"Alsace forms France's window onto Central Europe. Its capital, Strasbourg, was a free city, part of the Holy Roman Empire, until the days of Louis XIV; together with the other towns and villages along this left bank of the Rhine it has a picturesquareness of decidedly Germanic character. The Rhine itself is both a frontier and, with the Alsace canal, a great international waterway, flowing through the broad rift valley defined by the Black Forest to the east, the Vosges uplands to the west." - Michelin tourist guide