Cathedral in Breisach
Pedestrian way in Breisach
Today we had made plans to go to France to see Mont St. Odile Kloster and Chateau Haut Koenigsbourg.
We managed to get up early to pick up Jane's friend Gaby. We had decided ahead of time that we would try to picnic on our excursion. Jane and I have become the Picnic Queens. Maybe Picnichenge should be our altar.
After picking up Gaby, we headed towards France. The only thing we needed to complete our picnic plans was some bread, which we hoped we could pick up fresh in France. Passing through a village on our way to Mont St. Odile, we saw a man walking down the street with a baguette. (No, we didn't grab it and yell, "give me that, you old bag!") We figured if he had a fresh baguette, they must be available somewhere. After all, who takes their baguette for a walk? Eventually we found an oriental market (Gaby saw it first and pointed out that it was unlikely they would be closed on a Sunday like the other bakeries.) We went in and bought 2 baguettes, a croissant for the road, some more cheese and I even bought a really awesome "evil eye" pendant from Turkey.
On the way to Odile, we spied numerous castles and did some drive-by shootings. With the camera. We were also salivating from the smell of the fresh baked bread in the car. If it hadn't been for that croissant, the baguette would have vanished in a flurry of crumbs.
We finally arrived at Mont St. Odile, high atop a mountain. We parked and walked to the monastery, and as we walked around we could hear what sounded like hymns...finally we discovered, on the back side of the building, that Mass was being said. There was a large crowd of worshipers, a table with the requisite priests, a band and choir, all in native costume. I got the service and the surroundings on film.
There were several cool chapels nearby, each one decorated with gorgeous mosaics. The view was astounding, too. We could see miles across the Alsace region.
Inside the cloister we latched on to an English tour for a brief time and learned a little about St. Odile and the cloister.
The legend goes that Odile was born to a noble family. The nobleman wished for a boy, and when Odile was born, both a girl and blind, he intended to murder her (father of the year he was not.) Instead she went to be raised by a religious order, and when baptized at age 12, miraculously regained her sight. Her brother, without her father's permission, went and got her and brought her home. This so enraged her father that he killed her brother. What a guy. When her father wanted to marry her off to a knight, she ran away and hid in Freiburg, in the area known as St. Ottilien (see the blog entry "The Odile-Ottilien Connection.") When her father became ill, Odile came back to take care of him. He finally gave up resisting her and founded the Augustine monastery of Mont Ste. Odile in the Hochwald where Odile became abbess and where her father was later buried. Odile is also interred at Mont St. Odile in 720 in a beautiful carved crypt. Her arm was taken to Prague as a relic.
St. Odile is represented by a woman with a book upon which there are 2 eyes. It's really a little creepy. She is the Patron Saint of Alsace, and is prayed to for eye problems and diseases.
Odile also began a monastery at the foot of the mountain where once were housed the relics of St. Sebastian. Those relics were moved to Andlau - where we ended up having our picnic.
We spent a little time in the gift shop - I wanted to purchase a St. Odile medal for my charm bracelet and when we asked if the charms were real gold, not plated but either goldfill or gold, we were told yes by the first 2 people until finally Gaby's persistence and ability to speak French prevailed and we found out the charms were merely plated. Gaby gave me a gift of several postcards and a great map of the area which we will use next time to hunt down castles and ruins.
Claudia had told me that while we were at Mont St. Odile we should be sure to bathe our eyes and drink from the spring which is said to be the source that cured Odile's blindness. We followed a path that said "The Source" but never found it, and finally decided to get in the car and take a different route down the mountain and towards this supposed source. We did reach the spring where we all drank and splashed water on our eyes. I still need contacts. But the water was sweet and clear and I filled a bottle with it and drank it all day.
We finally made it to Haut Koenigsbourg. By now it was overcast and a little chilly, and very foggy at the top of the mountain, with clouds just sitting there. We entered the castle and started touring. Jane was there as recently as February and said it is much changed - there are lots of new exhibits and new rooms opened. The castle has been beautifully restored - a restoration that really began with Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1900. The castle itself it not really very historically important, but Wilhelm had a vision of it as a museum and as an example of castle living. Today you can see the courtyard which brought together all aspects of castle life - domestic, royal and military.
We spent a few minutes in the book store, where the wonderful Gaby purchased some postcards and a book about the history of the castle and gave them to me! I love this kind of stuff and will read the book from cover to cover and be prepared to give a tour next time.
We left the castle shrouded in clouds and with a light rain falling, and came down the mountain in another direction, with the idea of maybe going to one of the walled villages on the wine route.
By now we were quite peckish and ready for our picnic, but it was really raining. We were wondering if we were going to end up eating in the car when we passed over the little Andlau river and saw a pavilion. It was right next to the stream, didn't have any tables, but it had some concrete steps and we were ready to make the best of it. There were 2 French couples and their children in the pavilion. They appeared have just completed their own picnic.
We laid a towel on one of the steps and began pulling everything out - we had plastic plates, real silverware, wine glasses, napkins...a bottle of white wine, mineral water, several kinds of cheeses (Jane and I run more effeciently on cheese), our baguettes, olive spread, olives, strawberries, gooseberries (stecklebeeren, but Gaby said they are called gooseberries in English,) Johannesbeeren (black currants), cheese sandwiches on dense brown bread and a salad. When it was all out and set up like a little buffet, Gaby was so impressed! She called us a couple of ingenious noveau broads!
We poured the wine and dug in - it was raining on the outside but there was a lane of beautiful flowers. Behind us the little brook bubbled. It was really lovely and we had a leisurely lunch and then Gaby (mother of us all) washed the dishes in the brook. By the time we left it had stopped raining and was beautiful out.
Here is some info I found about Andlau: "The beautifully situated town of Andlau (pop. 1,878) has many half-timbered houses and an abbey founded for Benedictine nuns in 887 by Richardis, the discarded wife of Charles the Fat. The church, which dates from the 11th and 12th centuries, has fine reliefs on the facade and doorway and, in the choir, a 14th C reliquary of the foundress. Above the town (alt. 475m/1,560ft) are the ruins of a 13th C castle, the Spesbourg." Next time maybe we will explore it a little more.
We drove through the Route de Vin, through beautiful tiny villages and through miles and miles of green vineyards. We saw the remains of walled villages, and numerous castle ruins on the hills. We passed through the village of Scherwiller, where we could see ruins of Ramstein's castle dating to the 13th century.
At one point I had to go really bad and we weren't sure where to stop. Gaby said that there are always small roads in the vineyards which are used for tractors and trucks. We pulled into one of them and I ran down between two rows of vines. Best bathroom stop ever! I had a beautiful view of a small village and the mountains beyond. Wish I had taken a picture.
As we drove through the villages and farms, we saw countless religious statues - usually a cross with the crucified Christ on it. They were really large and carved from sandstone. When I was in the Czech Republic, my friend Jarka showed us similar statues and called them "Plague Statues." She said that they were erected to both protect from the plague, and to give thanks for the survivors. Gaby said she thought they were just to honor God and act as fertility symbols, but she said she would try to get to the bottom of it.
We decided to drive over to the walled village of Ribeauvillé and walk around. Eight years ago we had passed through there and seen storks on a column in town, and a fabulous cemetery, but we didn't walk through the village. Well, we didn't this time, either. There was some kind of fest going on and parking was impossible.
So we continued our leisurely cruise though the beautiful Rhein valley...we saw churches with storks, many fachwerk houses, and at one point a fox about to cross the road.
We drove across the border to Breisach, walked along the fussgangerzone and found a lovely cafe where Gaby treated me to REAL black forest cake and a cup of wonderful coffee. The cake was fantastic and nothing like the American version, which is too sweet and doesn't have real cherry liqueur in it.
The Coo-Coo Paulkovich sisters can be tough - but Gaby fit right in. We already have loads of plans for future Gaby trips. Gaby likes cemeteries, too, so I have tasked her with preparing a cemetery tour.
We got home, unwound with the usual (episodes of The Office) and went to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment