Département du Bas-Rhin

Today we woke up and got ready to head off on a full day wine tour. As soon as we left it started to rain so we all huddled under the cathedral and waited for the tour to start. We met our driver and the others on our tour. The other 3 were Americans and I sat in the back with 2 of them, learning all about them. They were both very lovely. We drove about an hour and stopped at and lookout where you could see down to the villages as the guide talked about how the Alsace region was kept flipping to be Germany then back to France so the identity was a little mixed. Then we had a short drive before reaching the first winery.
It was a great tour with us going into where the barrels are stored and the host explaining lots about where the wine is grown, the regulations in the Alsace region and what predominant wines are grown in the area. It was probably the most factual and interesting wine chat I've been on, topped off by the fact the wine was so nice. Then came the masterpiece though. To show the history they had a movie that played on the barrels which was funny, interactive and informative. 10/10 to that place. We bought some wine and I bought a small mystery gingerbread man filled with liquor. Everyone on the bus took a shot and it was so delicious. The gingerbread man is now the trip mascot.
We then drove for a bit longer and arrived at the next winery which was on the other end of the spectrum. We met Andre and it seemed we were just at his house... We followed him to what looked like a garage and sat at a table for wine tasting. He was a character and tried his best to talk about his wine in English. Highlights the stop at Andres were his in depth cork chat, him also participating in the tasting and his ability to know where all wine in his garage despite it looking very disorganised.
We said farewell to Andre and we have named the glass gingerbread man after him. We jumped in the van to head to Riquewihr, the alleged town that Beauty and the Beast was based on, for lunch. It was such a beautiful town once again. We found a creperie and had lunch then had a wander around. I accidentally had a green like beer which didn't taste like beer. Holly and I went into a Christmas shop that had so much stuff, literally it had a one way walking path and the sides were lined. Then we headed back in the van for the last winery.
This winery was a 'blind' tasting meaning the wines were served in black glasses and we had to rely on all the skills we learnt on the day. We were even given a pen and paper to write our tasting notes down. These wines were not my favourite but we love a game. The host bought the wines out and they had their own 'mystery sock' covering the label. Our guesses were decent and definitely improved by the last few. Then it was time to head back to Strasbourg where the weather was absolutely coming down, we got soaked on our 5 minute walk back to the apartment.
We headed back out for dinner but first we were stopped by the lady next door. The only accurate way to describe her was literally an old ghost. A frail French old lady came out and was loudly exclaiming in french. We attempted to explain we didn't know french and she got more dramatic with her actions but we still were unsure what she was saying. She then reached out to grab Kate on the shoulder, then magically started speaking English asking if we were staying tonight and basically could we be more quiet. We escaped down the stairs but not before Kate had to blow her a kiss... One of the strangest interactions we've had for sure. We had a nice dinner then went to a pub which is the local brewery. We ordered some dessert and one of them was a sweet flammekueche which we paid extra to have them light on fire (less spectacular than it seems). We then walked home and creeped up the stairs so we didn't wake up the ghost demon of next door which was hilarious to watch. The stairs are so old and creaky that it was impossible. Luckily we didn't spot her. Then it was off to bed after a big, fun and interesting day!Les mer