(editor's note: There was not time to caption the photos, or to put them in their correct positions. we hope this will happen soon. Until then, it could be very hard to understand why we put in a certain photo or what it means. Hang in there, it will come clear soon!
It's cool to bumble through a country, bumping into whatever and missing a lot, but at least doing it by oneself. On the other hand, if you get in some way a local guide, it can be great. It's kind of like going on the Hop On Hop Off bus - sometimes it can be a real revelation (and of course, other times not).
Our transport for today. It' a Citroen, which is a make seldom seen in North America. Most cars here are this size. Though ten years old, this has side airbags, A/C, power windows, and a digital display.
This time we had Roland. Not only has he lived in this region all his life, but his family history is intertwined with the regional history. Roland's family originally (way back - just after the 30 Years War) were Saxons from the vicinity of Halle, near Leipzig. They were attracted to Lorraine by a call from Louis XIV, because population was lacking here. But in recent history the family was affected by the fact that this region has changed hands between the French and the Germans five times in the last 100 years. So Roland's grandfather was here when it was German (after the annexation of 1870) and his father was also in a German period. Consequently though living here, Roland spoke German at home. But after WWII, of course, the area reverted to the French, and Roland became French. Since he was born in 1943 (I think) he must have spent his life outside the home in French.
Roland still speaks German as easily as French, and to boot he speaks Luxemburger - which is a difficult dialect spoken only in nearby Luxemburg. It used to be spoken also in Thionville, which is just over the river (the Moselle from where we are now, but that had died out. Moreover, he has ranged throughout the area and knows the geography and history on both sides of the current border well.
Today Roland took us to six fascinating places, one in France, one directly on the border, and four in Germany. The German section was weird for us, because through the magic of a vehicle we were plunged quickly into the whole German thing - the language, the beautiful houses, the outdoor restaurants, the Eiscafes, the Conditereis, etc. Since we were immersed in speaking French with Roland and Brigitte, it was hard to change. So we found ourselves addressing the Germans in French (which they do not understand) rather than in English (which they do understand).
Anyway, let's start at the beginning, which thankfully was in France:
Chateau Malbrouck
Don't be put off by the Malbrouck name, actually this is a chateau (basically, a fort) named for the Duke of Marlborough (like the cigarettes?). That guy did not build or even really live in the place. Only, the British briefly occupied it in 1705 during the war of the Spanish succession. (Never heard of it? Me neither!). The crazy thing is that Winston Churchill was the Duke of Marlborough. Because Churchill had no children, he was the last one.
It was not as if Churchill owned the place anyway, and it was falling to ruins. The state bought it in 1975 and completely restored it, at a fabulous cost, with completion in 1998. The idea of the resoration was to put it back into new (15 th century) condition. They did not completely achieve this, because we noticed many modern touches, like concrete foundations under the towers, and very nice washrooms! Even so, they did take great care in doing authentic work, which often required the training of craftspeople in long lost techniques.
The chateau hosts various expositions over time, such as one on Napoleon, and one on African Art. But this time the exposition was more in keeping with the place, as the subject was knights (of Europe) and Samurai. The pieces came form private collections and also the museum in Metz. Best of all for me in this exposition was a really extensive set of Samurai headdresses. These guys make Darth Vader look like a real fashion beginner.
Stairs in towers were designed to wind upwards such that a defender above could strike with the right arm, while the attacker was limited to using the left.
Loong over the countryside from the chateau, we see the large nuclear plant in the distance. The capacity of this is 1300 MW - enough to run a goodly proportion of our island back home. The population voted massively against this in a referendum, but they were ignored.
Roland dropped us past a chapel which s directly on the French/German border, near the town of Perl (Germany). It is just small, but it contains a prayer for peace in the world in both German and French.
At the now almost invisible border between France and Germany, I have one hand on each side.
The Moselle (Mosel) is our river, but today we were shown a whole other thing - the Saar. The Saar starts somewhere in France, but quite southeast of here, and runs 240 km through Germany (the Moselle by the way is 514 km long, with 200 km in France), by the towns of Saarbrucken, Saarlouis. Merzig, Mettlach, and Saarburg. It continues, and joins the Mosel at Trier. Most of the Saar runs through the German region called appropriately enough Saarland, but as it nears the Mosel, it is in the region Rheinland-Pfalz.
Saarburg was our first introduction to the Saar, but more than that it represented being dropped suddenly into that (wonderful) land of clean houses (and restrooms), ice cream everywhere, and of course German language. The language was tough, because no one understood French anymore, and we have forgotten to routinely use English. It was pretty much irrelevant anyway, since Roland speaks perfect German.
Our main activity in Saarburg outside of looking at a branch of the river (or a canal) that runs through the middle of town, was to have lunch at one of the many restaurants. Dodie and I both chose Schnitzel, in honour of this being our first time this year in Germany. We were both ready to go with plain (Wiener Art - Viennese style) schnitzel, but Roland pointed out the Ziegeuner (Gypsy) variety, which features red peppers.
What we got was actually a disappointing, because basic schnitzel can be made by pan frying (good) or by deep frying (bad). After that, if it is not a plain, various sauces can be poured over the top. I think last year we found a shop downriver in Cochem offering 100 (or anyway, many) varieties - but that is only 100 sauce types. Even so, it was great because of being the first time.
Saarburg is deep enough into Germany to have little resemblance to France. Saarburg, clearly, is on the Saar. We will have to return to cycle that whole river.
A canal, or part of the Saar runs right through town, in a small Gorge. People can look down on the flowing water, which passes through three water wheels.
Back up river to Mettlach, our target was the headquarters of the (apparently super famous) Villeroy + Boch ceramics company. The headquarters occupies an old Benedictine monastery, but they also have a clearance centre nearby. Clearance means you get to pay only a fabulous price for their stuff, rather than an impossible price. We started at the clearance centre, without understanding much about the company, but still enjoyed spotting the pieces we would like to have at home. But it was only when we moved over to the company's museum that we understood well that the outfit had started 265 years ago, and had an amazing array of products and designs. We watched a film explaining the company history, hosted by Peter Ustinov - who did a masterful job, with top quality production values. We then took coffee and pastries in the museum cafe, which is completely tiled, and which was designed in 1892.
Heading along the Saar to Mettlach, we naturally note the great bikeway all along the river.
This was an action packed day, so we zoomed over to a spot on the Saar where it makes almost a complete loop. The "blick", or viewpoint, is up a hillside, where you can look down and see the whole layout unfold. Also visible from there is the Saar Radweg, the bicycle path that like with the Moselle, is paved on either side of the river. We picked up one map, a cycle touring map for Saarland, but we also saw the two Bikeline books that cover the river. It seems pretty clear that we will include cycling the Saar sometime real soon.
Look, Trish and Ken, a tractor hanging out near the Saar blick. Do you know this make?
Our final stop was a re-creation of a Roman Villa, on the site of a real Roman villa. This was a big learning experience for me. When we first entered the place I was thinking, what is this?, because what I saw was artifacts on display in premises that seemed modern and beautiful, like a well designed and decorated museum building. The displays puzzled me as well, because for example there was recreated glasswear that seemed more appropriate to Villeroy and Boch. So what I eventually learned was that in the villa of a well off Roman, there were furnishings, design, even heating that could seem luxurious even today. For example, the "hot tub" makes ours at home look sick, and the same goes double for the "cold tub". Further, there was in floor heating, that looked totally ingenious.
We arrived late, but there were remnants outside of a Roman "tent encampment" that was full of people, many still in Roman dress, who clearly had participated in some sort of Roman Days convention. We had the impression that they were some sort of club, and that people had come from far away for this. There were dozens of tents and scads of people.
At this stage of proceedings, it seemed to me that the main activity of these club people was attending the on site beer garden!
We had left Brigitte at home, since she claimed that the rigorous all day tour would be too tiring. She was right, and also this left her with the strength to prepare supper for us tourists. One of the main components was Quiche Lorraine, which figures, because we are in ... Lorraine. The Quiche involves some sort of bacon bits, but it's main claim to fame is the use of Emmenthal cheese beneath the egg mixture. I bugged Brigitte for commentary on how she was making this, but she replied with the French equivalent of "Beat it, I'm working here!". This did not stop me, of course, from getting some spy photos!
History is everywhere here. Sifting soil from a construction project next door, Roland found a Roman coin, plus one from Louis VXI, and even a kopeck, from whe russians were invaders here.
Roland and Brigitte have been feeding us like crazy, and this will hopefully result in our having lots of power for heading further down the Moselle, in the direction of (or to) Trier. Unfortunately, there is a scale in our bathroom, and being calibrated in kg does not hide that fact that I, anyway, have not trimmed down a bit over our one week tour launch. By the time we are done with breakfast tomorrow, I will have to roll out to my bike. But as I say, after that I expect a lot of benefit from our stay in Yutz!
