Alsacez-Vous!

Brian's parents came in on a whirlwind trip to Paris to deliver Christmas goodies (both edible and non!) and to run off to a region in France called Alsace, known for its German influence. We were in search of schnitzel, but found mostly sauerkraut and sausage. Yeah, we'll take that too!

We stayed in this AMAZING gite (French for rental house) that was situated up HIGH in the mountains with snow everywhere. There were just tons of live Christmas trees, covered in snow, growing everywhere! It was like in a Christmas storybook. And at night, it was even more enchanting. Incredible! We took many opportunities to take pictures!

Family pic:
My favorite pic of Michael from the vacation:
Happy parents with their adorable hats:

And boys conquering piles of snowcovered wood:
One of our first adventures was putting chains on our tires. When we first arrived at the gite, we were met by the owner who was waiting for us by the side of the road with a flashlight. After some exchanges, we decided it would be best if he drove our car up the mountain without chains and Dad would drive his. So far so good!

Then, the guy who drives very often in snow left. Something about meeting his friend. I thought our snow driver was included in the cost! Anyways, we put chains on the back two tires of the vehicle and proceeded to slide down the snow covered hill 3 times before a nice Belgian living upstairs told us, "You need to put the chains on the FRONT 2 tires of a front wheel drive vehicle. NOT the back 2."

Why yes...that seems to make sense now doesn't it?? Here's a nice picture of our chains:

Later, we found out those same Belgians were driving fine up and down that hill with neither snow tires or chains. NICE! I guess that's what the owner meant when he asked me, "Are you guys used to driving in snow?" Ummm...that's a resounding "NO!"

The parents, Michael, and I arrived in Colmar in the early afternoon before Brian. We picked up Brian late that night at the Colmar train station and settled in after our eventful first day. For more random and possibly humerous stories, see the end of the blog.

At the beginning of the 2nd day, Saturday Dec. 13th, we got an early start at 11:00am. Ahhh...it is so nice to have a VACATION! The first place we visited was a quaint little town called Riquewihr.
We drank lots of hot beverages (cocoa, wine, etc):
And had fun exploring the small village. We bought choucroute there (sauerkraut and sausage) and poele alsacienne (potates skillet fried with cheese and sausage) for dinner. And by skillet fried, I mean in pans as large as a 18 wheeler tire. It was super cute and we had a great time wandering the little cobbled streets.

On our drive up and down the mountain, we had some amazing views. Here's a really cool cemetary we found:
And I just love this snow covered view:

On the 3rd day, Sunday Dec. 14th, we explored Colmar! The German inspired colored houses were too cute and the market spanned the entire town. In Nuremberg, the market is really in their main square. But in Colmar, we went to different parts of the village to see different markets. Really cute! Here's a family picture there, of course:
And my favorite night market picture:We had an amazing apfelstreudel in a cafe near Petit Venise in Colmar and some Frenchies in the table next to us were seriously enchanted by Michael! All he was doing was eating a mini ice cream cone!

While in Colmar, we shopped, ate, and Michael rode the horse ride and the mini carrousel a ton of times. Check out this great picture Dad took:

On our last day, Monday Dec. 15th, we explored Eguisheim. It had a sign greeting us saying, "One of the most prettiest villages in France." Any time we see this sign, we brace ourselves a bit because what France considers one of their most prettiest villages, is a bit different than what we expect! While Eguisheim was cute (the streets form concentric circles), it was just ok. I think it would have helped had we come on a Sunday since Monday was pretty dead in the village. As in most villages actually! Usually Sunday is a dead day too but since it is Christmas season, things are open. Either way, we got our family picture! Dad already had Michael snuggled in his coat so we just said, "Hey, you can get in the picture too!"

After this, we returned the rental car in Colmar and had a nice uneventful train ride back to Paris with sauerkraut in our bellies and visions of whittled Christmas ornaments in our head.

Michael had a great time with his grandparents and these 2 shots show just that:

VOILA! And that was the end of our trip! Amazing!

Love,
P

P.S. Funny moments:

• While waiting at the train station (Gare de l'Est) to go to Colmar (we were an hour early), we helped a Chinese guy who was seriously stressed out about the trains in France. He couldn't imagine why they would be late. And I wondered, are trains always running perfectly in China?


• At this same train station, I got pooped on by a bird. This is my first memory of the trip. This should teach me NOT to come to the train station an hour early!


• We had to transfer trains in Strasbourg to a regional train that went to Colmar. Brian left us 10 minutes to do this transfer. By the time we got on the train, it was pulling out and Brian's mom was reaching for her inhaler so she could breathe.


• When we got to the Avis rental agency, they only had 2 cars for us. They took us to the parking lot and showed us the car we ordered, a Citroen C3 with no chains. Reasonably sized car. Then they showed us a Ford Fiesta with chains. The Ford fiesta was small. To put it generously. But we went ahead and chose it because it had chains. Luckily, someone returned a big Volkswagen Touron which easily could seat 4 and a carseat AND it had chains. WHEW. Otherwise, I may have had to ride tied to the top of the Ford Fiesta.


• When we were looking at the cars, Dad and I had to walk nearly to the other end of the parking lot. Then, when we were going to pick up our huge Volkswagon Touron, they drove us to it. And I am serious when I say it was like a 30 second walk away.


• Don't ask about navigating within the city of Colmar itself, OR finding our way out of Colmar to Kaysersberg for the first time. Let's just say, Brian's mom said, "Look for the D4 on the map." I couldn't find it until we went about 5km north of Colmar. Oops, better go WEST.


• Since Brian did not join us until late Friday night, I did all the information gathering in FRENCH! I am super proud of myself so I have to toot my horn.