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Alsace - Blog Posts
Village alsacien de Kaysersberg, Alsace. France 2017
I have always felt like Alsace was that special place where the two culture that are German and French melt together beautifully despite the tragic of their shared history.
Nidification ! Alsace (France)
Dany ERDOCIO
Closet - Contemporary Closet Built-in wardrobe - small, modern built-in wardrobe idea
Hatsune Miku from Alsace in France
We've seen these trains before, quite recently in fact, but they're back, on a much brighter day to really make their colours pop, and in a different border station between France and Germany.
This is Lauterbourg, the easternmost town in France, in the North-East corner of Alsace, and it shows the contrast between the line on the left-hand side of the Rhine, and the one on the right-hand side. The line from Strasbourg to Wörth am Rhein is not electrified to this day, and only sees local regional traffic. Nonetheless, Lauterbourg appeared to have a massive yard back in the day, now just a flat expanse of disused rails.
At the North end of Lauterbourg station, we find some old German mechanical signals, still in use!
Finally, like in the previous post on these trains, I have an amusing place name to share. It's more funny to pronounce with an English accent than anything else, but it also looks like a game of Countdown gone horribly wrong!
Japan Weekend coming up!
This weekend, in fact! Every April, Strasbourg hosts some ekiden running races, and a festival of Japanese culture on the side. Taiko drums, shamisen, martial art demos including kyûdô and aikidô, Japan-inspired artists, food... and games like shôgi and mah-jong, the latter of which I will be partaking in as a member of the Strasbourg club. So if perchance you are in Strasbourg this weekend, pop by!
Schirmeck castle
Overseeing the valley of Schirmeck, the castle, built for the Bishop of Strasbourg in the 13th century, is a short walk and climb from the town centre. As it was designed to protect a corner of the territory, that's apparently where we get the term: Schirm'eck. It was defeated by the Swedish during the Thirty-Years War, with some of the stone from the ruins being used to build other structures, such as the church.
Today, there's obviously not much of it left, though a square tower was restored and houses a small museum (closed when I visited). The Yoshi art was probably not part of the original episcopal aesthetic...
Cascade de la Serva
In the woods above Neuviller-la-Roche and Natzviller are the Serva Falls. While not the largest we've covered, they are still sizeable, with the river flowing over rocks a small distance either side of the main fall.
It's a good hiking destination from Rothau or even Schirmeck station, depending on how far you're prepared to walk. I started in Rothau, had lunch by the falls, down the river back to Rothau, and wound up adding a walk in the valley to Schirmeck while waiting for the next train...
A good hike I'd like to do is 2-day, 30-km walk from Rothau up past the falls to Champ du Feu, the highest point in Bas-Rhin, and on to the plains at Barr. But I wouldn't want to do it alone.
French and German cross-border railcars
Just on the French side of the border, Wissembourg station sees French TERs arriving from Haguenau and Strasbourg, meeting German Regionalbahn from Landau and Neustadt. When a French service doesn't cross the border itself, SNCF and DB services are often synced up, giving us the chance to see both companies' cross-border efforts side by side.
The B 85500 is a brand-new bi-mode (electric and Diesel) multiple unit from the Alstom Régiolis family. While not the first international Régiolis - a tri-voltage electric version runs between Évian and Geneva -, the B 85500 adds autonomous Diesel power. With 30 units on order, it aims to revive and/or intensify cross-border routes into Germany. I was under the impression there was a bit of a gathering at the front end of the train, maybe local politicians marking the type's first visit to Wissembourg?
On the German side meanwhile, we have a standard railcar for what DB regard as a relatively low-density non-electrified regional route, which was closed to passengers for over 20 years between 1975 and 1997. The BR 628/928 (628: power car, 928: trailer car) is a 1980s design. Besides the lack of low floor, there's not a lot wrong with them, and they have comfortable, current DB Regio interiors. More recent types have been used, and if a plan to electrify Landau and Winden stations to allow charging of battery-EMUs goes ahead, there could soon be the latest trains on the German side of Wissembourg station too.
Which brings us to our "I beg your pardon" of the week:
The fortifications of Wissembourg
From one fortified town to another, just South of the current French-German border: Wissembourg. In a region rife with conflict, between cities and lords, sometimes between a city and their own lord, protective walls, moats and towers around the town were a must.
This tower, called the Poudrière, was built in the 13th century, and served as gunpowder storage at some point, hence the name. The walls in front of it are more recent, dating back to the 16th century, featuring a dam system which would flood the moat if needed. This complex can be seen in the North-East corner of the town on this 1750 map.
Despite these protections, Wissembourg suffered massively between the 15th and 17th centuries. And in spite of all that, the town centre retains much of its original plan and many traditional buildings. I should go back on a nicer day to get better pictures...
Busy week done! Lots of work especially on Wednesday, and helping Vent d'Est organise their mah-jong tournament on Sunday to cap it off. We were on the boat in the foreground of this photo taken a few years ago - yep, still there today. A more flattering angle for the river, at a greener time of year, below.
Latest ambiance from Strasbourg, with love from our end-of-year mascot: Chris Moose!
Notre-Dame... de Strasbourg
I know, I know. Notre-Dame in Paris just reopened. But Notre-Dame is a very common name for churches in France. In fact, we covered one in Le Havre not that long ago, possibly one of the smallest cathedrals in the country. At the other end of the scale, one of the largest, if not still the largest, is Notre-Dame de Strasbourg. Built during the same time period as its Parisian counterpart, its facade has striking similarities: the grand rose, the two square towers at a similar height (66-69 m)... but while Paris stopped in 1345, Strasbourg kept going for almost a century, filling in the space between the towers, and adding a whopping octagonal spire on one side, reaching 142 m above ground.
Of course, there were plans to make the monumental facade symmetric, but the ground under the South tower wouldn't support the weight of 76 m of spire. In fact, huge structural repairs had to be made during the 19th century to avoid collapse.
The cathedral was the world's tallest building for a couple of centuries, from 1647 to 1874. Considering it was completed in 1439... Yeah, it didn't grow, it owed it title to the Pyramids of Giza shrinking from erosion and taller spires on other cathedrals burning down. Then it lost the title when churches in Hamburg, Rouen (another Notre-Dame Cathedral) and Köln were completed.
But talk of records is just talk, and 142 m is just a number, until you're faced with it. My favourite approach to the cathedral, to truly give it is awesome sense of scale, is the one I inadvertently took on my first proper visit to Strasbourg. From the North end of Place Gutenberg, walk along Rue des Hallebardes. The town's buildings will hide the cathedral from view for a moment, only for it to reappear suddenly at the turn of a corner, much closer, the spire truly towering over the surrounding buildings which also dwarf the viewer. I don't pass by there too often, to try to replicate the breathtaking reveal.
PS - We've already done a piece on the astronomical clock housed in the cathedral, an absolute treasure.
Strasbourg's Christkindelsmärik
One of Europe's oldest Christmas market, and likely the most famous in France, is Strasbourg's. Its existence is attested as far back as 1570, appearing in the years following Protestant Reformation. Today it is a sprawling event, covering all the main squares of the central island of Strasbourg, and it's very busy, especially in the evenings and on weekends.
The traditional Alsatian name of the market is Christkindelsmärik, "the market of baby Jesus", while the city's more recent branding (since the 1990s) proclaims the town as "Capital of Christmas".
Pictures from 2018 - I haven't been to this year's market yet, but I plan to once my workload deflates - I get my annual stock of jams from the local producer's market!
Another short one today, just a couple of Christmas decorations from Strasbourg. The "tree of cathedrals" was, as far as I can remember, new for last year in front of the station, and is back again this year. I definitely should talk at length about the cathedral at some point... Not to worry, normal nerdy and rambling service will soon be resumed.
I'm a bit low on inspiration and time today (work starting to pile up), so here's a train in the snow from the recent trip to Mulhouse and Thann. The train itself is a bi-mode Regiolis B84500 set, waiting at Mulhouse as the Sun sets.
First Christmas Market of 2024
Not as early as Ebisu, but still, just over a month before Christmas, I got to my first market on 23 November. On our way to Thann with two fellow hikers, our train was delayed and we had half an hour to kill in Mulhouse. I know the city centre is quite nice, so we went there, and found the Christmas market!
Place de la Réunion is gorgeous with its trompe-l'oeil facades (walls that have bricks, columns and other ornaments drawn on them) and church, which, unusually for a major French town, is a Protestant temple. It's extra-special with Christmas decorations, such as the town hall seen above. The water mill wheel is the emblem of Mulhouse, referencing the name's origin, Mülhausen, "mill house".
Strasbourg's tramway's 30th anniversary!
On this day in 1994, Strasbourg inaugurated - or rather, resurrected - its tramway network. Like many cities in France, Strasbourg had a streetcar system until the late 1950s, when it was decided that cars would take over. 30 years of worsening congestion and pollution later, the town chose a tramway, which had made a successful return in the mid 1980s in Nantes and Grenoble, over an automatic metro to revitalise its transit service.
Unlike Nantes and Grenoble, Strasbourg looked to foreign streetcar manufacturers Socimi and ABB, who designed a fully low-floor tram with generous windows. The Eurotram was at first a 33-metre vehicle (original form seen above), which quickly proved insufficient. A lengthened version, with an extra motor module and carriage, appeared in the following years.
Personally, I quite like this tram for the massive windows, the very mechanical sounds as it runs, and the fact that the warning bell is a real bell (later models have an electronic bell which... just sounds worse). A downside I have noticed, though not for me specifically, is that it has a low ceiling.
After losing out in the 90s, national constructor Alstom won the next round of contracts for Strasbourg's trams in the 2000s. The Citadis model, fully low-floor and taller than the Eurotrams, entered service in 2005. More Citadis trams arrived in 2016, with a new design that I really like, and with special adaptations to allow it to run in Germany, as the network crossed the border to Kehl in 2017, a first for a French tram operator.
Today, the network consists of 6 lines, crisscrossing the city centre and heading out into the suburbs. A 7th line is in the planning stages, due to head North towards Bischheim and Schiltigheim. Despite refurbishment, the Eurotrams won't be around forever, and new trams are on order - more from Alstom.
Engelbourg: the castle with the hole!
A less glamorous variation of the 10 yen coin photo, but I did say back in March that this place made me crave Polo mints!
More seriously, I returned to Thann this weekend with two Japanese people working in France this year. The timing was impeccable, as there had been some snowfall in the previous days, giving us some spectacular views from the summit.
Also, just in time for the start of the Christmas market! Getting into the festive mood early this year... and no need for fake snow! At least, that was the case yesterday. Today, the weather got much warmer and it's probably all gone.
The Mulhouse-Thann tram-train
Combining a suburban train service with the ability to navigate city streets sounds amazing. People can live nearer to the countryside, get frequent service into town, and, if everything lines up, commute straight into work without changes and avoiding the main station. The complementarity and opportunity to revitalise a branch line all sounds appealing... but a real challenge to implement. In France, only Mulhouse has truly achieved it.
Tram-trains aren't exactly rare in France: there are several lines around Paris, Nantes and Lyon have them (and many more had tram-train projects at some point). But, while the vehicles are capable of running in both modes, they are mostly used as a cheaper way to operate a line. The Nantes-Clisson and Nantes-Châteaubriant tram-trains, for example, which I have ridden, are just regional trains, running on heavy rail nearly all the way, and only stopping where the trains always used to.
Mulhouse is the only place in France to have true tram-train operations as described in the introduction: the tram-trains add traffic to line 3 between Mulhouse central station and Lutterbach, before switching to train mode and continuing on the branch line to Kruth as far as Thann.
The vehicles themselves are remarkable, as they need to be equipped for both streetcar and heavy rail operations, and each has its own requirements: lighting, horns, power supply, safety features... Mulhouse's vehicles are Siemens Avanto S70s, built in 2009-2010, and operated by SNCF as class U 25500. Similar units were introduced near Paris as early as 2005.
Three castles above Éguisheim
The village of Husseren-les-Châteaux is a peculiar one: at 1.2 km², it is the smallest commune in Southern Alsace, totally surrounded by Éguisheim. Beyond the vineyards, in the hills above the village and on the border with Éguisheim, are three castles, separated by... nothing.
Unlike other places where several castles can be found, such as Andlau or Ribeauvillé, this was only one unit, with the Dagsbourg and Weckmund being extensions of the original Wahlenbourg in the middle. Each section had its own dungeon.
I visited with my sister on a very overcast day two years ago, with low cloud descending on the hills. It made for some moody shots. We weren't alone up there - which was probably helpful! Also we used a car, and the car park isn't far, so it wasn't a creepy hike up or down.
As for the castle itself, it was destroyed during the Six Deniers War in 1466. The Habsburgs intended to conquer Mulhouse, and used the flimsy pretext of a miller being owed six deniers to start the invasion. But Mulhouse found allies in neighbouring Swiss cantons (before the Swiss Confederation was a thing) and won, taking out the fortress of Éguisheim along the way... as well as the miller whose complaint gave the Habsburgs the excuse they were waiting for.
Éguisheim's super-slim houses
Just a few kilometres to the South-West of Colmar is the village of Éguisheim, with a preserved Medieval centre, featuring gorgeous timber-framed houses. Some of these are the daintiest, slimmest houses you can find!
It begs the questions "why?" and "how did people live in them?" Well, in some places with similar thin houses, taxes have been the reason, as residences were taxed based on how far they extended on the street, with few restrictions on height and depth. Heck, here's an example in Colmar that doesn't have any footprint on the street: the Muckekaschtele, or "fly box house". It has a surface of 25 m², but it wasn't originally used as a home - it was a watchtower to make sure people were paying customs when bringing goods to market.
I'm not sure if that's what's at play in Éguisheim, it just looks like they're making the most of the space available between streets. In any case, they're charming and eanred Éguisheim the title of "France's Favourite Village", a poll organised by public TV channel France 2, in 2013. Éguisheim's more historic claim to fame is having been the birth place of Pope Leo IX (reigned 1049-1054).
I mentioned a train accident that was local to the Strasbourg area - here's an air crash on Mont Sainte Odile that truly shocked the Alsace region. There is a memorial on the mountain, I should visit and pay respects some day.