The Bells

I just finished googling "why do church bells ring at 10pm" as our friend Saint-Georges Church was ringing its bells for 15 minutes straight.  Melanie suggested that it was a signal for some sort of invasion. The internet offered no explanation.

Our little corner also seems to be the local gathering spot for some more of the hardened socialites of Sélestat,  Throw in a motorcycle or two and it makes for an interesting evening.

Saint-Georges Church has seen a lot of action since its construction in the 12th century.
During WWII, many parts of Sélestat were heavily damaged, including Saint-Georges Church. Walking by the church today, you can still see the pock marks of the battle damage.

Sélestat

The view from our bedroom window in Sélestat.

 The boys sleeping late in the morning.

We visited the château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg yesterday, making this a 4 castles in 3 days trip.

Vauban and Neuf Brisach

Marquis de Vauban was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age. He is known for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them. He also advised Louis XIV on how to consolidate France's borders, to make them more defensible. Vauban made a radical suggestion of giving up some land that was indefensible to allow for a stronger, less porous border with France's neighbours.

His ideas informed many of the fortifications in Canada including the Halifax Citadel and Fort Beausejour.

So any way, we visited Neuf Brisach today. The city's layout was that of an 'ideal city', accoring to Vauban, with a regular square grid street pattern inside an octagonal fortification. Generous space for a central square across the four blocks at the middle, flanked by an impressive church. Individual blocks were offered for private development, either as affluent houses in private gardens, or as properties for commercial rent. Simpler housing was provided in long tenement blocks, built inside each curtain wall, which also had the effect of shielding the better houses from the risk of cannon fire. Access was provided by large gateways in the principal four curtain walls.

Looking towards one of the entrances

Inside the church.

Two dorks and two storks.

Alsace Villages

We started the day in Selestat on the hunt for breakfast croissants and then headed to the very impressive Haut-Koenigsbourg castle for a tour. Stopped here for a shot of the vineyards that surround the castle.

Three castles, two countries, one day

We started off our day early with a 7:00am breakfast at the hotel. We drove 10 minutes in the rain up to Schloss Hohenschwangau and then walked to Schloss Neuschwanstein. From there we drove to Schloss Sigmarigen.

The drive from Germany to France was interesting - our first experience on the Autobahn, We made into Sélestat aound 7pm.