DIMANCHE

View from Haut Koenigsbourg

June 21:  Dimanche, or Sunday, is delightfully slow in France. They take their day of rest seriously (just as they take the hours of 1200 to 1400 seriously during the week). Many restaurants are closed, families get together for dinner, most stores and businesses are shuttered. I had done a little research and found two things we could do in Alsace on a Sunday.

Gertwiller puce

Is that a beer tent on Sunday morning?

Almost every Sunday finds a puce or flea market in one of the little villages. Today there was one in Gertwiller. I had no idea what to expect, but the one thing that really surprised me was how huge it was. The market covered both sides of at least three streets the length of football fields! We had to park on the outskirts of town. Most of the people appeared to be amateurs selling stuff from their houses, not dealers. Even though it was 10:30 in the morning, the beer tent was open for business. I really enjoyed browsing. I bought an old map of Lorraine I might frame and a French children's book to read to Luca. Richard is not a fan of markets, but he indulged me.

Then we drove into the mountains west of Selestat to Haut Koenigsbourg--a castle built in the Middle Ages. The fortress erupts from a mountain top and once dominated central Alsace. We could see all the way to the Rhine. As is usually the case in Europe, parking was at a premium, and we had to hike the last few hundred yards uphill. We explored several stories and wings of the castle. I can't imagine living there hundreds of years ago in a state of alert at all times. The Germans meticulously restored the ruins at the turn of the 20th century, and the results are spectacular. Unfortunately for Germany, once the restoration was complete, the French won Alsace back at the end of the Great War. I'm not sure any country can really own such a monument, Haut Koenigsbourg is part of the human heritage as much as the Pyramids or the cave paintings at Lascaux.

When we returend to Obernai, there was a music festival, and all the town had turned out. We ate another Alsatian meal, this time at Le Cloche, just down the street from our apartment. I had snails for an appetizer and liver dumplings for my main course. Richard had sauerkraut and succulent spareribs (who knew ribs were Alsatian?). Since our apartment was 50 meters from the square, we could hear the concert, but we were so tired after tackling Haut Koenigsbourg, that we both fell asleep with no problem at all.

Water spout in the castle