Considering the time, for lunch we decide to buy a ready-made local dish with the traditional dessert made in the wavy pudding mould. As had already happened in recent days, people smile on seeing our group arrive and we understand why well; we're chatterboxes, noisy, chaotic, but deep down likeable, cheerful and appreciated precisely because we're "Italian". We cover about 5 km and stop again at Riquewihr, very rich in beautiful buildings, always in stone with crossbeams, but also in wells and fountains all adorned with lots and lots of flowers. Around 5 we arrive at the village of the travelling musicians - the town of Ribeauvillè. As always we settle into the municipal camping "Pierre De Coubertin" where a stork strolling on the lawn welcomes us. Everyone quickly to take a shower, tonight a big dinner at the restaurant L'Ami Fritz.
The evening in company at the table eating typical dishes and obviously drinking Alsatian white wine was truly pleasant, unfortunately when the bill came we discovered that the wine is not only very good but also very expensive. Wednesday, June 17, today until 3 pm the group is free. Some decide on a walk in the centre, others to rest at the campsite, we reach the stork park at Hunawihr by bike, about two km from the centre. We discover that the stork is not only the bird that brings babies but is the symbol of Alsace, that in 1982 only two pairs remained and that to safeguard the species this stork reintroduction centre was created, today in this park over 400 pairs have nested. There are nests everywhere and you can see the white stork with its chicks from very close, the spectacle is worth the visit.
Before returning we laboriously climb up to the little church on the hill, once at the top the exclamation is unanimous "What a lot of vineyard". After lunch Franca offers us her tasty cake to celebrate the birthday of her husband Fiorenzo and of Ivano, with a nice toast to us, to our trip, to friendship. At 3 pm the convoy moves to Mont Saint Odile. This time we go up to the monastery in the middle of the woods up to 750 m of altitude. Around the church perched on the rock, the terrace with a breathtaking view over the valley, you can see Strasbourg and the Black Forest. We enter the little chapels des Anges and des Larmes with walls enriched with beautiful golden mosaics. In the evening we're parked in the camper rest area at Obernai, another Alsatian village, which preserves the fortified walls.
After the walk in the centre we all find ourselves sitting in a circle in the square with coffee and liqueurs, Claudio starts firing off a few jokes and the evening ends laughing like crazy while the sun at 10 still hasn't disappeared. Thursday, June 18, inside the walls the market draws the local people and also us who, before setting off again for the last destination, stop to do some shopping. Some buy fruit and vegetables, others take the opportunity to buy some souvenir or some typical French product. At 10 we set off; the route is short indeed after about thirty kilometres we enter Strasbourg. We arrive at the "De la montagne verte" campsite around 11, the group lines up on the lawn and no time is wasted because at 1:30 pm we all have to be on the tram toward the Parliament.
Here too, as we had seen earlier, the trams have a modern aerodynamic shape, the interior equally beautiful and comfortable, very different, unfortunately, from the Italian ones. At the tram stop there in front of us is the imposing glass building of the Parliament. We settle into the waiting room and at 2:30 pm, as booked, the official invites the group of the Camper Club Mantova to enter following the guide. I can't hide that it was emotional, we're at the European Parliament, the institution that represents citizens at the European level that decides 60% of the laws concerning the environment, renewable energies, health, human rights, immigration, European evolution and integration.
The guide accompanies us explaining that the building was built by the French and recalls the shape of Napoleon's hat, the structure seems unfinished because the Union is not yet finished and the luminosity symbolises the transparency of the institutions. We pass through the press room, with the stations of the major newspapers and naturally Rai, the entrance of the heads of state dominated by the great helical staircase designed by "our" Leonardo da Vinci, we watch a film about the activity of the Parliament, then finally we arrive at the Great Hemicycle. On entering, the exclamation of surprise is spontaneous at the dimensions of the room, the many armchairs arranged in a semicircle, the interpreters' stations all around.
The guide starts giving us the numbers: 50 years ago the member states were 6 today they are 27, 785 seats of which 78 are Italian, 7 political groups, 23 languages spoken. It is without doubt a fairly complicated mechanism but it is to be hoped that everything turns in the right direction to give European citizens great benefits. After a couple of hours we come out satisfied and, given the beautiful day, we head to the centre. The guide at the Parliament had advised us to take the boat trip and here we all are sitting in the boat travelling along the canals of the Petite France to stop at the lock and wait for the water level difference of 1.60 metres and to arrive again to see from the canal the great glass building of the Parliament. Friday, June 19 - it's raining. By tram we arrive in the centre and enter the cathedral to see the astronomical clock in motion.
After an hour of waiting the chime comes, a bit disappointing, the movement is minimal and is reduced to the rooster crowing three times. Obviously on returning to the campsite the curses were not lacking. In the afternoon the weather is still inclement but we cannot give up the last afternoon in Strasbourg. We return to the centre for a nice walk and an excellent dinner. Saturday morning the group breaks up, we say goodbye, some will continue for another week toward the Black Forest, we calmly return home because on Monday work awaits us and as we campers always say …………"bye and see you next time" Francesca
0 reader comments