September 1, 2017
Mulhouse: Into Alsace
After dicing with the morning traffic in Montbelierd we were pleased to be back on the canal. The Doubs has turned towards Switzerland so now the Rhone au Rhin canal is now a pure canal. We are moving away from the hills so the views are not nearly as spectacular. Again the little villages were without services - and you can blame the massive Supermarkets for this. At Retzwiller we got off the canal to search. A man in a car saw us and gave us directions to Dannemarie about 2 or 3 kilometres away. Then he followed us in his car and when we got to Dannemarie out he got a took us to and enormous Intermarche with an attached Boulangerie and Coffee shop. The Brioche I had melted in my mouth.
Back on the canal things had changed dramatically. Firstly everything had changed to a Germanic look - we were now in Alsace. The houses looked different and the church steeples were all pointed. The other thing was that we must have come to the top of the canal because now it was going down hill and steeply so. For a while the ecluses were only about 100m apart. This was fun like riding a roller coaster. The canal takes you right into Mulhouse. It has a big pedestrian area in the centre and that was where our hotel is.
Ken was pleased to stop here because it is here there is Cite de l’Automobile. It is a truely amazing and huge museum. The Schlumf brothers had a woollen factory but their passion was collecting Bugatti cars. They just couldn't help themselves and eventually the whole factory was filled with cars - it was all a secret but their business went down hill and their workers revolted. Eventually it all came to light in the mid eighties - it was taken over by The Alsace and the French Govt. In the late eighties we visited shortly after the discovery, then again about 6 years ago and again today. Ken of course was in his element. I took ‘Le petit train’ around it as the amount of walking is beyond me.
The tram back to the city centre and we will go out soon for a meal
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Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 1,463 km (909 miles)
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