Strasbourg, Alsace, Freiburg, Paris and where not to be on July 14
Jul 25th, 2013, 01:17 PM
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Strasbourg, Alsace, Freiburg, Paris and where not to be on July 14
First a bit of background -
It's been a while since we've been on holiday but were looking for something that wasn't going to cost too much but also, as it was a special birthday, that wasn't going to be cheap. Most of our holidays don't involve too much relaxing and lying on a beach or by a pool but we wanted to keep the distances down. I love France and we'd had dinner with friends who had been to Alsace a while ago - we'd just driven through previously having stopped twice in Colmar, once on the way back from driving to Athens for the Olympic Games in 2004, and having visited the wonderful Unterlinden museum there - I had very fond memories of the excellent farmers market there and wanted to spend more time there.
DP was a city councillor here in Manchester and I'd read somewhere that Strasbourg, a home of the European Parliament, was a fairly underrated city. And so the germs of a trip started to form - my birthday is 6 July and on previous trips to Paris we'd been lucky enough to be there on Bastille Day and see the parade down the Champs Elysee in the morning and then the brilliant fireworks in the evening - it's one of my favourite days and I wanted to do it again.
So, we had Strasbourg, Alsace and Paris. The very first thing I do after getting the germ of a trip is to check distances on a map. From that I got that Freiburg wasn't that far away. I'm a town planner (zoning in US) and had long heard that Freiburg is one of Germany's greenest cities and we'd long had it on our list of places to get to.
At about this time I found a great deal on Hilton hotels via their website - we could get their hotel in Strasbourg for £50 a night ($75) - bargain!!
Then its a case of working out how many nights - at the moment this has more to do with our finances than how much annual leave we have left at work. We settled on more than a week but not a fortnight.
And then I buy books - in this case the three new ones I bought were (whispering here)Frommer's 'France Day by Day', Michelin's 'Alsace Lorraine Champagne' and Eyewitness 'Back Roads France'. Of these the Eyewitness book was the most useful but all were read extensively in planning the trip.
Given that we were going to Freiburg we decided early on that we wouldn't use air travel. I love train journeys and so it was going to be a combination of train and hire car.
It's only then after a good deal of planning that I turn to Fodor's
This time, having used this site for so long, I got good feedback on the following plan:
Strasbourg 4 nights
Then drive the Alsace wine route and stay in Thannenkirch 1 night
Continue the wine route and stay in Colmar 1 night
Illhaeusern (for my special birthday meal) 1 night
Freiburg 1 night
Paris 2 nights
Next - getting started.
It's been a while since we've been on holiday but were looking for something that wasn't going to cost too much but also, as it was a special birthday, that wasn't going to be cheap. Most of our holidays don't involve too much relaxing and lying on a beach or by a pool but we wanted to keep the distances down. I love France and we'd had dinner with friends who had been to Alsace a while ago - we'd just driven through previously having stopped twice in Colmar, once on the way back from driving to Athens for the Olympic Games in 2004, and having visited the wonderful Unterlinden museum there - I had very fond memories of the excellent farmers market there and wanted to spend more time there.
DP was a city councillor here in Manchester and I'd read somewhere that Strasbourg, a home of the European Parliament, was a fairly underrated city. And so the germs of a trip started to form - my birthday is 6 July and on previous trips to Paris we'd been lucky enough to be there on Bastille Day and see the parade down the Champs Elysee in the morning and then the brilliant fireworks in the evening - it's one of my favourite days and I wanted to do it again.
So, we had Strasbourg, Alsace and Paris. The very first thing I do after getting the germ of a trip is to check distances on a map. From that I got that Freiburg wasn't that far away. I'm a town planner (zoning in US) and had long heard that Freiburg is one of Germany's greenest cities and we'd long had it on our list of places to get to.
At about this time I found a great deal on Hilton hotels via their website - we could get their hotel in Strasbourg for £50 a night ($75) - bargain!!
Then its a case of working out how many nights - at the moment this has more to do with our finances than how much annual leave we have left at work. We settled on more than a week but not a fortnight.
And then I buy books - in this case the three new ones I bought were (whispering here)Frommer's 'France Day by Day', Michelin's 'Alsace Lorraine Champagne' and Eyewitness 'Back Roads France'. Of these the Eyewitness book was the most useful but all were read extensively in planning the trip.
Given that we were going to Freiburg we decided early on that we wouldn't use air travel. I love train journeys and so it was going to be a combination of train and hire car.
It's only then after a good deal of planning that I turn to Fodor's
This time, having used this site for so long, I got good feedback on the following plan:
Strasbourg 4 nights
Then drive the Alsace wine route and stay in Thannenkirch 1 night
Continue the wine route and stay in Colmar 1 night
Illhaeusern (for my special birthday meal) 1 night
Freiburg 1 night
Paris 2 nights
Next - getting started.
Jul 25th, 2013, 01:23 PM
#2
Hi tjhome,
just checking into your TR as it looks just like the sort of trip we like to take - a new area, nothing too strenuous, a nice mix of activities, and WINE thrown in for good measure.
oh and we were in France for 14 July and had a great time, so I'm intrigued to see what went wrong for you!
just checking into your TR as it looks just like the sort of trip we like to take - a new area, nothing too strenuous, a nice mix of activities, and WINE thrown in for good measure.
oh and we were in France for 14 July and had a great time, so I'm intrigued to see what went wrong for you!
Jul 25th, 2013, 01:47 PM
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Hi tjhome - yes checking also
We loved our visit to Strasbourg and Alsace villages in 2011. In fact we are going back for to days to Alsace and also visiting Freiburg and the Black Forest area in September. And of course always love Paris!
We loved our visit to Strasbourg and Alsace villages in 2011. In fact we are going back for to days to Alsace and also visiting Freiburg and the Black Forest area in September. And of course always love Paris!
Jul 26th, 2013, 01:01 PM
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I like to get the best out of my holidays and so detailed planning for certain aspects is a must - I'm not the kind of person to leave finding accommodation to chance and finding the right accommodation for me involves tripadvisor (TA). Making the most of a holiday also means starting early and getting things booked, particularly travel, where booking early usually means the cheapest prices.
The first thing to book though was the restaurant for my special birthday meal - the Auberge de L'Ill, a 3 michelin star place in Alsace. I took a chance and emailed them before what I thought was a standard 3 month opening window for making reservations. Luckily they accepted my booking. Everything else was then booked round that so that we got to Paris for the Bastille Day celebrations on the 14th.
Booking the train from Manchester to London was easy - 2 first class single's for a total of just£37 ($56). Much harder though, even after reading and rereading the advice on seat61.com was booking the Eurostar and the TGV from Paris to Strasbourg. I found it really difficult to choose between booking single tickets or getting returns and which would be the cheapest option. In the end I got return Eurostar tickets for £110 ($170)each, which I'm sure wasn't as cheap as they could have been.
The TGV was slightly easier and I managed to get first class singles from Paris to Strasbourg for £50 ($75) each although I couldn't book seats on the upper deck of the train.
And so the trip begins.
Travelling first class is a great way to start a holiday - even if it was only on the train down to London. You get a sandwich and the drinks trolley came by twice, the guy sitting across the aisle from us managed to down 4 of those little bottles of vodka - £18.50 ($28) seemed like the best deal in the world! Luckily Euston is close to St Pancras and so we were able to walk to St Pancras and leave our luggage overnight to be collected the next day - I forget the cost but it certainly beat having to carry it across London twice. St Pancras really is an excellent station now - the shops and dining options there are superb and an ambition is to stay at the restored station hotel one day. We were staying with friends in Brixton though this first night and it was lovely to meet up at the Canton Arms in Stockwell for a meal - the food here in this typical large relaxed gastropub is great though I suspect that none of you will ever venture this far out to try it.
We'd booked the 11.30 train from St Pancras which seemed in theory to allow a leisurely start to the day but time flew and we quickly found it was time to get going. In theory it was a quick bus to Brixton tube and then on the Victoria line straight to Kings Cross/St Pancras. At the bus stop though we were seduced by a bus that said it's destination was King's Cross - how great to be able to do some early sight seeing above ground rather than being stuck on the tube - fine in theory but it won't come as a surprise to those who have lived in London that this was a loooong journey. With time ticking away we exchanged anxious glances and eventually decided to bale out at Elephant and Castle and get on the tube. Needless to say we were now running late. It's been fun reading about Crazyfamilyof4's missed flight on here and all the (over)reaction to it - however we ran, not great in the unseasonable early July heatwave, and made it with just a few minutes to spare. Starting a holiday sweating like a dray horse is not a great way to begin a journey though.
The journey to Paris flew by as a Canadian couple from Toronto quickly got chatting to us - we have relatives there and they loved good reastaurants too so we chatted non stop to Gare du Nord. They were very impressed with Eurostar and it certainly is a very quick and easy way to get from London to Paris - we'd definately do it again if we could get a better price. Here in Britain it's all too easy to forget how lucky we are to have such easy access to Europe.
It was so lovely to be in Paris again - it's one of my favourite cities and as our train didn't leave Gare de L'Est until 17.00 we had a late leisurely lunch at Brasserie Flo at the Gare de l'Est - £75 ($115) for a shared starter of smoked salmon and blinis, turbot and beef carpacchio and a bottle of nice white wine. Definately worth it.
The TGV was excellent - so much faster than trains here in Britain and there were plenty of vacant seats on the upper deck so we moved straight away. It's odd though how the first half of the journey is at top speed but the rest done at a much slower pace - but with the horrible train crash in Spain on the news I understand more how these high speed trains work.
My first slip up though came at Strasbourg when I realised I'd not worked out which tram stop we needed for the hotel. I hate having to take taxis needlessly but it was the best choice in the circumstances.
The Hilton is a little way out of the centre of Strasbourg and currently ranks 26th out of 128 hotels on TA but for the fantasic price it seemed worth it - and so it proved - the nearest tram stop was just a 3 or 4 minute walk from the hotel and we never waited more than a few minutes for a tram. I love experiencing new cities and so the first night was spent just wandering the streets. Given that we were eating well the next night and had had a good lunch I'd checked out L'Epicerie during the planning phase. We passed it by chance during our wanderings and it was packed so we carried on doing more exploring and came back later. No tables outside on a lovely warm night but we grabbed one inside and were glad we did. It's such a charming place. The food is very simple - tartines, French open-faced sandwiches and the interior is very well done, like an old grocery store with big communal tables as well as smaller ones. They play classic old French music and the atmosphere really was lovely. We had beers with our tartines - a cheap dinner for just £36 ($55). The hotel is close enough to the centre for it to be a nice 20 minute walk back too. Perfect start to the holiday.
The first thing to book though was the restaurant for my special birthday meal - the Auberge de L'Ill, a 3 michelin star place in Alsace. I took a chance and emailed them before what I thought was a standard 3 month opening window for making reservations. Luckily they accepted my booking. Everything else was then booked round that so that we got to Paris for the Bastille Day celebrations on the 14th.
Booking the train from Manchester to London was easy - 2 first class single's for a total of just£37 ($56). Much harder though, even after reading and rereading the advice on seat61.com was booking the Eurostar and the TGV from Paris to Strasbourg. I found it really difficult to choose between booking single tickets or getting returns and which would be the cheapest option. In the end I got return Eurostar tickets for £110 ($170)each, which I'm sure wasn't as cheap as they could have been.
The TGV was slightly easier and I managed to get first class singles from Paris to Strasbourg for £50 ($75) each although I couldn't book seats on the upper deck of the train.
And so the trip begins.
Travelling first class is a great way to start a holiday - even if it was only on the train down to London. You get a sandwich and the drinks trolley came by twice, the guy sitting across the aisle from us managed to down 4 of those little bottles of vodka - £18.50 ($28) seemed like the best deal in the world! Luckily Euston is close to St Pancras and so we were able to walk to St Pancras and leave our luggage overnight to be collected the next day - I forget the cost but it certainly beat having to carry it across London twice. St Pancras really is an excellent station now - the shops and dining options there are superb and an ambition is to stay at the restored station hotel one day. We were staying with friends in Brixton though this first night and it was lovely to meet up at the Canton Arms in Stockwell for a meal - the food here in this typical large relaxed gastropub is great though I suspect that none of you will ever venture this far out to try it.
We'd booked the 11.30 train from St Pancras which seemed in theory to allow a leisurely start to the day but time flew and we quickly found it was time to get going. In theory it was a quick bus to Brixton tube and then on the Victoria line straight to Kings Cross/St Pancras. At the bus stop though we were seduced by a bus that said it's destination was King's Cross - how great to be able to do some early sight seeing above ground rather than being stuck on the tube - fine in theory but it won't come as a surprise to those who have lived in London that this was a loooong journey. With time ticking away we exchanged anxious glances and eventually decided to bale out at Elephant and Castle and get on the tube. Needless to say we were now running late. It's been fun reading about Crazyfamilyof4's missed flight on here and all the (over)reaction to it - however we ran, not great in the unseasonable early July heatwave, and made it with just a few minutes to spare. Starting a holiday sweating like a dray horse is not a great way to begin a journey though.
The journey to Paris flew by as a Canadian couple from Toronto quickly got chatting to us - we have relatives there and they loved good reastaurants too so we chatted non stop to Gare du Nord. They were very impressed with Eurostar and it certainly is a very quick and easy way to get from London to Paris - we'd definately do it again if we could get a better price. Here in Britain it's all too easy to forget how lucky we are to have such easy access to Europe.
It was so lovely to be in Paris again - it's one of my favourite cities and as our train didn't leave Gare de L'Est until 17.00 we had a late leisurely lunch at Brasserie Flo at the Gare de l'Est - £75 ($115) for a shared starter of smoked salmon and blinis, turbot and beef carpacchio and a bottle of nice white wine. Definately worth it.
The TGV was excellent - so much faster than trains here in Britain and there were plenty of vacant seats on the upper deck so we moved straight away. It's odd though how the first half of the journey is at top speed but the rest done at a much slower pace - but with the horrible train crash in Spain on the news I understand more how these high speed trains work.
My first slip up though came at Strasbourg when I realised I'd not worked out which tram stop we needed for the hotel. I hate having to take taxis needlessly but it was the best choice in the circumstances.
The Hilton is a little way out of the centre of Strasbourg and currently ranks 26th out of 128 hotels on TA but for the fantasic price it seemed worth it - and so it proved - the nearest tram stop was just a 3 or 4 minute walk from the hotel and we never waited more than a few minutes for a tram. I love experiencing new cities and so the first night was spent just wandering the streets. Given that we were eating well the next night and had had a good lunch I'd checked out L'Epicerie during the planning phase. We passed it by chance during our wanderings and it was packed so we carried on doing more exploring and came back later. No tables outside on a lovely warm night but we grabbed one inside and were glad we did. It's such a charming place. The food is very simple - tartines, French open-faced sandwiches and the interior is very well done, like an old grocery store with big communal tables as well as smaller ones. They play classic old French music and the atmosphere really was lovely. We had beers with our tartines - a cheap dinner for just £36 ($55). The hotel is close enough to the centre for it to be a nice 20 minute walk back too. Perfect start to the holiday.
Jul 26th, 2013, 11:11 PM
#5
We were staying with friends in Brixton though this first night and it was lovely to meet up at the Canton Arms in Stockwell for a meal - the food here in this typical large relaxed gastropub is great though I suspect that none of you will ever venture this far out to try it.>>
I think you're pretty safe with that statement, tjhome. there was a recent thread where someone was asking for advice about booking a b&B at Elephant and Castle, and they got a LOT of advice [including from me] not to do it.
I love the eurostar too and when we lived in Kent we went to Paris and Brussels on it several times but from Cornwall it's such a fag to get to London on the train [or by car for that matter] that it's just easier to fly straight from Exeter or even Bristol.
i don't know Strasbourg at all but it's sounding as it might be a place that we would enjoy for a short break. We did tour Alsace as part of a bigger trip a very long time ago but all i remember is a very nice B&B in somewhere unpronounceable and a choucroute!
i love all the detail in your report - do keep it coming.
I think you're pretty safe with that statement, tjhome. there was a recent thread where someone was asking for advice about booking a b&B at Elephant and Castle, and they got a LOT of advice [including from me] not to do it.
I love the eurostar too and when we lived in Kent we went to Paris and Brussels on it several times but from Cornwall it's such a fag to get to London on the train [or by car for that matter] that it's just easier to fly straight from Exeter or even Bristol.
i don't know Strasbourg at all but it's sounding as it might be a place that we would enjoy for a short break. We did tour Alsace as part of a bigger trip a very long time ago but all i remember is a very nice B&B in somewhere unpronounceable and a choucroute!
i love all the detail in your report - do keep it coming.
Jul 27th, 2013, 01:06 AM
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Our first full day in Strasbourg, Saturday 6 July, was also my special birthday and we started it off with a full breakfast on the hotel terrace - I can't believe that breakfast was included in the price - if you pay separately its £20 ($30) per person so just breakfasts alone almost paid for the room itself - we didn't need lunch once during our 4 night stay. This has to count as one of the best hotel deals we've ever got. I think they are still running this summer discount.
Then to the end of the tram line to see a Zaha Hadid designed bus station at Hoenheim. DP was definately underwhelmed but I loved it, great to see one of her buildings close up, so few of hers get built in Britain. To be fair it is just a few bits of angled concrete but it was very easy to get to, was free, and took about 15 minutes to fully appreciate.
Next, into Strasbourg, pretty much repeating our exploring of the night before but checking out the farmers market and then climbing the Cathedral tower, disappointingly you can only get up to the roof level of the Cathedral but its still worth doing as the views are understandably excellent and it cost just a few euros. The Cathedral, completed in 1439, was the world's tallest building until 1874. The historic centre of the city, the Grand Ile is very pretty and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are so many pretty buildings and gorgeous views - it was lovely just wandering round. In doing so we discovered that we'd arrived in Strasbourg as some of the free summer entertainment was just beginning - there was a light show at the Cathedral starting that night and a light, fountain and music show starting Sunday night.
I'd booked a nice little place for dinner, Umami, it has a michelin star and just 18 covers and is run by just the chef and his wife - we had a fantasic meal, expensive, but it was my birthday. On the way back we caught the light show on the Cathedral, set to classical music the building was illuminated inside and out in a variety of ways - it was very effective and impressive and I've not seen anything like it before. It's great that the city puts on these free shows.
The weather the next day was even hotter, almost too hot to be walking round all day. We'd set the Sunday aside for museums and the Cathedral. First we did the modern art museum, which was good and had an excellent temporary exhibition on architecture and urbanism in France and Germany from 1800 to 2000. As a planner I found it fascinating and luckily we both really enjoyed it. For a museum break we visited the Cathedral next and then on to the Palais Rohan, which houses three different museums, fine arts, decorative arts and archaeology; we did the first two and the decorative arts was better as it contained the historical apartments of the king and the Rohan cardinals. The archaeology museum has the better reputation but archaeology doesn't really grab my interest. The museum is close to the Cathedral though and was definately worth doing.
Dinner was at a nice little out of the way restaurant, Au Renard Prechant, that had a nice outdoor seating area that we found en route to the light, fountain and music show to the south of the city centre. There were crowds of people and we got great places to sit on steps down to the water with no one in front of us. Unfortunately these steps were also quite popular with the local ducks so we had to be very careful where we sat. The light show was excellent though, all projected onto the side of a big buildings with fountains set up in front. I guess it was a little like the fountains in Barcelona that are set to music and the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas and the Versailles fountains - I'm sure there are more of these across the world. It was a fun thing to do though and there were thousands of people there.
Then to the end of the tram line to see a Zaha Hadid designed bus station at Hoenheim. DP was definately underwhelmed but I loved it, great to see one of her buildings close up, so few of hers get built in Britain. To be fair it is just a few bits of angled concrete but it was very easy to get to, was free, and took about 15 minutes to fully appreciate.
Next, into Strasbourg, pretty much repeating our exploring of the night before but checking out the farmers market and then climbing the Cathedral tower, disappointingly you can only get up to the roof level of the Cathedral but its still worth doing as the views are understandably excellent and it cost just a few euros. The Cathedral, completed in 1439, was the world's tallest building until 1874. The historic centre of the city, the Grand Ile is very pretty and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are so many pretty buildings and gorgeous views - it was lovely just wandering round. In doing so we discovered that we'd arrived in Strasbourg as some of the free summer entertainment was just beginning - there was a light show at the Cathedral starting that night and a light, fountain and music show starting Sunday night.
I'd booked a nice little place for dinner, Umami, it has a michelin star and just 18 covers and is run by just the chef and his wife - we had a fantasic meal, expensive, but it was my birthday. On the way back we caught the light show on the Cathedral, set to classical music the building was illuminated inside and out in a variety of ways - it was very effective and impressive and I've not seen anything like it before. It's great that the city puts on these free shows.
The weather the next day was even hotter, almost too hot to be walking round all day. We'd set the Sunday aside for museums and the Cathedral. First we did the modern art museum, which was good and had an excellent temporary exhibition on architecture and urbanism in France and Germany from 1800 to 2000. As a planner I found it fascinating and luckily we both really enjoyed it. For a museum break we visited the Cathedral next and then on to the Palais Rohan, which houses three different museums, fine arts, decorative arts and archaeology; we did the first two and the decorative arts was better as it contained the historical apartments of the king and the Rohan cardinals. The archaeology museum has the better reputation but archaeology doesn't really grab my interest. The museum is close to the Cathedral though and was definately worth doing.
Dinner was at a nice little out of the way restaurant, Au Renard Prechant, that had a nice outdoor seating area that we found en route to the light, fountain and music show to the south of the city centre. There were crowds of people and we got great places to sit on steps down to the water with no one in front of us. Unfortunately these steps were also quite popular with the local ducks so we had to be very careful where we sat. The light show was excellent though, all projected onto the side of a big buildings with fountains set up in front. I guess it was a little like the fountains in Barcelona that are set to music and the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas and the Versailles fountains - I'm sure there are more of these across the world. It was a fun thing to do though and there were thousands of people there.
Jul 27th, 2013, 02:50 AM
#8
tj - it was HOT that week in France wasn't it? even warmer than in the UK, or at least warmer than Cornwall, with the exception of the 20 miles or so around Roscoff. When we got off the boat on the friday morning it was distinctly chilly and stayed so until we got about 30 kms further south.
coming back on the monday was the same - the temp dropped a good 5-6 degrees in about 30 mins as we got closer to the north coast. possibly it had stayed like that all weekend while the rest of us roasted.
coming back on the monday was the same - the temp dropped a good 5-6 degrees in about 30 mins as we got closer to the north coast. possibly it had stayed like that all weekend while the rest of us roasted.
Jul 27th, 2013, 04:14 AM
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lol..yes, we checked the weather each day and it was always at least 2 degrees hotter than the UK - I'm not a fan of too much heat but it was to be anticipated in July and it would be most ungracious to complain. We did suffer later in the trip though.
Jul 27th, 2013, 04:23 AM
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Monday was our last full day in Strasbourg so this was spent doing the last things that had been on my carefully planned list of things to see and do. One of the disappointments was not being able to attend a session of the European Parliament. As DP was a city councillor and is very interested in politics we've attended parliaments a few times in US and Australia. However, the few sittings in Strasbourg didn't fit with our schedule and would have meant hugely increased hotel costs, especially at the Hilton which is located fairly close. So we had to make do with just visiting the buildings.
Again the temperatures were sky high so we thought a boat ride would be good - cooling water and a nice breeze hopefully. Sadly the boat didn't go fast enough to get any breeze so we slowly baked. It was nice enough but the commentary was a bit lame. It would have been better maybe to do the trip earlier. Still glad we did it though.
Having excellent breakfasts each day had meant no need for any lunch or snacking but I wanted to try Patisserie Christian Meyer so we cut down the breakfast portions and after the boat trip had tea and cake there. It is a lovely little place in a very old building.
The final thing on my list had been the Jardin des Deux Rives, a huge park straddling the Rhine between France and Germany. Unfortunately I hadn't checked out how best to get there so we just went to the closest tram stop and then walked, not particularly great in the heat but we got there eventually. The park is very good and it would have been nice to spend more time as there was a tall wooden tower on the German side that has excellent views and a good beer garden but we continued into Kehl town centre and then caught a bus back.
The hot weather is taking a toll on clean clothes and so I made time to get a load of washing done in a nearby launderette that we'd spotted on our nightly walks back to the hotel. We made it to our second of our three planned good restaurants, Le Gavroche, just in time for our 8pm booking. Like the others this place had been booked months in advance and in the meantime had been awarded its first michelin star. It was small, just 25 covers, but had more staff and so the husband and wife team that run it had more time with customers. The chef's wife was particularly lovely and it did make an excellent evening even better. It also ranked 1st out of Strasbourg's 807 restaurants on TA. I know that TA should always been used carefully but ranking 1 out of 807 really is a good sign. And sure enough the food was excellent and we had a brilliant evening. Again it was expensive though - £280 ($430) but I considered it absolutely worth it and it was paid for thanks to a better than expected annual bonus.
Strasbourg was even better than we thought it would be. Not too big but big enough with lots to do - there were plenty of things that didn't make the cut for the 3 full days we were there like the Alsace museum, which is meant to be very good and the botanic gardens. The city is very walkable and incredibly picturesque. There are very few cars, which is lovely and the public transport system is excellent. We were very glad with our choice of hotel - a huge bargain and so easy to get to - we would have seen much less of the city if we had simply stayed as close to the centre as possible. So little mention is made of Strasbourg on this forum - its absolutely to be recommended and I would definately return.
Next picking up our hire car and the Alsace wine route.
Again the temperatures were sky high so we thought a boat ride would be good - cooling water and a nice breeze hopefully. Sadly the boat didn't go fast enough to get any breeze so we slowly baked. It was nice enough but the commentary was a bit lame. It would have been better maybe to do the trip earlier. Still glad we did it though.
Having excellent breakfasts each day had meant no need for any lunch or snacking but I wanted to try Patisserie Christian Meyer so we cut down the breakfast portions and after the boat trip had tea and cake there. It is a lovely little place in a very old building.
The final thing on my list had been the Jardin des Deux Rives, a huge park straddling the Rhine between France and Germany. Unfortunately I hadn't checked out how best to get there so we just went to the closest tram stop and then walked, not particularly great in the heat but we got there eventually. The park is very good and it would have been nice to spend more time as there was a tall wooden tower on the German side that has excellent views and a good beer garden but we continued into Kehl town centre and then caught a bus back.
The hot weather is taking a toll on clean clothes and so I made time to get a load of washing done in a nearby launderette that we'd spotted on our nightly walks back to the hotel. We made it to our second of our three planned good restaurants, Le Gavroche, just in time for our 8pm booking. Like the others this place had been booked months in advance and in the meantime had been awarded its first michelin star. It was small, just 25 covers, but had more staff and so the husband and wife team that run it had more time with customers. The chef's wife was particularly lovely and it did make an excellent evening even better. It also ranked 1st out of Strasbourg's 807 restaurants on TA. I know that TA should always been used carefully but ranking 1 out of 807 really is a good sign. And sure enough the food was excellent and we had a brilliant evening. Again it was expensive though - £280 ($430) but I considered it absolutely worth it and it was paid for thanks to a better than expected annual bonus.
Strasbourg was even better than we thought it would be. Not too big but big enough with lots to do - there were plenty of things that didn't make the cut for the 3 full days we were there like the Alsace museum, which is meant to be very good and the botanic gardens. The city is very walkable and incredibly picturesque. There are very few cars, which is lovely and the public transport system is excellent. We were very glad with our choice of hotel - a huge bargain and so easy to get to - we would have seen much less of the city if we had simply stayed as close to the centre as possible. So little mention is made of Strasbourg on this forum - its absolutely to be recommended and I would definately return.
Next picking up our hire car and the Alsace wine route.
Jul 27th, 2013, 05:24 AM
#11
Enjoying this. I loved Strasbourg too, and was blown away by the cathedral - one of the best I've seen. annhig - if you go, consider stopping off in Nancy on the way especially if you have any interest at all in Art Nouveau (click on my name for my French TR with Nancy).
Re: Brixton and the bus. On one trip through London I stayed with my niece in Mortlake, and I was very concerned that the bus to Hammersmith the day I left for Heathrow was going to get delayed. I feel safer taking the tube, but then I've been stuck there sometimes too. I was looking at the web site for the station hotel at St. Pancras the other day and thinking it would make a great splurge...
Re: Brixton and the bus. On one trip through London I stayed with my niece in Mortlake, and I was very concerned that the bus to Hammersmith the day I left for Heathrow was going to get delayed. I feel safer taking the tube, but then I've been stuck there sometimes too. I was looking at the web site for the station hotel at St. Pancras the other day and thinking it would make a great splurge...
Jul 27th, 2013, 06:01 AM
#12
Again the temperatures were sky high so we thought a boat ride would be good - cooling water and a nice breeze hopefully. Sadly the boat didn't go fast enough to get any breeze so we slowly baked. It was nice enough but the commentary was a bit lame. >>
that happened to us in Toulouse. DH is a sucker for any boat trip and we too thought it would be cooling. not a bit of it - we roasted slowly like a Toulouse goose on a spit.
that happened to us in Toulouse. DH is a sucker for any boat trip and we too thought it would be cooling. not a bit of it - we roasted slowly like a Toulouse goose on a spit.
Jul 27th, 2013, 09:51 AM
#13
The reason that the TGV changes speed as it gets close to Strasbourg is because the high speed line has not yet been built for the entire distance. The last 106 kilometers won't be completed until 2016. The other part of the line is the fastest train line in the world.
Jul 28th, 2013, 11:32 AM
#15
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A last full breakfast at the Hilton and goodbye to the lovely woman who managed the breakfast staff, she was super friendly and it really did make a nice start to the day to have someone be so cheerful first thing in the morning. Very impressed with Hilton and their fantastic deals.
The hire car was booked through holidayautos.com and was to be picked up at Strasbourg-Entzheim airport south of the city. As it was so hot we decided to leave luggage at the hotel and come back for it. The airport is quite small and is very easy to get to via a train from Strasbourg. I've always found Holiday Autos to be the cheapest of the big firms and have never had any problems with them. We booked a cheap little car as we weren't going to be doing too many miles but it was still a little disappointing to be shown our tiny car. We had the car for 5 days and it cost £180 ($275) for two drivers. We didn't take a satnav as we had some rudimentary maps and sometimes half the fun is getting a little lost and discovering things by chance.
First stop was Obernai, 17 miles south-west of Strasbourg - its the second most visited town in Alsace after Strasbourg. The Frommer's book describes it as a 'meticulously restored medieval town' and it certainly was exceedingly pretty and did indeed look to be very medieval - there are still defensive walls and ramparts. The way that so many people seem to take such care with the flower displays on their buildings is very impressive.
Next we headed up into the Vosges mountains to Mont Sainte-Odile. I didn't want these two days doing the wine route to be an endless procession through one pretty village after another so this looked to be ideal. The views from the convent that is perched at the top were amazing. The place looks to attract a big crowd and part of the complex included a hotel. There were plenty of eating options but we were still doing well on our breakfast. One of the best things was evidence of occupation from the 7th century in the form of Merovingian graves carved into the rock overlooking the plains below. You can get very close to them and the sense of history at the place is powerful. It is claimed that the history of settlement goes back to Celtic times over 1000BC in the form of a 'Pagan Wall'. We had planned to walk to the wall but it was so hot and time was ticking by that we satisfied our ancient history cravings with the 7th century graves.
The car was certainly much better going down hill that struggling up. Next town was Barr - again totally lovely, beautiful old(looking) buildings covered in flowers. By now we had noticed that there was hardly anyone else about - so few tourists and so few cars on the roads and also that many more shops than I'd expected were shut for a very long lunch. Not that we were shopping but sometimes it was hard to even get a bottle of water. The lack of tourists was an unexpected bonus - villages this pretty in the UK would be packed with hordes of tourists.
Again no need for lunch so we headed next to Zotzenberg. There was en excellent looking 2 hour walk, just outside the village of Mittelbergheim, that takes you through the vineyards, past a castle and to two great lookouts. Again though it was so hot that we just couldn't face it so did a mini 20 minute version.
We got to our overnight stop in Thannenkirch, a village up in the foothills of the Vosges, early and had time to walk round this lovely little place - it was nice that it was off the wine route so didn't look as pretty as all the other villages we had driven through and stopped at, which made it feel more like a proper village than a tourist destination. The setting is gorgeous though, so peaceful and quiet too with the Vosges mountains behind, the Alsace plain in front and beyond that the Black Forest. This is a link to more info about the village. It has many nature walks and is renowned for its wildlife - it would have been lovely to have spent more time here.
http://www.ribeauville-riquewihr.com...annenkirch.htm
Had we been staying somewhere dull though I doubt it would have been quite so attractive but the Hotel Haut Koenigsbourg was by far the nicest place we stayed. Its a small hotel, just 9 rooms I think, and is fairly newly renovated by the current owners. Rooms were smart and stylish and easily fell under my limit for this holiday of 100 Euros - £73 to be exact ($112). We had room 2 on the gable of the building, which has dual aspect windows - which did mean we got a nice breeze in the heat. The hotel has a garden where you can sit out and there is a little stream that has the perfect volume - not too loud to be intrusive but loud enough for you to know you're sitting, sleeping next to a babbling brook. Having grown up in a village south of Bath in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty I generally find I've had enough of lovely villages but this was just perfect, it made a perfect contrast to our stay in the city.
There are three dining options in the village, a cheap pizza place and two restaurants, both in hotels - we opted for the cheaper one, La Meuniere, which had a big terrace overlooking the village and a decent dinner cost £70 ($107).
The hire car was booked through holidayautos.com and was to be picked up at Strasbourg-Entzheim airport south of the city. As it was so hot we decided to leave luggage at the hotel and come back for it. The airport is quite small and is very easy to get to via a train from Strasbourg. I've always found Holiday Autos to be the cheapest of the big firms and have never had any problems with them. We booked a cheap little car as we weren't going to be doing too many miles but it was still a little disappointing to be shown our tiny car. We had the car for 5 days and it cost £180 ($275) for two drivers. We didn't take a satnav as we had some rudimentary maps and sometimes half the fun is getting a little lost and discovering things by chance.
First stop was Obernai, 17 miles south-west of Strasbourg - its the second most visited town in Alsace after Strasbourg. The Frommer's book describes it as a 'meticulously restored medieval town' and it certainly was exceedingly pretty and did indeed look to be very medieval - there are still defensive walls and ramparts. The way that so many people seem to take such care with the flower displays on their buildings is very impressive.
Next we headed up into the Vosges mountains to Mont Sainte-Odile. I didn't want these two days doing the wine route to be an endless procession through one pretty village after another so this looked to be ideal. The views from the convent that is perched at the top were amazing. The place looks to attract a big crowd and part of the complex included a hotel. There were plenty of eating options but we were still doing well on our breakfast. One of the best things was evidence of occupation from the 7th century in the form of Merovingian graves carved into the rock overlooking the plains below. You can get very close to them and the sense of history at the place is powerful. It is claimed that the history of settlement goes back to Celtic times over 1000BC in the form of a 'Pagan Wall'. We had planned to walk to the wall but it was so hot and time was ticking by that we satisfied our ancient history cravings with the 7th century graves.
The car was certainly much better going down hill that struggling up. Next town was Barr - again totally lovely, beautiful old(looking) buildings covered in flowers. By now we had noticed that there was hardly anyone else about - so few tourists and so few cars on the roads and also that many more shops than I'd expected were shut for a very long lunch. Not that we were shopping but sometimes it was hard to even get a bottle of water. The lack of tourists was an unexpected bonus - villages this pretty in the UK would be packed with hordes of tourists.
Again no need for lunch so we headed next to Zotzenberg. There was en excellent looking 2 hour walk, just outside the village of Mittelbergheim, that takes you through the vineyards, past a castle and to two great lookouts. Again though it was so hot that we just couldn't face it so did a mini 20 minute version.
We got to our overnight stop in Thannenkirch, a village up in the foothills of the Vosges, early and had time to walk round this lovely little place - it was nice that it was off the wine route so didn't look as pretty as all the other villages we had driven through and stopped at, which made it feel more like a proper village than a tourist destination. The setting is gorgeous though, so peaceful and quiet too with the Vosges mountains behind, the Alsace plain in front and beyond that the Black Forest. This is a link to more info about the village. It has many nature walks and is renowned for its wildlife - it would have been lovely to have spent more time here.
http://www.ribeauville-riquewihr.com...annenkirch.htm
Had we been staying somewhere dull though I doubt it would have been quite so attractive but the Hotel Haut Koenigsbourg was by far the nicest place we stayed. Its a small hotel, just 9 rooms I think, and is fairly newly renovated by the current owners. Rooms were smart and stylish and easily fell under my limit for this holiday of 100 Euros - £73 to be exact ($112). We had room 2 on the gable of the building, which has dual aspect windows - which did mean we got a nice breeze in the heat. The hotel has a garden where you can sit out and there is a little stream that has the perfect volume - not too loud to be intrusive but loud enough for you to know you're sitting, sleeping next to a babbling brook. Having grown up in a village south of Bath in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty I generally find I've had enough of lovely villages but this was just perfect, it made a perfect contrast to our stay in the city.
There are three dining options in the village, a cheap pizza place and two restaurants, both in hotels - we opted for the cheaper one, La Meuniere, which had a big terrace overlooking the village and a decent dinner cost £70 ($107).
Jul 28th, 2013, 12:26 PM
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Your trip report is taking me back to our enjoyable stay in the Alsace! It is a lovely region of France! Your descriptions of Strasbourg make me thing that it is a place well-worth more time than just a quick day trip as we did from Obernai.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
Jul 29th, 2013, 11:59 AM
#17
What a wonderful trip report. We have been thinking of going to Alsace and your trip report has made us put this region back at the top of our list. We are looking forward to hearing more about Colmar and Freiburg!
We are heading to Bavaria and Austria in Sept. We debated between going east to Austria or west to Black Forest and Alsace on this trip. We'll definitely put this back our plans for next trip.
We are heading to Bavaria and Austria in Sept. We debated between going east to Austria or west to Black Forest and Alsace on this trip. We'll definitely put this back our plans for next trip.
Jul 29th, 2013, 02:36 PM
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Thanks for everyone's kind comments, they are encouraging - I've got so much value out of this site that putting something back is almost obligatory - especially coming from Manchester, a part of the country little mentioned on here and am writing about places that I also found very little about on these boards.
Jul 30th, 2013, 09:39 AM
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Bad start to the day - the village shop in Thannenkirch had run out of croissants by 9.30am!
We'd chosen to stay in Thannenkirch as two days to drive the wine route seemed right, and so it proved, and the village was approximately half way between Strasbourg and Colmar, which are just 50 miles from each other, but also as its very close to the Chateau de Haut Koenigsbourg. Unlike most castles in the UK this is a reconstruction of a medieval castle undertaken by the German Emperor in 1899. The exhibition on architecture and the relationship between Germany and France that we'd seem in Strasbourg had mentioned it and one of the interesting aspects about Alsace is its history; having been part of the Holy Roman Empire it was gradually annexed by France in the mid 17th century but became part of Germany between 1871 and 1918. The rebuilding of the ruined chateau was in part a charm offensive in the region but it also sought to reinforce the power of the Emperor. The restoration of the castle came in for much understandable criticism at the time, but experts now believe that a pretty good job was done. So it all makes for a fascinating experience - one that we shared with lots of parties of school kids. The audioguides, which cost a few euros were very good and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the castle. It was fascinating to get a very different perspective on an historic building. Again the views were stunning.
http://www.haut-koenigsbourg.fr/en/t...-its-entirety/
Next pretty town was Bergheim, unusual in the region in that it managed to preserve its medieval town walls that date from the 14th century - more lovliness, pretty halftimbered buildings adorned with flowers at every window and more streets to ourselves.
Our next stop was Hunawihr - officially one of France's most beautiful villages - there are about 160 in total and we visited 4 of them on our trip. This was one of my favourites though and yet again we had the place almost completely to ourselves. Hunawihr is tiny and set amidst rolling vineyards that you can see from every vantage point and with a backdrop of the Vosges. Its distinctive though for its fortified church and cemetery - one of the few examples of defensive religious architecture. By just taking a short walk out of the town you get even better views.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35110249@N05/4176045763/
We got to see our first stork here too, not soaring in the sky or on a nest but stolling around the car park - it was nice to get close though.
At last we encountered tourists in the next town, Riquewihr, it was almost reassuring to be amongst them at long last. It's much bigger than Hunawihr, chocolate box pretty and caters more for visitors. Mindful that I wasn't coming all this way not to buy wine we finally made our first purchases from a wine shop. There were a couple of delicatessens on the main street and so we bought meat, cheese and quiche and drove to a little hilltop village we'd seen on our drive in - Zollenberg. We ate our picnic on a shaded bench outside the church with a view of undulating hills, vineyards, the Vosges and three distant castles with not a single tourist in sight - perfect.
I still wanted to get wine from a proper winery so at our last stop of the day before Colmar, in Kientzheim, we stopped in two - in each we were the only visitors.
We had asked the couple who ran the hotel in Thannenkirch way there were so few tourists - apparantly it has something to do with school holidays and the upcoming Bastille Day - these first two weeks of July are traditionally quiet. Whatever the reasons it was great to be on roads carrying such light volumes of traffic, unlike at home, and have all these pretty villages mostly to ourselves. The wine route was very impressive - even nicer than I thought it was going to be. Two days was definately sufficient for me though as I can see that it would be possible to overdose on the cuteness. I'd definately visit again though, maybe at a different time of year when it wasn't so debilitatingly hot.
Taking a break here as this is a long entry already...it turns ugly next.
We'd chosen to stay in Thannenkirch as two days to drive the wine route seemed right, and so it proved, and the village was approximately half way between Strasbourg and Colmar, which are just 50 miles from each other, but also as its very close to the Chateau de Haut Koenigsbourg. Unlike most castles in the UK this is a reconstruction of a medieval castle undertaken by the German Emperor in 1899. The exhibition on architecture and the relationship between Germany and France that we'd seem in Strasbourg had mentioned it and one of the interesting aspects about Alsace is its history; having been part of the Holy Roman Empire it was gradually annexed by France in the mid 17th century but became part of Germany between 1871 and 1918. The rebuilding of the ruined chateau was in part a charm offensive in the region but it also sought to reinforce the power of the Emperor. The restoration of the castle came in for much understandable criticism at the time, but experts now believe that a pretty good job was done. So it all makes for a fascinating experience - one that we shared with lots of parties of school kids. The audioguides, which cost a few euros were very good and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the castle. It was fascinating to get a very different perspective on an historic building. Again the views were stunning.
http://www.haut-koenigsbourg.fr/en/t...-its-entirety/
Next pretty town was Bergheim, unusual in the region in that it managed to preserve its medieval town walls that date from the 14th century - more lovliness, pretty halftimbered buildings adorned with flowers at every window and more streets to ourselves.
Our next stop was Hunawihr - officially one of France's most beautiful villages - there are about 160 in total and we visited 4 of them on our trip. This was one of my favourites though and yet again we had the place almost completely to ourselves. Hunawihr is tiny and set amidst rolling vineyards that you can see from every vantage point and with a backdrop of the Vosges. Its distinctive though for its fortified church and cemetery - one of the few examples of defensive religious architecture. By just taking a short walk out of the town you get even better views.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35110249@N05/4176045763/
We got to see our first stork here too, not soaring in the sky or on a nest but stolling around the car park - it was nice to get close though.
At last we encountered tourists in the next town, Riquewihr, it was almost reassuring to be amongst them at long last. It's much bigger than Hunawihr, chocolate box pretty and caters more for visitors. Mindful that I wasn't coming all this way not to buy wine we finally made our first purchases from a wine shop. There were a couple of delicatessens on the main street and so we bought meat, cheese and quiche and drove to a little hilltop village we'd seen on our drive in - Zollenberg. We ate our picnic on a shaded bench outside the church with a view of undulating hills, vineyards, the Vosges and three distant castles with not a single tourist in sight - perfect.
I still wanted to get wine from a proper winery so at our last stop of the day before Colmar, in Kientzheim, we stopped in two - in each we were the only visitors.
We had asked the couple who ran the hotel in Thannenkirch way there were so few tourists - apparantly it has something to do with school holidays and the upcoming Bastille Day - these first two weeks of July are traditionally quiet. Whatever the reasons it was great to be on roads carrying such light volumes of traffic, unlike at home, and have all these pretty villages mostly to ourselves. The wine route was very impressive - even nicer than I thought it was going to be. Two days was definately sufficient for me though as I can see that it would be possible to overdose on the cuteness. I'd definately visit again though, maybe at a different time of year when it wasn't so debilitatingly hot.
Taking a break here as this is a long entry already...it turns ugly next.
