Saturday March 22 through Friday, March 28
We have arrived in France. We were delayed about 7 hours as one of our original flights was cancelled due to the fire near Heathrow Airport. One of the many great things about retirement is that we can be flexible with our schedule. No sense in getting upset about cancelled flights…nothing we can do about it, and we have no schedule.
Our first flight left Evansville on Saturday at 10:45am. We arrived in Basel Switzerland Sunday at 6:10pm. We had two layovers, each about 8 hours long. That makes for a long trip. We picked up our car at the airport (absolutely no issues, thank you Europcar!) and began the 30-minute drive to our home base for the next 8 weeks, Rouffach, France.
A bit of background here. In the late 1980’s, Paul’s parents, Wilfred and Betty, and his Uncle Harold and Aunt Roselle came to Europe to find the Weinzapfel family. They had a rough idea of the area of Europe from which the Weinzapfel family emigrated to the United States, but no known family members. Their search was successful, and the American Weinzapfel family and the French Weinzapflen family connected. The family has, for the past 34 years, had reunions in both France and Indiana to strengthen the family connection. We have been very fortunate to travel to the reunions in France several times and have made great friendships with our French cousins.
One particular family with whom we have become close is the Weinzapflen/Dufosse/Pascal family. Cecile Weinzapflen, age 104, is the matriarch of the family. Cecile lives in Rouffach, France. Her daughter is Christianne Dufosse. Christianne’s daughter, Stephanie, stayed with us when our children were infants, in 1995 and 1996. Stephanie’s son, Maxime, came to stay with us during the summer of 2022 and again for Christmas 2023. The family has offered to us, many times over the years, to come stay at their home in Rouffach. We have accepted their generous offer and will be making Rouffach our home for the next 8 weeks.
When in arrived in Rouffach late Sunday evening, Christianne greeted us with a delicious dinner of baked chicken and salad. It was exactly what we needed after two long days of travel and airport food. I slept like a rock that night!
Our first full day in France was a great beginning to our trip. Paul, Christianne and I drove to the nearby town of Pfaffenheim. We visited the church here and walked through the cemetery. It is always interesting to visit the cemeteries in the Alsace area of France because there are so many familiar names from southern Indiana. With the church as our starting point, we did a lovely hike through the forest to Notre-Dame du Schauenberg (https://www.visit.alsace/253001436-Chapelle-Notre-Dame-du-Schauenberg/). Notre-Dame du Schauenberg is a pilgrimage church near Pfaffenheim. The chapel was founded in the 15th century. The nuns run a small restaurant with delicious meals. Our first course was the absolute best vegetable soup I have ever had in my life. My mother and mother- in- law both make really great vegetable soup, so no offense intended, but those nuns can cook!
We also drove to and walked around nearby towns such as Soultzbach, which is Cecile’s hometown. We saw the graves of Cecile Weinzapflen’s parents and sister, and we walked to the home where she was born.
Tuesday and Wednesday were down days as I was struggling to get over jet lag. The highlight of these days was a visit with Cecile. She is always happy and smiling. We brought some DeBrand chocolates (made in Indiana) for her and it made my heart happy because she enjoyed them so much.
Thursday was another day of touring nearby points of interest. We started the day with a delicious lunch of pork and sauerkraut at a wonderful restaurant in St. Hippolyte. If you know me, you know I love sauerkraut, so this meal was a real treat. After lunch, we went to La Volerie des Aigles, which translates to The Eagle Aviary (https://www.voleriedesaigles.com/fr). The aviary is an old castle ruin that houses birds like falcons, eagles and owls. They do a fantastic bird show. We took our children to this bird show when they were young. I participated in the show and had a vulture on my lap and a falcon on my arm. Pretty cool!
The weather on Friday was beautiful so we drove to La Lac Vert, the Green Lake. The drive to the lake was a gorgeous drive through mountain switchbacks. We hiked on the forest trail around the lake. The trail is my favorite kind of trail, slight ups and downs, heavily wooded, moss-covered rocks, a waterfall and a small stream. All the ingredients for the perfect trail.
After our hike we had a picnic in the sun and enjoyed listening to the birds sing. After soaking in the beautiful sun of springtime, we drove to Gerardmer. This town is fascinating to me because Paul’s Great Uncle Clem was here during WW1. Seeing the landscape that he saw over 100 years ago is so interesting to me. It is also incredible to think that members of Paul’s family were within 50 miles of each other during the war. Not to get political here, but it kind of highlights the craziness of war
As I wrap up the summary of our first week, I have decided that I will count each week of this trip as one “To Do.” I will be doing so many new things while we are here and if I count each new activity, city, and restaurant, I might finish all 52 in a few months. This week’s new activities include:
- Holding a vulture and a falcon
- Visiting many new towns in France such as Rouffach, Soultzbach, Soultzmatt, Pfaffenheim, St. Hippolyte, and Munster. The highlight for me was visiting Gerardmer since it has a special family history.
Stay tuned for week 2 of our trip. Week one included planes and automobiles. We get to add trains in week 2.
My52ToDo.com 