WINE!!!

Wow today was a long day!

It started at 0615 this morning. I set my alarm for 0600 but I forgot that I set my phone to “no alarms on Saturday and Sunday”. Luckily I woke up anyway since I was excited. The morning cold was chillier than what I’m used to at 0900. I set off by foot to the Nancy train station planning to go to Selestat, a small city south of Strasbourg. When I got to the train station, I stood in line to buy a ticket because the machines don’t accept American credit cards. The only cash it accepts is in the form of coins and I didn’t have 22 euros in coins!

When in a foreign country, if you try to find all kinds of things you're bound to get lost. But if you just get lost you're bound to find all kinds of things.

Since it was early in the morning only two desks were open. A group of Asian kids somehow cut in front of everyone and took FOREVER to buy their tickets. All of the French people were really pissed. My train was to leave at 0715 and it was already 0700. The workers asked for people who needed tickets immediately to come forward so I got to skip in front a bit. I finally bought my one-way ticket and hopped on the train just in time. I bought a one-way because I wasn’t sure when I was coming back.

I slept for most of the ride to Selestat. It took about 2 hrs 40 minutes to get there. I got off and just started walking towards the city center. I tried finding the tourist office but I put little effort into it. With my French I was able to find the Maison du Pain “House of the Bread”. Let’s Go says that it has a good history of bread-making AND you can make your own pretzels too! I found it, bought a ticket, and started perusing through the museum section. All of the captions were in French and German (*side note: this part of France exchanged hands between France and Germany many times throughout history. I think somebody told me 16 times!*). I would give the museum 2 stars out of 5. It was pretty crappy and unkempt. It was small and not interesting…at least to an English speaker. BUT, it smelled amazing! They were baking fresh bread downstairs and the smell permeated throughout the building. When I got back to the entrance I watched them make bread for a little while and bought a granite aux pommes which reminded me of an apple pie piece. See the picture. It was soooo delicious and great for my morning brunch along with a banana and apple that I brought with me. I never found a place for lunch so I just ate my orange, another banana, another apple, and the rest of the bread I bought yesterday from a place Professor Lape recommended.

While walking through the city I admired the houses. See anything weird about them? I’ll talk about it later. I found a wall with street signs only…they weren’t street names on them. They were more like….words of advice or something? I have no clue what it was for. I saw a couple of clay courts and watched some people play on them. It was probably especially difficult because the courts were a little damp so it was kind of muddy. I saw the town’s church, but it was nothing compared to St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. I feel like I never have to see another church again.

I continued to get lost throughout the city and found an open market! They were selling all kinds of good foods and fresh produce. It reminded me of Borough Market back in London but without the delicious sandwiches and much smaller. I didn’t buy anything, though I was tempted to buy some escargot! After getting more lost I found another smaller open market with three or four vendors. One of them displayed many wines so I stopped by. One of the customers spoke a little bit of English so I was talking with her while trying some of the wines. I had a Riesling that was very good though not as good as the white wine I bought from Borough Market a while back (not clue what kind of white it was but it was from France). Then I tried a sweet wine from a grape called Gewurztraminer.  It was really sweet in comparison to the dry Riesling. the lady was really nice and poured large “samples” so I decided to buy a bottle to keep her in business! I bought a small 375 ml bottle. I later found out that these bottles are unique to the Alsace area and mean that the wine within is authentic and official (see pictures).

I kept walking around the city and decided that I had seen everything I wanted to! It was only 1100 so I headed to the tourist office to see if I missed anything. Nope. But, just nearby was the Route du Vin cities! There are a ton of cities nestled just below the Vosges mountains. I saw a map with a big wine bottle near Blienschwiller so I decided to go there. I picked up a bus timetable and walked to the bus stop. The lady at the tourist office was really helpful and spoke English so that helped even more. When I was waiting at the bus stop I read through the timetable and realized that the only return bus to Selestat was at 0700! So I headed back to the tourist office and asked for a recommendation. She recommended Chatenois and Scherwiller. I took a bus to Scherwiller just a couple of kilometers away. I walked through the tiny city (pop ~10,000?). One thing I’ve noticed about this area is the exterior décor of the houses. I don’t know if you can spot it but you can see that the wooden supports are sunken into the walls…not protruding or flush like you’d normally see them! Odd… Anyway, I found several wineries and wanted to do some wine tasting but all were closed! Ahhhhh!!! Traveling on the weekend is terrible. I even walked through the welcoming area of one of them without anybody greeting/stopping me. I was tempted to snag a bottle. While I was walking through the town I kept seeing the remains of a castle atop a Vosge peak. I asked a lady what it was called, “l’Ortenburg” she replied. I asked her if it was possible to hike up there and she went on and on and on…I got the gist that the answer was yes but it was difficult to get to the trail.

L’Ortenburg was to be my Mecca for the day! I walked out of the town in the general direction, passing yet another closed winery. I reached a fork in the road and luckily a man was doing something in his van there so I asked him if he knew how to get to the trail head. He said it was really easy! Just head down this road to a restaurant and ask them for more directions. The road was small, flanked with vineyards, and windy without any sidewalks. Let’s Go warned against walking because sidewalks were nonexistent. I brushed past some poison ivy, luckily I was wearing a long-sleeve so only my hand began to itch a bit. I reached a couple of buildings and one of them turned out to be an open winery! I asked her for directions to the trail, “just up the road on the right”, and when they closed “never”. Super!

I wasn’t ready for hiking. I dressed for wine-tasting and touring. So, I had an apple, did some stretches, and was ready to go! The trail was indeed easy to find but it wasn’t as short as she quoted (20 minutes). It took me an hour to go up and come back down. It seemed like there were many more trails stemming from that one that could go throughout the Vosges. I wish I had known about these because I would have planned for it! Oh well, I stuck to the l’Ortenburg trail. The ruined castle was incredible and it had an equally incredible view of Scherwiller and the Route du Vin area. I hung out up top for a while and had another apple while taking a ton of pictures.

When I got back, I re-entered the winery and asked to taste some wines. I asked if I could visit their caverns where they make the wine but that wasn’t open to the public. The owner and the employee were REALLY welcoming. I was the only person around so I guess they were glad to see me. They sat me down, put a couple of glasses in front of me and picked out three bottles. The first was a dry Riesling. Soooo good. Just as good as the one in Selestat. The next was a sweet Gewurztraminer. It was very sweet, almost like normal juice! Also very tasty but not as good as the one I tried in Selestat. The final one was a red Pinot Noir…WOW! I really liked it so I bought a small bottle of that one. I talked a bit with the owner and the girl and found out that I could come back in September for a couple of weeks and work on the vineyard! Hmm, not something I’ve thought of before but it might be a neat experience huh? They say it’s tough work (I bet), good ambiance, decent food, and of course amazing wine! I’ll table the idea for now and put it on my to-do list.

I walked back out along the windy road to the fork. I brushed past more poison ivy, same hand itching again. I took the other leg of the fork and started walking to Chatenois. It was a 20 minute walk away. I started looking for wineries but all were closed. Most of the city was closed. I just walked around and got lost again. I bought a bottle of Fischer beer because the bottle looked so neat. It says it’s brewed in the Alsace area even more reason to try it! Time to head back to Selestat. I found the bus stop but saw the bus pulling away just as I got there. The next one wasn’t for another hour (it was 1615) and I didn’t know when the last train from Selestat to Nancy was. I looked at the map and decided to walk back to Selestat. It only took me 30 minutes to walk back. On the way back was a field of….wheat? I don’t know what it was. But it’s the same plant as in the movie “Gladiator”. You know the part where he dreams about walking through the wheat field and drags his hand through the soft-looking tops? Anyway, I tried that hahaha! It was a huge field (see the picture) and in the middle of nowhere so I didn’t want to worry about weird looks. It’s not as soft as the movie makes it seem. It was more…prickly I suppose hahaha. Anyway, I laughed to myself because I was let down.

The ticket office closed just as I got back to the Selestat station. That was bad because the machines don’t accept American cards there either. I just hopped on the train without a ticket and expected to pay there. Nobody checked for tickets so I got a free trip to Strasbourg. There, I bought a cheaper ticket to Nancy. The train didn’t leave for another hour (it was 1830) so I walked around the city. I visited the cathedral and then got lost. But this was a bad lost. I had to get back to the train station! I eventually found my way back just in time to board. The train back took another 1 hr 45. From the Nancy train station I walked back home. I stopped off at Kinepolis, a commercial center just nearby my apartments. The restaurant there didn’t accept American credit cards either. I dropped my goods off at home (beer was all shooken up…boo) and grabbed some cash. I bought a sandwich and fries and brought it home to eat and write this journal. It is now 2300 and I’m dead tired. My legs are killing me.

It was an amazing day today. My favorite part was the wine tasting because the people were so welcoming. My next favorite part was of course the hike and view at l’Ortenburg. The worst part of the day was the bread house. That was a let down because they said making pretzels could only be done if you made a reservation! Boo you Let’s Go for not telling me that. I wanted some wine tonight but realized that I don’t have a bottle opener! Ayuh. I think I’ll just give these two bottles away as gifts anyway. Probably to Professors Favre and Rozaird for having me here in Nancy. I’d bring it back to you guys but it is heavy. I guess that means you’ll have to come and try it for yourselves (they don’t export to west coast)! Tomorrow I will sleep in late and then probably go to the Pepiniere park and relax. Love you all!