France - Alsace

Time to recover from the jet lag, old town Strasbourg, our first of many Choucroute.	the next morning the dead rise from their graves and walk the streets terrorising tourists	they have a thing about green stemmed wine glasses...?	just bread	us about to depart Strasbourg, with our trusty Giante bikes for 6 days pootling about the vineyards.
Jules remembering to drive on the right while avoiding getting the front wheel stuck in the tram lines	just had time to check out where out taxes get spent and we pop over to the European parliament.	Stuart checking out his basic human rights before setting off for a week with Jules map reading :)	nicely handling those lethal tram lines	er flowers, Jules took this one.
Cute Strasbourg old buildings... there were lots of these.	I know the middle ages where a long time but thats a lot of carving.	big old building	floating greenhouse full of Japanese tourists.	finally on our way, first dozen miles we follow the (see above)
after a tough morning all we are allowed to eat is more strange local bread with holes in it.	big old building, just to the left out of shot is the small modern building we stayed the first night in.	bridge, more flowers, lots of hanging baskets around.	familiar view, Jules otherwise known as "speedy Jules" heading off into the corn on one of the less well made French cycle paths. i think it was these that did it for my derriere.	corn
more corn	ah, not corn. found a fab little organic veggie restaurant by chance and had our only non meet or cheese :) meal in France.	chilly morning as we leave Colmar, very cute old town.	speedy Jules again	just went off in my hand
that view again	king fisher, saw lots of these but they were a real bugger to photograph, shy, fast and tiny. for the sharp eyed you may just spot a few blue pixels in the bottom right edge.	Quetsch stop. small plums in all the hedge rows, very tasty.	One of the many fruit rustling stops, eating Mirabelles from the end of someones garden. well they were overhanging into the road and sun warmed and ripe to burst, yum!	close up off the idiot stealing the Mirabelles
another retirement project.	stu fondling his walnuts	well deserved beer after a hard morning rolling	another beer stop, when in France...	er grapes.
we managed to track down the producer of the bottle of rather nice Pinot Blanc we had the night before and relieved them of another few bottles. mad Jules carry them in effort to show here down, didnt work.	in a change to the corn fields we head into the grape fields.	whats left after the grapes have had the juice crushed out of them.	wine in the early stages of production. (we know a lot more about wine now)	Jules trying to look like a proper cyclist in those gloves
vineyards, hay bales and cute Alsatian villages, roll by as we clock up the miles.		Hollywood of the vin region.	every junction (and everywhere else to be honest) had a stone cross. the standing joke was the directions ether said turn at the church of at the stone cross.	jules halfway up a hil, the steepness ofl which the panorama doesnt do justice
lunch in Eguiseheim, very cute ancient town.			grapes dangling	loving he country restaurants, the cat roamed around making friends with the diners, Jules got the cat for the rest of the night.
too hot for jeans.	on of many fabulous desserts	Jules made me do it.	the sign of the Kougelhopf.	Riquewihr, cute, old, good restaurant just to the left
bug found in the garage, way too many legs!	wine waiting to happen again.	Jules preparing to ignore the speed limit in her downhill dash.	cute brown squirrel	see previous comments, but note cycling shorts. rolling down hill out of the hills, another picture perfect little village.
close up of previous without distraction.	we found where Julies dad came from!	not what it seems! while passing the pick your own sign, we negotiated with the old farmer manning the orchard and got legally away with 6 apples for just a flutter of Julies eyelashes, bargain.	another step in to progress of turning sunlight and dirt into hangovers, expertly presented by Jules.	quite possibly the most bazaar experience of the holiday and probably of the year. the toilets in the unassuming little restaurant in a one horse village. rear projection, under sea sounds, toilets a plumbers Heath Robinson hallucination then finally wash your hands in the fish tank water! love it.
ooo errr, look at the size of my vin list!	Jules died and went to dessert heaven. food was fantastic and due to all the exercise we felt we could eat as much as we wanted. meant we only just broke even on the weight but what the heck it tasted good.	water critter, bigger than a rat, but fatter than an otter.	last 10k back into Strasbourg, along a lovely quite canal. 200 miles in 6 days, slightly saddle sore, but had a great time. great weather, great food, very Frenchy in a German kind of way.	load of old gourds
after ditching the bikes in favour of the Fiat Panda, we retrace our steps in a fraction of the time and visit Eguiseheim again, lots of medieval architecture spruced up for the 21st century tourists.	Jules, David and Grandpa Gissinger	view from the hotel as we depart for Bale airport after a gastronomic visit to the French side of the family. fantastic meat fondue and good company even if my French was more over confidence than accuracy.

France - Cycling around Alsace.