Monday, June 8, 2026
Today we're slow. Some people (not me) stayed up quite late last night and didn't sleep well. So, we're really slow this morning. (Which gave me time to finish a couple of blog posts.) We have to buy groceries and we have to visit the hospital once more. They never gave us the itemized bill (rapport medical détaillé) that we'll need to submit to our US insurance. To get this itemized bill, we had to go back to the pulmonary building where I was hospitalized. But we were able to get the needed report. I even ran into one of the nurses who cared for me and she remembered me. I guess an American in a French hospital is a bit of a rarity.
Next stop was the grocery store. We forgot my battery so I stayed in the car while the guys did the shopping. We got home at 1:30 and had a leisurely lunch.
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| Meat case at the Super U grocery store |
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| rabbits in the meat case at the Super U grocery store |
That allowed us just enough time in the afternoon to drive to Riquewihr to take the Petit Train tour of this Plus Beau Village. North of Colmar we joined the Route du Vin and started driving alongside vineyards. Wine merchants lined the main streets of the towns we drove through, each advertising "Dégustation" (tasting).
Our plan was to take the 4 pm train which takes us out into the vineyards for some panoramic views of the valley and an up-close and personal look at the vineyards. However, best laid plans and all that, the 4 PM train was fully booked, so we would have to take the 5 PM train.
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| See that tour group of people coming toward the train? They filled all the cars. |
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| Pat & Chuck pose in front of the petit train |
When life gives you lemons and all that, we found a little bistro just up the road and stopped for a drink.
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| We had an hour and that was just enough time to get a drink at a bistro. |
The sky had slowly been clouding over during the afternoon, but we hoped the rain would wait until we finished our tour. Apparently that was asking a lot. Luckily the train has a roof over the cars so we got minimally damp on our ride back into town. This train has a headset system that can be set to 16 different languages, so we heard the tour in English.
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| headsets on the train could be programmed to any of 16 languages |
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| Pat with her headset (No, you don't wear these on your ears for some reason.) |
Even in grey clouds, the views are spectacular from this town that sits up in the hills.
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| views from the vineyard |
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| The church in Riquewihr seen from the vineyards |
On the way home, we passed these symbols of Alsace in one of the towns we passed through.
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| The pretzel with an A in the middle is the symbol for Alsace. Sorry for the poor focus, this was taken from a moving car at a round-about |
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| By now, you should recognize the stork. This artsy fellow was made from shiny metal. (Again, also taken from a moving car) |
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