Style observations on the road

I kept an eye on fashion and style trends on our journey, so here's what I learned on my vacation:

1. Nobody wears a suit or "professional" clothes as understood in DC or NYC. The style level here is far more relaxed and casual. Nothing has to match  - so much easier to get dressed!  Everyone wears colorful Keds-type sneakers or ankle boots. I guess my usual formal style environment applies only to a small subset of government bureaucrats, lawyers, and diplomats.

2. Not everyone's skinny, but everyone wears form-fitting clothes. No baggy jeans, sweats, sad sack suits, loose t shirts or shorts. No Deering Lake look allowed!  People don't seemed ashamed that their bodies are less than perfect. 

3. Women don't have to "dress their age" and became essentially asexual after 40. Leggings, tights, skirts above the knee, tank tops aren't off limits. So I felt good in my leggings and skinny jeans.  No one at any age wore as much makeup as I usually see at home. 

4. Short hair rules for women. Only in Amsterdam did I see many young women with long flowing locks. In France, women either had short cuts or long hair pulled back. The French female TV announcer look involved bright lipstick, glasses with bold dark frames, and short hair or ponytails - thankfully no blow-dried waist length manes.  Hair color seemed strictly optional, and not necessarily natural-looking. 

5. Men, on the other hand, tend to have longer hair at any age than we've been used to since the 1990s. No one had those military-inspired neatly trimmed hairlines required at home, and plenty had long styles that looked straight from The Hobbit movie.  Earrings seem totally acceptable for men of any age. 

6. No one wore bright colors except on sneakers even in southern France, but cobalt blue (like the shoes and jacket I packed for nicer occasions) is a major color this season. Yes -  my fashion decision confirmed!

Art's home at last - Amsterdam!

We've gotten a huge adrenaline rush from our arrival in Amsterdam. Our area reminds me of Boston with tall brick apartment houses, trees, bikes, and hipster young people. We are close to everything tourista - museums, concert hall where we're going tonight, and public transport. We truly appreciate having Olga and Art with us as guides. Now some downtime before dinner. Just wondering - is the DC craziness ever going to end?

Tomorrow we meet Art's Aunt Ria and Uncle Ben. Over the next few days I hope to slake my thirst for viewing art treasures and Dutch flowers - that'll be enough for me. 

Backlit but beautiful flowers in our room at Hotel Fita. Drinking our fine Beaujolais from Chateau Montelmas in France. 

 

Last tour day - France, Germany, and Switzerland

Today we drove out of Alsace thru the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) into Germany to get close to our departure city of Zurich. First we stopped in Colmar, a town that could easily support 2 days of walking and history but we had time for the tourist train over the canals and the Musee Interlinden where a famous 16th century work, the massive Immerhesse Altarpiece, is displayed, and some other famous medieval/early renaissance works. It's also the birthplace of the sculptor Bartholdi who designed Lady Liberty!  The forest drive included hairpin climbs into tall pine-covered hills where Hansel and Gretl could roam for months. Like the foothills of the Rockies, or the White Mtns.  Then we passed into Switzerland, and sunshine for the first time in days, and a quick drive to the Rheinfall waterfall. Not too tall, but wide and fast - twice as big as Great Falls in MD for comparison. And of course Great Falls lacks the swans, the stone ramparts, the Wagnerian ethos, and the Swiss chocolate. 

Tonight is our farewell dinner and packing for early departure to Amsterdam for us plus Olga and Art (our guides, Art's sister and her husband in case you've forgotten).  Amsterdam will be a great adventure and I'll be ready to head home on Saturday!

I'll probably add pics at home on the computer, the iPad's too full and the wifi too unreliable. Guten Abend!

Retry - Pics from Haut-Koenigsberg, Barr, Kaysersberg, Riquewihr, Eguisheim, Kientzheim

The last post didn't seem to work. Trying again with fewer pics. 

In the castle

School group maybe? In the castle. 

View thru the fog from the ramparts

Enjoying the Barr flea market

Quaintness galore in Kaysersberg 

Couldn't download all the flower shots and uber-quaint buildings in Riquewihr and Eguisheim. Will do post-production improvements at home. All these photos arem unedited too.

 

US war memorial looking east toward German hills. 

French war graves

Our darling chalet/hotel in Kientzheim. 

On the Alsatian plain

My iPad has run out of room for pictures from our 2 days in Alsace. This region that lies on the Rhein river valley between the black forests of France and Germany has changed hands numerous times between the French and Germans. So the architecture, cuisine, wines, and languages reflect the two cultures. German speaking tourists are everywhere in the quaint flower-bedecked towns that look like they could be in Switzerland. I've used French, German, and English in the same sentence to communicate. We've had good Alsatian Pinot Grigio and Riesling wines, very light compared to the big wines of the southern regions. 

So a few highlights. We spent yesterday visiting the Haut-Konigsburg castle, built starting in the 1300s high up to observe the marauders from miles around as they rode into the valley.  We then went to Barr, same as my middle name. There's also a town of Metz in Alsace, so someone needs to research whether some of the Stowe side came from this region. That was a fun place, with an incredibly picturesque setting of timbered houses dripping with flower baskets for a huge flea market and wine fest.  I could easily have decorated Orchard with all the wrought iron work, copper pails, milk buckets, etc. One of our tour did buy an old watering can for 20 euros that she can sell for $60 in her California antique shop!  We also discovered a delicious drink called picon. I shunned it initially because it said "Biere" on the bottle. But a friendly Swiss tourist visiting with his picon club explained that it was beer with orange liqueur added. And it was mightily fine. He helpfully told us we didn't need to buy Alsatian picon - just add orange liqueur to "any cheap beer even Budweiser". 

That fruitful encounter occurred in Kaysersberg, which besides being ancient and pretty is the hometown of Albert Schweitzer.  He might even have played on the organ I heard in the 12th century church where a soprano was performing some lovely arias such as Ave Maria. Gave me goosebumps!  I also did a little shopping an a Xmas shop that left the US versions in the dust. 

Today started rainy so we skipped another ruined castle and hit the tourist towns on steroids Riquewihr  and Eguisheim. Unbelievably quaint, lots of scenic pretzel and kugelhopf stands, chocolate and new Alsatian wine. Riquewihr had 2 shops with photos verboten: the Xmas shop and the store selling dozens of sizes and styles of good luck witches and wizard dolls. So you'll just have to imagine the fearsome level of cuteness inside. 

Afterward the rain stopped so we drove to the American and French war memorials set high above the valley, with stunning views extending into Germany. The French one included many graves, including a whole quadrant of Muslim headstones for the soldiers from France's North African colonies. How did they get there, to die so far from home for the colonial masters? A French speaking Muslim family was there reading off names on the headstones - Muhammad, Hussein, etc. Both memorials were very moving as remembrances of extraordinary courage and sacrifice shown by very young, mostly ordinary young men.

Tomorrow to Colmar, our last stop in Alsace, before the tour ends in Switzerland. Better get my postcards mailed! 

Will add pics in the next post. Note to self - blogging requires the power and storage size of a laptop. Bon nuit!

Into the Jura massif

Today we left Bourgogne for the relative wilds of the mountainous Jura region that looks like Vermont and the town of Arbois. In Burgundy wine rules; here they can't compete with the wine elsewhere so they're fanatical about other products, particularly cheese. I think the cheese makers essentially are govt subsidized civil servants who happen to make cheese the old fashioned wBut never mind, it's delicious and maintains the traditions. At. We visited a Comte cheese museum and tasting; only Montelbriand cows' raw milk can be used, and each cheese is different depending on the season, the flowers ingested, etc. We loved the cheese which I doubt can be bought at home because it's unpasteurized. Which is ironic because Louis Pasteur was born in Arbois!  The brown and white cows graze all over the steep hills. Arbois also houses Hilsinger, a famous chocolatier/patisserie where I bought the most beautiful  chocolate  mousse/caramel/cookie tart decorated like a red hat. 

After lunch and pastry we visited a small family winery making traditional Jura wines. They're very dry, not too appealing to our palates more used to Syrah and pinot wines. They make one that tastes like sherry, which our French bus driver liked but the rest of us found slightly awful except with the rest of the Comte cheese we brought along. But then our friendly young vintner Philippe brought out the dessert wine - it looked like gold and tasted like honey. I was entranced, especially when the price was less than half what I thought. So I have a bottle of Jura gold that may or may not survive the trip. 

Then we drove on the Belcour, our hotel, postcard writing and a nice dinner in the hotel. I'll add some pics now. Tomorrow is a wine festival and we cross into France's Black Forest region in Alsace. Bon nuit!

Comte cheese making cauldron

Decoratively dressed salad in Arbois

Comte cheese and our guide

The cheese is in!

Philippe our Jura wine vintner

His wines avec Comte cheese

Canal and houses in Arbois

Jura scenery

Pictures from the Chateau du Clos de Vougeot

Including the 12th century wine presses, the kitchen, and the tasting

Guarding the vines

Nice solid Chateau!

For pressing wine or heretics (not really)

Lyon to Beaune in Bourgogne (Burgundy)

Tuesday was driving from Lyon to Beaune, the heart of Burgundy country, with stops along the way at Château Montelmas for Beaujolais wine tasting and Château de Cormatin to admire the building and gardens. The weather and landscape changed, becoming grayer and cooler and looking more like the beautiful Virginia Blue Ridge area around Charlottesville  than CA. We passed many herds of sturdy white Charolais cattle looking very contented in the green fields. Sometimes they had sheep and beautiful horses with them. Along the way I realized I'd been here before as a 9 year old - Taize, Cluny, and Autun are in this area.  The town of Beaune looks like a fairytale French village with thatched roofs and tiled roofs and turrets. It's very walkable and full of tourists and good food, including the classic beef  bourgognois we enjoyed last night at a place that just got a New York Times review!

I'll add pics and a little more commentary after a nap.

One of Beaune's little squares

Trompe l'oeil decorations on a restaurant wall

Traditional Burgundian colored tile roof on the Hospices de Beaune, a hospital built in 1433 during the height of Burgundian power by the pious chancellor and his wife. She actually won a lawsuit to keep control after his death, almost unheard of for a woman then. And I meant to mention about our Beaujolais wine chateau Montelmas; it passed from mother to daughter! Vive la femme. 

The Hospices was a fine museum we saw yesterday. After that, we visited the largest cellar in Bourgogne, the grandes caveau du Patriarche, that holds one million dusty bottles. Every year one-quarter moves out for distribution. Then I did some shopping, scoring 2 chic and cheap French-made dresses now that I'm a few sizes smaller. Dinner was the first mediocre one we've had at some tourist dive. Note to self - eating cheap in France means ethnic restaurants.  Even the French tourists at the tourista brasserie complained about the food. 

No complaints today tho. This morning we visited the Cassisarium-a factory where they make cassis (black current) and other fruit liqueurs and brandy. All the fruit is regional or at least French; workers gets a winter rather than summer break because they don't import non-seasonal fruit. 

Pinot noir pickets along the Route du Grand Cru

Nice cottage!

Decorative ceiling at cassis factory

Our darling guide pouring our first tasting - super cassis. Absolute fruit heaven in a bottle, until we tasted the cherry and chestnut versions. Magnifique!

Village on the way to our Grand Cru tasting. 

My camera batteries died after this picture. The chateau contains the original gigantic wine presses and cellar used by the Cistercian monks starting In the 12th century. Why it wasn't burned to the ground multiple times I'll never know, but it's still there. Now the wine area and the 15th century manor house belong to an exclusive wine tasting fraternity started in the 1930s. They have huge modern kitchens and when we got there were preparing a modest meal for just 600 people. It smelled divine. We then had our tasting with a guide who first was quite frazzled because she was directing the harvest, very late this year, of their most expensive grapes. But she relaxed and gave us a good tasting showing how the different soils affect the taste of he same grapes, same vintage. And she appreciated the Chicago t-shirt we gave her. I should say that we were each asked to bring a momento of our hometowns to give as gratuities to our guides. I brought a White House Xmas tree ornament, which apparently will reward our driver. But on the way back to town we stopped at another little cassis product maker. Somehow one of our tour from Milwaukee figured out that the owner had a Harley. And because Milwaukee is the home of Harley, that lucky guy got a 110 anniversary Harley coffee go-cup. He was quite amazed and appreciative, as you can imagine. 

Tonight was a great brasserie meal of Charolais steak, frites, salade, and local red Beaune wine. I've finished packing - now for postcards and sleep. Bon nuit all!