Thursday, June 4, 2026
Our plan for today was to go to the Éco-musée d'Alsace. Temps in the high 60's small chance of rain, increasing in the late afternoon. So, off we go, headed in the direction of the Vosges Mountains going south. We brought our raincoats just in case. Oh, and our lunches.
Just a 25 minute ride, when we got to the museum, we were told it was closed today. (But there were a half-dozen busses in the parking lot.) Disappointed, we went back to the car to reconsider our options. Dave suggested a trip to Mulhouse (apparently pronounced meh-lose in Alsace) to visit the auto museum. Chuck loves tractors, and cars, and car races. So this is right up his alley. Mulhouse is only 20 minutes south of the Éco-musée.
Rock-star handicapped parking gave us only a short walk to the museum via its impressive entrance. (See this blogpost ) While Pat and I were ho-hum about looking at cars, we had to admit that the museum was gigantic and well laid out. A special exhibit on Formula 1 cars was an extra bonus for Chuck, who knew most of the models in the museum, old or new. Not counting the Formula 1 exhibition, the museum has more than 450 cars on display, mostly old cars.
The Schlumpf brothers (Fritz & Hans) developed careers as wool brokers. A car and race enthusiast, Fritz began collecting cars in his middle age. The cars were restored and kept in his HKC Mulhouse wool factory (no longer being used). This factory continues to be the site of the museum. In the end, Fritz would own 30 bugattis.
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| quote from: https://newsroom.bugatti.com/en/press-releases/history-schlumpf-how-the-biggest-bugatti-collection-was-returned-to-france |
These are some of what we saw in the museum.
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| 1933 Bugatti |
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| 1930 Maserati |
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| 1942 Arzens - designed to save on fuel |
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| Chuck and Rolls Royce |
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| 1930 Bugatti Royale Coupe de Ville (ask Chuck why this is special) |
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| Formula 1 race car |
Having arrived late morning, we had postponed lunch to do the museum first. Of course, by the time we left it was after 3:00. Any hopes of a picnic lunch were dashed by the wet sidewalks (and picnic tables) and the misty sprinkles still coming down. It was a lucky thing we weren't able to go to the éco-musée, we would have had to leave early and/or get wet. So we ate lunch in the car, then headed for home.
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| Pat avoiding raindrops; Lynn & Dave breaking down the scooter |
Oh, and by the way, had we found the schedule for the éco-musée, we'd have seen that in June, the museum is closed Monday-Thursday. Sheesh.
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