Our host in Ribeauville, Yannick, knew we already knew how to access our gite, since we rented from him in January. We parked in the same free parking lot we did last time we visited, punched in the code for the box that held our key, and let ourselves in. It was Sunday, so things were kind of quiet. Yannick asked if we minded if he saw us the second night. We were fine with it.
The Riesling gite was nice and warm when we arrived, a contrast to how it was in January, when the weather was colder. We took a quick tour of the apartment, marveling at how much room we had to roam this time. The apartment has a rather steep stairway that the dogs had to learn how to negotiate safely. At one point, my dog Arran came close to crashing. Zane caught on to the steps quickly and enjoyed sneaking up them to take a nap in one of the spare rooms.
Zane gives Bill a kiss in the living room.
The guest room we used was on the main floor. You have to climb a flight of stairs to get to the apartment, then there are two levels to the Riesling apartment itself. This apartment has two king beds and two twin sized beds.
Another shot of the living room. There’s a TV, but we really only used it to distract the dogs while we were out.
Eat in kitchen, complete with full sized fridge, dishwasher, oven, and range. The door leads to a bathroom with a rainfall shower.
Bathroom #2 on the other side of the kitchen has a bathtub.
Twin beds.
King bed #2 on the second level.
Rainfall shower.
And a welcome bottle of wine!
I don’t know what Yannick’s summer rates are, but both of the well-equipped apartments we stayed in were very reasonably priced. In fact, the Riesling apartment was really not much more expensive than the smaller Pinot Noir apartment we stayed in for MLK weekend. And again, these apartments are right in the thick of Ribeauville’s action. It’s a three minute walk to the main drag. The two new apartments are even closer than that. There’s also a small grocery store maybe five minutes walk from the apartments, as well as several excellent bakeries.
Since Yannick was going to see us on our second night, we decided to go out to dinner. We stopped at a place called Restaurant L’Arbalete. It was fairly empty when we got there, but was packed by the time we left.
Bill checks out the menu.
Our first bottle of wine in Ribeauville (this time).
I went with grilled ham, potatoes, carrots, sauerkraut, and a little salad. I managed maybe half and took the rest back to the apartment, where it became dinner our second night.
Bill had a gratin made with Munster cheese, bacon, and potatoes. He loved it, although the cheese was a little strong smelling for my tastes. I did taste it, though, and it tasted less assertive than it smelled.
We had no room whatsoever for dessert!
We enjoyed this restaurant, with its charming little dining room and many local patrons. We did hear one rather loud American group in there, but they were probably the only ones we’ve run into all week.