2026-05-12 Le Mont Sainte Odile

 Wednesday, May 11, 2026

There's nothing exciting to say for the day. After doing a few chores, we spent the rest of the day reading and waiting for the arrival of Dan and Paulette. As promised, they appeared in time for apéros and dinner (grilled salmon). We spent the rest of the evening catching up on news and sharing photos of our kids. Dan was Dave's first office mate at IBM in Poughkeepsie. He moved to Belgium for a job at IBM where he met and married Paulette. We have been friends for over 50 years and don't often get to meet in person, so these occasions are so special.

Thursday, May 12, 2026

View across the Vosges from Le Mont de Sainte-Odile

This will be our first trip into the Vosges Mountains. Paulette says it's an insult to mountains to call the Vosges "mountains" since the highest is only 1400 meters (about 4200 feet). Dan knows about a place called "Le Mont Sainte Odile." It's a pilgrimage site and on one of the routes to St Jacques de Compostelle. 

While cool, the sun was shining and the drive through woods as we zig-zagged up the "mountain" (only 700 meters high). We saw many "pilgrims" hiking up the mountain with their walking sticks. And of course many other visitors were filling up the parking lots with their cars, like we were.

Le Mont Sainte Odile - a minor basilica

The setting was spectacular with views down over the valley spread out like a plain below with a hazy view of the Black Forest beyond to the east. Today, Sainte Odile advertises itself as a sanctuary, a place of peace and prayer. It has a hotel, restaurant, and seminar rooms for retreats. 

view from Sainte Odile looking NE

The story of Odile and her acts of faith and charity give purpose to this hilltop retreat. The oldest child of the duke of Alsace, she was born small and blind. Her father, wanting a son, would have had her killed excerpt for the interference of her mother. She was raised until age 12 by a nurse. When she was baptized at this age, she miraculously recovered her sight at which time she was named Odile, child of light. Upon return to her family, her father wanted now to marry her off against her wishes. She fled into the Black Forest and when pursued by her father, was miraculously hidden by a rock that opened to hide her. Her father then realized her calling and gave her the Chateau of Hohenbourg. Many women joined her mission there and she eventually opened a second monastery at the foot of today's Mont Sainte Odile continuing the mission of caring for the poor and ill. One other miracle worth noting: once while walking from Hohenbourg, she encountered a blind and thirsty beggar. She struck a rock from which a stream of water came forth, this water continuing even today. Odile is buried in a sarcophagus in the church on the Mont St Odile. 

The sarcophagus of St Odile in its own chapel

Before touring the buildings, we found a sunny terrace with benches where we ate our lunch with a view of the Alsatian plain below us.

Paulette, Dan, and Dave eating lunch

Paulette showing off the view from our lunch spot

Our lunch view

The complex of buildings is set up for retreats, but one can visit the church and cloister. 

The entrance to the complex is in the center of the building

Once through the entryway, the hotel in on the left

The church

The altar

Since 1931 there have been prayers of adoration here, 24/24 7/7. Notice the 2 people praying. behind the altar.  Others will come later to take their places.

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Behind the church is another spacious terrace, again with views to the valley. We might  have taken our Christmas card photo on this terrace.

Taking photos on the terrace. Here Dave takes a photo of Paulette and Dan.

A possible Christmas photo of Paulette and Dan

Dave & Lynn 

Back in the car, we headed to Obernai.

There is a Green Guide walking tour of the old center of Obernai which gave us a sense of the city in the middle ages. As usual, half-timbered buildings (houses mostly) alternated with administrative and church buildings in brick. 

This belfry was a watchtower and a bell tower for the town

The Hotel de Ville (Town Hall) with Dan and Paulette

The Market Square has hosted a market every week since 1301. Around this square are administrative buildings, former guild buildings, and former inns. The statue on the 1904 fountain is of Sainte Odile, patron saint of Alsace.

Some Easter decorations on the Market Square

Half-timbered house - I like the color

The pollarded trees were beginning to leaf out and city workers were planting flowers in stone troughs in the public spaces of the city. 

An old watering trough is now used for flowers. Two girls were unloading flowers from the back of the truck you see. The man is just a passer-by.

e walked as far as the cathedral, stopping to admire a 5-bucket well along the way. 

This well has 5 buckets hanging from pulleys. Not sure it still works.

Church of Saints Peter & Paul

Notice the stork nest on the cross at the top of the church. Notice the head of the statue. I think he needs a hat.

We had to give up finding the city ramparts when our GPS tried to send us down this "street."

Our GPS wanted us to go down this "street" No thank you.

Back home, we had our usual aperos and Dave made pasta for dinner. Another good and busy day in the books. 

2026-05-09-11 At home in Logelheim & Unterlinden Museum in Colmar

 

Saturday May 9, 2026 (for you Penny)

No adventures today. Our company left at 10:30 this morning and the house felt lonely. Our friends and family not only packed their bags, but stripped sheets and started laundry and dishes. Dave drove the group to Strasbourg where they were catching a fast train (TGV) that will put them in Paris in only 2 hours. It sounds like there may be shenanigans, as Dale has wine and wine glasses in his backpack. 

Strasburg train station

Kim on the platform

Seats look comfortable

We miss them already. Longtime friends, Janis and Clark have traveled with us on every one of the previous 6 trips where we rented a house and explored a region for an extended time. Dale and Kim (my brother and sister-in-law) have been camping buddies for many years and have joined us previously on the two trips before this one. 

We are working on laundry and cleaning this afternoon with apéros for dinner. 

Bread and cheese, strawberries, olives, sausage, and wine - Bon Apetit

While at the outside table, our host René, passed by and took just a sip of wine when offered. He told me that alcohol is bad for his gout. Rene has been trying to cut our grass for a few days and at the same time not bother us. We told René that finishing mowing the grass would not disturb us, so he did, stopping at times to tell us stories. 

René shared a stack of photos from Logelheim's Fête de Potiron (Pumpkin Festival) René told us there were 10,000 people at this fest and I can see why. Logelheim's population is 950. This fest has taken place every year in mid-October since 1999. Pumpkins are arranged in scenes, sculpted in original ways, and built into mythical beasts, space ships and other large characters There is a parade at dusk when all the pumpkins along the parade route are lit. All things pumpkin from soup to dessert are served under tents set up in the street. The statement "It takes a village..." must apply to Logelheim's residents. Sounds like great fun. I copied  some of René's photos but haven't asked if I could publish them. But there is a website for this pumpkin fest that has lots of photos. If you need some Halloween ideas, I suggest you check out this page. You'll find it here: https://www.gite-en-alsace.net/alsace/fete-de-la-citrouille.html.

Sunday May 10, 2026

Weather is iffy - perhaps rain around 5 pm. It's certainly gray. We spent  some of our morning time looking at maps together so I get a better sense of the roads we travel to all these wonderful places. Since I'm not driving, I can't seem to get my bearings.

We decided to have lunch at Brasserie Schwendl (Green Guide suggestion) and then visit one of Colmar's art museums. It's clearly a popular place.

Brasserie Schwendl

The weather is holding, so we opted to eat outside. The place was filling up; 15 minutes after we sat down, there was a line. (Good sign that the food is good.) Europeans in general eat lunch later than we do - somewhere between 1 and 2 pm. We were lucky to have arrived around 12:30. I ordered a tarte flambée - one of those ultra thin crust French answer to pizza.  Dave ordered Baeckeoffe - a bit like pot roast but with 3 meats (lamb, beef, pork) and sauteed potatoes, an Alsatian dish he's been wanting to try. Lunch finished, we're off to the museum.

Dave waiting for his food

Our food - Baeckeoffe for Dave, tarte flambée for me

The Musée Unterlinden (under the lime tree) is housed in a 13th century Dominican convent and displays far more art than we can see in a day. First, let me say, I was enthralled by the building. Even through the white plaster and clean lines of the museum's display rooms, you never lost sight that this had been a Convent. 

Clean lines are everywhere. Here, the staircase to the lower level.

Reminders of this building's original use as a convent

The chapel of the convent is a great place to display the Isenheim Altarpiece

The original cloisters were accessible from multiple rooms. A second win is that the building is completely handicapped accessible via elevators and ramps. Wood carvings allowed vision-impaired to explore with their hands their major artwork. 

Lynn could access the cloister using a ramp.

Looking across the cloister toward the well

I will say we wandered slightly aimlessly, finding the building plan difficult. Nevertheless, we saw lots of prehistoric archeologic finds from the area, carvings from Roman times, and medieval religious art. 

A burial carving from Roman times

Mosaic floor from Roman times

Medieval carved and painted altar piece

The museum's pièce de résistance is the Isenheim Altarpiece. Isenheim is a village 23 miles southwest of Colmar where St Anthony's monastery was located. The monks here were known for their hospital work in treating plague and other middle ages maladies like ergotism (aka St Anthony's fire) caused by a fungus often found in rye, which poisons the system leading to convulsions, gangrene and other horrible illnesses. The Isenheim altarpiece is unlike anything I've seen before. I'm not sure I can explain it well. It's kind of like a book that opens from the center and folds out to both sides

This mock-up gives an idea of how the panels opened.

When  closed, the altarpiece looks like this: 

The Crucifixion panel was displayed most of the church year

The panels are split vertically down the center of the central image (in this case along a vertical line just left of Jesus' body) to expose paintings on the panel underneath as well as the back of the central panel. The second view exposes the Annunciation on the left, the birth of Christ in the large center panel, and the resurrection on the right.

The Resurrection and the Annunciation are painted on the back side of the Crucifixion panels. When opened, these become the left (Annunciation) and right (Resurrection) revealing the next center panel, the birth of Christ.

This panel depicting Jesus' birth is revealed when the Crucifixion panel is opened.

Painted on back of this panel  (the birth of Christ) are scenes of the life of St Anthony.

Scenes from the life of St Anthony

When these panels are opened, the altarpiece with sculptures of St Anthony is revealed.

The St Anthony altarpiece

We've taken in all that we can for one day. There's so much more to see - some modern art, something about Guernica, and floors and rooms we haven't found yet. It will have to wait for another day. We walked back to the car for the drive home. On the way home Dave took me on tours of a couple of the villages near us to help me get my bearings. 

We're excited to see our friends from Belgium, Dan & Paulette Dumas. They arrive tomorrow. Can't wait.

By the way, it sprinkled for just a few minutes. No rain today. Farmer René bemoans how much water costs -an unnecessary expense if it would only rain.