March 18, 2003

Chatenois - Selestat - Strasbourg - Barr - Mittelbergheim - Andlau

distance hiked: 7.5 miles, about half without packs

We made an early start in the morning.  The BBC was reporting the start of the train strike.  The good news was that this wasn't so much a strike as a slowdown.  The trains were running, kind of, but we wouldn't know what our options were until we got to the station in Selestat.

We stopped in at a bakery on our way out of Chatenois, bought a warm baguette, split it in half, and ate it as we walked back to Selestat.

At the station we found that the train we had initially intended to take to Barr, the town with a station from which we could most easily walk to Andlau, was cancelled.  The next one to Barr left in 6 hours.  That left us with two choices of destinations: Strasbourg or Colmar.  We decided to take the next train, whichever direction it was headed.  That roll of the dice sent us to Strasbourg.  Getting off the train, we followed a group of teenage Hassidim off the platform and into the station.  One of them had dyed bright blue and green hair under in yarmulke.  In the station, we checked to see if there was a train from there to Barr.  There wasn't, but there was a bus.

"What time does it leave?" Shorty said.

"Five minutes."

We went outside onto the plaza where the buses left.  The buses were widely dispersed; it was anyone's guess which one went to Barr.  One by one, we investigated the buses.  Finally, we found it, just as it pulled away from the curb.  Shorty waved it down.

The bus was packed.  Shorty found a seat; I stood on the back stairs with the packs.  Stayin' Alive was playing on the radio.  One of my fingers started bleeding.

Less than an hour later, we arrived in Barr.  Despite the circuitous route, we got there only 20 minutes later than we would have had the train from Selestat been running.  It was yet another beautiful day: we were in good shape.

Since it was about lunchtime, we tried to stop in a the supermarket across the street from the station, but it was closed for lunch.

Andlau wasn't far.  It was a pleasant walk through hills and vineyards.  For most of the way castle Andlau, sitting atop a mountain was in sight.

Around 1:00, we arrived at Hotel Le Kastelberg.  This was the first hotel where we'd managed to keep our reservations since our night in Strasbourg.  Right on the outskirts of town, the hotel provided us with a large comfortable room with a small terrace and, better still, a bathtub.

We walked into the village, hoping to locate a phone booth so we could give Dad a call (we were successful).  Spotting a grocery store, we attempted to go in to buy some cheese, but were thwarted.  On Wednesdays, this grocery didn't open until 3.  We began to wonder whether French groceries were ever open.

Our missions for the day accomplished aside from the acquisition of cheese, we decided to hike up the mountain to Castle Andlau.  After a very steep ascent through vineyards on the mountainside above Andlau, we entered more gently sloped trails through the woods.

Much of the information in this paragraph is contingent on my ability to read historical placards in French: therefore it may be all wrong.  The castle itself was built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.  Napoleon gave the castle to a local family, who still owns the place.  The castle is in ruins.  Still, it was interesting to wander through.  Quite a few people milled around.  The remains of a recent campfire were in the castle courtyard.

We returned to Andlau via Rocher de Sainte Richarde, a rock that overlooks the town.  Sainte Richarde (again, this information may be entirely false) founded Andlau in the ninth century.  A middle-aged man sat on the rock shirtless, sunning himself.

The shadows were long by the time we got back into Andlau.  The downhill hike was a strain for both of us.  Though a relatively easy day with the packs, our feet were still sore.  Shorty went back to the hotel.  I, finally, was able to confirm that French grocery stores do open occasionally.  I bought wine, cheese, bread, and Orangina.  The lady in front of me in line came up a euro short for her purchases.  Apparently the shop extends modest credit to known customers; the cashier simply took out a pad and wrote up an IOU.

Had the option been available, I have little doubt our weary feet would have taken us to the hotel restaurant for dinner, but the Kastelberg's restaurant was closed on Wednesdays.