Food. Lots of awesome food.

Celebrating St. Patrick's day in Germany was about like the US- minus the green beer and sensible music. Since Heidelberg was simply slammed with soldiers, we commuted to the local, erm, less-than-charming town of Mannheim. This place is like something out of a movie. The best term for it? Cold. A better term? Militant. BUT they have Irish bars. Our priorities are in order. First we met up with Sam's friend Jen and went over to Murphy's Law. Since the line was absolutely obscene, we ventured to O'Reiley's. From there we ducked and weaved our way back right by the stage and had some "baby Guinness" (which by the way is NOT Guinness at all- Kahlua and Bailey's) and then the good stuff. The band was something of a spectacle... they were all at least over 40 and sang American songs like "American Girl" among others. Nothing Irish about them... at all. More than anything is was just hilarious to watch. We ended up talking to the only UK resident, Rick, among the whole crowd who was an interesting character and due to his heavy English accent he was very hard to understand. The band didn't help.

Macaroons to die for!

The next morning we awoke to a leisurely breakfast followed by some serious car-packing. With bags loaded we stopped by the bakery for some sweet raisin bread and headed west: France-bound. Driving through there was absolutely beautiful; there were vines planted on every square inch of soil. A few years back there was a major undertaking to repopulate the storks and they seem to be everywhere nowadays. They are perched atop many church buildings and have massive nests wherever there is a square foot of flat area. Our first Alsace stop was Ribeauvillé where we made a priority to get macaroons: they were nice and warm straight out

Cheese overload

of the oven! Enrico, Sam, Kayla and I made a lovely stop at a local restaurant, La Flammerie, for lunch. Of course, as is typical, we enjoyed some very nice wine with the meal (the region is known for it's white wine). I ordered a salad which was surprisingly the Ionly vegetarian option on the menu. I've never seen so much cheese in my LIFE. They gave me enough goat cheese to last for a family. There were four different kinds, each one distinctive and delicious!

Too perfect. It's sickening.

Beautiful half-timbered houses

Kayla with the old vitner who wasn't there :(

Riquewihr- check out the OLD buildings!

The drawbridge

 Not wanting to leave the cutsie town without thoroughly exploring it's winding cobblestone streets, we wandered our way around but almost all the shops were closed for lunch hour. The region of Alsace is also known for it's beautiful pottery- great for baking! Ever on the hunt for great wine, we continued deeper into the heart of the french country to Riquewihr, a more visited town but absolutely charming as well. On our way into the city we passed a local school that was having driving lessons: for bikes. The kids couldn't have been more than 10 years old and were all suited up and learning the rules of the road. I wish we could rely on bikes more here in the states. 

We also passed by a restaurant that employed a one-star chef and boasted a scrumptious-looking menu with astronomic prices to match. Pressing on, we found our "new" vitner and got to try all sorts of wines. My personal favorite was the Pinot gris, but every single one that I sampled was fantastic. The vitner was located right next to the old belltower that had an old drawbridge still attached to it. Of course, storks found a home here as well.

Petite Venice

Not wasting a second, we drove to Colmar to see "petite Venice" and do some more window shopping. Colmar had a certain charm about it, appearing to be somewhat of a mixture between the two previous villages- or, rather, the addition of the two. Patissires and restaurants occupied every nook and cranny of the town. There was also an abundance of hotels. Enrico stopped by a saucisson stand which are very common in this area where we sampled duck and goose. The woman was also selling donkey, peppercorn, and herb. Honestly- DONKEY?! Beyond me.

The streets of Colmar

Enrico taste-testing

The gothic church

Creepy gargoyle.. and a stork nest

 Venturing into an indoor market there was an abundance of cheeses, fresh fish, meats, pates, produce, pastries and all sorts of sweets. Inspired, we hit up a local cafe for afternoon tea (roobios- omgee yum) and eclairs. Nothing beats a fresh eclair! Picking up some equally excellent meringue, we headed back outside. Standing in front of us was an immense gothic church. Inside the grand cathedral were some exquiste standed glass windows and some old wooden carvings from the 16th century. Old. Very old.

Thoroughly exhausted after a very long but fun day, we hit the autobahn yet again for the drive home.