Alsace, France

This is the kind of place that is just so cute that you want to put in your pocket & bring it to show & tell. I almost wouldn't be surprised if the town's people suddenly broke into song & I was suddenly in the middle of a Disney-like fairy tale - the Alsace region of France & all her towns are just that perfectly surreal. Our home base in Alsace was Colmar - complete with all the safety features a less-seasoned traveler may need - like its own H&M - yet unique & characteristic enough to make you feel like you are truly far from home. I loved the fact that the locals didn't expect us to be there. They would come up to us and say something in French, when we responded with dumb-founded looks, they would repeat it again in German - then, and only then, they would smile and say it for a third time in English. It felt good.

Alsace is a child whose parents once tirelessly fought for her custody - both France & Germany felt they were the rightful recipients. The result? One region that seamlessly blends two distinct cultures. In Alsace, be prepared to drink your wine from a beer stein.

The one thing that we weren't prepared for was the bike ride that we took that shuffled us into more cute-as-a-storybook towns. We had read it was a leisurely roll along a 'relatively flat terrain'. Not the case. At one point we were actually cursing our almighty travel God, Rick Steves, for leading us astray. I'm not convinced anyone over the age of 22 should attempt this ride - after all, there is a reason the Tour de France is in France. I'm not gonna lie, as beautiful as the scenery was, at one point we ended up on a busy road - a busy road with semi trucks. At one point I had to chant little "your not gonna die, your not gonna die" songs just to comfort myself. Despite all that, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Had we not biked that day we would've missed out on what ended up becoming my favorite day of the trip - the one I look back on with the most fondness.




Along the way, we stumbled upon "Degustation," signs that invited passerbys to stop in and taste the wine. Wine-lovers we are, we took full advantage of these opportunities. One such "degustation" was in the cellar of a Frenchman's home in a little town called Ammerschwihr. Notice his child's toys in the cellar - for them, just another day in the life - for us, a memory we will cherish for the rest of our lives.

It sounds so cliche, but, it really is the people that you meet along the way that make your travels unforgettable. In our favorite town of the trip, Riquewirh, we wondered into another "degustation" and enjoyed the company of a wine pourer from the Bernard Schwach winery (notice the French/German name) that happened to live above the tasting hole. Although we have no clue what his name was nor could we barely exchange more than a word or two with him at once, it seemed a genuine friendship developed over a tasting or two of wine. I think the sweetest gesture was when he left the room and returned a moment later with a bowl of pretzels (again, wine & pretzels - only in Alsace). I think it was his way of saying "stick around and a bit longer, I like you two."

www.cep-de-vigne.com/home.php

The neighborhood we stayed in was in the 'Le Petite Venice' neighborhood of Colmar - the Venice of the north, complete with its own canal. We stayed at the Masion Martin Jund. Really, how could you not stay at a place that Rick Steves describes as a 'wine-soaked tree house'? They too harvest their own wine & even do the foot-stomping thing onsite, unfortunately, Kirk & I missed that - we were out on the bikes. When we returned and told the gracious host of the hotel that we had been out biking all day, her response was simple, "Why?" as though it was the craziest thing she had ever heard someone say. Seeing Alsace is a pleasure, but sweetest when it comes with a little pain.

www.martinjund.com/