walks past

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This post is about a 20km walk from Zotzenberg to Krautergersheim. I revisit some places that I have walked through in 2005.

Back in 2005 I went on a little walk through Alsace.

2005

I wasn’t alone back then, though. My brother Rubi, my friend Pummi, and our family dog Puki went with me. Later our friend Wuh joined us. And one time, when Puki had caught a big fat tick, we gave it the name Rico and made it a member of our gang.

We walked for a few weeks, eating canned food and spending the nights in our tent, and we took a few pictures on the way.

2023

For some reason I decided to look at those pictures while I was resting in Sélestat. Maybe I would be able to find some of the places where we had walked around more than 18 years earlier?

And find them I did.

the water fountain

The first place I went to was a restaurant called Relais du Klevener. It was located on a street corner in a village called Heiligenstein. We had taken a rest there, next to a water fountain on the sidewalk, back in 2005.

In the picture, Pummi was sitting on a wall, Rubi next to the fountain, and Puki the dog was looking back at me while I was taking the picture.

That moment was gone.

And yet here I was, with the Caboose, almost two decades later. There was no water in the fountain, but besides that, not much had changed.

the vineyard

I continued on to the town of Obernai. On the way I passed an abandoned castle called Château de Hell and next to it, a former satellite camp of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp, the only Nazi camp on French ground.

And then, without expecting it, I suddenly found myself in another place where we had stood and taken a picture back in 2005: the vineyard with the “Clos Saint Odile” letters right behind Obernai.

I tried to reenact our photo from back then, but being alone, without the others, it felt a bit sad.

the church

A cloudburst and a double rainbow later I found myself in the village of Krautergersheim. Back in 2005, we had taken an afternoon nap in front of the church in its center. And we had only woken up when a wedding party showed up.

I dutifully reenacted the napping picture, then I walked up to the local football field and asked some people there if I could pitch my tent for the night.

Yes, they said, but I had to come with them and drink beer with Picon.

old pictures

the walk through Alsace in 2005:

Robo, Pummi, Puki, and I ready to go

Puki in front of our tent

Rico, our fifth man

donkeys have been my favorite animals for a long time

resting in Heiligenstein

Close Saint Odile in Obernai

walking towards Obernai

a vineyard and a castle

asleep in Krautergersheim

I used to have this picture on the old thelongestway.com website

Wuh, who joined later

I don’t know what we were doing here

pictures

the walk from Zotzenberg to Krautergersheim:

morning on Zotzenberg

the way down through the vineyards

Strasbourg Cathedral seen from Zotzenberg

central square in Barr

our resting spot in Heiligenstein in 2005

hasn’t changed much

street scene in Alsace

ruins in Obernai

Château de Hell

former Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp satellite camp in Obernai

memorial at the satellite camp in Obernai

the former camp

park in Obernai

our photo spot in Obernai in 2005

hasn’t changed much

renaissance well in Obernai

roofs in Obernai

is this aloe vera?

like a mini flag of germany

residential area of Obernai

storm incoming

we had taken a picture here in 2005, but I was too lazy to get out the phone

rain

it’s a double rainbow – what does it mean?

Krautergersheim

roadside cross

church in Krautergersheim

our napping spot in 2005

hasn’t changed much

I sit where I have napped in 2005.

football field in Krautergersheim

party tent in Krautergersheim

people here put Picon into their beer