Alsace You Whether You Like It or Not

After a week back in the real world again, going to class, papers and projects, and cooking for myself, I took part in the CIEE organized trip to the Alsace region of France the following weekend.

Here’s a little background info on Alsace, as I knew nothing about the area before the trip. Alsace is a region in the east of France that borders Germany and Switzerland. Much like Belgium, the region has been under numerous jurisdictions in its existence and the as a result the modern population have ties with both Germany and France. It is one of the few areas you’ll see with town signs in both French and German.

For our trip we would be staying in Strasbourg, the largest city in the region and also one/third of the center of the EU (the other 2/3 being Brussels and Luxembourg). The trip also included visits to other Alsacian sites, Freiburg, the German capital of the Black forest region, and the town of Trier, the oldest European city north of the Alps.

Leaving Friday morning on our infamous CIEE double decker bus, we arrived in Strasbourg that afternoon. After a quick bus tour, we were also given a walking tour of the city. We started at the city’s dam before navigating its small cobble stone streets.

In the city center, the foundations of a majority of houses date back hundreds of years, with their dates of establishments carved in their wooden exterior. Walking through the streets of Strasbourg was the first moment I’ve experienced that felt like I was in a different time period. It had that certain medieval charm that you hear a lot about, but you never really feel for yourself. We eventually emerged at a large square, with a statue of Johnnes Gutenberg in the middle:

We gazed at the illustrious figure who appeared triumphant upon his invention of the print press. As we continued, I was once again provided with the sight of a large gothic church dominated an older European city. As amazing works of architecture all these churches may be, there sure are a lot of them.

The inside of this one provided a few peculiar amusements, one of which was this tiny puppy engraved into the side of the pulpit. According to our guide, this is modeled after the dog of a former bishop, who would often lie on this spot, when his owner was giving a sermon. 

The church also featured this extravagantly large clock. Every 15 minutes, the clock’s upper mechanism would move to reveal a new figurine. It was pretty hyped up to us, so the end result was kind of disappointing.

Our CIEE dinner was held the cellar of a restaurant facing the church. We got to sample the local fair which included some subpar wine, a type of flatbread with cream and bacon called a tarte flambee, and Bacheofe, a traditional meat and vegetable stew.

The following day, we visited the Haut Koenigsbourg, a large medieval castle that sits atop a mountain. The entire castle is actually on top of a mountain, which you can apparently hike up, but I doubt you would want to. Even before entering, you get a fantastic view of the surrounding lowlands.

The castle has been heavily restored in the last century after undergoing years of neglect. I still find amazement in how the thing was erected. Our tour guide said that stone was excavated from the mountain, but it still needed to be transported up to the top which is an impressive feat considering the height, and the size of the castle. This thing was impenetrable.

We were able to explore recreated the rooms, some recreated and others adorned with original keepsakes

The inhabitants certainly had a flair for animals given the king’s antler collection: 

as well as the bust of a what must have been a gigantic boar:

and of course this stuffed dragon. Dragons are real, okay.

As we climbed further up into the castle courtyard

Where this beauty was snapped

and its main tower, we were exposed to the breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside. Even though it was a bit foggy, you could still see a great distance.

And it wasn’t just the stones of the castle wall that needed to be dragged up the mountain, this cannon was as well. Boom boom.

After the castle, we then stopped in a quaint little town called Riquewihr. The town was completely surrounded by vineyards, which given the season, were inactive and had yet to begin growing grapes for the season. It looked a little desolate. After a quick lunch, where I had some type of local sausage meatloaf thing, we had a quick tour of the Dopff au Moulin winery. It wasn’t that expansive of a tour. 

After seeing the grape smashing equipment, we saw the bottling equipment as well as some bottles in storage, but not much else, unless you include shipping crates.

The real highlight was following the tour, when we got the chance to taste some of the wines. We were able to sample their winery’s pinot gris,  Resiling and a special sparkling wine which name escapes my memory (maybe I shouldn’t wait a month to write these things).

I won’t claim to know much about wine, I’ll leave that to my parents and siblings who seem to have a taste for it, as well as my brother in law who runs this place. I did enjoy the selections and decided to buy 2 bottles to give to my parents.

Following that fun foray, we hopped back on the bus and traversed into Germany for the first time. We stopped in Freiburg where we were given 45 minutes on our own before dinner. That wasn’t really that much time, so essentially I just looked at its church and didn’t even get a good picture of 

it.

A lot of us did end up stopping in a gummy store, and I probably ate more gummy boobs and gummy penises than I’d care to admit.

Dinner that night was held at a tradition German bier house, which was great as I hadn’t gotten my fill of them the week prior. So after sharing a couple pictures of pils, weizen and dark beer and chowing on some spaetzle and mooching of some other’s leftover bratwursts, I was finally satisfied. I also got this picture of Sarena being a dinosaur, so that’s fun.

The final day of the trip took us to the town of Trier in Germany, site of one of the oldest Roman civilizations in Europe. Can you guess what the oldest is? After sampling a variety of bratwursts for lunch, I took part in another walking tour. The town’s center attraction is it’s Roman gate, which stands mostly intact and in good condition.

While climbing the gate steps, I learned of Michelangelo’s vertigo symptoms firsthand. No he didn’t get sick or anything, but when he found we were going up floor after floor, he got some serious bug eyes going.

From the top of the gate, you can see some of the town’s other main sites:

Which would you believe, includes a church. 

There was also a scenic park, as well as basilica with some very long light fixtures, 

and oh yes a foot.

The highlight of the trip had to be this selfie I got with Michelangelo. During all of our trips and events this semester, Michelangelo has taken a lot of pictures, many at awkward and spontaneous times that resulted in some very bad pictures for everyone. So suffice to say, this was a sweet bite of revenge.

See what I did there?

That about wrapped it up, and we headed back to Brussels. The trip was great as I got to see some areas I had no knowledge of and would never have ended up going to. The castle was likely my favorite stop of the weekend followed by the streets of Strasbourg. It was great to see everyone from the program again after a few weeks removed, and I enjoyed the change of pace of having plans made for me. That said, traveling with a group of 50 probably isn’t the best idea. Until next time. Cheers