We were crossing Belgium, looking for some sights which might be fun on the way. First we found the Abbey of Orval, which fascinated us and then we stopped at Bouillon, not only for its name but because of its position at the winding river with a castle on top. Both locations are in the …
Our last stop in France was at Metz, which has a rich 3,000-year long history, having variously been a Celtic oppidum (a fortified Iron Age settlement) an important Gallo-Roman city, the Merovingian capital of Austrasia, the birthplace of the Carolingian dynasty, a cradle of the Gregorian chant, and one of the oldest republics in Europe. The city has been steeped in Romance culture, but has also been strongly influenced by Germanic culture due to its location …
We first visited Bitche with its large citadel, which had been constructed by Vauban on the site of an old castle after the capture of Bitche by the French in 1624. The fortress is noted for its resistance during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Bitche is near the Maginot Line, into which the citadel was later integrated. While driving …
When the rain had finally stopped, we visited 2 cities in the beautiful Alsace, the region at the border to Germany, first the very picturesque Colmar and later the much bigger Strasbourg with its very impressive cathedral. Colmar has a very well preserved old town with crooked timber-framed houses, little squares and alleys with lovely …
What beauties are these! Especially the Bugatti collection of the Schlumpf brothers was impressive. We really enjoyed the visit to the museum in Mulhouse, but now we will visit some lovely towns of the Alsace – more on our next post, guaranteed without cars 😉
The very rainy weather made us look for another museum, and we found one with cars! The Collection Schlumpf in Mulhouse was the perfect location to spend at least half a day inside. The collection of the Schlumpf brothers begins 1936 with the purchase of a Bugatti, a real competition car, from the prestigious Alsatian car manufacturer. …
First some trucks we had admired at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, later some of the Unimog we saw at the museum in Gaggenau. With this LO 1112, Hector Prieto began a career as bus operator in Buenos Aires in 1969. As was customary in many private bus companies in the Argentine capital, his vehicle …
Actually, we had stopped at Hirsau just to use the service station for caravans, but then we had spotted the remains of the Hirsau Abbey and decided to have a look. We learned that Hirsau was once one of the most important Benedictine abbeys of Germany. In the 11th and 12th century, the monastery was a centre of the Cluniac …
The Lichtenstein Castle in the Swabian Jura of southern Germany is a Gothic Revival castle which was built in 1840–1842. The owners are the Dukes of Urach, connected to the royal family of Württemberg. We managed to go there during a last revival of winter, which transformed everything into an enchanted landscape. At the bottom of the castle …
It was a rainy and cold day when we came past Stuttgart, and what would be a better idea than to visit a museum. We had been to the Porsche museum before, so this time we visited the Mercedes-Benz museum. Here some of the most beautiful cars we saw there. There are more cars to …
