Day Thirty Three: Strasbourg to Marckolsheim: (Year 33: 2000)

October 23, 2017

Flash Back to 2000:

We remember 2000 as the year the Pipeline fight started for us. A neighbour phoned and got us started. The Provincial electrical utility, BC Hydro, was planning to put a gas pipeline through our neighbourhood to fuel a string of power plants. They were moving away from more environmentally sound water power, ignoring wind and solar power, and besides could not prove any new power production was actually needed. But when Dodie and two other ladies set up a table with a petition in front of the grocery store things began to snowball. Eventually we were meeting privately with the CEO of BC Hydro, and appearing before federal and provincial tribunals. It was an immersive experience, and lots of fun because of the overwhelming community support.

Protests started small, but the little group gained strength and eventually stopped a billion dollar project.

In 2000 the electric company planned a gas pipeline to run through our community and be linked to a string of gas burning plants. Not only did Steve and Dodie think they should use Wind instead, but Steve's calculations showed no new construction was immediately needed at all. Steve and Dodie joined an all consuming effort to shut the plan down. By 2005 the company got tired of fighting and quit.. Grampies, of course, never give up!

Pete Seeger wrote the ultimate struggle against the odds song in We Shall Overcome

At this point we could still outrun even a dog. Knee troubles are about a decade away!

Steve likes to brag about how strong he is. "Sure, put more weight on my bike!" he often says. So how about this photo!

Jeremy is heading off Island, to live in Whistler. The children are getting more dispersed. Eventually they would live in places like Montreal, Toronto, Missoula (Montana), Seattle, Toulouse, and even Belize.

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Fast Forward to 2017, France:

The fun of breakfast in the dining room of the old hotel was multiplied by the benign neglect of the one staffer, who was also responsible for the front desk. Cyclists alone with all that food!

Actually we were not quite alone, for we had the company of the Japanese psychology professor and his student. They seemed so exotic to us, hailing from so far away, and no doubt we were a novelty too to them.

An unexpected theme in this blog seems to be crockery, starting with Villeroy and Boch. Here in the hotel they have a beautiful pattern as well. Searching with weak internet, it seems these dishes, marked Sarreguemines (the town we passed through day before yesterday) are equally famous. The company, however, are Johhny-Come-Latelys, having started only in 1784!

From an antique dealer on the internet:

"Sarreguemines is the name of a French town that is used as part of a china mark. Utzschneider and Company, a porcelain factory, made ceramics in Sarreguemines, Lorraine, France, from about 1775. Transfer-printed wares and majolica were made in the nineteenth century. The nineteenth-century pieces, most often found today, usually have colorful transfer-printed decorations showing peasants in local costumes. Some pieces were marked Faienceries Sarreguemines. "

The hotel had nice plates from a famous maker

The Sarreguimines brand has been around a very long time

Rolling our bikes easily from the unused bar out the front door of the hotel, we were again on the streets of Strasbourg. The day was starting dull and rainy and what I seemed to notice most at first were the bright and warm splashes of light and colour provided by the several bakeries we passed, plus other shops.

Strasbourg is surrounded by canals, like this

The Alsatian houses are represented in models like these

Our first real objective was to check out the "Vieux France" quartier, which is always marked prominently on tourist maps. It's a section with canals and covered bridges, and several "Alsatian" style buildings. It was nice, but not necessarily nicer than the equally old streets by the Cathedral, which we returned to next.

The first thing we noticed again was a patrol of four heavily armed soldiers. We had run into such a patrol yesterday. On seeing them yesterday, I had said "Let's take another street" - but Dodie went up to them and asked if there was a problem. The deadly looking men then grinned and boyishly said no, just routine patrol. They were very young! We are so sad that they have to be here doing this, in today's world.

The cathedral obliged by ringing its bells, as we picked up some postcards for the kids at a shop opposite. The shop also had witches, which seem to be big here, and not just because Halloween is coming. Storks are also big, in case you need a stuffed stork!

The hotel Tricia and Ken stayed in is right on the cathedral square.

The witches are supposed to sweep away Winter

Now we looked again around the cathedral area and began to make our way out of town.Of course, in the vicinity of the old town we continued to see beautiful old buildings, and things changed thereafter.

Depending on your point of view, newer building may still be ok. For example, how about these:

Some people may prefer these colourful new apartments

On the other hand, you would be hard pressed to love dull grey stuff like this:

As we crossed one street, a great big truck that seemed like a street sweeper came by. It turned and put itself on the other side of the street. No big deal, except I wondered if it might turn on its water or brushes or whatever as we passed. Instead it did a funny trick. It suddenly levitated itself - all four wheels off the ground, and took off along the trolley tracks that I now noticed underneath it. I only mention it because of the amazement to see a street sweeper truck just levitating in the middle of the street!

The mysterious levitating truck, rapidly leaving on the tram tracks

The next apparition came just a half block later on our path. Up there were lots of flashing lights. As we approached we could see emergency vehicles and then a bicycle thrown down on the sidewalk. A helmet and what turned out to be a red bag lay beside, and from my angle this looked like a person lying very still. To say our blood pressure and pulse spiked is obvious, given the past few weeks. As we got closer we could see the hapless rider was either in the ambulance or already on the way to hospital. For what it's worth, the hospital was just across the way. Ten minutes later, we were still hyperventilating.

What appeared to me the downed cyclist - was a helmet and a bag

The emergency response to the cycle accident

The next scene was a lot more jolly - canoeists setting out on some sort of canal exploration. They were all speaking English, so they must have been part of a tour.

What next? Six city employees with powerful leaf blowers. They had (randomly?) selected a section of street and were rounding up all the leaves into a big pile. Then they had a big vacuum truck that was obviously poised to suck them up and take them away. Looking at the leaf filled canal, I unkindly thought - "Let's see you vacuum those up". No doubt leaves need to be managed, but rolling through leaves (and acorns) has actually been a signature part of this trip for us.

From the canal we look placidly at the crowded auto road

Workers blow leaves into a pile, ready for that truck to vacuum up

And next? The canals have been filled with swans (and ducks, and geese) and though I have photographed them in the past they are so graceful and beautiful that it seems crass to go for such an easy great shot. But here is one of kids looking at the swans, that hopefully will strike a chord with kids looking at this blog.

These cabbages looked great and no doubt will soon be sauerkraut.

The leaves are safe from the vacuum truck, floating in the canal

Speaking of easy great shots, how about his one from along our canal route!

The thrills just kept coming, as our next encounter was with a dog and a donkey, and their owner, Hetty. The dog turned out to be Barou, and the donkey was Speedy. Together they had walked from Switzerland. Speedy only averages 2 kph, so this may have taken a while. I am not super sure about their destination, it might be a conference or meeting in Strasbourg. Hetty is an evangelist, with the web site: www.evangile-en-chemin.ch That rather implies a travelling evangelist, but we have not really figured out more yet. Clearly though Hetty, Barou, and Speedy qualify with us as Crazyguys on a Canal.

Hetty, Barou, Speedy. Hetty's companion seemed to have nipped up from Switzerland to lend a hand.

Continuing down the beautiful leafy canal and paved path everything was great except there clearly were no services. We knew that we could strike off for a town on either side, but after investing the distance there was no guarantee we would find anything. Finally we decided to gamble, and chose a town just a km and a half from the canal - Obenheim. Luck was with us, as we immediately hit the "Auberge b'm Hans". And we were right in the golden 12-2 timeslot. The Auberge, we could see from the chalkboard outside was offering two Plats de Jour - one a pork sautee and one a tortellini. Long ago influenced by Peter Mayle (A Year in Provence) who wrote glowingly about these mid day plats, we have been having mixed results over past years. But this Auberge was seemingly out of his book. The room, decorated with heavy wooden beams and a variety of large cow bells was 3/4 filled with all sort of people, notably and perhaps strangely with family groups including young and old. While we were there, the place totally filled, creating quite an active atmosphere, especially for the two servers who were literally running up and down.

We both first received salads, with an interesting combination of cold cuts, pickles, and not pickled beets. Then the two dishes, which were very different from each other, but both delicious. Though we had not at all been the first to come, we were pretty much the first to leave. The others were in no hurry, after all, they had until 2 when this place would close. Then they could leave and presumably go reopen their Proxy markets, or whatever.

The Auberge, with even more patrons soon to arrive

We however were trying to reach Marckolsheim in good time, maybe to be able to visit the Maginot Line memorial there, and anyway to check into the gite we had booked. The green bicycle direction signs insisted that we could stay on the canal, which would be a straight shot to the town. But the Bikeline maps and gpx wanted to send us wandering off on adjacent (often busy) roads, through nearby towns. We respectfully declined that offer.

Another offer we were declining was the option of riding the Alsace Wine Route. This runs along the face of the Vosges mountains, from Strasbourg to Mulhouse, and goes through a huge number of wine villages. It was first recommended to us by Keith and Kathleen Classen and we have since picked up several maps and brochures about it. Even on the plane coming from Canada, there was a film about this Alsace wine region. The only thing, the Vosges sound like hills. Eeerpph. We will put it on a list for when we feel we have more time. For now, we are just looking over to the mountains and saying "Hey, that's where it is".

Where we are at: Strasbourg to Marckolsheim. We stuck to EV 15 as shown an went absolutely straight down the canal.

The Vosges mountains to our right. The Alsace wine route runs along their bases.

We continued to look at the busy roads recommended by Bikeline, and just could not figure out why they are on the spec'ed out route. No matter, we stuck on the canal and arrived in Marckolsheim just fine.

The Maginot line - we saw bunkers like this one all along the canal. The memorial in Marckolsheim was closed.

Just part of the kitchen, which is one of several rooms we got here.

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 1,134 km (704 miles)

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