The Tale of Two Tour-Guides!


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Europe » France » Alsace » Riquewihr
May 31st 2009
Published: May 31st 2009
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Beloved Arribella, whom we so adore,
had an intrusion today, one we could not ignore.
First she was a yankee, so true at heart.
She then moved to France, her second arrogant part.
The tour began with her talking, spitting out facts left then right,
then having us interact by giving quizzes, what a fright!

The day began with an early departure. Elz and I were a tad late, so as we entered the bus we got a round of applause. Ha, but it was ok! We began to head in town to Strasbourg in order to get our train tickets for our Paris trip tomorrow. It's a very good thing that we did because the train station is very large and very new for most of us, therefore the familiarity is not there. It took about 15 for us to do that and then away we were the castle. I must say, there probably was not a moment on that entire ride that our new tour guide wasn't either spitting out facts or asking us questions like "now what crop is this growing... come on. think. just guess... NO! Think." Wow!!! Even after Mrs. Runnels told her that we are from a forest area she still insisted on hounding us about crop questions! This went on the entire time. It was ridiculous. She is so different than our sweet and very playful, full time tour guide.
We arrived at the castle, first of all, someone called us yankees... little did they care to know that we are from Texas... pretty damn far from being Yankees. I guess that is why Chinese and Japanese get so offended... Then, we approached the castle as if we were going to "attack it", which was yes, a creative, but not so realistic approach. I am sure to say that we were all more embarrassed by the lady walking about with the SFA hat in the air. There were people everywhere! Someone commented on how in the States, on a national holiday, people go home, but in France they go to see things! There were cars lined up for what seemed like a mile down the hill! All around there were crying and yelling babies, and people yelling in different languages. To be quite honest it was slightly overwhelming and I was very glad when it was all over. We proceeded to go into the small wine village at the foot of the mountain and a group of us went and ate at the Black Horse. It was pretty expensive for lunch. I spent 16 euros 50, but I did get a nice "american" style cup of coffee!! Ugh it was so delicious!! For once, I was given more than a swig of caffeine! We ended up having lunch with the tour guide, and when she is not holding a hat high in the air, distributing facts like they were candy, she was ok. Still rather sharp on the edges, but much better than my first impression. She gave me a few unanswered explanations about french dining that are very cool things to know.
We then headed to the wine village, and that is where the fun began! (I will just skip over the tour of the city, bc it was all rambling and facts.) We got a very brief tour of the family's wine cellar (wow the canisters were MASSIVE) and then it was time to the wine! We were offered 4 kinds, a sparkling wine, a Riesling, a pinot gree, and one other kind (I am the last person on earth to know about wine's so forgive my lack of knowledge.) I learned today, that when tasting wine, always being with the most dry, then work your way to to sweeter wines. Also, between each tasting it is good to have some type of food to cleanse the pallet. I also learned a few new words to describe wine, not to mention some storing tips! After our rounds, we all stood around and laughed for a good while. Made some jokes, caused some scenes, tried some schonps, and listened to talent show stories from Mrs. Runnels. Ha, it was a very good time. Then Arabella, bless her sole, was pretending to be a drunk superstar!! Talk about getting he giggle box turned up to the max. Must have blown a fuse, for I was ready to be on the floor rolling. We also acted out a scene! She walked out of the tavern, then she sped up, Brent and House starting yelling oh my gosh is that her? It's Her!!, and Mrs. Runnels starting running after her with a camera, all the while Arabella is drunkenly walking down the cobblestone street with a scarf over her head. I on the other hand, did a horrible job... All that I could do was laugh. Stand and laugh. Funniest thing, gooooodness! In order to survive the hour from wine tasting to dinner, I knew that I need something in my tummy or I would start to feel very very bad. While Elz and Ashley went for more wine, I went for a preztel to half with Mrs. B, and then Arabella and Mrs. Runnels had some. Then, being the pink lil piggy I am, was convinced into having a part of a crepe, so we traveled across the street for a crepe. Ah, it was soooo yummy! I got rasberry and split it with the table, while we passed around a beer. Dinner was awesome, full of laughs. Ryan and Jamie thought it would be awesome to catch me in the moment so they got 3 good ones of me losing it. Ha! Dinner was good, but I ate wayyyy too much. On top of the fact that someone dried my "skinny jeans", (which in girl land should never be done!) I have the very full burden to bear tomorrow. Oh well, the jeans still fit yesterday so hopefully my body will decide to work extra hard tonight!! (please, oh, please!!) The ride home was good. Everyone passed out. It was a long day. Now I must wake up at 5:05 in order to be ready for Paris!

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