Tea Time & Gewurztraminer

This child lives for bread and soup dinners.

Entering Riquewihr, France. Walled. Stone houses.

Canal ride in rickety boat. In the rain.

My 13 year-old teacups and saucers got their first taste of hot liquid this morning when I scrubbed them out and hosted an almost-German morning breakfast / tea time. We had coffee cake without coffee, cheeses without meats, and a frittata rather than bread-n-butter BUT I still claim success based on good conversation and my new purchase of a water-heating pitcher. Tea kettles are only found in gift stores or online. This is my concession to hot caffeinated liquids. I have still never brewed a cup of coffee.


Had a hard time concentrating since I was awaiting news from Chicago, which came just after lunch - a new nephew!! Very excited for Janelle, David and our whole family on the arrival of Ethan David. Sad that mom isn't here to brag to the whole world. Kev's dad is doing a good job of it though. A good day. And a hard one. One of the very few where I feel far away from where I want to be. But we will be trippin' there very soon.... after we get this frivolous 9 days in Scandinavia out of the way. Hah! We're excited. About all of it.


Insight: Travel guide books say the best time to travel to Europe is in the summer. They lie. You will either burn to a crisp (Spain, Italy) or be struck by lightning while trudging through the rain in your brand-new, "bought for this trip" tennis shoes (Germany, Netherlands, France, etc).


We have never regretted a trip. Not even an I've-got-a-crazy-idea-for-this-weekend kind of excursion and we won't start now. But we did have a few, shall we say, 'issues' when we chose to catch Le Tour De France last Friday and Saturday. Got wet, got goodies, got squashed in the crowds and advertisers parade on Friday afternoon almost at the finish in Colmar, France. The kids, God love 'em, loved it. They were the definite bright spot (this changes, stay tuned) watching all the crazy themed cars, catching free hats and snacks, and staying in one place in the pouring rain for 90 minutes to see 2 minutes worth of bike racing. Other bright spot: Gewurztraminer white wine. Specialty of the region and new Flikkema favorite. Tried it that night at dinner and started looking for bottles to buy.


Booking the hotel last-minute meant only one room left that can fit only one extra travel bed. Kid on either end of this too-small-poor-excuse-for-a-sleeping-recepticle meant lots of this.
"She kicked me!"
"Mom, her toenails scratched me!"
"Stop it Eli! No!"
... in addition to the trials of a toddler in potty training afraid of going #2. At 2am. And 3am.


After that fabulous night we decided to go back to standing in one place in the rain. But for 2 full hours this time! The kids did well though, re-loved the exact same parade, and banged their giveaway rumble-sticks when the bikers went by. They even got kid-sized "LiveStrong" bracelets. Don't ask if we saw Lance. We probably did. He had a helmet on, right? Took a little boat ride on a cute canal in town, browsed a happy electric train mini-museum, then headed for a walled-medieval town, very cute, and a restaurant in the middle of the forest somewhere. I had a smoked, minced-pork meat pie.... "Je t'adore, mince-meat-pie! Tres magnifique!" And a glass of Gewurztraminer. And the sun decided to shine.


After another fun night of bickering and backside reminders we ventured to the castle fortress of Haut Koenigsbourg in the misty rain. Very cool place. Eli and Mary ran through little stone doorways, up and down steps, had a good time. Then they slept, thankfully, while Kevin, I, and the GPS got good and hopelessly lost in the stomach-clenching curvy, misty Vosges Mountain Range. We somehow escaped, made ourselves feel worse by eating McDonalds, and survived the drive home.


Glad we did it. Won't do it again. Will happily go along with any visitors next year to the town hosting Le Tour and will sightsee with the kids while you stand 'at the line' and catch hats.