Sunday December 27th, 2015
This time we go by car. We get up early, and go straight till the first stop at the Simplonpass, where we enter the Hospiz. Then in Montreux we visit the Chillon Castle, which rises over the water. The visit of the castle takes some time.
After a short stop to visit Vevey, we continue to Freiburg where we booked the hotel. In front of our hotel there are two churches: Eglise des Cordeliers and Notre Dame and a little bit more distant, St. Nicolas.
We descend on the lower part, with the Agostiniani’s church and the Pont de Berne (wooden bridge), then we go back along the Grand Rue, the pedestrian street that crosses the old town, until we arrive at the Hotel de Ville. We go in front of the Hopital des Bourgeois, the Synagogue, and St. Michel.
Monday December 28th, 2015
We go down again in the lower part, cross the Pont de Zahringen: on the street there’s a bit of ice, it’s cold. Then we leave the city to head to Berne, the next stop of our trip. We turn a little by car, we have to struggle to find a parking.
We begin our visit from Munster, then we walk along the pedestrian streets, including the Gerechtigkeitsgasse, passing through the Rathaus and Kramgasse to the BarenGraben (the bear’s cage). So we return to Munster, we stop for listening to the Zeitglocken Turm, then Kornhaus, Stadttheater, Franzosische Kirche till the Burgerspital. Finally the Bundeshauser as we return to the car.
Next destination is Colmar, one of the most beautiful towns in Alsace. Here too, there are many people. We park near the Unterlinden Museum, we pass from the House of the Heads, we enter the Hansi Museum and then the Dominican Church.
We look at a number of stalls from the many malls scattered around the city, visit the St. Martin cathedral, the Ancien corps de garde, the Maison Pfister, Ancienne douane and return to the car passing through the Quartier des Tanneurs.
Tuesday December 29th, 2015
In the morning, we return to the center to see the neighborhood of Petite Venice and the Ancien Hopital, moving again from the central streets we already saw on the previous day.
We stop at Kayserberg and Riquewhir, two towns with many half-timbered houses.
In Strasbourg we start from the Ponts Couvert and the Barrage Vauban and then cross the Petite France. We reach the Cathedral of Notre Dame, then we continue to see the Maison Kammerzell, the Hotel de Ville, the Hotel de Klinglin and the Chateau des Rohan.
We go back to the Cathedral and visit it (there is a bit of a queue at the entrance). Then by car we move to the European Union neighborhood and see some of the institutional buildings.
In the evening we arrive in Freiburg (this time in Germany, while earlier it was in Switzerland): the Munster, the Martinstor, the Kaufhaus.
Wednesday December 30th, 2015
Today there is a bit of fog and it’s cold. We explore the central streets, making some deviations to see the most important monuments and enter the cathedral.
After the visit of the city, we move to Lucerne: we start from Franziskanerkirche, then the famous covered bridge, the Kapellbrucke and the little-known Spreuerbrucke (also this one covered).
We end our Alsace’s trip with the Jesuitenkirche, and return home.
