Maginot Line, Alsasce, Soccer

Friday October 20th

Fran and I arrived home safe and sound on the TGV express train from Paris on Friday night and met up with Toby, Heather and our friend Jayanti from Munich who was visiting us in Karlsruhe.

We intended to go out on a pub crawl called "Catch the Bus" but we ended up having so much fun sitting around in our apartment that we stayed in instead and decided to "miss the bus".


Saturday October 21, 2007

We rented a car and decided to check out the countryside in Alsace, the region on both sides of the French/German border near Karlsruhe.

Heather kindly offered to drive.


We were tempted by the Neuer Wein stands so we pulled over for a closer look.



We ended up with a large bag of chestnuts and a jug of wine.


We stopped a the tourist info in a small town to find out more about the Schoenenbourg historic site & part of the Maginot line. Unfortunately we missed the two hour window of their Saturday office hours. We did enjoy the free ping-pong and this shy little guy.



This is the Schoenenbourg bunker. It was a part of the Maginot Line an underground fortification built between the world wars to prevent German invasion. Apparently it was quite effective protection against what it was build for: the direct attacks from the east. Of course with the invention of new technology, a.k.a. aircraft, it wasn't able to stop the German invasion.


We toured the bunker. It took about two hours to walk through the tour. It was a very large underground bunker. If you want to read more, check out the links above.





After our tour we decided to go to Strassbourg for dinner. It was cu-cu-cu-cold there.



We tried the regional/seasonal secialties including Tarte Flambe and Zwiebelkuchen (onion tart). Yummy.




Heather took the reigns again on the way home and did some fast autobahn driving. I admire her bravery. I wouldn't be caught dead behind the wheel on the autobahn. She did smashingly well. I didn't fear for my life once. This pic is worth taking a closer look at! (Click on the picture to enlarge).


Sunday October 22, 2007

Inspired by our trip to Paris, Fran and I made crepes for breakfast.


Then we headed out to ZKM, a modern art museum in Karlsruhe. It was their 10th anniversary so admission was free.


We enjoyed the interactive exhibits like this one below. I had to defend myself against pushy German budgers which added a bit of stress to the event. I might go back some time during the week when there won't be many people around to see more.


The ZKM space is really great. I've been there three times now and each time to visit a different exhibit. It's a worthwhile stop on a trip to Karlsruhe.


The weather was definitely becoming more "winterish". It was grey, cold and rainy. So we took refuge in Wolfbräu, a local pub and brewery. The food was excellent and as you can see they had quite the selection of drinks. I had wheat beer mixed with banana juice, Fran tried a beer with grenadine (don't knock it until you try it! It is a good alternative for non-beer drinkers), Jayanti tried the special winter brew, that dark foamy one.


Unfortunately Jayanti had to dash to her train back to Munich and wasn't able to come to the KSC Fußball game with us.


Our seats were released at the last minute and definitely the "cheap seats". Our view was not this good.


Go team!



A thrilling 0:0 tie.


After the game we were happy to go back to the apartment to warm up, dry off, have a nice glass of our "new wine" and snuggle in for the night.