Au revoir et merci à nos amis merveilleux et généreux

Amy here: We’re back in Strasbourg, at the same hotel where we spent our first night in France. After dinner, Margeaux, David, and I took a walk along the street that we walked vingt-sept days ago…and we commented that it doesn’t feel quite as exotic as it did on that first night, but it’s still exciting and amazing to be here. I will miss all the friends I have made. I hope you remember that chez moi est chez vous.

I have quite a few photos/experiences that haven’t made it into their own posts, so I thought I’d assemble some of them for your viewing delight. The first two are from Salins-Les-Bains in the Jura region of Franche-Comte, home of a saltworks that’s a UNESCO world site. The salt was pumped from underground to large vats upstairs where the water was evaporated and the salt was dried over big wood pits. It was grueling work, and the saltworks shut down in the 1960s (we had the pleasure of meeting a man who had worked there).

Last Friday, we had a free day in Mulhouse, and four of us (poor Margeaux stayed behind to do her coursework for her nursing class) went to Basel, Switzerland with our friends Jonathan and Jerome from the Altkirch Rotary Club. Basel lies across the Rhine from France, and has more than 150,000 residents.

We took this current-powered boat across the Rhine. That’s Jonathan with Amanda.

Then we went to a winery in Germany for lunch. Thinking that one ordered beer in Germany, I asked for one. But…it was a winery, so….I had wine. It was delicious. (We had several requests for information on the wine we’re drinking, so here is just one of the many dozens of bottles we have had.)

Then we went to a neat furniture showplace called Vitra.

We wrapped up at the Fondation Beyeler, a wonderful art museum in Basel, with wonderful works by Cezanne, Van Gogh, Monet, Miro, and many others. How nice to lose ourselves in beautiful paintings for an hour.

Margeaux mentioned our return to the Rhine on Sunday, thanks to Julian from Colmar, and our friends from the Brisach Franco-German Club. There’s a Brisach in Germany, and after Louis XIV lost control of it to Germany, he hired Vauban (whose works we saw throughout our travels) to construct a New (Neuf) Brisach on the other side of the Rhine. Thanks to Captain Francois for providing the boat, our German friend Rainer for the wine.

Heading out of a lock.

I had this for lunch at a restaurant that is no longer called Jack Daniels. J’ai manger beaucoup d’asperge. Mmmmm.

And here’s a bottle of Rainer’s wine:

Here are our generous hosts. That’s Maggie on the right. She’s president of the Brisach club, and very cool. Julian is beside her, and Rainer the Winemaker is in red. It was a lovely day for which we are very grateful.

On our first day in Mulhouse, we enjoyed an amazing lunch and,as Margeaux mentioned, a wonderful afternoon at the Mulhouse Zoo, courtesy of Gerard and Pierre.

Gerard picked this wine for us. It was scrumptious.

The Team’s secret sign.

It’s 11:23 pm, I haven’t packed, and Jacques Grimm arrives with the van at 6 am to take us to the airport. We’ll continue to add posts to this site, since there’s still more to tell about this fantastic trip. Bon nuit, mes amis.