Alsace region of Northeastern France

These are some scenes in the center (old) section of Colmar. This is the town that the builder of New York's Statue of Liberty came from. The old section in the center is very nice, but the newer parts that have grown up around it are nothing special (true of lots of European cities). The old section is where everything is happening.

The next stop, just outside Colmar, is Kayserberg. Like so many other historic towns in Europe, there's remains of an old castle on a hill above the town.

A bit further north is probably the nicest town of all, Riquewihr. Here's a couple of musicians playing in the street, a common sight in many cities in Europe. Besides these two, I also saw a full brass band playing up the street at another time.

A short detour off the Route du Vin as you head north from Riquewihr is the Haut Koenigsbourg castle. This is a castle that was extensively rebuilt and modernized in the 19th century, while still retaining many old features. Adjacent are ruins of an older castle also built here, high on a ridge of the Vosage mountain range that runs north-south to the west of the Route du Vin and the Rhine river valley.

This is Châtenois, a town along the Route du Vin near Haut Koenigsbourg. This is just one of many similar towns along this route. This is in complete contrast to the main Autoroute between Colmar and Strasbourg, which gives you a view of modern industrial buildings that look like they were built for lowest cost per square foot. This illustrates how important it is to get off the main road and take your time to see the old, unspoiled sights. France's modern construction isn't very inspiring to me. I don't care much for their architectural style, which often seems to make poor attempts to look like works of modern art.

As you approach Strasbourg on the Route du Vin, the towns become less scenic and you pass through a region of overabundant traffic circles. Most of France doesn't have a lot of traffic circles, but somebody has gone crazy building circles here. I liked the roundabouts in England, but this is just too much. You'll go loopy from driving around so many loops. I swear they built a circle at every farm road and cow path that the road meets. But finally you'll arrive in Strasbourg.

Strasbourg is the largest city in northeastern France. This is another good place to visit. In this picture the Notre-Dame Cathedral is visible in the background (I thought Notre-Dame was in Paris (it is), but it seems that every city in France has a cathedral named Notre Dame). This was begun in 1176. The spire, visible here, was completed in 1439. That's before Columbus discovered America. Strasbourg's center, for eample in the area of the cathedral, is filled with people and is a very nice place to wander and take in the sights and see what's going on. You can take a boat ride along the canals (I chose to walk instead) to see some other nice sections of the old town. The last time I was here (November '96), Strasbourg had added some ultra-modern looking streetcars for city transportation that make the Disney World monorail look old and plain in comparison.

If you travel west towards Paris from Strasbourg, you'll probably take the expensive Autoroute like I did. Be prepared to pay lots of tolls. At least you get to see some of that French "modern art" I told you about if you take this road. It looks like they must be spending all your toll money on art to remind you that you're still in France. This road is lined with literally hundreds of basic geometric shapes (cubes, spheres, cylinders, pyramids, circles and other shapes) painted in a rainbow of primary colors.

There's a couple of stops you might want to make along the way. I stopped by Nancy, recommended in my Michelin Guide, but I wasn't terribly impressed. I also stopped at Reims to see the cathedral, (of course also named Notre Dame), shown here in an interior photo (this is only one of the minor windows in a side aisle, there are many more and bigger windows). The outside looks similar to Notre Dame in Paris. Making a quick stop here to see this is OK if you're passing by, but it's probably the only thing you'll want to see before you continue on your way.