Blogs from Riquewihr, Alsace, France, Europe

Elsass, 24. - 26. Juli 2014 Bei schönstem Sommerwetter ging es am Donnerstarmorgen mit Beat ins Elsass. Unsere erste Station war das Ecomuseum in Ungersheim. Das Ecomuseum ist das grösste Freilichtmuseum in Frankreich. Hier wurden viele alte Häuser aus dem Elsass und dem Sundgau wieder aufgebaut. Es gibt eine Bäckerei, Schule, Wassermühle, Schmiede, Schnapsbrennerei usw. Im Museumsdorf leben auch viele Tiere wie Pferde, Kühe, Schweine, Esel, Ziegen und nicht zu vergessen, auf beinahe jedem Dach eine Storchenfamilie. Das Freilichtmuseum war, obwohl es ein Werktag war, gut besucht. Wir übernachteten vor dem Museum auf dem Stellplatz. Am Freitagmorgen ging es (noch) bei strahlendem Sonnenschein, ins nur wenige Kilometer entfernte Riquewihr. Kaum dort angekommen zog ein Gewitter auf. Unsere Hoffnung, dass es sich schnell verzieht und die Sonne wieder die Oberhand gewinnt, bestätigte ... read more

Geo: 48.1667, 7.29887Leaving Ronco is never easy. Matt said that next time we come, we should stay here for THREE WEEKS - don't tell him that we did that last time! - and Tom said if we left him behind, he could just eat with the zii, and would bespeaking Italian in no time. Martina told Georgia that she is the daughter that she never had - think that we all feel very much at home here. After packing up (how do we have so much stuff?), we slipped down to Losone to get money to pay the Bar Lucca for last night - and because this town is so small, we ran into Danny de Bortoli. We were parked, and I was looking at the iPad, and couldn't work out why the kids in the ... read more

We travelled a few miles up the road from Colmar to Camping Intercommunal de Riquewihr. This site was owned and run by three of the local villages who wished to encourage visitors to their area. It was situated just outside of the small tourist town of Riquewihr. All of these small french towns feel more German than French but one thing they have in common is that they are all organised to support visitors to their area. Visitors and the purchase of wine being the life blood of the community. We got to the site earlier than we expected but found a warm welcome. We were given plot 68 which turned out to be against the back fence of the site and had long grass which resembled our own meadow. Buttercups, clover and long grasses waved ... read more

Geo: 48.1667, 7.29707Having established that the shop next to our little apartment was a boulangerie, the big kids went off with 5 Euro and enough French to buy 2 croissants and 2 baguettes! Success! They returned with huge smiles and explained that the lady in the shop spoke no English, but they had bought the bread without any hassles (and with only some sign language!)and with lots of smiles. They were so proud of themselves, and we were equally proud. This is why we came!Off to Haut Koenigbourg, a nearby castle that we could see towering over the vineyards. (we stopped briefly on the way to the castle to photograph the storks nesting in the town of Ribeauville.) The castle stands on a hill almost 800 metres above the surrounding area, so the views from the ... read more

Geo: 48.1669, 7.29728It was sad to leave Miranda and Jonathon as they headed off to work – but we'll see them in three weeks at their wedding in Italy. And of course, I am not sure that they were sorry to see the departure of the noisy Perissinotto family – at least one of the cats was quite traumatized by the noise and sudden movements of the kids, and I seemed to give Miranda's washing machine a good workout!Then we were off again, with bags loaded in the car, on one of our longest driving days. Brussels was an easy city to drive in, and we were quickly on the road and off towards Luxembourg (about 2 hours away). Unfortunately, a 45 minute delay for road works meant that we were all tired and hungry when ... read more