| France Alsace |
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| For those of you who don't know, Alsace is a little French province bordered by the Rhine and Germany to the east. Strasbourg is its major city. Alsace is known for its low lying, but very scenic Vosges Mountains and the vinyards that line their slopes, not to mention its distinct French/German culture. We made a couple trips into the countryside from Strasbourg and also worked our way down to Switzerland, camping (of course) along the way. |
| The Vosges are filled with medieval castle ruins and then an amazing array of hiking trails that snake between them. We visited a few of these ruins with Marie-Loup and Robert, friends of Kendra from her year in Strasbourg. |
| As we said, Alsace, like many other provincial regions of France has a distinct history and culture all of its own. At a folklore festival we watched dancers preform in the traditional Alsacian costume. |
| On our way down towards Switzerland we spent a couple of nights in this quaint little town called Ribeauville. St.Ulrich's castle (12th century) looks down over the town from its mountain perch. |
| Alsace is also known for two other things: tarte flambee (left) and storks (above). These particular storks were in a little zoo of sorts but they come and go as they please. In the Alsacian villages you see them all over, often with young in their nests, way, way, up. |
| From Alsace we went to visit Kendra's friend Claudia in Basel Switzerland, after which we went back up the Rhine through the German Black Forest. We then crossed back over into Alsace where we visited Kendra's old roommate from Strasbourg, Celine, and her partner Yves. Here is Kendra and Celine, right before we said goodbye. |