More Travels Through Alsace

05/12, Saturday
We had a late breakfast in Ribeauvillé (pronounced Ree-Bo-vei-lay) and, again, admired the streets and buildings. There are quite a few people out shopping...it's market day in town.

Just outside of Ribeauvillé we took a steep walk up to the Notre Dame monastery of Dusenberg...pausing at eleven Stations of the Cross...the other three are in the Chapel. Although we struggled with the incline, it was a peaceful walk beneath trees and next to a rushing stream. We were the only ones on the trail and in the church.

Francois and France had suggested we visit another small town of Kaysersberg also on the Wine Road. The towns and villages are all very near to each other. We were on the back roads used by the grape harvesters.

In Kaysersberg we took a self-guided walking tour to see the interesting homes and parks. These are all old places, dating as far back as 1227. Here is the family home of Albert Schweitzer where he lived as a young man. Now it is a museum and a Protestant church. What an accomplished man he was. At 50 he decided to study to become a doctor and dedicated his life to treating people in a small village in Africa.
They had a nice informative film on his very full life. This is a very nice town and quite busy with a small festival in the park.

We stopped in Riquewihr for dinner and found the place Francois said was so good and we had met the owners the day before. Great place and the food was superb. I had scallops and Dick had a very German looking sausage plate. Saved room for a rhubarb merengue dessert that was a killer.

Enjoyed driving again on the wine route in our little black Fiat that I named Stubby since it looks like the back end is missing.

05/13, Sunday, Mother's Day
Does seem strange not to be around kids and grandkids on Mother's Day and really no Internet or phone possible. Francois doesn't even know his E-mail address and couldn't help me with the phone that I'm quite sure just needs money added. Dick really made the day very nice for me starting off with placing a cute ring in a little case on my pillow.

We did go to the one place in Ribeauville that has WiFi and I sent off a quick message to the kids. Then we went touring the countryside again and saw several different towns, all with long, German sounding names. Went through an interesting wine museum in Wintzenheim. The Alsace wine growers have worked hard to earn an excellent reputation.

We enjoyed some good wine at a late lunch at still another cute place in a town called Eguishein. All these picture perfect villages are just minutes apart and vineyards cover every possible part of the landscape in between towns. I really enjoyed an Alsacian hot pot with very tender meat, potatoes and carrots. I just had to write down the name of the dish, Elsassiche Eintopf. I'm sure I'll remember that !

Lots of happy people and many dogs strolling through town. Weather was a bit cool but sunny. So many beautiful potted plants and planters all over the homes and town squares.

Back in Ribeauvillé, we rested and read and played Scrabble. Too late, we walked into town for a light bite and a beer. All the restaurants and cafes stop serving by 9pm on Sunday, so it was good we had a filling and late lunch. Lord knows we should miss a few more meals. Took a final stroll through town and continued to marvel at the quaint, beautiful town.