More photos from France

Here are some more photos of the trip in France.  Many of these photos were in the village of Riquewihr.  It is one of the prettiest and one we enjoyed.  And we finally had a family photo or two!

Nana and Jimbob

Having a break for the snack

View of the valley from the WWII memorial at Colmar

Sunny day in Riquewihr

View back to the village or Kaysersberg.

Small view through a street into the vineyard

A great little cafe in Riquewihr where we had a nice drink.  There was a wonderful Christmas store next store.

Campbell and I went out for a nice drink of local wine by ourselves.  These are the style of the glasses in the region.

We went for a day trip to Strasbourg.  It has a beautiful center and very old cathedral.  We enjoyed wondering the streets and hope to go back for the Christmas markets.  The best part was watching Archie use his scooter in the plaza and Sylvie ran after him.  It was an enormous area with the cathedral looming in the background.  Great memory for us and such an amazing place to get to play.

Sylvie and Archie at the plaza (red and pink little people!)

Sampling the local cheese.

Scooting through Strasbourg

The kids had their first ride on a merry-go-round.  They were super excited but a little more timid once it was going.  Archie wanted to try every animal while the ride was going.  Won't be their last ride for sure.

A nice French lunch of soup before we left town.  We can actually sit and enjoy a meal while the kids are entertained with sticker books and food.  It has taken us a couple years to get to this point or even try.

And a nice sunny day before we left for Germany.  This is back in Keysersberg.

And our little girl who isn't so little anymore.  She has started using her scooter with Archie although not as fast.  She will be right with him soon enough.  She is growing more confident and adventurous with each day.  It was great to see the changes in two years that our kids have had since we last visited this beautiful place.

Our next week was spent in the south of Germany in Bavaria.  I will put up some posts of those photos soon.

First week of holiday trip - France

While Nana and Jimbob were here, we all headed off for a 2 week vacation.  Campbell wanted to have another family trip and planned if for when they would be here.  We headed back to one of our favorite places, the Alsace Region in France.  We went there exactly 2 years early after Sylvie was born for our first family vacation.  We didn't know anything about it and were blown away with how beautiful it was.  So we decided to go back.

We rented an old house in the center of Kaysersberg.  It was much like the photos in the background of the picture below.  It is likely several hundred years old (1600s?).  It was painted cobalt blue.  Archie called it our France house.  We had a wonderful time and loved being there.

And there was a playground just outside the house.  Perfect!

The weather was warm enough for Archie to wear shorts one last time before Autumn set in.

Doors to the cellar of our house.

Exploring the first day we were there.

Checking out the bridge and river that runs thru and sometimes under buildings in the town.

Day 2 and we spent a short day before it rained in another village exploring.  It was the first village we went to last time, Ribeauville.  It is one of the best there.

Many of the building had beautiful geraniums in the flower boxes.

Time for coffee, tea, and French pastries!

Beautiful old building in Kaysersberg.

The kids favorite part?  Playing and doing circles around the bollards on the street.  Archie was calling them "jingles" for some reason.

There were old fountains in every town.  The kids loved playing in this one at Kaysersberg.  They were soaking wet only a couple times!

Gingerbread seems to be a regional specialty.  So there were many beautiful shops with all things gingerbread.  Fun to see and nice to smell.  We have a little bag of mix to make some cookies during Christmas. 

Pushing Nana for a walk.

More fun with the bollards

There was an ice cream shop that we took the kids to in Kaysersberg.  They loved it.

We went for a walk up the hillside to see the ruins of a castle.  It has been there (in some form) for over 1000 years (or more).  In the hills surrounding it are acres of vineyards.  It was very beautiful and a nice way to see the town and valley.

Like father, like son!

Outside our blue France house.

I have too many photos for one post on the week in France.  So I will do the second half of the photos in another post!