That morning we woke up early in Colmar and drove to Ribeauville which is on the "Route de Vin." One day a year they have a wine harvesting festival where they turn their small village fountain into a wine fountain!! The streets were crowed with lively medieval characters from monks who cut their hair to girls that were dressed as vines! Cheery bands played and wine vendors lined the streets. What a unique place to be! Floats were lined up just outside the village, preparing for their debut at the end of the day. The floats and characters almost put Mardi Gras experiences to shame. Empty wine bottles surrounded the floats and it wasn't even 10 am yet(secretly I was glad that we were leaving before the parade)! After enjoying the people watching and the sweet white wine, we headed out just after 10 am to the airport for Bordeaux (another wine region, but completely different ambiance.
When we landed in Bordeaux, we decided to check out the city right away and have dinner. The building that surround Bordeaux are magnificent white places built to hide the less visual builings on the interior.
Bordeaux is a bustling big city with nice walkways full of shops and businesses. I had planned to eat some traditional French cuisine from the region and even had a spot picked out, but after the celebration that morning, the overpriced exotic food on the menu did not seem appetizing. In fact, the pizza place down the street did! So, that is where we ended up - just to save cultural face, I did try a pasta dish that included some local French mushrooms that were delicious!
