Route de Vin - Tuesday 5/15/2007

Drove through the mountains toward the Alsace-Lorraine in fairly heavy rain. It was beautiful but slow going. There are a lot of forests in France. I mean, I guess...of course. Everywhere has forests. But you forget or you don't think about it. It's like you know on some level that somebody makes everything you own, but you don't really think about that person who works in the hand lotion factory.


You are now entering castle country. Watch for falling serfs.



The narrow streets of Riquewihr, an old walled city. (This link has some really great pix.) We parked outside and walked in through a person-sized door. Many of the buildings have dates carved above their doorways announcing their advanced age. Lots of them are older than the U.S. of A.

We looked at a room in a hotel that was built in the 16th century. The hostess, who was dressed in light dominatrix garb, led us up a winding stone staircase whose steps were worn down in the middle. The room was okay, but we weren't all that taken with the village. Maybe we were getting a little quainted out? Maybe it was a little claustrophobic, as Mom suggested.

We traveled on, lunching in the back of the Kangoo because it was too cold and wet to sit outside. We had quiche and bread bought in a boulangerie in a little town called Shirmeck, and finished up the cheese from Dormans (which might have actually overwhelmed us with its ripe aroma if we hadn't done it in on that day). There were also vanilla eclairs. And a nice view across the vineyards toward wooded hills. Mmmm.


One of the handiest phrases I learned in French was "carafe d'eau." This is how you get a carafe of water with your meal. I remember struggling the last time I was here to get non-fizzy water that I didn't have to pay for. It was about impossible, as I recall.

I realized a bit late that each of the bottles that was brought to us was really interesting. At one place, they used old Jack Daniels bottles. At this place in Colmar (where we stopped for the night at the Hotel Saint Martin in the old city center), they used old wine bottles. It's really wonderful. You actually see the structure of old bottles for themselves without labels, and it's practical, too.




Bricks under purple light in the centre ville of Colmar at night. This isn't enhanced. They actually had purple lights shining. Nice touch. After dinner, where we met some people from Cincinnati, OH, we stopped to watch some traditional dancing in a courtyard like this.

We're about 40 miles from the German border here. You can tell by the architecture and the names of the towns.