Bonjour! Hello! Bienvenue! I've been in France now for 2 months and I have been very busy! Too busy to post here, most of my life has centred around work and setting up a new apartment. More on that later, for today, let's look at a trip Juliette and I made to the mountains and "la volerie des aigles" or "the eagle aviary".
The province of Alsace is located in the north-eastern part of the country. (I like to think of France as a 5-pointed star, helps me visualize it better) The province is bordered between the Rhine river and the Vosges mountains. It was at the base of these mountains that we begin our journey.
It was another beautifully perfect day in Alsace, warm, sunny, with a nice breeze. We drove past the village of Kintzheim and into the forest. After parking the car, we began a lovely walk in the shadows of the trees toward Kintzheim Castle.
The walk reminded me of my backyard in Canada. Growing up there, I developed a deep appreciation for nature and a deeper understanding of the geography of Ontario than I have hitherto realized. I mean, I took Geography class in school and I excelled in knowing the different geographic areas of my country (yay Boreal Forest! Go Canadian Shield!), but it was not until I spent some time away from it that I came to realize how well I knew it, and missed it. Perhaps I just miss forested areas. Either way, the walk was lovely.
Our first stop, of course, was Kintzheim Castle.
A modest size, Kintzheim Castle has three really great things going for it: First, it is still mostly intact. It has been worked on, but Juliette tells me that many other castles have since fallen to ruin.
Second, it has a fairly nice view, overlooking the valley.
Third, as the name of this post may suggest, it has eagles! And owls! And many other types of birds! The place is a bird sanctuary and besides being well taken care of, the birds are trained to respond to calls, return and land on command, and several times a day they put on a show!
Before the show, we took a walk around the castle, checking out the birds. So, here we go!
Now, it's time to enjoy the show! I thought it better to take several short videos, rather than a really long one, so I hope you like it! (Warning, I found the audio to be quite loud)
The province of Alsace is located in the north-eastern part of the country. (I like to think of France as a 5-pointed star, helps me visualize it better) The province is bordered between the Rhine river and the Vosges mountains. It was at the base of these mountains that we begin our journey.
It was another beautifully perfect day in Alsace, warm, sunny, with a nice breeze. We drove past the village of Kintzheim and into the forest. After parking the car, we began a lovely walk in the shadows of the trees toward Kintzheim Castle.
The walk reminded me of my backyard in Canada. Growing up there, I developed a deep appreciation for nature and a deeper understanding of the geography of Ontario than I have hitherto realized. I mean, I took Geography class in school and I excelled in knowing the different geographic areas of my country (yay Boreal Forest! Go Canadian Shield!), but it was not until I spent some time away from it that I came to realize how well I knew it, and missed it. Perhaps I just miss forested areas. Either way, the walk was lovely.
Our first stop, of course, was Kintzheim Castle.
A modest size, Kintzheim Castle has three really great things going for it: First, it is still mostly intact. It has been worked on, but Juliette tells me that many other castles have since fallen to ruin.
Second, it has a fairly nice view, overlooking the valley.
Third, as the name of this post may suggest, it has eagles! And owls! And many other types of birds! The place is a bird sanctuary and besides being well taken care of, the birds are trained to respond to calls, return and land on command, and several times a day they put on a show!
Before the show, we took a walk around the castle, checking out the birds. So, here we go!
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| Et voilà! The only picture of Juliette she would allow me to post. |
Now, it's time to enjoy the show! I thought it better to take several short videos, rather than a really long one, so I hope you like it! (Warning, I found the audio to be quite loud)
I hope you enjoyed our tour of La Volerie Des Aigles. It was a lot of fun and I would gladly go back. Life is forever busy but I will do my best to maintain my posting of my adventures here!
Thanks for reading!
Hahaha, I see a second picture of Juliette.
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