Alsace Untour, Summer of 2001
by Ann and Bill Logan, Shelbyville, KY
We were in Alsace with Idyll August 29 to September 12, 2001. Our apartment was Chant des Oiseaux in Ribeauville. It was a very nice apartment and our landlady left several gifts of food for us, which, as you can imagine, came in very handy after a day of sightseeing! There was a lovely patio and a balcony in the front, but the weather was unusually cool and overcast; in fact, we could have used some heat at times to take the chill off the apartment in the evening. We had a lovely view from our living area ---hills and castles and grapes waiting to be ready and harvested. Ribeauville is an excellent location, as there is everything one needs right in this charming town. One can either walk down a path to town or park in a free lot by the stream (the Streng).
We chose to arrive one day early and stay overnight near the airport at the Hotel L'Europe, recommended by Idyll. The room was nice but would recommend asking for one off the street as there were motercycles roaring by all night. Breakfast was very good.
The next day - Idyll arrival day - we drove to our town and had lunch at S'Rappschirer Stebola which was enjoyable and tasty. The waiters and waitresses were quite friendly. We ate here 3 times, I believe. Enjoyed a ride on the tourist tram and a walk around the village while waiting for time to go to the apartment, 4:00 pm. The next day we had orientation in Bergheim, and we met Vivienne(our friendly Idyll representative) and Marguerite (Tourist info in Bergheim and landlady) and the other Idyllers. After orientation we all adjourned to the Winstub Au Cerf where we enjoyed a full meal with wine.
While in Alsace we visited several places that we had visited on a previous trip 10 years before. There are many interesting villages on the wine route and cheese route and we enjoyed the cities of Colmar, Strasbourg and Freiburg. Some of the things and places we particularly enjoyed were:
- Kaysersburg for the Albert Scheitzer Museum and Au Lion D'Or for great lamb and lovely ambience.
- Pfiffertaj Day(Musician's festival) in Ribeauville. Fantastic floats!
- Haut Koenigsburg Castle and the Barbary Ape Refuge.
- Boat tour on the canals in Strasbourg.
- Tarte Flambee and Choucroute.
- Gunsbach and the Scheitzer house museum. Anyone interested in Scheitzer would enjoy this museum in a house he built in a village where his father was a vicar when Albert was a young boy. We highly recommend.
- Idyll dinner in Bergheim at the Sommelier.
- Petite Venice in Colmar.
- Flower parade in Rosheim and lunch at La Halle aux Bles, Obernai.
- The wine of Alsace!