Borders are fascinating places where you get a blending of nationalities. In this case France and Germany.
Almost everyone in this area speaks French, German and English fluently.
The food culture of the Alsace is blended by proximity to these countries.
Yes we had a quiche at some point and it was lovely considering this was it's birthplace. Alsace Lorraine > Quiche Lorraine. 👍
We were having lunch in this Riverside restaurant The Plage on the Rhine and saw what looked like a church on the hill across the river and decided to go investigate as it looked like it would give us a good overview of the area.
Everyday we could hear the church bells ringing at 6 a.m midday and midnight it was wonderful to hear.
We don't hear church bells in London anymore unless you are in the church yard. There's simply to much noise.
But first a traditional French lunch...Not!
The burger was very good nonetheless.
There's the church like building on the hill in Germany that we will visit.
The River Rhine is very low due to the heatwave and ships that use it to transport goods are having to sail with reduced tonnage to avoid hitting the river bottom.
It's amazing what you learn on these trips. The heatwave is even affecting shipping.
View of the Plage restaurant looking back from the Riverside.
I'm standing in Germany on the parapet of the buildings we saw from the restaurant pointing at France across the Rhine.
Below I'm pointing out that I'm standing in Germany quite literally lol
Views of the Rhine river from this vantage point.
Another view of the river. You may be wondering why I'm so focused on this part of the Rhine.
Well this particular point of the river was a strategically important place for the German army for logistical purposes in World War II.
I'll explain in detail in another blog.
This turret looked interesting so we climbed up the wobbly steps for more views of the river.
There is a 4 star hotel at this location so we went for coffee and cakes. It had some interesting installations. I don't know if you can call it art but it was decorative.
More views of the Rhine river. If you zoom in you can see that the Rhine is still a working river with riverside dock facilities and industrial activities as well as boat repair yards.
These two houses below also had some huge arty type installations. They do seem to like big arty things on their houses.
I think that these pieces are probably from an older church. Relics of a bygone age?
The church itself was closed.
This church had some huge installations as well. We couldn't make out what it was but seemed to be made up from old mill parts?
What's your best guess at this object?
This trip was a recon expedition to get the lay of the land as it is important for an upcoming blog that concerns this part of the Rhine river.
I hope you enjoyed the photos and the traditional French lunch 🤣👍
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Thanks @worldmappin for your reply.
You made me laugh at the photo of the traditional French lunch!
That's quite sad that noise pollution prevents you from hearing church bells.
The Rhine is such a beautiful river... Your photos are great!
Thanks @melinda010100 glad to give you a giggle.
When I was a kid we could hear Big Ben chime at midnight on new years eve and it's a couple of miles away from my home. Now there is silence.
It used to be we could hear the local church bells but not now unless you are in the church yard.
The Rhine is an amazing river. It was good to see it still functioning as a working river. Beautiful and it gets a load of trucks of the roads.
Many years ago I did a cycle ride along part of the Rhine down near Freiburg. I seem to remember that there were ramps so that tanks could cross the river if the need should arise. They do have some big cargo ships along there and it will be a problem if they can't carry full loads now. We all need some rain.
I saw the sign for Freiburg often on our travels and kept singing the freebird song lol.
This Exactly. 👆
I won't elaborate on this part as I have a blog coming up that goes into detail about this area. No spoiler lol.
The heatwave is still on in Colmar and my daughter is spending her days in a German lido.
The Rhine is very low. They need a lot of rain.
Thanks for the reblog Steve 👍
Looks so nice! A fascinating part of Europe that. Lot's of history
Hi Ade, it's an amazing place full of wonderful things to explore and pretty much tourist free lol