Expedition: Retirement

We left Nancy on a early morning train to Metz, which was a short thirty minute train ride away. In hindsight, perhaps I should have considered staying in Metz an extra night and just doing Nancy as a day trip, taking the train down and back the same day. Either way, we arrived in Metz by mid-morning, dropped our luggage at our hotel, and journey out to begin seeing the city. We took a long, peaceful walk through the parks along the Moselle River, enjoying the scenery. We then ventured further into the city, walking past the Cathedral to the Musée de La Cour d'Or de Metz. This museum details the long history of Metz, from its Roman roots through the middle ages. The museum is built on top of the site of an ancient Roman bath, and ruins of that bath have been excavated and are visible in the museum basement. There are some significant Roman mosaics on display, as well as a collection of medieval painted wooden ceilings (one of the largest collections in the world, apparently). There was even a gallery detailing the Jewish history in Metz. The museum was so extensive that we spent most of the rest of the day there, learning about Metz and its history and art. We finished the day with a visit to the Cathedral, which was constructed beginning in the 13th century. And while the gothic structure itself is impressive and beautiful, the Cathedral also has a collection of stained glass windows by Marc Chagall that were worth the visit by themselves.

The next morning, we started the day by doing a self-guided tour of the medieval fortifications of Metz. It was interesting to learn that the various trade guilds were each responsible for maintaining certain portions of the defenses, and were expected to man their sections to defend the city.

 Throughout the week of our bike tour there were times when the weather seemed threatening, but for the most part the rain held off during our rides until the final morning. As we departed Obernai for our final ride on Friday morning, the skies opened up and we found ourselves riding in a soaking rain. Luckily the rain cleared after thirty or forty minutes, as forecast, and the rest of the day was dry, even though the sky never really cleared.

We rode north from Obernai, past more farm land, and through the town of Molshein, home of the car manufacturer Bugatti before turning to follow the Canal de la Bruche. This canal was built under the direction of Vauban to facilitate the movement of sandstone blocks from quarries in the Vosges Mountains to Strasbourg for the construction of the fortifications there. The canal is no longer in commercial use, but still has water in it, providing a lovely setting for our ride.

This final day seemed to be less about the scenery than it was about the animals. In Molsheim, we rode past a park with an enclosure where they care for injured storks. There are additional nests in the area with more storks, all much closer to the ground and easier to see than the ones we'd been seeing earlier in the week. There were also several swans swimming in the canal at this park.

Later, as we were riding along the Canal de la Bruche, we cam across a section of the bike path that was largely overtaken by a large crowd of geese, who showed no interest in getting out of the way of the many bicycles traveling this route. They just sat there and largely ignored us as we slowed down and worked our way around them.

We also saw lots of ducks, a field full of sheep, a grey heron in flight, and, perhaps most unexpectedly, in an enclosure near where we stopped for lunch in Entzheim, a wallaby, who was every bit as out of place here as the Sequoia trees had been earlier in the week.

After our picnic lunch, provided by our tour guides, we rode back to Obernai through more farmland, including the cabbage fields around Krautergesheim, where 70% of France's cabbage is grown and the hops fields near the Kronenbourg brewery. Our bike tour finished back at our hotel in Obernai, where we had our final dinner together before departing for Strasbourg the next morning.

 The fourth and fifth days of the bike tour took use deep into the vineyards of the Alsace wine regions at the base of the Vosges Mountains. As we set out both mornings, the weather was overcast and threatening, but soon cleared, leaving us with lovely riding weather. Our routes took us through seemingly endless vineyards and through many little towns and villages, each one like a scene from a fairy tale. Many of them had their medieval gates, and each had a lovely old church, set against the backdrop of the vineyards and mountains. As we rode, with the mountains to our left, we could see the ruins of a whole series of castles along the ridge tops. This was my favorite part of the tour, and it may well be the best scenery we've seen on any of the bike tours we've done so far.

Colmar, France is the heart of the Alsace wine country, and is a gorgeous little city with a beautiful medieval old town. Our hotel was on the edge of the old town, not far from the canal that is referred to as "Little Venice". Having visited Venice, I found the comparison a bit oversold, but the canal and the buildings along side it are undeniably attractive.

Shortly after arriving in Colmar, we were treated to an evening boat tour through Little Venice, which provided a nice perspective on the city, even if it wasn't very long. After the tour, our group had dinner at Domaine Martin JUND, a winery run by the same family for fourteen generations. Dinner was accompanied by a wine tasting, where we sampled a half dozen or more of their wonderful Alsatian wines.

Our ride the next day ended early so that we would have time to explore the city. Like many of the cities we visited in this region, there was a tourist "train" that ran a loop through the city, with a narrated tour to listen too. Sandy and I decided to ride around the city on the train, which gave us a better appreciation for the history and culture of the city. We also visited the Cathedral of Saint Martin, and the gift shop at the nearby chocolate museum to look at their model of a 1927 Bugatti, made entirely out of chocolate.

Our first ride was a warm up ride, a shorter ride, primarily intended to be an opportunity to make sure our bikes were properly adjusted and working properly. While this warm up was longer than the ones we've done on other tours, at just under 14 miles, it was a very flat ride, much of it on tow paths along a canal. It wasn't the most scenic ride of the week, but the destination was definitely worth it. The ride ended at the parking lot for the Abbatiale Saints Pierre et Paul, a Romanesque abbey church in the town of Ottmarsheim, France. This church was consecrated in 1049 by Pope Leo IX, who was born in Alsace (we would visit his home town later on the tour). It is an unusual, octagonal shape, with a square tower centering the front. It lacks the large beautiful windows of a gothic church, but it was calming and peaceful inside. It was humbling to stand inside the church and contemplate that it had been there for nearly a thousand years.

Our second day would be the only day that our ride would be entirely in Germany. In the morning, we left Badenweiler, with a steep descent into the vineyards and farms along the edge of the Black Forest. Our 13 mile ride took us to the town of Staufen, Germany. At the edge of the town, the ruins of the Staufen Castle sit at the top of a hill that is heavily terraced with vineyards. This castle dates to the twelfth century (but was the cite of an earlier Roman fort) and was destroyed in 1633 during the Thirty Years War. We hiked up to the ruins, and were rewarded with a stunning 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside. After taking in the views, we returned to the town for lunch and a little shopping. The center of the town was quite pretty, with beautiful architecture, and interesting murals on the buildings. After lunch, our afternoon ride was an easy 11 miles back to Badenweiler, although it did finish with a climb back up the descent we came down in the morning.

Neuf-Brisach, France: On the third day of our bike tour, we were scheduled to stop for lunch in the fortified town of Neuf-Brisach, which I was pleased to discover is included on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, where it is included in the listing for the "Fortifications of Vauban". Designed by Vauban, a military engineer at the service of Louis XIV, this planned town was built to defend the French frontier along the Rhine river. The town itself is octagonal, with a neat grid of streets around a central square, entirely surrounded by extensive fortifications. The town would not be captured by an enemy until 1870. During WWII, it was bombed by Allied forces who anticipated that the Germany army would use the fortifications to mount a defense. Unfortunately, the German army had already withdrawn, leaving only civilians in the town at the time of the attack. Our tour here took us through the earthworks and into one of the towers, highlighting the incredible scale of the construction involved in building this town. The attention to detail evident in the design is a testament to Vauban's skill as a military engineer.



Nancy, France: When we visited our daughter and son-in-law in Germany last year, Nancy was one of the places we had considered visiting, largely because Place Stanislas, the plaza at the heart of the city, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nancy is the historic capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, and the square was commissioned by Stanislas Leczinski, the twice deposed King of Poland, who was named Duke of Lorraine and Bar after being forced from the Polish throne the second time.

 Our bike tour was scheduled to begin with the tour guides picking us up in Basel, and while we could have book air fare directly to Basel, the airport their is small and required transfers to get to. Zürich has a major international airport, which made the air fare somewhat less expensive, and gave us an excuse to spend a couple of nights exploring this largest city in Switzerland. Before we left, I had purchased 3-day city passes that would cover all our public transportation in and around the city. It also included admission to a number of museums, and discounts at others. Perhaps most importantly, it covered the train from the airport into the city, so I wouldn't have to fuss with that when we arrived.

Zürich has an extensive and very user friendly public transportation network that includes buses, street trams, trains, and ferries, all using a single unified fare system. The fares are based on zones, and once you purchase the ticket that covers the zones you will be traveling through, it is good for any combination of transport to get you where you need to go. Of course, our city passes covered all of that, so we could just hop onto a tram or a train as we needed to. The entire system runs on an honor system...no one ever checked our passes during our time in the city, but passengers are subject to random checks, and the penalties for not having a ticket are supposed to be quite stiff, and fares are very reasonable, so getting a ticket is definitely recommended.

The plan was to spend two nights in Zürich before catching a morning train to Basel. With our flight arriving on Thursday morning, we would drop our luggage at our hotel (where we wouldn't be able to check in until afternoon, anyway) and head straight out to explore. We would also use Friday for sightseeing, before heading to Basel on Saturday. And that plan worked pretty well. When we got off the train from the airport at the central train station, it was raining, but we had remembered to bring umbrellas, so we didn't get too wet as we walked to two blocks to our hotel. After making sure we had what we needed for the day, we deposited our luggage in the hotel's storage room, and walked back to the train station, where we caught a train south to the suburb of Kilchberg, home of Lindt Chocolate. Our city passes included an admission discount for the Lindt World of Chocolate Museum, which was a short ten minute walk from the train station. Like Hershey, the museum is separate from the chocolate factory, but unlike Hershey, with its amusement park-like ride, the Lindt museum was both extensive and interactive, with lots of detailed exhibits on the history of chocolate, the processes used to make it, and, best of all, plenty of free samples.

 From here, the plan was to go to the restaurant at Felsenegg, on the top of the ridge overlooking Lake Zürich. When we finished at Lindt, I checked the transit schedules on Google, and found that it would take two buses to get to the aerial tram up to the restaurant. According to Google Maps, the waits for the buses meant that the transit option would take the same amount of time as walking. By now the rain had stopped and the skies were clearing, so we decided to just walk. What we didn't realize is that there was another, lower ridge between us and our destination. The first half of our walk was a pedestrian path that went straight up that ridge. It was a bit of a workout, but that only fueled our appetite for the dinner we were anticipating when we reached our destination.

After about a half-hour walk, we arrived at the base station for the aerial tram to Felsenegg, finding it utterly deserted. However, the signs indicated that it was open and operating, and that the next tram would depart in about ten minutes. Looking up the mountain, we could see the trams moving on their cables. When our tram arrived, a handful of people exited, and we climbed aboard. The entire system was automated...we never saw any staff or operators. The doors opened and closed automatically, and when it came time to depart, the tram automatically started its return trip up the mountain. As the tram climbed, we took in the panoramic views, with Zürich off to our left, at the north end of Lake Zürich, and to our right, the lake stretching down to the mountains, which were still covered in clouds and mist.



Once we exited the tram at the top of the mountain, we had a short, five minute walk through the woods to the restaurant, which sat in a clearing at the edge of the mountain, with spectacular panoramic views of the valley and the lake below us. We were early for dinner by European standards (about 5pm), but the restaurant was open and we had our choice of seat since it was completely empty. Had the weather been a little more favorable, we might have considered eating outside on the deck, with the incredible view, but it was still chilly, and the risk that another party might sit out there and smoke kept us inside. It didn't take long to order...we knew what we wanted before we arrived. Sitting by the windows looking out at the valley, we enjoyed a rich, yummy cheese fondue, dipping our chunks of bread, ham, and pickles (this was a new concept for us, but very good) in the warm, creamy cheese. I washed mine down with a delicious pint of hard cider. It was a wonderful meal to start our trip, matched by the views.

Eventually, it was time to head back to our hotel. We reversed our path back to the tram and down the mountain, where we caught a train back to the central train station and our hotel. We checked in, collected our luggage, and settled into our accommodations for the next two nights.

On Friday morning, we set out to explore the historic center of the city. We visited the Grossmünster, a Romaneque-style church that was constructed in the 12th Century, but has been a protestant church since the Reformation. While architecturally interesting, the iconoclasm of the Reformation stripped it of any artwork that might have adorned it in the Middle Ages, leaving it rather stark inside. We also visited the Kirche Fraumünster on the other side of the river, which was also stripped of its Medieval art during the Reformation. However, in the 20th century, efforts to restore the church lead to the installation of new stained glass windows, including a number my Marc Chagall, which were very striking.

We also did a guided walking tour of the historic part of the city. We learned a great deal about the historic roots of this city, founded by the Romans, the importance of the different churches in the city's history, as well as information about the Swiss banking industry (which has been largely consolidated in one large bank, UBS), and the local foods.

After the tour, we visited the Beyer Clock Museum. Located in the basement of the Beyer Watch Shop on the Bahnbhoffstrasse, the home of Zürich's high end retail stores (brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Cartier, Tiffany, etc.), this museum has an extensive collection of historic clocks and watches that show the development of the technology and artistry involved in making time pieces. While all the exhibits were labelled in German, we were given an iPad that had English descriptions of every item on display, so we could read about any of the items that caught our attention. The display began with water clocks from ancient Egypt, and progressed up through the incredibly ornate watches and clocks of the 19th and 20th century.

When we finished at the museum, we walked down to the shore of Lake Zürich, and then along the banks of the Limmat River until the rain returned as forced us inside to look for dinner. We found a restaurant where we had Rösti, a hashbrown-like dish that is popular in Switzerland. My wife's was topped with bacon and an egg, while I had salmon on mine. After eating, we meandered our way back to our hotel through the winding streets.