Chasing Dandelions in Strasbourg

The birthday boy

 We’ve returned to Rabelo.  It’s spring in France.  You might ask how I know?  The temperatures are fluctuating from the mid 80’s down to sweatshirt weather.  There are spectacular cloudless blue skies and then rain showers.  The storks have returned and are busy building their nests. We see swans sitting on their nests while the early birds are already parading with their cygnets.  And speaking of parades…the tourists have flooded Strasbourg.  Streets are packed with tourists from the river barges with guides waving their little flags and their armies dutifully following behind.  Unbeknownst to us, annually on a Sunday in May Strasbourg has a multitude of races throughout the city.  There are the walkers with the walking sticks, racers running different distances, and even wheelchair racers.  Various corners have brass bands. The city was alive and vibrant with good cheer.  I must mention the dandelions which dance, swirl, twist, turn, and fill our boat daily with reminders that it is spring.

We had front row seats in the kitchen at Le Restaurant 1741 to celebrate Tom’s birthday. 

The presentation was always beautiful.

I can’t begin to describe what we ate.

I can only say that each course was delicious

Having a front row seat for the evening was interesting.  The duck looked delicious as it was trimmed for the perfect presentation.

Our first dessert

Meringue lollipops for our second dessert

I wonder if they would come cook for us?

Her nest was next to the road with cars, bicycles and pedestrians.  

This family came by our boat for a visit.  She was showing off her cygnets.

Check out all the nesting storks.  If you look closely you’ll see them on top of every branch. 

The storks even nested on the park building.

There were people race walking with walking sticks.  We saw all ages.

These runners came through the center of Strasbourg

More racers coming through the old town of Strasbourg.

We had a great evening reconnecting with our barging friends Mark and Debra.

Cruising the canals of Europe on our 1929 barge called Rabelo. Please join me.

 Dear friends,

It seems that something has happened to my blog and it is no longer being delivered by email.  I’ve received numerous questions asking why I stopped blogging. I haven’t stopped. I’m hoping you can help me out.  I’d like to create a new list of recipients.  With this list I think I can get my blogs to you again by email.  Please email or message me that you’re interested in receiving my blog  and I will add you to my new list. Hopefully it will work and you won’t need to check Facebook to follow our travels,  I look forward to hearing from you. 

Sarreguemines, France (catching up)

Remaining Roman arch.  Sarrguemines began as a Roman settlement. 

View of the Saar river and the Casino.  The town was famous for the beautiful pottery and ceramics they

Distinctive old architecture. 

We walked to Remelfing where we saw the Marie which is the City Town Hall. 

Bridge repair work

A friend we made on our walk

Part of our walk

Our daily walk and place for locals to swim. 

Remains of the old factory 

 

Distinctive old remaining architecture. 

One of the original streets of Sarreguemines

One of the oldest streets in Sarreguemines.  Most of the houses were reconstructed during the 18th and 19th centuries. The “help” lived in the upper floor where you see the top windows. Hot in the summer and cold in the winter. 

Someone came up with the idea of building a miniature cruise ship and giving tours. Apparently it wasn’t successful and the boat is now parked along the canal. 

Bridge art

Used on the corners of streets to protect the buildings from carriage wheels is a bollard known as a wheel guard.

Last remaining pottery firing building. The town originally was filled with these buildings all spewing out smoke. 

 

Greenland and Iceland. The conclusion of our North Atlantic Adventure

We wandered around Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. We found this iceberg left high and dry when the tide went out.

The weather was perfect, which is a rare occurrence in Greenland, so we were able to cruise into Prince Christian Sound.  We had a spectacular view of the glaciers and waterfalls that surround the bay on all sides. Eventually we had to turn around and continue on our way, but only after taking in many magnificent sights. 

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It was cold on deck as we enjoyed the scenery. 

My favorite picture while we were in Prince Christian Sound.  This iceberg is so blue because it was deep inside the glacier and under tremendous pressure. 

My first fogbow 

Cruising by the tiny village of Kitaa, Greenland

Not only was there traffic around Nuuk (capital of Greenland), but the fog came rolling in. 

Entering the harbor of Nuuk. 

While in Nuuk we took a boat ride to view the sights in the surrounding area.

Seeing the boat near the iceberg can give you an idea of the size of some of them. 

Beautiful scenery on our boat ride out of Nuuk. 

There were waterfalls

And more icebergs. 

Nuuk, the capital of Greenland

We cruised by another glacier

A dramatic iceberg with a hole

Tabletop iceberg which hasn’t turned over yet. 

We left Greenland and finished our cruise in Reykjavik, Iceland. 

We had an exciting 4 x 4 adventure in Iceland!

We were taken to an area where we could see close up how the steam in Iceland is harnessed.   This steam vent hadn’t been capped off yet. The power supply in Iceland is 100% renewable energy.  70% is hydropower and 30% geothermal power.

Once the underground steam has been harnessed, an igloo type structure caps off and directs the powerful steam through a long system of pipes.

Pipes carrying steam and boiling hot water are carried throughout the island providing hot water and energy to a large percentage of the country. 70.38% of total energy used in the country comes from geothermal sources. 89% of the houses use geothermal power for heating.

Endless picturesque Icelandic views

Iceland’s stark and dramatic scenery.  Look carefully and you will see a pipe carrying hot water around the island. 

Now, we leave the cruise ship returning to our barge Rabelo to continue our cruising life.