I was again very grateful that Lynette and James were happy to drive us around, and so I didn’t have to venture out on the roads with our rental car! After breakfast, we wandered down to their hotel. James had just been to the supermarket next to their hotel and had witnessed a woman being asked to show the contents of her bag. Apparently, she was most indignant, and when some bottled water was discovered, she threw the money at the checkout operator, exclaiming that this was the first time this had ever happened. The attendant threw the change back at her and out she went, still exclaiming that this was the “premier fois” — mmm, first time she’s ever been sprung?!

Our first destination was the pretty circular town of Eguisheim. A short stroll from the car park and we were in the town centre. Up on the rooves of the church and castle were perched two motionless storks standing on nests. We debated whether or not they were real, and finally concluded that they weren’t when Lynette zoomed in on one of her photos and declared that the stork was made of wood. We presumed that feathers had been stuck on to it, as they were blowing in the breeze. Some time later, when a third stork appeared on top of another nest and one of the storks was now facing the opposite direction, we were forced to reconsider our conclusion — they were indeed real! (I had seen one on a church steeple in a town we’d passed through the day before, but had been unsure as to whether it was real or not, as it was still in exactly the same position when we drove back past it about 90 minutes later.)

We wandered around one side of the town, and then the other, completing a full circle. The houses were very pretty and colourful. With very few tourists around compared to Colmar, it was very pleasant strolling through the narrow alleyways.

The tourist information office provided us with a map of the Alsace area so that we could try and locate the Lac du Ballon and the walking track we had read about on a website before we’d left. The turn-off was so poorly signed that we initially drove right past it — I just happened to glimpse the sign in the corner of my eye. We back-tracked, and then drove up a long, winding narrow road, stopping a couple of times for oncoming traffic to pass. The road ended at the lake. The temperature up in the hills of the Vosges National Park was considerably cooler than down on the plain — 27.5C was much more pleasant than the 32.5C we had left back in Colmar. (The maximum temperatures all week were around 32C - 35C). There were a few people picknicking by the shore of the lake, but no one appeared to be swimming. (Some of us had brought bathers with us, just in case.) We strolled about halfway around the lake, and then descended the short distance to a beach area below. Here, we found a place to sit and eat our lunch (a tasty pattiserie for me and a bagel for Michael), far enough away from the couple of people who were fishing nearby. Unfortunately, the sun disappeared just as we sat down, making the water less appealing for swimming. Being comfortably cool now, we didn’t think it was really worth the effort of changing and getting wet, especially having no towels with which to dry ourselves. Lipsy the dog, whose name was written on her coat, entertained us for a while as she swam out into the water searching in vain for the stones that her owners or Michael threw in for her to fetch. She had more success with the stick that Michael eventually tossed in for her. It was not something I wanted to encourage, especially when Lipsy decided to shake herself dry right near where I was sitting!

Lunch over, we continued on the walk around the lake. A few young guys were swimming near the dam wall, despite the sign declaring swimming forbidden! We then ventured down a track where a small stream branched off, but soon abandoned it when we realised that it was descending rapidly without any real promise of a specatcular waterfall. The walk I had chosen, which was meant to start some distance away from the lake — we just didn’t know how to locate the position which had only been provided in GPS coordinates — was supposed to take us through an area giving us the most beautiful view over the Vosges Mountains and beyond, as well as incorporating cascades. It is a pity that it was really too hot to do any long, arduous hikes. We were happy to move on and visit another village.

It was about 3pm when we started the drive back down the narrow road, anticipating that it would be too late in the day to meet any oncoming traffic. Wrong! We came across quite a number of people on their way to the lake. Lynette had to reverse a short distance on one occasion, and pull over to the right as far as possible on others. We coudn’t work out why the driver of one car was so abusive as he passed us — we had no where else we could go, and he managed to squeeze past without any problems.

We chose Neuf-Brisach as our next destination, based on the interesting photo on the map we’d been given and the fact that it is listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO. Its fortified walls looked impressive in the photo. In reality, the grass was dry and needed mowing. The township itself was almost lifeless. We parked, free of charge (not a good sign!), and followed a few tourists who had just been dropped off by a tourist bus. They walked through an archway in the museum building, coming out on to a platform between the city walls. The platform seemed to be an artistic representation of a boat, indicating that this space was once a moat protecting the town. We walked a quarter of the distance around the ‘moat’ to the town gate through which we had driven. Various sculptures were on display, including some massive animals made of hay and wire — the lion was particularly impressive.

Before heading on our way again, we popped into the small supermarket for a few items. Whilst waiting for the others, I read that the town had been used for military purposes, the vast parking area in the centre being a military parade ground. Here’s what I have since found out about the town:
‘Neuf-Brisach is the Citadel of the Sun King since it was founded in 1699 at Louis XIV's behest. Today, it is considered as Vauban's masterpiece. Its architecture is unique in Europe, and the Citadel is listed as part of the world Heritage by UNESCO. Its parade ground, pure lines, 48 quarters forming a perfect octagon and bastion fortifications make it unique in its kind.’
So there you go! I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to visit this town.

Back in Colmar, Lynette dropped us off near our apartment. We all met up again for dinner in our apartment — pasta with prawns a la Michael.

P.S. What do you say, ‘roofs’ or ‘rooves’? Intuitively, I want to say ‘rooves’, but my research indicates that this form of the plural of roof is outdated!