Mirror mirror, on the wall

June 23, 2022

who's the prettiest town of all?

We had pretty much decided to take a bus to Riquewihr today, and taste a few wines as the weather was forecast to be pretty ugly. However, when the morning began with sparkling blue skies, we reconsidered. Let's go to Kaisersberg today, and then to Riquewihr tomorrow by bus when its raining. Kaisersberg is not too steep a climb after all....so off we went on the bikes.

good pathways as usual once you get out of town

And first a little about the grapes. Here is a grape leaf trimmer (David!), and it seems all the vineyards got the memo because yesterday and today these guys were trimming their little hearts out. We saw dozens of them working, but this is the first one close enough to snap a photo of. Pretty specialized piece of equipment, no?

We get to the turnoff to Kaisersberg, only 2 km to go, which has not been a tough 15 km anyway, and we see a sign that says Riquewihr - 3.6 km. Oh, what the hell we say, it is so close, so we turn that way and immediately start climbing.

Marjory says I must relate this is much steeper than it looks!

We did make it to the top and magically the town of Riquewihr appeared. Another cute town. We started making our pick - which is the cutest?

I had to ask a bunch of guys to move, they all wanted to pose with Marjory

And then at the top of the street is the prime photo op!

we sat here for a while in the shade, it was heating up

By this time we are walking the bikes because, well, see below.

I guess we're not the first to discover this place?

So after lunch (and a fab pinot gris), we redraw the Komoot route and see that we are going to ride near Kaisersberg anyway, so off we go to hit 2 towns in one day. Can a fellow stand this much cuteness?

Although I am too lazy to look it up, Alsace has gone back and forth between Germany and France over the years. Kaiser was the title for German kings, and berg (burg) means town, so...just a guess, but one of the kings may have come from here? You know, "kaiser's burg"?

Flowers everywhere.

It was now 28 degrees, so we decided it was time to head back to Colmar. The clouds were rolling in, but it was still sunny. It is supposed to rain by 7pm, so off we went.

And the ride went smoothly back into Colmar, but it certainly was hot today. So that is the 3 towns we wanted to see near Colmar, which do you think is the cutest?

the route back home. Note the wonderful elevation change in THIS direction

Late night addendum: so we are back in Colmar and the sky is threatening. After sink-laundry, we head out to find a place to eat. Lots of places are full of people as its already 7:30. One place we asked said "no" as we wanted an open outside table (it was still pretty hot) as they know its going to rain and they had limited space inside already. Then the raindrops started falling. There seemed to be no places available, every outdoor table at every restaurant was full.

We quickly walked up a sidestreet in the gathering tempest, and there was a nice looking place: "l'atlier du peintre": but no outside tables. I whispered to Marjory, "quick, check if they have A/C!" while I spoke with the fellow at the front. They were slightly snooty - ok, I was in shorts - but Marjory gave me the thumbs up and they decided we could come in. We sit down and notice the Michelin One Star. omg. We have stumbled into a fantastic place, and the meal was outstanding. Wine pairings of course! And finally, finally some excellent Rieslings. They served one 1986 Riesling, which I wasn't crazy about and told the sommelier as much - after which Marjory admonished me for being honest. Dinner was memorable, then we stumbled home in the newly fresh air, cool after the thunder and rainfall.

Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 771 km (479 miles)

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