Alsace, Mulhouse, 4.6.2025: Storks and Strangers

Auberge du Vieux Mulhouse, Mulhouse, Alsace, France

There were thunderstorms in the night and the rain continued through the morning, so walking and taking photos today was not so easy. But we did manage to get a good walk in under umbrellas, and as we did so, I snapped photos of sights that caught my eye.

As we walked, we happened on an inviting-looking pastry shop, Nos Délicatesses on the Place de la Réunion. I stopped and took some photos of what was offered in the shop windows, then we walked around the corner and on the other side of the shop, noticed an interesting looking item called Berawecka, with a placard saying it’s an Alsatian specialty made from dried fruits soaked in eau-de-vie. 

Nos Délicatesses, Mulhouse, Alsace, France 

When we walked inside and asked about buying some of that specialty, the very friendly daughter of the shop owner offered us samples and then asked if we'd like the ones prepared with raspberry liqueur or pear (Williams Birne). We took both! And we added to those selections some small cakes made of ground almonds and rum, which turned out to be somewhat nondescript, as if made from a sponge cake batter to which finely ground almonds were added, with a bit of rum poured over after the cakes were baked and before they were iced. They tasted good, of quality ingredients, but had little distinctive taste.

This was a delightful shopping expedition, not just a way to get out of the rain, but to savor the smells and sights and tastes of a good small pâtisserie in the middle of Mulhouse's old town. The shop owner, who was working behind a window on something she was preparing for the oven, kindly gave us samples of delicious coconut macaroons on top of our purchases. 

As we walked back to the hotel from the pastry shop, we stopped so that I could take a photo of Auberge du Vieux Mulhouse (or Auberge des Chevaliers, as it's also called), where we’d eaten the previous evening — I was taking a photo of the back of the building, which had the restaurant’s name painted over the doorway. As I took that photo, a man passing by stopped to talk to us. He pointed to the stork on the rooftop of the building next to the auberge and suggested I take a photo — all of this in French.

The man was interesting looking, with long rather unkempt black hair tied in a ponytail, a black shirt and black somewhat tight-fitting pants, and a colorful scarf of pastel colors like pink, lavender, and yellow in swirls. After he stopped to talk to us, it occurred to him we might not speak French, so he asked if we were German and speak German. We told him we could understand and speak a little of both languages but are English speakers. So we had an interesting threeway conversation mixing all three languages, and after I had spoken enough halting French to him, he realized I do understand (and speak) French, and we settled on mostly French.

Stork nesting atop roof of Auberge du Vieux Mulhouse, Mulhouse, Alsace, France

He told us that storks had almost become extinct, and then were placed on a protected species list, and are now recovering and showing up in Alsace much more often. He also said they are not hatched here, but fly here from Africa and Turkey after they hatch. We have heard this story from a number of people including our friend K., who told it to us last evening as we watched the stork nesting atop the old Rathaus or Mairie de Mulhouse.

As the man spoke, it was hard not to notice that his nose was bleeding and he was dabbing at the blood with a bit of tissue. He coughed rather deeply several times and apologized to us for his cough, and then told us, as the conversation ended, that he had to go for dialysis in the afternoon, his first treatment. 

Human encounter; face-to-face encounter; heart speaking to heart: this is so important and so lamentably rare in the world in which we live now. It makes such a difference in a "strange" place when a "stranger" stops and talks to real strangers, as Steve and I are, étrangers in a place not our native country. 

Encounters like this touch me at a deep level — and I hope that cordial, interesting man will have good treatment and fare better with whatever is ailing him.

The afternoon: W. was giving his paper at the Albert Schweitzer conference that brought us to Mulhouse, and Steve, K., and I walked over with him to hear the paper. W. introduced us to someone who seemed to have a role in organizing or coordinating the conference; she welcomed us, and then we went to the room in which the presentation took place. All very formal, low-key, intense, European, switching from French to English to German, with all participants fluent in the three languages, and with me utterly lost as I tried to follow the German and French, so much so that I kept nodding off and had to be nudged awake by Steve.

Mulhouse shopping scenes

Guillaume Tell on Rue Guillaume Tell

Mairie de Mulhouse

Restaurant signboard offering pièce de boeuf au pinot noir, spätzles, et légumes