On Tuesday, Bill got up and went to the bakery, where he picked up an Alsatian delicacy.  The Kugelhopf, also served in western Germany, is a light, yeasty marble cake.  I noticed it the last time we visited Ribeauville, but we never got a chance to try it then.  This time, Bill made a special effort to score one for us.

It’s light and not very sweet, despite the optional powdered sugar on top.  There were raisins on the bottom and almonds studded the top.

Bill and I decided to go to Eguisheim, mainly because my Facebook friend Sarah, who left Germany last year, had posted a picture that made it look like a great place to visit.  Eguisheim is just a little bit south of Colmar, but it’s worlds apart in terms of the mood.  The town is positively medieval, with its concentric circles and old timbered homes.  We didn’t really have an agenda in going there, other than to take in the atmosphere and have a good lunch.  We managed to do both.

Right before lunch, we watched more storks.  They were everywhere in Eguisheim!

There were helpful signs all around the town in French, German, and English offering information.

The houses in Eguisheim have coats of arms on them depicting what the person who lived there did for a living.  If you click the photo above this one, you can read about the coat of arms pictured above.

An impressive church.

A couple announcing their marriage.

And a very dramatic work of art.

After we walked around Eguisheim, we found ourselves at a gay friendly restaurant called Caveau Heuhaus.  I only mention the fact that the restaurant is gay friendly because it had a very prominent rainbow flag on the menu posted outside.  I chose the restaurant because it smelled really good and so far, my nose has never let me down.

We walked into the place and I immediately thought the decor reminded me of a yard sale gone amok.  But it was all arranged in a very endearing way.  The restaurant was not full when we sat down, but it was full by the time we got our meals.  Our waitress was extremely charming and didn’t speak much English, but she did speak German!  So that was a bit of a help, although my German is still terrible.

Bill checks out the menu.

This was a special wine of the day.  It was about 20 euros and delicious.

Should have brought some home with us!

I ended up with an entrecote.  It came with frites and garlic butter.  It was perfectly cooked, by far the best steak we had all week.

Bill went with a big plate of meat.  There were two different sausages, three types of bacon, and sauerkraut done French style, along with boiled potatoes.  We also had excellent bread.

For dessert, I had creme brulee.  This restaurant has a very impressive way of serving it.  The waitress brought it to me and lit it at the table.

The flame died down at just the right time!  Bill had coffee because he was too full from his big plate of sausages.

If you come to Eguisheim and are looking for good food, Caveau du Heuhaus is a good bet!  We really enjoyed our meal there.

After we finished lunch, we drove to Riquewihr, which is just a few kilometers from Ribeauville.  I wanted to stop there and pick up some macarons and madeleines, as well as more wine.

On the way into Riquewihr, we were treated to a glorious rainbow over the grapevines.

We visited Riquewihr in July of last year.  It was still somewhat busy in February, but not nearly as much as it was in the summer.  A lot of restaurants and shops were closed.  It was okay.  We still managed to get what we wanted.

We stopped into the Hugel wine shop, where we tasted several lovely local wines.

We happened to be there at the same time as four generations of the Hugel family.  They are pictured outside, as they were posing for a publicity photo.

And I took note of the sign showing how many Facebook likes the Hugel winery has right now.

 

For dinner on our last night in Ribeauville, we stopped at a small wine/beer bar.  I think we got off on the wrong foot with the proprietor because Bill said “Bon jour” instead of “Bon soir.”

Still, I took note of the provocative sign for the local brew and ordered it.

Sans culottes…  the beer caused us to have an interesting conversation about how I was on a forum for fundamentalist Christians and they were looking for culottes.  Someone warned not to searched for them online, since apparently culottes are pornographic in some circles.  As for “sans culottes”, it is apparently a statement about the poor versus the rich.  Poor people did not wear culottes (silk britches) because they couldn’t afford them.  They were for the wealthy.

I wasn’t very hungry, so I had what is known as a flammkuechen here in Germany…  onions, bacon, and cream on a very thin crust.  

Bill had chicken and salad.

 

The proprietor’s attitude toward us seemed to brighten when we praised his cute little granddaughter, who was learning the tricks of the trade at about five years of age (or maybe younger).  She was super charming!

Wednesday morning, we woke up bright and early and packed up for our trip to Burgundy.  Checking out of our gite was super easy.  We just put the key back in the little code operated lockbox by the door.  Later, Yannick sent me a text thanking us for staying with him and wishing us a good trip.  I think we made a new friend in Alsace.