From Sublime to Ridiculous

 Consoled by mountain scenery on a very rainy day in the Massif Central

Just as predicted by the hikers, the next day, a Sunday, was one of continuous rains. Driving in the mountains seemed easier.  Perhaps we were restored after dining on braised guinea, a pleasant sleep, and a copious petit déjeuner. Our first stop was Montpellier-le-Vieux with its eroded boulders. From a distance this site looks like an old, abandoned town. At close range one can see rocks shaped by Mother Nature in various familiar forms, people, birds, policemen, etc. 

Modern replacement stain glass windows at Rodez cathedral: Was this our consolation for missing Montpellier le Vieux? It surely looks to be inspired by the figurine boulders.

However, the folks who ran the tourist trains through the site would not operate them that day because of the rains. This cancelled our visit to Montpellier-le-vieux, as well as,  Les Gorges du Tarn. A sunny day is a must to enjoy these two natural phenomena. 

#4 admires the Viaduct in the lower left corner.

Our next destination, Le Viaduct de Millau was certainly different from our usual old stones & museums. I would not dare try to tell you about it in my simple language. I would get skewered by #4 in the comments. Therefore, he will enlighten you on this marvelous bridge over the Tarn river valley.

#4: 

"The Viaduct at Millaud is one of the world's longest and tallest cable-stayed  bridges in the world. Designed by French engineer Michel Virlogeux* and the renowned Bristish architect Norman Foster (architect of Dallas' very own opera house), the bridge was completed on  December, 2004 to expedite car traffic on the route between Paris and Spain over the Tarn river valley. The bridge is supported by 7 piers that consist of tall concrete pylons topped with masts that hold steel (stays) cables from the top,  resulting in a repeating pattern of triangulated bows.  Attesting to the French fixation on "Grands Projets," one of the piers is now the tallest structure in France, surpassing the Eiffel tower (though Monsieur Eiffel also designed a spectacular bridge for this challenging terrain of the Massif Central, the Garabit Viaduct, just up the road from Millau.) The viaduct is a truly a engineering marvel for the twenty-first century, and has instantly become a big draw for tourists."

The plain exterior of this tourist center belies its interior beauty and functionality. It was a welcomed shelter from the rain!

Joanna again:

On the autoroute to Rodez where we would visit the cathedral, we came upon this strange site. (See below.) It's not like the French haven't made their architectural boo-boos. Both #4 & I were baffled at the architectural idea behind these strange, short, square, regularly placed cement pylons in the parking of an autoroute rest-stop. J.J. thought that there might have been a plan to build something on top of them & for bureaucratic reasons the work was halted.  Bizarre! 

Was the architect obsessed with Stonehenge?

And on to Rodez.....

Chances are that these are the original stain glass windows. Recall that the cathedral was finished during the Renaissance.

After being chased away by the continuous rain from Les Gorges du Tarn, we looked for a shelter close to our next destination, Conques. On the map, Rodez was big enough to foot the bill. It was raining heavily when we entered Rodez on Sunday around noon. When we tried to contribute to the town’s stagnant economy by taking rooms for the night, all hotels were slammed shut. 

I really didn't get the best views to show the 3 towers and the "closed" wall. 

Un peu d'histoire:

Rodez, now a town of 24,000, is one of the oldest cities in France. Circa 500 B.C. the Gaulois* placed a fort on hill that overlooks the surrounding lowlands. When it changed hands to the Romans it became a fortress which was attacked successively by hordes of Visigoths, Francs, Arabs, and the armies of Le Comte de Toulouse.*** 

This statuary of the Annunciation is one of the few things that has been completely & properly restored. It was obvious that Rodez doesn't have the resources (tax base?) for repairs, cleaning, & renovation.

In 1269 the Bishop of Rodez was powerful and rich enough to begin building an imposing new (for those times!) gothic style cathedral. It remained unfinished until 1531 due to fires, plague, & the 100-years war. It was unusual with its lateral towers duly fortified & a closed wall behind, yet the structure retained its fortress-like function. 

Unfortunately it never was never enough to save the town, & the cathedral had to be rebuilt 3 times, but always on the same model. For the present Rodez-the-town, does not seem big enough for its imposing cathedral. Far from the autoroute it is a small agricultural center that has a hard time maintaining  population.

This goes under the heading: "What were they thinking?!" Found in the same series as the figures on blue above, I just can't bring myself to tell you what this image conjured up in our minds.

Notes - 

*Gaulois - Gauls were celtic tribes who occupied La Gaule until Julius Caesar conquered them after a hard fight in 51 B. C. in the battle of Alesia in Burgundy.

**The Count of Toulouse was a powerful feudal lord, a Catholic heretic. He was an insurgent leader of southern France who resisted being conquered by the kings of northern France. He was abetted by Spanish kings and treacherous northern nobles. The North finally won under Louis XI who is credited for consolidating France, mostly as we know it today.

Chick-fil-a, s'il vous plaît!

Leaving green, lush Alsace: White specs are storks; Compare the two vegetations & terrains.

We left the gîte in Alsace on a Saturday morning. It was the 5 of us: #4, Lou Henry, Claire, J.J. and myself.  Our trajectory from the extreme east of France was more or less a diagonal southwest by autoroute, then Thiers in the Massif Central (Central Mountains) south toward Millau. Before we left the house in Uttenheim #4 was able to use the available wifi to book a chambre-d’hôte in les Gorges du Tarn, a remote but scenic area characterized by a steep gorge carved by the Tarn River over millions of years. Since it was about  800 kilometers away by autoroute no tourism was planned. After cruising through Lyon and Clermont Ferrand, we continued onward to Thiers. The road between Thiers and Millau was breathtaking, as we drove at a thousand meters high over untamed vistas. We took out time to enjoy a wonderful meal in Beaune at a Carrefour* cafeteria-style restaurant for a very reasonable price. It was the only break in what the old wise ones in my family would call “a hard drive.”

J. J. doesn't trust a GPS. Notice the conifers & the scruffy terrain 

I had no idea how hard it would become when we turned off onto a small winding road, leading into the famed Gorges. From a speed of 80 m.p.h. we were suddenly only able to progress at about 10 m.p.h. Just so you know, I always promise myself that I’m not going to get snookered into driving these treacherous mountain roads where two vehicles can hardly pass each other; it’s crash head-on or fall off into the abyss. How had it happened that I got snookered again?! As the sun was falling at around 7 p.m., our last leg of the day’s journey turned out to be the worst of the entire trip. #4 was driving & he was doing alright. It was shift-shift-shift, up & down in 2nd and 3rd gear, and toot-toot-toot to alert oncoming drivers on blind u-turns. My French mother-in-law had an expression for suffering through such trials as a passenger: Je serre les fesses! (Trans. I tighten my buttocks!) Just so tense!

The mountaintop: The Road Less Traveled?

A while after we turned onto the small-winding-road, I called the B & B to tell them we would be arriving and to get preliminary indications. At that point la patronne’s directions made perfect sense…but we had only just begun & we didn’t know how long it would take. However, she didn't miss her opportunity to highjack me. At a cost of 20 Euros each would we be wanting to have dinner? I said that I guessed we would, but could she at least half the price for the small children. This she was willing to do. How nice! But, could we just please hurry and get up there because she would be keeping the kitchen open specially for us. Get Real! We were coming as fast as we could. Crazy lady, did she want us  DOA? I confess I was on edge and feeling resentful. At one point we thought we had arrived when we came to a burg hanging off a cliff. When I called the B & B to ask for the house number, a male voice said, "Mais non! We don’t have any number. We’re the only ones up here! Continuez toujours! ” Good grief! We still had some more tortuous road and the sun was falling fast. I’m sure the last 10 kilometers took at least 2 hours. 

At sundown, about 9 p.m., greatly relieved we finally pulled into the establishment parking, where there were a few cars...some other intrepid tourists?  We were met by an enormous ginger cat perched waist high on something I can't name. I say “met” because if ever there was a “meeter-&-greeter” this cat surely was one. He mewed loudly, but politely, from the time we got out of the car until he followed the children to their quarters. I know he was saying all kinds of wonderful things, such as: 

“Oh, so at last you made it! I am so glad you did. We’ve been expecting you. Yes, I know the road is pretty rough. I see that you are tired and hungry. Well, my master and mistress have prepared something very special. Oh, so many suitcases! Be careful. This terrain is a bit dangerous. Don’t fall and hurt yourselves. Oh well, I’ll go with the children. I really love children! Ta-ta!”

And off he went trotting & mewing all the way to a modular room & bath, while JJ & I had a small bedroom behind the noisy kitchen. A modern dining room was filled with long tables, loaded with diners, actually families with members of all ages. We had that vieille France* feeling, a time when families were numerous, they ate frequently together, and discussed loudly. From the bits of their conversation that floated to our table, we understood that these diners were randonneurs, or hikers vacationing on foot. They were worried about the rains forecasted for the next day. I mused; they had probably walked faster than we had driven.

Inside the glass doors is the dining room. Notice the grey-to-light-brown stone facing from the Massif Central.

La patronne told us we were eating braised chicken. It was a funny chicken. The bones were longer and the pieces were not as filled out. The meat was a darker caramel color. But, it was really tasty. Nevertheless, one just senses when something is not quite right. Next morning, as we drove around the top of the mountain we saw flocks of guineas everywhere. Now, if you were running a business like hers would you buy chicken at the bottom of the mountain or pass off local guinea for chicken? 

Actually the talking cat was sitting on that green what-ever-it-is to the left of the VW. I was busy packing the car to leave the next morning. Where was the ginger cat? I guess he only meets & greets. Not his job to fare us well. 

*From what I understand Carrefour was a model for Sam Walton when he created Wal-Mart. 

**Old France

Alsace's Twin Sister Baden

On a mountain looking down on a town near the plain: always raining--good for grapes

Since Alsace is a twin we just had to visit her twin sister. For that we had to cross the Rhine River and go into Germany. Presto, Baden, who shares Alsace’s geological birth and human history. Each province is composed of a matching wide plain and a mountain range on either side of the Rhine. Geologists are quick to point out that these mountains are not normal ranges--rock pushed through the earth, but the result of a great cave-in. This  produced a long depression where the Rhine flows. The rocks were pushed to either side to form mountains: in France, Les Vosges; in Germany the Schwartzwald, or Black Forest. Besides giving both of these provinces the same topography, it gave them people sharing the same surnames, language, & agriculture. Both are wine country, par excellence, & many tourists come mostly to follow the famed wine circuits. However,  industry separated them as Alsace chose textiles and Baden chose clockmaking. Who hasn’t heard of the Coo-Coo Clock of the Black Forest?

A market view at noontime to show the variety of products sold; notice that in June people are still wearing jackets, hats & hoodies.

At one time there wasn’t so much difference between Freiburg and Colmar. As a matter of fact, I have a hard time distinguishing my photos between these two cities. Although Freiburg (pop. 230,000) has a much larger population than Colmar (65,000), its old town is really very much an identical twin: a central cathedral, open market, old university, museums, winding narrow streets, similar architecture, and flowers everywhere. Perhaps one of the biggest differences is that Freiburg and surroundings is catholic, whereas, (as mentioned previously) Colmar is protestant. This is because for  4 + centuries Frieburg was a satelite of the très catholique Habsburg Holy Roman Empire (1368 to 1806), which left its indelible religious mark. 

Detail of the Great Portal of the Cathedral: Notice how beautifully restored, painted,& gilded the saints are.

These look-alikes have historically shared the same events, although on opposing sides with France and Germany pulling them ragged. For now, though, I think these two provinces are happy with their sort, side by side, French Alsace west of the Rhine; German Baden to the east. 

Grilled wurst stands at the marketplace next to the cathedral; notice scaffolding. Freiburg is in a state of constant repair. It has been the "victim" of war many times.

(It occurs to me that in all these blogs I might not have mentioned that Alsatians of a certain age, WWII vintage and their children, speak a German dialect. It is dying out now. Alsatians speak good French without any trace of German accent.)

Totally planned, totally late 19th century

From Freiburg we drove north in tandem on the autobahn to Baden-Baden, which I translated as “Bath-Bath,”* but which JJ translates as “Baths (in the province of) Baden.” With a population of about 55,000 it nestles in the western foothills of the Black Forest on the Oos River. It has a completely different look than Freiburg or Colmar. This small city is a creation of the mid-19th century when the rulers of Europe went to Baden-Baden for the baths, certainly, and for various treatments to restore health & morale. The baths were most likely an excuse to play at the casino, enjoy musical concerts, & other cultural events.

The Casino: The Real Reason

 Known then as the “Summer Capital of Europe," this city is still beautiful, elegant, and luxurious. It is a planned city with wider streets, & modern, tall buildings. There are a host of sights that we did not have time to take in, but we thoroughly enjoyed walking part of the 2-mile long Lichtentaler Allée. We imagined the sight of expensive horse-drawn carriages and richly dressed people. Were we born too late?   

*Surely a reflex of Malay language which doubles a noun to create a plural. 

Luxury Hotels on the Oos River

A canal runs through the Lichtentaler Allee which is bridged at intervals by these handsome wrought-iron walkovers.

.....like this one

L'Alsace Profonde (Deep in Alsace)

A Pair of Seasoned Tourists in the "Little Venice of Colmar": Lou Henry, 7, and Claire, 4

As an intro to the rest of our tour in Alsace I would like to emphasize that Alsace is very kid-friendly. Our grands, Lou Henry and Claire were trained last June during our tour of the Jura mountains. This year they were absolute professionals. At 7 years and 4 years respectively nothing seemed to daunt them. They climbed the heights & showed no fear of any environment.  As JJ points out, Alsace has a safe feeling about it. It is orderly. The traffic is relatively slow and controlled, when compared with cities in the Jura where pedestrians must be extra careful when crossing a street because cars have the momentum of steep inclines. There is easy access parking everywhere.  (As half- German the Alsatians exhibit some excellent traits in the domain of cleanliness, maintenance, and practicality.) In Jura the nature walks required one’s complete alertness so as not to fall or otherwise hurt oneself. But, as I’ve stated, Alsace is particularly nice for children: stork sanctuary with an hour-long show, butterfly museum, the medieval castle, wiener stands, open markets, fairytale towns with curio shops, flowers, inner city canals with decorative bridges. Alsace is a feast for a child’s eyes. 

 See I didn't lie: Storks guarding the Collégiale St. Martin (actually the cathedral) in Colmar 

Cathedral in Colmar: Notice the stork's nest on the roof top left. Also notice the rarer yellow color of the grès des Vosges mentioned further down.

Mont St. Odile is a convent & shrine to the patron saint of Alsace. The short story of St. Odile is, as one might expect, medieval & fraught with cruelty, miracles, repentance and redemption. The future St. Odile (b. 662 d. 720) was born blind from birth to the reigning Duke Étichon of Alsace. He wanted a boy & was angry when a girl was born who was also blind. He ordered the little girl to be summarily killed, but her mother Bethwinda secreted her to safety  where she was reared in a convent, Baume les Dames,  deep in the Jura mountains. At age 12 she was baptized by St. Erhard of Regensburg when she suddenly and miraculously recovered her sight. St. Odile’s younger brother, Hughes, passing by one day, was duly amazed at his sister’s recovery of sight. He took her home to Alsace where the duke, in a rage because his orders had been defied, killed Hugues before he ever saw his daughter. Odile fled to a cave near Freiburg (in Germany) but when in a dream God told her that her father was deathly ill, she came back to nurse him back to life.  She succeeded in softening her father’s heart of stone. He was repentant and rededicated himself to Christ. For her love and patience Duke Etichon built a convent on Mont St. Odile where she became the first abbess. Of special note: St. Odile is the patron saint of the blind (and other ocular afflictions) and in the days before glasses people would make the pilgrimage to improve their eyesight. 

Historically, Alsatians used to make an annual pilgrimage, climbing the steep mountain on foot. On the day that we made this pilgrimage it was overcast & raining. As luck would have it there was a bike race taking place during the afternoon. Driver Joanna was constantly hazarding a pass around singles, doubles, or groupies of fearless cyclers. & just when we all thought she had passed the “winner,” Mon Dieu!  There would be another struggling pedaler. The mount was wooded to the extreme & darkened by  a clouded sky. This particular road to Mont St. Odile was all two-way with acute angles & blind hairpin curves. It was with great relief that we all arrived without incident to the beautifully maintained buildings of the shrine. The site, completely modernized and pristine clean, now serves for all manner of religious retreats, clergy and laity. St. Odile must still inspire great Christian love and charity because visitors and personnel were the very kindest that we met on our tour.   Even Pope Jean Paul II couldn’t resist going to such a holy place.

Kaiser Willhem II's Play Castle

With #4, Lou Henry and Claire, JJ & I visited Haut Koenigsbourg  (High Kingstown). A few photos will demonstrate how this high medieval castle-fortress was built onto the mountainside.   Maybe the reason it is intact is that it, like the famous Ligne Maginot of WWII, it has been essentially unused for warfare. Paradoxically, this preserved château-fort was a ready backdrop for any dramatic rendering of play or film. Particularly famous is “La Grande Illusion”  cinematic masterpiece directed by Jean Renoir shot in the late 30's. It was a ruin when the city of Selestat slyly offered it as a gift to Kaiser Willhem II. Restoration took several years. The kaiser hired a famous architect & spent a lot of money. Work was completed by 1908.  But the Kaiser could not enjoy his new “toy castle” very long because Alsace - plus the castle - went back to France in 1918. Today, the French cleverly defray some of the maintenance costs by charging an entry fee, serving sandwiches and drinks, & having musical shows, theatrical presentations & films in the courtyard.  

Lou Henry and Claire with other children at the entrance to chambers

These are wood-heating ceramic stoves added during the Kaiser's renovation.

Highly decorative mural in the hunting room

J. J.'s favorite room: la salle à manger

On the same day we came down from the mountain fortress to Selestat, a nice, sleeping little city with many churches and flowers; you’ll ask why I use the word “sleeping.”  Well, we wanted to have a bit of lunch and everything was closed from one to five. And the locals were militant about it. The one cafe that was open refused to serve us the merest sandwich! In response we turned on our heels & left in search of a more gracious establishment. The only thing we found was the perfunctory “resto” at Intermarché, the equivalent of a Target. At least the server was quite pleasant and very practical with the children. The reason I mentioned the number of churches, always beautifully painted, restored, & maintained, is that Alsace is still under the German system as regards churches and religion. It is the only province in France in which the government pays not only upkeep of churches, but also the salaries of the clergy. Apparently, Alsatians liked this aspect of German oppression.

This is one of the many churches in Selestat built with the more common pink grès des Vosges, stone from the Vosges quarries. It resists freezing and is easy to cut and mold.  

Ever kid-friendly: a classic merry-go-round

Colmar is the prefecture of Haut-Rhin (High Rhine) one of Alsace’s 2 départements, or counties. Might one say that it is probably the bastion of Alsatian culture with its cathedral, university, & museums? It is also the capital of Alsatian wine. It is less grandiose than Strasbourg (pop. 275,000) whose streets resemble those of Paris redesigned by the Baron Haussman; but Colmar ( pop. 66,000) is probably more historical with older, lower, decorated, restored buildings. She struts her stuff for tourists in the old city where one should be a pedestrian. Despite the impressive cathedral Colmar has a protestant majority, although catholics have never been oppressed. We visited L’Eglise des Dominicains, once a catholic church now converted into a museum, that houses the masterpiece of Martin Schongauer, a high medieval Alsatian artist/etcher, called “La Vierge au buisson rose.”  (The Virgin of the Rosebush) The Unter Linden (Under the Linden Tree) Museum is where one finds the Issenheim triptic an early Renaissance work (1505-15), by Mathias Grunewald. This museum contains only works of outstanding artists who plied the upper Rhine valley in search of commissions. Of course, we must buy photos in some form from the museum boutique, not take them for ourselves.

Colmar: Flowers, colorful houses, boutiques, and a place to sit. #4, far right, fascinated by the architecture, took as many photos as I did...for some future replica of a French village in......... China.

*Sorry, no photos of Mont St. Odile 

All About Storks!

For this European tour our nature focus was on storks. Alsace, the easternmost province of France, is the only French province that is graced by their presence. 

(Enjoy photos of stork sanctuary in Hunawihr.) But just like in school, for now you need to know something about this wonderful big bird.)

Their numbers are counted in “pairs” because they wed for life, so double the count below & you’ll have the approximate population in each European country. I have starred those countries with more than 10,000 pairs.  

Drawing by Hansi,  Alsatian patriot who migrated into France when Alsace was occupied by Germany in the 1870's 

1. Latvia: 10,700* 

2. Russia: 10,200*

3. Belarus: 20,432*

4. Ukraine: 30,000*

5. Poland: 52,000*

6. Romania: 5,500

7. Bulgaria: 4,956

8. Turkey: 6,195

9. Greece: 2,139

10. Hungary: 5,300

11. Slovakia: 1,330

12. Czech Republic: 814

13. Croatia: 1,700

14. Austria: 392

15.  Germany: 4,482

16. Netherlands: 528

17. France (Alsace) 973

18. Spain 33,217*

19. Portugal: 7,684

20. Little Slovenia (about) 1,000

Storks are one of the most beloved species on the planet. In all these countries the couple may build a huge nest on any rooftop, chimney, or smokestack and graze in any field it chooses. I dread to think what would happen if someone dared to shoot a stork! 

Mother Stork nurturing her one-and-only in the Stork Sanctuary in  the town of Hunawihr in Alsace

We cannot know when the great love for the stork began. It was probably before written history. In its chosen countries where winters are harsh, people longed to see the return of the Great Birds because they were a harbinger of spring. Hence, a stork became a symbol for many good things. Foremost it represents love & fidelity because storks only have one partner for a lifetime. It is a symbol of fertility because its return coincides with the new planting of crops. Storks are a symbol of unity and loyalty because they are part of a specific stork flock which grazes and migrates together.  Quite simply they are beloved because they love us. Big Bird is completely sociable. It doesn’t seem to mind being physically close to humans, although allowing us to pet him or eating out of our hands is something he doesn’t do. We observed their huge nests in high places in cities and villages. Their graceful, gliding flight is not rare and sometimes it makes a cross-shaped shadow on the earth below. They have a job to do for farmers who welcome them to eat the crop pests: frogs, snails, small rodents, and insects.  

Storks have no voice. They cannot chirp or sing. They click. They hit their beaks together very fast to produce different kinds of communication by loudness & length.  

Storks begin their migration in September to reach their winter range in sub-Sahara Africa. They fly first over the Strait of Gibraltar (western route) or the eastern countries of the Mediterranean (eastern route) They congregate in Egypt and follow the Nile Valley on to Kenya, Uganda, & other western African countries. Their stay in Africa is fraught with dangers as beasts of prey and even hungry humans will eat them. Europeans wrang their hands when they discovered in the 1980‘s that with each return many storks were missing. Hence, there is a reason for stork sanctuaries & the desire to stifle migration. 

Explanation: Storks, with a wingspan of 6+ feet, will not fly over the Mediterranean Sea because their flight, mostly gliding, depends on floating upon thermal hot-air masses which the sea doesn’t have. They completely avoid the Sahara where there is no food… & it is too hot....even for a stork.

Storks "working hard" in a field in Slovakia

More on reproduction etc….

Storks have only one mate for life….unless one dies. Then, the survivor may take another mate. Storks are attached to their nests as much as they are attached to their mates. The nests can be more than 6 feet wide and reach a depth of 10 feet, weigh up to 600 lbs., & last for many years. Storks, like humans, only produce one offspring at a time: one egg is produced every 30-plus days. In other words only one little storklet is nurtured at a time before the next little storklet may hatch. A couple produces on average 4 storklets per season. Storks can live into their late 30’s. 

The Stork Myth

The stork has forever delivered baby humans to their families in stork lands. We have no idea when or why this myth originated, but it is still around and has even been imported to the New World. How many times is the stork invoked for a new arrival on birth announcement cards or even in front yard signs? 

The essence of the myth is this: A stork treat is left on the window sill, or any other appropriate place where the stork will find & eat it. Each time the treater accompanies the gesture with a wish for a boy or girl. In return the stork brings the baby when it is due. Now isn’t that just the sweetest? So much for western Europeans & their stories about babies coming from cabbages. 

End-of-school excursion at the Hunawihr Sanctuary: lunchtime 

JJ’s Myth

Now, JJ says that the stork has been such a noble bird that indeed he sets the best example in all these storklands for something toward which all humans can aspire. For this reason, despite the fact that they are separated by language, culture, history, & politics, they are united in their love & protection of the stork.  

More from JJ…who is obsessed by les cigognes.

He insists that storks were the geographically unifying aspect of our trip. As you will note I took photos of storks in Alsace at the sanctuary and then in the “wild” feeding in a field in Slovakia. According to him, there is a symbiotic relationship between storks & humans. He says that humans place a big round stone platform for the stork nests on specifically safe places on a roof--mostly houses & churches. The storks, of course, somehow understand that this big round thing is the foundation for their new nest. Hence, there is a competition between villages to attract stork nests onto houses and churches by placing these nest-supports. (I kid you not!) Traditionally, the presence of many storks in a community meant that it was an open & friendly town; hence, mayoral candidates would always promise to add more nests around town. 

Now, Italy is the only country that doesn’t have storks & paradoxically is surrounded by all the countries that do. This is because the Italians have too many hills & mountains--a righteous reason, but also, because some very naughty hunters close to the Alps have killed them for game -- a far more sinister reason. Gee! I can only imagine that this would have been for sport because stork probably tastes like crow.