We awoke early to another rainy day in Burgundy. Oh well even despite the fact that the longest dry spell during our visit lasted 40 minutes, we still were charmed by Beaune and have added it to the "We Want to Go Back" list. Graham said it was in his top 2, second only to Paris. I haven't ranked my favs yet but it's definitely in the top three!
We enjoyed our breakfast conversation with Isabelle's guests (all spoke English!) and then were on our way. We made it to our destination, Eguisheim, in time for lunch which was a first. We loved our room and would definitely stay there again.
See how the bed is raised about one foot off the floor? This is where Isla really perfected her crawling skills, making laps under the bed and back around.
This is the view from outside our window, one of the most famous in Eguisheim. And to think we only paid about 70 bucks for it!
The town is SO cute, like Leavenworth on steroids. The Alsace region is on the French and German border and so we hoped to get a taste of Germany without even crossing the border (the area has switched hands between the two countries multiple times).
The sun decided to grace us with it's rare presence so we dined outside at a cafe. I tried the local specialty, tarte flambee, like a pizza with onion, bacon and cheese with a side salad. I paired it with one of the region's whites, Edelzweiter Graham had some sort of meat wrapped in pastry, a side salad and a glass of riesling.
Following lunch, we roaming the adorable streets and located this picture-famous church. It just so happens that I worked on a puzzle over Christmas at the Crozier's that feature this very scene. Cool!
Back again in front of the famous higgle-dee piggle-dee street.
The storks of Alsace. Their nests could be spotted everywhere!
We stopped in a couple cellars try sample the local specialties before making the short drive up the hill to Cinq Tours (Five Towers although we were only able to locate three...) where we could look down on the towns below.
This is where Isla first discovered the game "chase." Graham would sneak up behind her and say "I'm gonna get you" and then grab her legs and she would squeal and shriek. So fun!
Next we headed to the larger (but still cute) city of Colmar. We followed Rick Steve's self-guided walk and saw the Customs House, Petite Venise (pictured below), the Pfister House and the House of Heads.
When we passed by the city's gorgeous St. Martin Cathedral, we heard the most amazing music coming from inside. Graham just had to get inside so we walked the entire perimeter to find every door either locked or guarded by staff of some sort. We were told the door was "firme" (closed) but that answer did not appease Graham. We stood with our ears to a side door and listened for a while. Finally we found some who knew what was going on AND spoke English (double bonus!) and she told us that what we were hearing was the rehearsal for the 25th anniversary Colmar Boys Choir concert that was going to take place the following day. Best of all, she told us it was FREE but was going to be packed. There was no way we were going to miss this so we mentally adjusted our itinerary for the next day so we could attend.
We found a cute restaurant in Colmar called Chez Hansi where the waitresses were decked out in their lederhosen. I ordered another regional specialty, poulet au Riesling, chicken cooked slowly in Riesling, served alongside homemade spaetzle. Oh. My. Goodness. Uh-may-zing!! I decided that I needed to figure out how to make it once home (which I have...but it wasn't quite as good as the real thing, maybe because I baked off on the butter. But just a bit). There is something so comforting about spaetzle. I had Riesling along with. Graham also went very traditional and decided to brave the choucroute garnie (sauerkraut and sausage) plate. He was a bit surprised when his plate arrived as a literal mountain of sauerkraut with ham and sausage links propped all around the sides. Such a manly meal! He is not a beer drinker but since German beers are supposedly the best, he decided to go for it.
Unfortunately the beers were not listed on the menu and we couldn't understand a lick of what the waitress was saying so all he knows is that what he tried was "blonde." He liked it so he was pretty excited as he's been trying to like beer for quite some time. I tried a sip and have yet to understand why people drink the stuff...
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