A Quiet Morning in Ribeauville
22 May 2018
We woke up and got ready to head out for the day, putting on our long pants and Beth in her sweater, each with light jackets. We had gotten used to the cool Black Forest air and were well prepared for it. Amazing what a few miles and crossing the river can do! We stepped out on the street, walked a few paces, then turned back around to change. It was toasty!
There is a medieval themed bakery called La Taverne Des Templars that is just down the street from the hotel. They have pastries and coffee and they play amazing music. “Mittelalter” basically means Middle Ages in German, but it also describes a genre of music, one which mixes the modern with ancient. I’ve also seen it lumped into “Neofolk” in some circles, but many of the artists are German and so they go by the German name. They tend to play mixtures of their own new songs and some old traditional ones as well. A few of my favorite artists fall within this genre, and while I didn’t exactly recognize the band playing on their speakers, I did know the songs.
The beautiful music was complimented by an equally beautiful quiche. White asparagus, bacon, and cheese... this was a quiche worth stopping to ponder, and to slowly savor every drop. It was fantastic, and we sat on a bench by the main square watching the people go by, fighting the urge to run back to the café and get another!
We strolled along the streets, watching the people going their way through town. While not a crowded place by any means, Ribeauville should have the largest crowds in our time through Alsace. Considering that we aren’t planning to stop in a city like Colmar or Strasbourg, this town will be the largest town we will visit with most being significantly smaller. In all likelihood, we won’t see this many people in one spot until we return to Zurich on our final night.
We stopped into a little gourmet shop that has a large selection of locally made jellies. Some were your normal strawberry and raspberry, but there were also unique flavors like sauerkraut and asparagus. The lady came from behind the counter and asked in French if we would like to try. We informed her that “Notre Français est petit” and asked, “English?” She shook her head no and suggested Deutsch... which worked well for all parties! She explained the details of the jellies, including some of the strange ones, and we sampled quite a few as we followed along with her descriptions. We walked away happy with jars of the sauerkraut and asparagus jellies, but even more happy that our German has grown enough to have a full interaction like we did. As we walked from the shop, we let ourselves be proud of our German while promising ourselves that next time we would be able to talk with her in French.
We stopped quick at the Bar des 3 Rois, a little place with outdoor seating right on the main street. We haven’t spent as much time just simply hanging out at the pub in most places we’ve gone, and part of this trip was to just take some time to enjoy where we are rather than rushing from place to place. We settled in at a street side table where I got a much-needed espresso and a Fischer Amber beer which was really tasty. We shared a tarte flambé (the French version of the flammenkuche) and just kicked back to watch the world go by. Sometimes that is all you really need to do.
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