Kaysersberg

Our plan for today was to bike around the Alsace wine region on our nifty e-bikes, exploring the various towns, maybe tasting some wine, having a picnic -- and everything started off wonderfully before going awry at midday. But first: we bought breakfast from a lovely little bakery in Kaysersberg, a scenic old town.

Our apartment in Kaysersberg.

 We picked up our bikes in Riquewihr and headed out.

The entire area is set up for biking, with numerous bike roads and trails criss-crossing the vineyards. The views from the hillsides of the valley, the terraced vineyards, the old towns with castles and churches, is spectacular in every direction.

We found a town park in Hunawihr with a fun zip line and a soccer pitch (very grassy and unmowed, and a steep hill dropoff if you missed the goal by too much). We had a soccer ball from London and brought it  along.

And sadly, as we were biking down a gravel road to get back on our wine route, disaster struck. Steve's bike tipped over and he twisted his knee really badly as he fell. He couldn't walk or even put weight on the right leg. So Seb and I biked back to the car, checked in two bikes, and drove back to Steve, and then biked the other two bikes back to the rental place. And we returned home to assess the damage. Steve iced the knee and I ran to a local pharmacy for canes/crutches so he could have some mobility.

After a few hours, we ventured out again. Steve drove and the three of us biked some more beautiful countryside, making it to the town of Ribeauville. Seb called Steve and talked to him as he drove behind us for a section, which was sweet.

In the evening, Steve had made reservations for us to have a date night dinner at restaurant Alchemille in Kaysersberg. We had an 8-course tasting menu, with wine pairings -- all local wines, so we got to taste 6 different local varieties, and a very herb and vegetable-focused menu. It was spectacular from beginning to end -- wonderful food, wonderful service -- and the amusement of the excellent waitstaff trying to tell us about the ingredients and provenance in English (no one's second language is good enough to know the names of every last herb -- tansy?).

The "magic potion" (w herbs) that they gave us as a digestif.

Our wines, in order. It was a lovely end to a trying day.

Paris to Alsace

We had one last morning in Paris - Steve visited another boulangerie that was on the list - Mamiche - which delighted us all with its chocolate babka and viennoise. (We must have passed four boulangeries on the walk to this particular one, and then we had to wait in line! But it was famous/recommended, and it was indeed tasty.)

Liesl wanted to visit the Pont des Arts, because that particular bridge was a central feature of a Paris-based cartoon she watches (Miraculous Ladybug). It seemed like a good destination for our final adventure. We hopped on the trusty/convenient Velib bikes and pedaled our way back to the Seine. The Velibs are both amazing -- easy to rent, easy to return, stations and bikes everywhere -- and also frustrating, because sometimes no bikes are available, or the few bikes remaining are broken, or a bike turns out to be squeaky or rattly. But we really enjoyed exploring Paris by bike, especially given the many protected bike lanes connecting the city in all quarters. Liesl had never really biked on city streets before and did an amazing job navigating streetlights, other bikes, buses, cars, and delivery trucks.

We packed up and walked to Gare de la Est, the train station, for a 12:52 high speed train to Strasbourg. Unfortunately, it was running 40 minutes late; fortunately, we took turns going out to explore the local neighborhood and pick up lunch. Steve and I found a sweet alley with wonderful food options, and were quite happy with our delay.

TGV train! So comfy and fast. The man next to me was reading "How to make friends and influence people", but when a couple asked him to switch seats so that they could sit in facing seats, and he could sit alone, he said no; he sat facing the man and the woman moved away. Both Steve and I overheard and were then highly amused at the irony of his reading material.

After that, things got a little less fun for a while. We got into Strasbourg later than expected; renting a car took longer than we expected; there was traffic on our drive south to Kaysersberg. We didn't arrive at our new place until 5:30 - a 2-bedroom apartment in this very picturesque small town. We had rented bikes from 4-7, and even though we were very late, we decided to have the adventure anyway -- but then we couldn't get one of the bikes unlocked, and the chain had fallen off, etc. Things were feeling very frustrating. But then, finally success! And off we sailed onto these gorgeous back roads, surrounded by terraced hills and vineyards. It was pretty amazing.

It was all of our first time on e-bikes, and the boost was a whole lot of fun. We sailed up hills, we rocketed down; everyone was grinning the whole time.

After that exhilarating experience, more petty frustrations: all the restaurants were closing at 9 and wouldn't seat us at 8:20; in one place, a man was smoking inside; places that claimed to be open were not. We finally found an informal place and got some Alsatian tarte flambe (pizzas, but with French cheese and onions and cured pork), and were able to laugh about near disasters.