A Visit to Wissembourg/Weißenburg

Ancient Wall and Watchtower 

Church of St Pierre and Paul

Bakeries abound

Maison du Sel

Inside Daniel Rebert

Daniel Rebert's frozen treats

Off the beaten track

Asparagus season is almost here

The Alsace is just across the border from Germany, or what used to be the border before long standing enemies joined Euro hands and decided to let bygones be profitable.  Now when you travel from Germany to France, there are no customs houses, no pulling out of passports, no men in uniform sending a slightly nervous chill down your back.  Do I need to declare the trunk full of wine?  Will the guards glance at my girlfriend’s unnaturally low bosom and suspect bottles of brandy?  Did I buy enough French Francs? Does adultery count if I don’t smile?

Nowadays, a drive to Alsace is just a drive, through beautiful countryside and quaint villages with German sounding names, spoken by French speakers.  Wissembourg is pronounced Viz-em-bourg in France, while being spelled Weißenburg in German and pronounced Vice-in-burk.  Weißenburg, by the way, means White Castle, although I failed to see one.  But, then in my BMW with the top down, I tended to concentrate on the next curve and keeping maidens from leaping into my car.

Another thing you’ll notice as you gently glide through the twisting forest roads into France is that the line between quaint and shabby begins to blur.  Germany also has half timbered houses and small picturesque villages, but kept spotlessly clean, everything in perfect Teutonic order.  The French seem to value the romance of casually drinking coffee under a roof that’s about to collapse, and forgiving a loose window shutter or two with an air of Je ne sais quoi.  Smoke another Gauloises, find a new girlfriend, despise her, and order an espresso with a twist of lemon.

Please don’t let me digress like that.  Ah, yes, Wissembourg, a lovely, flower-strewn municipality that dates back over a thousand years.  A small river, the Lauter, weaves through town in charming canals, giving the feel of that long ago world, when water was the main commercial thoroughfare and source of power.  Wissembourg was once a walled city. Traces remain, but don’t dominate. Wander the narrow back streets and you’ll find the traces and dozens of half-timbered, 15^th Century buildings.

The architectural jewel of Wissembourg is St. Peter and St. Paul's Church (French: Église Saints-Pierre-et-Paul).  Dating from the 7^th Century, it was in centuries past the site of a Benedictine abbey and now serves as the main Roman Catholic parish church of the town.  Most of the present church dates to the 13^th to 15^th Centuries.  During the exuberance of the French Revolution, the church was looted.  As a result, some of the windows are original and some not.  Some were even moved to a museum in Strasbourg.

Another interesting building is the Maison du Sel, the salt house, constructed in the mid-15^th Century.  It was first a hospital and then a salt storage and slaughterhouse.  No doubt all three uses somehow string together.  Now, the building, overlooking a canal, is split into tiny shops, including one belonging to an interesting ceramic artist who wouldn’t allow me to photograph a blessed thing.

Plenty of restaurants and cafés line the streets, along with fruit and flower shops.  There are also a couple of nice chocolate shops.  As drizzle turned to downpour,  we dashed into one for a quick pick-me-up of dark sweets and other delights.  What I didn’t realize is that the Pâtisserie-Chocolaterie Daniel Rebert serves unsweetened hot chocolate.  My taste buds were as surprised as a virgin bride and I had to stir in a pound of sugar to calm them down.  It was with some trepidation then that I bit into my first hunk of éclair. Fortunately, it was as expected, excellent.  I smiled.  My nose unflaired, my knuckles returned to their original pink.

The rain had stopped, the sun returned.  It was time to hit the trail.  Farewell then to the lovely, formerly walled city of Wissembourg.  A most charming place to enjoy the pleasures of small town Alsace.