wow.... so much to write about. scared to start almost. mishap with my pictures and camera makes it easier for me to start with italy and week 2 and go back to week 1 in switzerland.... it's all after the fact anyway, so here goes...
saturday, february 18.... having finished up work and sightseeing in basel on friday evening, woke up to catch the 8:30 train out to to belfort then ronchamp. already something of a pilmigrage having had to check out of the hostel and carry my unfortunately large 2-week bag with me that early... belfort france a sleepy little town on saturday morning, had a little time to wander on the transfer.
train to ronchamp was a tiny two cars long, a daily commuter type train out to these little out-of-the way mountain towns then anything fast. felt a little like a short bus, symetrical two cars so you couldn't tell which way it was going to take off... very fun. personable trainman probably knew everyone in all the towns on the route, even with the obvious bag he asked if I was going to see the chapel - perhaps the only reason people go out there i guess.
signs to ronchamp guided a fair way down into a suprisingly busy street on the edge of the town of ronchamp, then up and out of town and up and up. probably a milish or a few kilometers up - ha and i do think in both miles and kilometers now... quite the hike. might have to consider backpacking more seriously though, it was kind of fun to plow through with the weight too.
first glimpses of ronchamp around the hill were pretty magical, first from the train for a split-second, then walking up the hill and having it appear over and through the treescreen... just enough teasing to be exciting. i did miss my chance to see it in the the sun... instead of going up the main path i thought tromping up the back way through the woods would be fun, and the sun hit it just as i had gotten to the fence... so it goes, and the clouds were pretty excitingly dynamic themselves....
backtracking, entrance (amazingly plotted entry sequence, this guy thought of everything) this guy, being the architect Le Corbusier, one of the most famous and revolutionary archtects of the 20th century, and this place being the chapel Notre Dame du Haute (of the hight), a pilmagrage site through a couple different religions, bombed in WW2, and rebuilt by corbusier in 1954, at the end of his life and at the end of his oevure. definately an important monument to architects.
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