Hartmannswiller - 5 June 2019
Tintin drove up into the hills to Murbach to have a look at the Abbey there. Looked very strange as most of it was missing and only the renovated towers remained. Drove on to an aire at Hartmannswiller and read books in the shade of a convenient tree, too hot for cycling.
05.06.19 - A good night was not had by all! We stayed outside until about 10pm (just a few crackers for tea!). Bed by 11pm ish - but way too hot. The owners of the vineyard were having a get together outside, they were chatting until well into the morning. Tintin thought we had a flying insect, so we put on our little uv bug killer - but it has a bright light - plus street lighting too - all not a good combination! Quite strange how when you can’t sleep at night, you sleep deeply in the early hours - but then it’s time to get up! I heard what I thought was the sound of a big fly being zapped - but only littles flies (dead) this morning! Clever little contraption from Amazon for under £10 - shame there were no mosquitoes to kill off!
Captain Martini took a bit longer to get to sleep than his usual 10 seconds, but seemed to do ok!
Tintin drove today, about 30 minutes to a place called Murbach. Terrible roads to get there, narrow and really bumpy - we might have mentioned Dave doesn’t like bumpy roads! With his slapdash Italian built, he may fall apart!
Anyway, went to see the 12th century Romanesque Abbey at Murbach. Absolutely huge from the front, went inside - and wondered where the rest of it was! Only the transept remains with its two steeples. The site of the nave now serves as a burial ground.
Walked up the steep hill to the chapel, which had great views down on the Abbey. Inside the chapel was a huge display of lilies. The smell (if you like lilies) was sweet and overpowering - but a lovely change, as sometimes they’re a bit dank!
We watered up at the Aire there instead of risking the well water. There was no internet service there at all, but we knew that beforehand - and just wanted a look.
Nice little Eiffel Tower at a roundabout in Buhl, you have to have a camera ready, you never know what you’re going to see!
Tintin then drove for another 30 minutes, and we’re now at Hartmannswiller. Really couldn’t be bothered to do anything, Tintin still can’t shake his headache - so we put our chairs out underneath a little tree - and moved around it all afternoon seeking shade, reading books. Still over 30°, and 37° inside Dave. Rain forecast from about 8pm onwards - we’ll see!
Possible hiking In WW1 trenches tomorrow at Hartmannswillerkopf...
I’m struggling to make sense of what makes France, well France. Here we see battered old cars, all types, whereas in Germany it was all big new looking BMWs, Mercedes, Audis etc. In Germany the houses looked prim and proper, here some look a bit ramshackled, but loved. Maybe it’s just the French economy is not doing so well? Both have good and bad points.
We gave Germany a good try, about a month - we enjoyed it - seemed an organized and efficient country, but not particularly friendly. As soon as we were in France, mohos waved to us, and out and about people are the first to say hello. Different feel, happier - but perhaps a little run down in this area? We’re still near the border and the lady at the vineyard last night seemed to want to speak in German in preference to French. Strange, in fact we watched a few YouTube videos about the WW1 place we might visit, and some families were fighting each other (was German and French fighting for the area). Again, maybe like all history - some people change allegiance to whoever it is they think will win!
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