Haut Koenigbourg (or, today the kids bought bread)

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Geo: 48.1667, 7.29707

Having 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 top were very impressive – whilst it was a little hazy that morning, apparently on a clear day you can see the Swiss Alps! The castle dates from the 12th century, and has been controlled by just about every European power, before being abandoned in the late 17th century. At the turn of 19th century, the German emperor decided to renovate the castle to its former glory, and he must have spent a fortune on it, as the project was completed in just 8 years (they even had electricity there for the cranes and the works, years before there was electricity in the surrounding villages). It was pretty cool, and the boys in particular really liked it! But (and it really is only a minor beef), the French really need to sort out the staffing – we joined one long queue to pay our entry, then were told the other queue is the only one which could give us an audio guide – then, when we returned the audioguide (for which they held our drivers licences as deposit), we had to join the same long queue as the people entering the castle!

The rooms of the castle have been renovated (a hundred years ago) but the audio guide was FAR too much information (and, at 4 Euro per handset, we'd got cheap and bought one between us, to Matt's disgust!), and we somehow got the guide numbers wrong – still, we had a great couple of hours looking at the hunting rooms (boys loved the swords, pikes and suits of armour) and the grand rooms. All the kids also loved all the old cannons at the top of the castle – lots of pretending to fire upon the enemy! We then grabbed our picnic makings and headed to the area signed for picnicking – unfortunately, it was also a café, and the lady very nicely explained that it hasn't been a picnic area for 3 years but they haven't taken the signs down yet. This place must really struggle in summer – the advertisements say this is the most visited castle in France, but I don't know (what about Versailles?). Still, I don't want to give the wrong impression – this was a wonderful castle which we all really enjoyed! And the shop had some of the best knight costumes I've seen – a job for Nonna and her sewing machine, I think!

From the castle, we drove down to Bergheim, another of the cute villages at the bottom of the Vosges foothills. It is famous as the town of witches – apparently, about 40 of the locals were burned as witches in the 16th century. Trying to explain this to the kids was challenging – especially as when we say" we don't think there is such witches” and they answer "but Hermione is a witch!” (Harry Potter reference). It is also famous as a place where people who were being pursued by their debtors or other “baddies” could seek sanctuary – not sure how this fits with the stuff aobut the witches – hence the photos of the kids mimicking the little figure thumbing his nose and pointing his bum at everyone! The little town was very cute (again, but not as cute as our Riquewihr!) and was still surrounded by the fortification from the 14th century, so the kids loved running along the tops of the walls (now a nice wide footpath) and looking at the towers. Then home for another afternoon sleep – with the kids staying up until 9pm or later, and only sleeping until 8am or so, they really need a catchup sleep every now and then!

We just loved walking around our little town, and so that evening, we again just wandered around Riquewihr, looking in little shops and exploring little streets (and taking a thousand photos!) Dinner that night was fantastic – Au Cep des Vignes was a restaurant recommended by our hostess, and it was great – the kids menu had this amazing veal in white sauce that was so rich and yummy, with knuedels (some sort of dumpling thing), Steven had a coq au Riesling that he said was the best chicken he'd eaten in his life, and I had a very heavy meat pie (which was more than I could eat). We rolled out the door (actually a little scared that one of the kids might explode/vomit from the richness of the meal!) and off to bed.

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Comments

[J&E]

great to see that you are back on line. we have missed your blogs.loved the pic's and the very French cap that appears on the females of the family!!those costumes are very good....good thing Nonna sews soooo well!!not as many heavy coats i
n these pic's, must be getting warmer??J&E

[Siobhan]

Agreed Judy, I'm definitely loving the French hats. Much more practical than a beret too.