Stork Success

The Alsace-Lorraine region of France has been known for hundreds of years for several things: its cuisine (sauerkraut, sausage, flammekueche--YUM), its delicious wines in tall slender bottles, and its rooftop residents: the famous cigognes, or storks. Many a cottage and steeple can be seen adorned with large nests of fat sticks. It's said that if a stork nests on your roof, you will have great prosperity. By the early 80's, however, storks were all but absent from many Alsatian towns, mostly due to a tipping of the delicate balance they share with their human coinhabitants. Now, however, they have made a major comeback thanks to the efforts of Alsatians who did not want to see a major icon of their region disappear altogether. In fact, the storks are becoming so numerous that authorities are even having to remove a few nests so they don't tumble on the heads of unsuspecting citizens (or tourists...or Canadian journalists) Read about the fascinating saga of the Alsatian cigogne here. Have a nice glass of Gewurztraminer while you're at it.

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