Riquewihr & Colmar- Friday - Oct.1

Another sunny day!  Our luck is holding out.  Jan called an Uber for getting us to Riquewihr.  It's about 17km.

Vineyards everywhere!  We're in the heart of the Alsace wine region, mostly riesling and gewurztraminer grapes.

It's interesting to see large crucifixes at the corners of the fields, I guess to bless or protect the vines.

Uber driver dropped us off at city hall.  See the vineyards?  They surround the town.  This town started on the estate of a Frankish landlord in the 8th century!

It was a wine-growing estate, thus the name "Richo villa", which became Riquewihr.

This is another 'fairytale' village! cute-cute-cute (c^3)

This is the Dolder tower, part of the fortifications that was part of the surrounding walls, built in 1291.

On a back alleyway we chanced upon an open door into a private courtyard :

We ate a scrumptious lunch at a restaurant in another alleyway, Le Caveau Des Rois, 'cave of the kings'.

We left with boxes for dinner!  Pizza and an onion tart.

This protestant church was built in the mid 1800's.  It was built in a square where three former churches were, originally built in 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. 

As you can tell with the organ pipes in front, the posters we saw in the narthex showed a lot of organ concerts!

Jan called another Uber driver to get us back to Colmar.

He picked us up in his Jaguar!  Whoa.  And he drove through the small Alsace wine towns like a race driver!

We put away our lunch boxes, freshened up, and headed out to see more of Colmar.  No rest for the eager tourists!

Walked through a park with a neat fountain on our way back to old town.

And, .. we came across a hat shop!   My new hat!

Jan in the flowers :

We came across a special sign on the pavement and started to follow these :

Surprisingly, we felt they were taking us in circles!

We gave up.   Later, we found out that they were trying to lead people to a replica 12-meter-high Statue of Liberty.   The sculptor who made the famous one in New York harbor was born in Colmar,

Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi.   Before designing Lady Liberty, he traveled extensively through Egypt, taking much inspiration from the colossal Nubian figures at  Abu Simbel.

Walked back to the hotel to start planning and orienting ourselves to tackle a quick connection time in Strasbourg to catch the train to Paris.  Wish us luck!

Paris .. here we come !    What a beautiful time we had in the Alsace !   You have to come see these towns !

Vouloir, c'est pouvoir.