seen a place earlier in the day and had dinner there. It was a bit ‘fast foodish’ but was quite nice nonetheless. Seems that Belgium is the home of frites – every second food place is a friterie. 

Another interesting thing we saw in Sarrebourg was a fresh milk dispenser, like a drink machine. It has empty bottles inside it and you select your bottle, insert your money and get a bottle of fresh mild. We have also seen 24hr pizza dispensing machines, We haven't been up to them yet to see exactly how they work but I assume there is a fixed range of pizzas to select from and once selected they 'drop' into the oven and are cooked. Might get desperate enough to try it one night.

Wednesday 22 June 2016

29 - Are you serious!?!

Wednesday 22nd June

Yes - it did get to 29 today - when we saw the weather forecast yesterday we had jumpers on and it was trying to rain. 

Well it hasn’t been an uninteresting couple of days.

Our plan yesterday was just a drive to Sarrebourg, where we are staying in a convent, with a brief stop in Toul along the way. Of course, the main feature in Toul is the cathedral dating back to the 10th century, and which took 300 years to build – another in the flamboyant gothic style. The organ in the cathedral has 4800 pipes – Rob likes the organs. We did a short walk around the town as it drizzled but apart from a few renaissance style doors there wasn’t a lot to see. Parts of the old town walls are still to be seen and we tried to drive around and get a few photos, but the map was a little unclear – perhaps would have been better on foot.

The cathedral in Toul
I guess that is 4800 pipes we can see up there.

The centre of this town was really pretty - Toul was bombed to bits during WWII and it allowed them to widen the centre 'square' - done in the 1950s I think.
Part of the old walls of Toul and one of the city gates.

We have been in France 5 weeks now and were here for over 2 months last time, and have just found out about ‘blue’ parking areas. We have seen cars with ‘dials’ in their windows where they are parking in 1 ½ hr zones and have never been too sure what it all means. Found out today you can buy the dials (2euro) and you just put them in your window with the arrival time and you can park for 1 ½ hrs. We bought one and now are waiting for a chance to use it. How simple is that? And you can use them all over Europe.

We arrived in Sarrebourg and headed for the tourist information centre, which was just around the corner from the Laundromat. We found out that yesterday was the Fete de la Musique (World Music Day apparently) and all over France villages were celebrating with musical performances in the streets and it was all free. After the washing and checking in to the convent we headed back into town and enjoyed the musical performances. Lots of food and drink stalls so we enjoyed some bbq’d ribs sitting in one of the courtyards.

One of the bands we saw playing - the conductor of this band had them marching and prancing all up and down the streets. There were all ages in the band.

A shot of the crowd up the main street.
The convent – I think it has had a few improvements since its original tenants. We have our own bathroom at least but there are no blinds on the windows and at this time of the year with the sun setting at 10 and up again at 5, we had a lousy night’s sleep. No TV so books are the go. We have been out all day today so hopefully tired enough to get a good sleep.

First stop today was Le Plan Incline de Saint-Louis Arzviller. This is a ‘funicular’ for boats that replaces 17 locks in a 3.8km stretch of the Marne-Rhine Canal. Rob thinks this is the one he was actually aiming to see rather than the other group of locks we saw earlier in the trip. This ‘elevator’ takes the boats up/down 45 metres in one go rather than passing through all the old locks. Time saving for sure. We did a tour of the facility (nothing in English so a bit ho-hum – we are so close to the German border here and there was a busload of Germans on the boat so the tour was in French and German) and then got to go down the elevator in a tour boat, a short cruise down to the next lock, then back up the elevator.  Quite an interesting concept

Down they go


Just a few waiting for a lift.
From there we headed to another out of the way village called Dabo (where we had a lovely lunch at the local relais) and on to a church perched on a rock – 647m. Some great views over the Voges mountains. Lots of pine plantations to be seen close in but some great views beyond the mountains to see flatter countryside and little villages scattered everywhere.
The church on the rock at Dabo - a long walk up for a service.
We took a different route back to Sarrebourg and along the way found an old castle in ruins.
Looking from the castle down on the town of Lutzelbourg.




And finally back in Sarrebourg we visited the Chappelle des Cordeliers where there is a huge stained glass window by Marc Chagall – we saw his windows in Reims cathedral and last trip we saw where he was buried and a mosaic done by him.

This was the stained glass done by Marc Chagall - we had no idea it was here before arriving in the town.


This was a tapestry - based on the work of Marc Chagall.
A lovely Chinese meal for tea and now we are back in our convent and ready for bed. Tomorrow we head northwards towards Spa and more car stuff.