A short ride and new impressions

August 1, 2022

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We are sorry to be leaving Saverne so soon, there would have been a few more nice rides from here. But we look forward to a new area, and we have booked five nights in Molheim, just 35 km down the road. It would be an easy cycle but we thought it would be convenient to have the car at our new location and not bother to ride with panniers. We have plenty of time, check-in isn't until three in the afternoon so a small loop first seems to be a good idea. We get an early start before the day heats up too much and hope we will find a shady spot around noon.

Our little loop is interesting enough. We are enjoying the countryside of sloping fields and small towns.

As we ride along, I have my eyes open for flags, penants or banners, this week's challenge over at the cycle.365/life, sister site of CycleBlaze. No one has ever officially declared it to be a sister site, but it has the same parent, cgoab, from where its members emigrated a couple years ago. So I stop when I see a string of penants along someone's front yard. My interest in the penants fades when I notice what else there is on the lawn, on the house, wherever this is room. It's a giant collection of bric-a-brac. Soon the proud owner appears on the scene and is not at all upset that I am taking pictures of his home and his creation. We get a tour of outdoors, the gazebo, and downstairs and upstairs indoors. He insists on giving us at least a drink of cold water before we wave good-bye and wish him well.

First the penants got my attention. There were many storks. I asked if there were also many babies in the house, thinking that the stork brings babies in France as it does in Germany. I got no reaction and then it occurred to me that in France babies are born in cabbages - or at least baby boys. Girls come from roses.

Many of the ojects are hand made by the owner - I never got his name.

Then more countryside was welcome, and we still had some sightseeing on the agenda.

I love seeing the silhouette of the Vosges mountains. Here a view to St. Etienne in Maramoutier.

My stork for the day - again thanks to that great zoom!

While Janos is busy with his drone, I set up a selfie with my little tripod.

Now for the Romanesque abbey church St. Etienne in Marmoutier.

Romanesque facade of St. Etienne in Marmoutier

St. Etienne's Silbermann organ (1710), classified as a "national landmark", unique in that it is very true to the original and didn't undergo the changes that was the fate of many organs from that time.

We returned to the car, loaded the bikes and headed for Molsheim, which we reached after following a protracted detour. When we got to our hotel, it felt like we had taken a long road trip. Janos and I agreed cycling the distance would have been simpler. But the plan is to have the car at the end of the trip and not have to take a train to fetch it.

We spent some time in the shade on a park bench before we left Saverne, but we were still too early to check in to our hotel so we took a spin in Molsheim, the old town being about 500 meters from our hotel.

View to another color happy house while we have an ice cream

It looks like we are going to enjoy our days here, too. Our hotel is comfortable, the room is spacious, we have enough table space to write, the air conditioning is a welcome feature and we can park our bikes in the garage and take a lift to our room on the second floor. It's a spa hotel, not exactly my style, but we don't even have to pass through the lobby.

Today's ride: 26 km (16 miles)
Total: 185 km (115 miles)

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