Day 18 – Colmar, Strasbourg and Ladoix-Serrigny

Francine provided a lovely breakfast and joined us for a chat.  It was mostly in French which really challenged my grammar and vocabulary but we were able to make ourselves understood.  It was a lovely experience. She was a delight and had moved to Colmar with her husband.  It was a second marriage.  They had moved several times and she was originally from Paris. It was so nice to be able to converse with her.

We then drove to the Gare de Strasbourg to meet our host, from our stay in Strasbourg to pick up my jacket.  She had a day off work and was pleased to come into the city to wander around and do some shopping.  Another truly delightful woman. 

On our way through Alsace I suggested to Bev that we call into Riquewhir, a charming ancient village which is one that tourists visit all the time, evidenced by all the buses lined up in the vineyards.  Despite it being a working week, there was still quite a crowd in the village.  We purchased a bottle or two of lovely wine and tasted a number of the goodies on sale including what was a coconut macaron.  It was quite different to the usual macarons we have.  They were just baked and very nice.

Riquewhir

Centreville,  Riquewhir

Where I purchased some nice Alsacian wine

We took the fast route to Ladoix-Serrigny which meant going through tolls.  It was quite tiring on the autoroutes due to the speed requirement (130km/h),  the need to keep moving past slower traffic and to keep clear of faster cars. 

After we arrived at our studio, we met the owner, a lovely man who had a bit of English but preferred to speak in French.  We had stayed here previously with different owners. He showed us the changes they had made since purchasing the property.  He was very helpful and also provided us with some recommendations for places to eat. 

We decided to eat in that night so we drove down to the large supermarket for some supplies for dinner and our breakfasts. The supermarket was a monster - a hypermarche I think is the better term.  Surprisingly the vegetable offering was quite limited, certainly compared to what we had encountered in Strasbourg.