Langres – 30 July 2011

Had breakfast at the hotel and strode out at 9.30 to see why the road will be closed today.  Practically half the town has become a giant flea market with what must be about 200 stalls set up along the roads, selling (or trying to) the usual rubbish you get at car boot sales.  Especially in evidence was the amount of electronic equipment not 10 years old but all obsolete.  We spent 1 ½ hours looking around at it all, then coffee and then finished our tour of the ramparts.  Our lunch was two baguettes from the patisserie with the chatty lady “au bon pain”.

During the afternoon we uploaded onto the blog to keep our fans happy. 

There is a festival of Hallebardiers ? tonight to look at.  These turned out to be a group of about 50 people dressed in traditional old clothes who walked around the town singing and generally having a good time.

We ate at the hotel and the food was excellent – Tony had Beef Bourguignonne and Jane had lamb shank and we shared a gateau avec crème anglais for pudding.  An English family came into the restaurant while we were there and as one of the little lads, about 5 years old, passed our table he helped himself to a piece of our bread.  His parents were mortified that Oscar (yes Oscar!) had done such a thing.  Lovely evening.

Our hotel. Good food here.

Chaumont to Langres – 29 July 2011

Before we left Chaumont we drove about a mile outside of town to see a viaduct 650 metres long and 50 metres high.  It was foggy this morning so it was quite haunting. 

Drove to Langres, a fortified hill town with nearly complete walls and ramparts.  Parked easily next to the Tourist Office and collected a map of the town along with list of hotels.  The nearest hotel was the Grade Hotel d’Europe, a 2 star Logis, so we walked there.  Reception was very busy with people checking and out and we chatted to an English guy whose credit cards had been blocked and he was having trouble paying for his room.  We booked a room for 2 nights but the room would not be ready until 3.00pm.  We had a petit dejeuner in a patisserie where the proprietress did not stop talking.  We had a walk around the market and also a tour of half the ramparts.  We bought a roti poulet and baguette for lunch which we ate in the car.

We went back to the hotel to see about parking the car and discovered we were only booked in for one night.  We were not best pleased but with the hotel full it was a fait accompli.  Parked the car in the hotel garage and went round to the Hotel de la Poste, which we had seen on our walk and booked a room for the second night.

We resumed walking around the ramparts and on going back to the Hotel d’Europe found we had to move the car before 8.00 in the morning as the road was being closed.  We were then given the key to the room but found the room still not ready.  We were told by Reception there would be another half hour wait.  By this time we had had enough of the Hotel d’Europe so we decided to see if the Hotel de la Poste could accommodate us.  They could so we returned yet again to d’Europe to say au revoir.

Hotel de la Poste is being decorated inside so it is a bit shambolic – ye olde hotel Francaise! 

We ate out at an “Italian” restaurant.  Ha Ha!  Service had to be experienced to be believed.  Youngsters posing as waiting staff running around like blue arsed flies – people walking out and complaining – we stuck it out and were served crappish food for 35€.  C’est la vie.  We will look back on this day in the future with interest.



Viaduct at Chaumont



Viaduct with train

View through viaduct piers

Church in Langres



M. Barnaby enjoying some rare sunshine



Hotel de la Poste, Langres

Nancy – Neufchateau – Chaumont – 28 July 2011

We had breakfast and left the hotel at about 8.30.  Found our way out of Nancy without any trouble onto the open French roads.  Stopped briefly at a large supermarket just outside Neufchateau and bought 3 bottles of wine.  On arrival in Chaumont we found a parking space right outside the Office de Tourisme on one side of the street and a hotel on the other.  Booked into Hotel des Remparts at 94€.  Tony’s head still not right – has taken 2 Anadins. 

Brief wander around Chaumont and then back to the hotel so Tony could sleep.  It rained the rest of the afternoon so we updated the blog and made plans for the evening.  We ate at a local restaurant “L’Affiche” where Tony had turkey salad followed by rabbit with rice and Jane picked at a lamb kebab with a jacket potato. 

Every year in Chaumont they have a “manifestation” of poster and graphic art so all around the town there are examples of this type of “affiche”.

View of Chaumont

This tower is really called this!

Nancy – 27 July 2011

Up at 7.00 and had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel including home made boiled eggs.  We set out just before 9.00 to explore Nancy and did not return to the hotel until 1.00.  Lovely gardens, churches and other ancient monuments are to be seen here just by following your nose.  The old part of Nancy was particularly interesting.  Weather today is warm but a bit cloudy and the forecast is for a thunderstorm later.

Eventually foot sore, we bought two baguettes and ate them outside.  We went to a supermarket called Monoprix and bought some English tea. After rather an idle afternoon, we rearranged the clothes storage in the Berlingo with large bags bought from Monoprix in order to accommodate more wine purchases. We then walked around the old city looking for a restaurant and eventually ate at “La table du Bacchus”. Jane had a French style tapas while Tony tried a lamb tagine, which wasn’t brilliant, but after the usual wine, water and pression the world was (again!) a better place.

Near the end of the meal Tony felt a little peculiar so we went back to the hotel.

Bidet control a little fierce. Parc de la Pepiniere.

L'eglise du St Epvre

L'entrepreneur M. Barnaby opens restaurant in Nancy. It's a small world!

The petit Arc de Triomphe by the same sculptor.

Gerardmer to Nancy – 26 July 2011

Did not intend to drive all the way to Nancy today but the three places we stopped at en route,  Bruyere, Rampervillers and Luneville, did not have a great deal to recommend them so we continued on to Nancy.  Big city with the usual one way streets and pedestrian areas but we parked in an underground car park, sought out the Tourist Info and found a Best Western Hotel, the Crystal, not too far away with private parking.  This was a lot more stressful than I’ve made it sound!  However, here we are for two nights in a nice comfortable hotel – 254€ including breakfast and parking. For lunch we went to a “Resto rapide”. €20 bought us salad, frites and two baguettes made as you wait with two freshly squeezed orange drinks – tres agreeable. The salad we gave to a beggar. Later we sallied forth to take some pictures and dinner. We walked straight to “La Place Stanislas” where the former king of Poland and duke of Lorraine had built a large square of lovely palaces. In reality it should be called ”La Place Leszczynski” but the French, like us, have difficulty pronouncing Polish names.

We ate a so – so meal at an Italian restaurant and retired at 11pm.

This fountain supposedly copied from one in the Piazza Navona.

Place Stanislav.

One of the 6 "Porte D'Or.

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Jane in her element!

Place Stanislav.

Encore.

Colmar to Gerardmer – 25 July 2011

Up and out by 8.00 along a winding road through Les Vosges called the Route des Cretes (the crests) which runs along the crests of the mountains.  Pretty high up – 1160 metres.  In winter this is skiing country and when we got out of the car to have a look at the scenery there was a keen and rather cool breeze.

Gerardmer is a ski resort in the winter but gets holiday makers all year round as it’s on the side of a lake with plenty of water sports as well as the walking and hiking.  Had a walk along the lake and round the town. 

After turning down two hotel rooms, one too expensive at 140€ and the other too small, we chose the Hotel La Route Verte and have a big room with sofa for 60€. 

Updated the blog in the afternoon after a rest (neither of us slept well last night) and set out at 6.45 on our usual restaurant quest.  We were not too sure about the menu but one looked more like a restaurant than a cobweb for tourists – Le Bistro de la Perle.  We had a lovely evening.  Tony had cabillard (cod) in butter and saffron sauce followed by lemon torte and Jane had Marmite de Poissons (fish stew).  54€ but worth it.  Home at 10.30.

Le lac Gerardmer.

Obernai to Colmar – 24 July 2011

 

When we woke at 7.00 the square outside had been cleared.  The stage and lighting etc was gone, along with the tables, stalls and any associated rubbish! 

Left the hotel and had a pleasant drive to Colmar.  The hills around here are called Les Voges and almost every one has a ruined castle on the top, the result of many wars fought along this border.

Colmar is very, very picturesque in its ancient centre.  There are beamed houses, little canals and flowers everywhere but it has been taken over by tourism and is a bit twee and quaint.  Just beyond the centre though it is a bit like walking down Gallowtree Gate.  Being Sunday all but the souvenir shops were closed and there were many bored looking tourists wandering about. 

We managed to pick a dump of a hotel called the Ville de Nancy and it has little in the way of redeeming features.  Cost 51€.  Must spend more next time!  Had crepes for lunch.  Tony’s was tasteless.

By mid afternoon we were tired of Colmar so we decided, as a treat, to do our washing and after that to go to the pictures and see Harry Potter again, this time in French.   Left the pictures at about 7.30 and went to Le Petit Schlossberg restaurant where they had on offer ostrich, bison, reindeer and kangaroo. We had pasta and pizza!  Meal was reasonable an cost 35€.  Back to the hotel we had been avoiding at 10pm.

La petite Venise - Colmar.

Beautiful picture of Jane in Colmar.

La maison des tetes.

Saverne to Obernai – 23 July 2011

On the road just before 9 to Obernai, a distance of 30 miles and we arrived an hour later.  This little town has managed to escape the attentions of two world wars and has retained its ramparts and layouts befitting a 15^th century village. Very popular with tourists, especially the French and Germans, it has an abundance of restaurants.  Obernai is quite simply a delightful place with an ambience that suggests people live and work here and do not simply rely on the tourist trade.

We found the Hotel La Diligence overlooking the market square for 81€ and the owner warned us that the evening/night would be noisy as there was a running race taking place and was not likely to finish till about 1.00 a.m. and there would be music and bands in the market square until the race finished.  The alternative was a room in the roof space of an annexe 100 metres away.  We chose the room overlooking the square.

The market square was already being set up for the concert and around tea time trestle tables and benches were laid out along with stalls selling food/drink.  The whole town was soon out and about and consequently finding a place to eat was not easy.  Eventually found a restaurant up a side street and had chicken with pepper sauce for Tony and Jane had pork fillet with mushrooms.  Both meals OK and eaten to the accompaniment of a 4 piece rock band playing outside.

There were two bands in the main square.  The first was an accomplished, if ordinary group, playing run of the mill stuff and the second was a Rolling Stones tribute band which were very good, if a bit noisy. 

The runners came through as it started to get dark, most of them wearing LED lights on their heads and we could see them making their way up the hillside opposite. All in all a very pleasant evening. Band still playing at midnight and the square still packed with people.

Rue des cafes.

Sitting room ideal for nosy people.

L'estival d'Obernai being set up.

One of the many different types of band around the town.

During the evening.

Laser display causes local campanile to topple over.

Speyer – Hagenau – Saverne. 22nd July 2011

We had breakfast of cereal and croissants and set out toward Hagenau, which we thought looked a promising stopover. The journey was interspersed with some sunshine and heavy showers. We soon got to the border but the names and the architecture of the majority of the villages are still German – over the last 200 years it has changed hands numerous times (Alsatian?). It was market day in Hagenau and after a good walk we discovered it had but one hotel – and that closed and uncontactable until 4:00pm.We bought some baguettes for lunch and decided to move onto the next town, Saverne, which turned out to be a good choice. It’s a town whose wealth was based on its canal and huge mooring area constructed in the 18^th century. The canal is the Marne / Rhine which connects huge tracts of industry in France and Germany - it's actually 10m above the local river (Zorn!) and you climb up to it. We booked in at the Hotel “Chez Jean” for €89 which was charming with a balcony and flowers.

On venturing forth in the evening we realised there was a dearth of restaurants so ended up back at the hotel, where the food (salmon with dill and lamb chops) was excellent. We watched Sherlock Holmes in German (the BBC version) and so to bed.

Grande Rue, Saverne.

Marne/Rhine canal.

Hotel Chez Jean.

Rothenburg to Speyer - 21st July 2011.

We left Rothenburg after breakfast in warm, dry weather and proceeded, after one or  two hiccoughs, to the autobahn. It’s very disconcerting to be overtaken when you are travelling at 90 mph by a Mercedes doing 150. We arrived at Speyer at 11:15 and booked ourselves into a hotel next to the “Technik Museum”, a place devoted to transport. We spent at least 3 hours in the indoor and outdoor museum (see the pictures) and is well worth visiting.

After a shower we walked into the city centre to look around. Speyer cathedral is a world heritage site, the oldest Romanesque Dom, dating from 1035. Speyer itself is very pleasant – clean and tidy, lovely parks, helpful locals but it feels a little soulless. We had a tapas at Maximillian’s cafe, ok but nothing special.

Capt Sullenburger achieves another remarkable landing.

Ingenious German engineers do away with pneumatic tyres.

Messerschmitt 109 - G4

New 6 cylinder engine for Land Rover.

Full scale Mamod steam engine.

1930's Junkers airliner

Herr Barnaby tries driving on dodgems.

Das Boat

Munch monstrosity for contortionists only.

Half bike, half scooter MV Agusta

1950's 500cc Motoguzzi.

Retired today!

Rothenburg ob der Tauber – 20th July 2011.

It has rained all night and didn’t stop today until 2pm. It’s cold with it too. Having grumbled about the heat in Italy we are now grumbling about the damp here – we just prefer the heat! Rothenborg has an almost complete city wall that are covered by a roof, so we walked them today, followed by a visit to the Kriminal  Museum which mostly dealt with instruments of torture.

After 3 hours of this ordeal we had a late lunch of oxtail soup and speck and eggs (it’s that kind of weather) and went back to the hotel to dry off.

We updated the blog and sent some postcards in the afternoon. We decided to refer to the Rough Guide regarding restaurants and, for a change, it came up trumps. The place we visited during the evening is called “Die Altfranckishe Weinstube” and what a great place. Dark and candlelit, with a menu of 6 pages of drinks and 1 of food, reminiscent of a traditional English pub, and so busy folk were being turned away. The food was of a standard we despaired of finding in Germany. Jane had pork loin on toast with creamy mushroom sauce and pear and cranberries, while Tony enjoyed tenderloin with mushrooms and home - made potato noodles. Shock! No food went into the bin! We had two glasses of wine and ein bier which came to €46.10. Made the day, really.

Nordlingen to Rothenburg ob der Tauber – 19 July 2011

We had an easy run from Nordlingen – we set off just after 8.00 and were sorted with a hotel by 11.00.  Hotel Rappen.  Spent another 3 hours walking around.  This is a more authentic and intact walled town and consequently attracts more tourists.  Nevertheless it is very interesting.  We spent an hour in a toy museum and then went to the Christmas Shop!  A nightmare grotto of Christmas decorations and so expensive – some costing hundreds of euros.  Had to come out after 10 minutes as it put us off Christmas!

Snack for lunch and then another amble taking photos.  Sorted out clothes and car and generally tidied up.  No internet access in room – range problems.  We planned the next few days travelling and now plan to be in France again for the weekend or Monday.

Drifted around town looking for a restaurant and finally chose one connected to a Hotel where Jane had roast shoulder of pork and Tony had 7 local sausages!  Was very tasty.  Could have done without the sauerkraut and potato dumplings though.  Back to the Hotel by about 10 for a cup of tea!    

Gallows Gate into Rothenburg.

Bavarian diet not good for herr Barnaby.

Rothenburg.

Sausage shop.