Through the Heart of Europe -- Part 4, The Alsace Wine Region

After our tour of the city we boarded our bus for a tour through the Alsatian wine region.

We passed by and through a number of charming little villages surrounded by vineyards.

And above each of them towered an ancient keep.

Alsace reminded me a lot of Disneyland. Everywhere we saw kitsch displays. Of course we visited there during the runup to Easter, and a lot of the locals seemed to have gone overboard with decorations.

One of our stops was at a local winery where we toured the facility and learned a bit about wine making.

Then it was a quick trip to a wine museum, housed in a lovely old chalet.

Another familiar sight in Alsace -- stork nests.

A wine delivery wagon.

And a wine shop.

Mmmmm. Cookies.

More kitsch.

And more

The main street of Riquewihe, a center for the regional wine industry.

More kitsch.

A hilltop village surrounded by vineyards. Alsace is nothing if not picturesque.

Then it was back to the boat and on to Speyer.

Through the Heart of Europe -- Part 3, Strasbourg

Once back on the boat we embarked on the first stage of the journey -- down the river to Strasbourg. Passing through a number of locks, we floated on through the countryside.

And arrived at our destination.

Swans. Everywhere we went we found swans.

We then transferred to a canal boat for a tour of the city.

The parliament of the European Union meets in Strasbourg in this building.

A man walking his dog along the canal -- you have to look closely to see the dog.

Watch towers and a medieval bridge.

A canal boat.

The famous Strasbourg cathedral.

Mockers across the street from the cathedral

Inside the cathedral

The magnificent rose window.

Returning to the river we encountered more swans..., lots of them.

Through the Heart of Europe -- Part 2, Basel

The next day we left our berth on the Rhine and toured the city of Basel. It is a moderately sized urban area -- about 850,000 residents, only 20% of whom live in Switzerland [most live in adjoining areas of France and Germany].

I was tempted to open an account at a local bank, just to be able to say that I had a "Swiss bank account".

Basel is famous for its streetcars. They are the major form of city transportation. As you can see there aren't a lot of autos on the streets. Basel's economy is based on the chemical industry and international banking, both of which are thriving, however the population is declining rapidly from its peak in the 1970s. The problem is that the Swiss residents are not having many children. As a result an increasing proportion of the population consists of immigrants.

Basel is proud of its reputation as a cultural center. This is the fountain pool outside the performing arts building. I don't get the concept, but the collection of tortured metal objects spewing water is certainly striking.

An old gasthaus locally famous for its clientele of performance artists.

The town mascots, dueling basilisks -- "Basel"/basilisk, get it?

The official town insignia. It is a stylized representation of a bishop's crook -- supposedly commemorating the eighth century martyr, St. Germanus.

A pastry shop -- the first of many we would visit.

The central market square.

Tombstones that have been relocated so the graveyard could be developed.

Seen in a shop window.

Roof tiles.

The Basel Munster.

An old guildhall.

The Rathaus, Basel's town hall.

Then it was back to the boat to begin our journey down the Rhine.

Through the Heart of Europe -- Part 1, To Basel

This Spring we took a long river journey through the heart of the Dark Continent [Europe]. Our journey began at the Frankfort Airport where we were supposed to catch a Lufthansa flight to Basel, Switzerland.

Unfortunately, when we got to the airport we found that Lufthansa ground crews were threatening a strike and all flights were canceled.

So for ten hours we were stuck at the airport waiting for new flights to be scheduled.

At last we boarded a plane and headed south toward Switzerland. In the distance we could see the Bavarian alps. We arrived in Basel in the evening and were transported to the Rhine river where our boat was waiting for us. The sky above held an interesting conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the Moon. We hoped it was a good omen.

The sun-deck where I hoped to spend a lot of time as we floated through the heart of Europe.

We went to our cabin and unpacked, explored the boat for a while, then went to sleep. We arose early in the morning and went to the dining room for breakfast where we were greeted by these local residents. I had forgotten just how many swans lived along the Rhine.

Early morning along the Rhine.