Entry 15 October 11, 2008 France Passion

[David and Susan Bratt]

Entry 15--October 11

We have come into the sunlight! After two more wet nights and another wet day in Strasbourg, we have headed into Alsace wine country.

The campground in Strasbourg was another busy transient place close to a bus stop that got us easily into the old city center. We spent the day dodging rain in the magnificient cathedral and various shops and museums and on a mini train tour of the city. The campground had no dump station, but instead we were directed to a youth hostel on the other side of the fence where there was a version of a camping service area. The dumping was free, as was the water to clean out the hose. Drinking water and an hour to charge batteries required payment of a fee. Our vehicle was about as big as one would want to maneuver into this space.

We were soon on our way, stopping at several small villages along the way--each one smelling of wine. It is the grape harvesting season, and new wine is being processed. We stayed at our first “France Passion” stop.

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We have purchased membership in a group that allows free overnight parking to motorhomes that are self sufficient. There are no services available--just a free place to park for up to 24 hours. This winery (where we tasted a little wine and bought a bottle) was just down the mountain from the Haut Koenigsbourg castle. That was were we headed the next morning--only about 5 miles up a narrow winding road to the top where motorhome parking was well marked (but leaving a half mile hike up the mountain). The castle was wonderful, a real highlight of this trip so far, made even more beautiful by the gorgeous fall colors and the sunshine we had been hoping for. It was the 100th anniversary of the restoration of the castle, and it is impressive.

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Several of the towns have large stork nests on their roofs.

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We are at another France Passion site tonight, a rather shabby restaurant/winery, but we were invited to a new wine party. We had been told that after three glasses of wine we will be speaking French. It didn’t turn out that way...but we didn’t care! The party was actually a reunion of a group of people who were all born in 1946 and went to school together, so we pretty closely fit in (we were a year older, but looked better). We stayed off to the side with another motorhome couple who did their best to make conversation with us. They come to the Alsace region every year to fill their motorhome with wine.

The food provided was very odd to us: cold sliced ham and bacon (that looked nearly raw), walnuts in the shell (we were provided with a hammer and a small block of wood), and a nut bread, and of course, wines. We were given four different kinds (the bottles left on the tables for refills), and one pear brandy that was 54% alcohol. We were glad to only have to walk 25 feet back to Rover at the end of the evening. All in all a very good day.