Le Hohwald, Alsace, France

We are finally in the mountains and about half way through our trip. We hiked into the Vosges the day before Bastille Day, reaching 1000 meters on the top of Donon. Once again the terrain along with food and architecture have changed. Alsace has its own cuisine, the first night I had trout with sour kraut, and the villages look German. And it got cold. A week ago it was 40, today the high is 19 and we are wondering about lightening our packs for the mountains by getting rid of lots of heavy warm things.



Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks, in more or less chronological order:



This is in Metz, along the Moselle River. Metz along with Nancy do not get many American tourists, but they are beautiful places without big crowds.









Metz again from a portico of the great St; Etienne Cathedral, with its superb stained glass including modern windows by Chagal and Villon.

The Simonin family, who saved us in Laitre Sous Amance: Marie Pierre, Tomas, Lucas, and Remy. We are sitting after lunch in their farm yard.

The Simonin farm yard, Remy on the tractor.

The Simonin house.

Rhonda with Ute Sweitzer, Klaus Fromm, and Ulli Fromm from Saarbrucken in Papeniere Park in Nancy after they took us to lunch at the restaurant Flo. We went on to tour the area around Nancy with the Fromms and had a great time.

The square in Vic Sur Sielle

Chateau Alteville, Lorraine, where we spent two nights and dined with exceptional people on exceptional food.

The ladies of Fribourg gathering around the boulangerie truck to buy their bread. Most get five or more loaves.

David Barthelemy of Chateau Alteville dropping us off at Gondrexange for our hike to Abreschviller.

Marie Therese Kuchy and Christian at Le Jardin de Marie in Vasperviller. We walked into Abreschviller very hot and tired and found no rooms in the hotels. After deciding to stay in the church I remembered a sign for a chambres d hotes and hiked back to it and got the phone number. Christian answered and said he would pick us up as Le Jardin is in the next village. We had a wonderful time in their splendid gardens. Christian is the manager of 10000 hectares of of national forest land around the town and is also a wonderful wild life photographer. He not only manages the forest, but is in charge of the whole ecosystem, including animals, water, roads. Imagine not having agencies in charge of each part of the environment at war with each other.

Col de Donon

On top of Donon.