Weekend in Alsace

Napa is off the radar for now!  We just touched the tip of wine country in France heading to the Alsace Region.  We didn't really have any intentions of going to wine country per se. We are still living in a flat in Luxembourg and can't move into our house til later this week, so why not get away on a hot weekend?  Off we went, with no expectations of how the hotel would be except that there would be a pool for the boys to play!

 

Our first stop was in Strasbourg, where we parked and headed straight to the "La Petite France" area of town.

We hoped to take a canal tour, but it was hot and we never did find the boat tour entrance.  We did see a tour boat going through the locks which was cool!  Instead we ate ice cream and enjoyed the German influenced architecture in the area and decided it was too hot to stay any longer!  Strasbourg was cute, but not so nice and clean like Luxembourg or The Woodlands :)

It was time for naps, so it was a great time to drive!  South of Strasbourg, it turned quickly into farm country.  Each little village had a grouping of red tiled roofs and a beautiful cathedral steeple that stood out.  It was a beautiful drive, one that I couldn't really capture in a photo for you.

Here was our first glimpse of Obernai...

Le Parc Hôtel in Obernai was our next destination, but with kids sleeping, we kept driving and found the town of Ottrott.  Gorgeous!  We decided that a souvenirs from a local testing room was in order, so we stopped there.

After some more driving we returned to our hotel and went out to watch the Equestrian competition across the street.  Blakely told me that he wants to do this when he grows up!

 

The swimming pool was very refreshing and fun, but a bit more 'adult' than we are used to with the boys ;) 

We enjoyed a traditional Alsatian style dinner here... Jeremy had the traditional braised pork ribs with sauerkraut and boiled potatoes.

After (9:30 pm or so) the town square was busy with people and the carousel was unavoidable!

Our beautiful Hotel as we returned from dinner.  Definitely a place that we will return and recommend to couples or families traveling in this area.

The hotel even had an old single lane bowling alley that was fun for the boys!

Rather than returning on the highway route through Strasbourg, Jeremy took us through the country for a lovely drive on Sunday. 

The boys had a bit of fun as we stopped when we found a park and a village fête along where we found more carnival rides.