We had six nights in Alsace, and that was long enough for me to lean into relaxation. I noticed that I did not feel as rushed and took it easy on the kids and activities. I also did less driving and drove shorter distances. Just about time, since it was the very last region before Paris! And guess who is meeting us in Paris? My husband!

Alsace is an area between France and Germany that changed hands at least five times. Hence an amazing mixed heritage of French/German that manifests itself in food, language and traditions.

Alsace also has a strong wine culture- mainly white. Interestingly, there is only one winemaker that has the right to mix in red grapes. ONE. The rest of the Alsatian wines are white.

My favorite was crèmant– a crisp and bubbly white that, to me, tasted like champagne. BUT. For the wine to be called champagne, it has to be produced in THE region of Champagne. Otherwise, the term is crèmant no matter what the production region is.

In Alsace, our activities mainly consisted of visiting small, tremendously quaint villages in South Alsace. We would average one to two villages per day and the pace was just right. We also had lazy (and crazy!) mornings, afternoons and evenings at our gîte. Behavior was typical- some days (very) challenging and others, helpful.

I was in awe of each Alsatian village. Half-timbered houses, covered in flowers, squares covered in flowers, calm and clean fountains, also covered in flowers, sidewalks, also flowers. WHO takes care of this floral abundance?? The residents, I guess?…

Looking at the half-timbered houses, I kept thinking how, around Christmastime, this region must be out of this world beautiful.

We went out to eat only a few times, opting instead for picnics and eating at the gîte that had a full kitchen. I may have run out of steam and wanted quieter evenings, without needing to manage behavior at restaurants.

Picnic-ing at playgrounds also allowed us to be outside: glorious and delicious 70-75 degrees.

A word about our accommodations in Alsace. We stayed at a gîte, owned by a cereal farmer whose farm was the next street over. The house had everything we needed, but it was basic. Comparing to our gîtes in Loir and Bourgogne, this definitely was a step down in terms of decor and amenities. BUT! It had a kitchen, a washing machine, and hot water. And, it was clean. Oh, and it had a playground in the back yard, an extra bonus.

The towns/villages that we explored:

Colmar. It’s a mid size town that serves as a base for many visitors in the area. I liked the buildings/streets but I did NOT like the crowds. It was also chilly and rained for a bit so we ducked into a cafe and had hot chocolates and crêpes, because- any excuse to go to a café, right?!.. Colmar has a huge connection to the US. Read below about the plaques embedded into cobble stones in the streets.

As I mentioned above, Colmar is mid-size and quite crowded. Tons of antique and souvenir shops. However, the tiny villages to the north/north west are truly magical since many have maybe only one main street. Many are situated in the mountains and are surrounded by vineyards. Some examples are Kayserberg, Hunawihr, Turckheim, Riquewihr, Bergheim, Ribeauvillé, and others.

Mid week, we got tired of the villages and went to an amusement park called The Little Prince. It was a theme-park based entirely on the Little Prince story by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Rides, mazes, a movie theater, and cafes.

As I am finishing this post, we are in Paris. We returned our car rental yesterday morning and took a train from Strasbourg to Paris. But I will leave that story for another day.