wake up & it’s an Obernai morning & the first thing that we see, over breakfast, is the geraniums in the Place du Marché

They’re almost everywhere else you look too.



This place is barely French, architecturally...



...but perhaps the more intriguing for that Tuetonic touch...



... it feels like the buildings here look eastwards, directly towards Prague, perhaps.

Years ago, driving back up France towards the Channel, a young friend remarked to Jim that northern France is more “French”, while the south is less French, more Mediterranean. In this trip to eastern France we were to find our attention drawn to a less French, more mittel-Europan architecture and ambiance.

Ideas for future trips rush in... but for today, it’s off to explore Alsace, and after a wrong turn up the forest-engulfed Mont Ste. Odile, we’re away on the Route des Vins, to Itterswiller...



(there’s Ruth checking the menu at the Weinstub - it wasn’t the food, or the prices, but the bus-load of tourists that deterred us from eating here)

and Bergheim...



...altogether a lieu plus sympa, and a good place for lunch...

Tags: France, Vineyards, Alsace, Obernai