It's an interesting life on the road, traveling from one town to the next, playing to a different crowd the same songs, having to put up with the road crew reckoning they're so relevant one should construct a balad with them being main players ele etc etc.. it sort of becomes a blur when after a most fabulous day on the road we are compelled to deconstruct, in some sort of poetic fashion and then come up with an original riff (five chords or less) to support the whole story. Lucky for this blogger and for those consuming this tome there's not one note of musical ability (or indeed capability) to be consumed here. So whilst one can feel what James was going through while he sat at the keyboard heavily inebriated after a big day out on the road and constucted Stay this here blogger is in a similar situation without any musical ability, only armed with a device holding pics and a desire to whip this out before getting some kip. (Blog post introduction - tick)
The plan for the day was to get up early, traipse through the town and set up the gopro for the standout shot that every tourist does here - as the sun rises and makes the whole thing interesting....given your perception of course. e.g. Light slowly moving in coordination with the planets rotation may not be as fascinating as say Spiderman swinging his way though the scene. It's slow TV. Lucky though there were fish in the canal that created a constant series of strange ripples... never mind the details. Video available on request. The location was visually superb, audio...it sucked as it was right opposite the market so we had all sorts of peeps noises ruining the ambiance. Still damn good fun though.
From no one around to an hour later the street was full of school kids, milling and yelling as they tend to do. Thought they were waiting for a bus but no no.. they were waiting for the school gates to be opened. When they did all the kids disappeared ( could still hear their happy chatter though) and as this here blogger packed up the kit there were the teachers looking down the streets and urging the straglers to get inside before they locked the gates. 8:00 am Tuesday morning Colmar old town is not a Disney recreation - this is actually the life these families lead. They just happen to be living in a place where strange people occasionally appear doing wierd things like videoing thier home at sunrise.
Blogger (possibly now known to the locals as that really annoying out of towner who was overly protective of his video shoot) powered back to home base on new knees to join the rest of the Troupe for the rest of the days adventures...yep.. so if you're thinking that was an overly verbose description of a minor event....correct. You can (dear blogger) stop here if you like....
The Troupe is extremely well organized and coordinated. So far no one has missed a set meeting time. Can almost guarantee that if it does happen it will be this here blogger, however let's see what transpires. In this instance we met on time. Blogger and non-blogger being the last to arrive. N&S J&S waiting patiently. (pattern forming here) in the hotel foyer and we all headed over to our favorite one third of a bus to get into town for our chocolate experience as booked by S (doing her job... which is us not having to think about anything).
Lots of fun. We were on a mission to keep this short as we had other things (Britten wise) booked, however the timing was great. We should've walked out with certificates saying we we are now qualified chocolattiers. But we didn't that's because what we produced was edible not sellable. The gist of the whole industry is the basic ingredients are indisputably desirable. Making them visually so is an art. The bonus of partaking in an experience such as this is you get to consume the output before anyone else even gets to judge what a shite chocolateere you are. (Point in fact.. on my 2nd of four bars right now).
Timing was crucial now.... one Britten (S) had arranged the choc making experience whilst the other Britten (N) had organized the wine tasting tour afterwards.
These Poms are well co-ordinated and effective. Makes senses that we resonate. After all, we share the same monarch/spouse where even after all those years of them publically expressing their desires for each other in the sensuous language of sanitary products they still reign supreme over us and all we behold and will become as we move forward as a nation.
Nationalist truisms aside N&S did a great job organizing today's events. The chocolate construction workshop will be rembererd for as long as the participants wear their aprons (and this tome gets read)....and then there was the wine tour...
Taking the trusted guidance of bloggers gmaps the Troupe duly trudged through the mid day exuberance of the olde town being swarmed by tourists to our pick up point from which the day got really interesting...our six muscateers got bundled into a nine seater mini bus and headed off into the amazing story lined region of the Alacase where this blogger may possibly run out of words, expressions and emotions to convey the whole trip but will give it a go....
We drove out of town, that in itself was an unexpected relief. Headed through fields of vineyards to end up in the village of Kaysersberg.
Nice name. Details and history etc. Are way beyond the capacity of this minor bit of type to express. The whole region is reaking in historical context. The olde' worlde' forrts etc. go back to 1200's ... like that's a long time ago, and then we saw villages than were totally rebuilt after WW2 in the last 90 years since and to the same designs as to prior that idiocy in order for the locals to maintain their sense of self.
The amount of historical significance was becoming overwhelming. Like... how many different superlatives can one use here?
Maybe time to give up on that track and move on to the troupe...
Cool village.. had a fortified wall, ramparts, a water race feeding a mill and a lot of associated buildings.
Next we went to a personalized wine tasting experience which was all about the 12 hectares and the associated juice plants that he owns. Really well run and coordinated delivery going on here.
Whilst the owner of the joint expressed his experience and passion in his product our driver was slipping into his neither areas to prepare our accompanying fare. Hmmm goats cheese on Bagels. Yum. The wines were extraordinary cheap compared to what any cellar door back home charge and therefore makes entire sense to get what we we'll consume over the ensuing days. So grabbed a few but did not consider shipping. Leave that sort of behaviors to those well beyond our capacity.
The next village we visited is considered the jewel in the crown of the Alsace region. From this bloggers perspective this is quite seriously getting ridiculous. Like... how many outstanding fabulous pictures can one take that are bloggable in one day? Let alone a 30 minute stroll through a town where chances are 90 % of the tourist inhabitants have no idea what they are looking at as compared to us 6 muscateers who are fully armed with knowledge from a personal tour guide. Dates inscribed over archways. Wooden family faces carved into building facials.
Allowed us to swftly pass through , take a picture, stop and have a drink, take some photos .. so we can keep the memories for the rest of our short lives, which in the timescale and enduring resonance of the place is totally insignificant. We may (or may not) take away one small dust particle of the billions that make up the stone structures that the original inhabitants spent their entire lives putting there in the first place.
Tourism may wear down the place eventually, it does at least provide a significant income the locals. Better us marauding hordes of tourists throwing around cash as compared to the Germans throwing around explosives and oppression like they've done here in recent times.
We've learnt that as this valley is the one that defines the border between Germany and France it's always been in contention for control by peeps beyond the local boundaries. They call themselves Asacians. they have been owned by varying others over their course of history. Currently happy to be part of the French conglomerate at this stage.
Back quickly to town of Riquewir.. Nice place. N & blogger got to taste some freshly minted new wine without fully realising the significance of the small price being paid at the time. And then found a shady spot to sip on a pino noir waiting for the spouses to catch up who'd been distracted by forking out a small fortune to minusculy diminish the size of a couple of extremely large wheels of cheese.
We had to leave the town, the picturesqueness was becoming overwhelming.
They have their own statue of liberty because the designer of the one bequested to the USA came from here. This blogger suggests thay should actually demand the original back as the notion of liberty is currently not being upheld by the current holders of the object. Plant a seed ...watch it grow.
Our tour guide happily dropped us off back at the front of yhe the hotel (whilst doing a loop of the statue on the way ) in which ( after mandatory kip) we took over the congregation area on the ground floor to consume all the wine and food we'd stocked up on over the last couple of days. Fully planned and well executed. The hotel staff were very generous in the support they provided. A late night tipple I.c.w. N was enough to extend the verdoseness of thus post as well as the subsequent delay in posting.
1 comment:
What an outstanding day!
Post a Comment