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Day 7

It's Adam today!

We're over halfway through our trip! Today was a deliberate relax day as we have been getting increasingly tired with exploring and chasing Luke around, and just needed a day off. 

The only real activity took place this morning. We slept in until around 8am and slowly got ready to explore the nearby town of Riquewihr - this time during daylight. As I gathered last night during my visit, this was a popular spot during Christmas Market season, so we wanted to head over earlier in the day before the crowds made it over. Upon arrival, we were able to find parking relatively easy, although it was quite cold out today - 32 degrees/freezing once again. Upon entry, it was clear that this is a very small town - only one main street that runs through the middle, yet the crowds were already beginning to pour in. 

We strolled through a Christmas Market and purchased some early supplies. We even let Luke run free for a while, which he loved. Making our way up the main street, we saw many colorful timbered houses and Christmas decorations - easy to see why this was such a popular destination for so many. We wandered up to the top of the main street to see the tower overlooking the town. With some time to spare, we started exploring some side streets and the town walls (ramparts). 

After another visit to a Christmas Market to get some hot wine, coffee, and a crepe, we noticed some snow flurries starting to fall from the sky. We were deciding whether to have lunch here or head back to our home base of Ribeauville. After asking a nearby restaurant what time the opened (12pm), we decided we would head back and then get food there. 

On the drive back to Ribeauville, we noticed the snow was really picking up. After getting out of the car, we wanted to get Luke's impression of this phenomenon (as he as never seen snow before), and his reaction was.... "NO, WET!!" upon getting into his stroller. Not a fan of the snow, we knew we needed to find a place to eat to get some warmth indoors. Thankfully, we found a pizza place that was just about to open. Settled in a warm corner of the restaurant, Jessica and Luke shared a ham and cheese pizza, while I had another Tarte Flambee (local thin crust pizza with cottage cheese, onions, and bacon on top). 

All full, we knew it was time to relax, so we made the short walk back up to our B&B (after a pit-stop to make a reservation for dinner). Shortly after arrival, everyone was asleep for naptime, myself included... When we all finally woke up, we noticed the snow was really coming down outside. Still too tired to go back out, we relaxed in the B&B for a while. After many hours of relaxation, we were finally ready to emerge for dinner around 6:15pm. 

Back in town, we walked down to our restaurant for dinner - the highly-rated Au Passage de la Tour. With the lack of physical activities today, we decided to make up for it - with food :) After ordering some yummy drinks, Jessica ordered the Burger de la Tour, and I ordered the foie gras and a steak. Clearly, we were craving meat. 

As expected the food was delicious. Both dishes came with french fries, so Luke was happy. Jessica loved the burger, and the foie gras was buttery delicious and the steak was great as well. After dinner, we quickly made our way through the cold night back up to the B&B where we winded down for the night. Luke had a particularly difficult time falling asleep (after 9:30 - yikes!), so we will see what tomorrow has in store for us from the little man.

After a stop in the city of Strasbourg, we will head into our 3rd country of the trip - Germany!





















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