Riquewihr

Go ahead, try to pronounce it: Riquewihr. I dare you.

Anyway, I feel like I am gradually coming back to life. Went for a nice walk along the Alsace Wine Route today. I didn't even mind getting rained on a little, it was just so nice to be outside, walking amongst the vines.

This wine route links 6 different towns, and takes you in and around the many surrounding vineyards. The only think I found a bit odd was that the route didn't actually take me to any wineries where I could go in and have a taste. The whole route is 15km, though, so it's possible that some of the other sections of the route do lead to wineries.

In any event, if Steve is feeling up to it, we are going to try to get on the road tomorrow and go visit a winery or two, so hopefully I will finally have some more wine notes for you!

Riquewihr is a very nice town, though it gets mobbed with busloads of tourists during the day. It also seems to have a bit of a bell issue.

Now I for one am a fan of church bells chiming the hour, but these bells are pushing it a little. They chime the hour starting at 6am. That's right, 6am. And their last hurrah is at 11pm. The most bizarre bell-ringing, however, happens at 10pm.

They chime the hour as always, and then go into an apoplectic fit of bell ringery that lasts about ten minutes, during which time they bing and bong, jingle and jangle at a volume that makes the eardrums bleed.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this 10pm fit is: Steve said often on Sundays, bells will ring for a long time in the late mornings as a call to church, but we can't figure out what's supposed to be happening at 10pm. Is there some significance to this 10pm bell extravaganza?

Is it to confuse people into thinking it's Sunday morning and somehow then subliminally remind them that this week they had better show up to church? Is there actually a 10pm service starting? Is it to wake babies everywhere and torture parents who have only just fallen asleep? Is the town full of very old, deaf people who need the bells that loud to remind them that while they're not dead yet, it is only a matter of time before the proverbial bell tolls for them?

Anyone?

What Now?

We are currently in the town of Riquewihr, which is a small Medieval hamlet in the Alsace region of France.

I have seen signs that some of the buildings and walls date back to the 1400's, which is pretty amazing.

The problem is, once again, we have hit a wall, and we have had to admit that, for whatever reason, we are just not enjoying this trip as much as we'd hoped. Maybe we just were too ambitious as far as the amount of time that we planned to be away, or maybe a trip like this wasn't actually what we needed at this point in our lives.

I don't know. I just know that at this moment, we are both physically and emotionally drained and exhausted, which is the last thing you'd expect to have happen when you're on vacation! But really, I suppose, this isn't a vacation. It's not like a week in Maui where you just sit on the beach and relax because you know soon you will be back in "the real world".

This is a whole different experience, and it's possible we have just hit our limit. As of right now, we don't want to do anything, we don't want to eat anything, we're stressed out trying to figure out what to do and where to go next, we're in and out of hotels and all over the place, and we're sick of the busloads of tourists which seem to be everywhere we go. In short, I think we're just tired. We seem to have hit our limit. I don't even feel like drinking any wine, which makes me incredibly sad. On top of which, we're both worn out from being sick.

Basically we have reached a bit of a crossroads: do we keep going and hope it will get better and potentially just keep sending good money after bad, or do we pack it in and head home and save the money we haven't spent for a fabulous trip to Tuscany or the Italian Lakes some time next year?

We are going to take the next few days here in Alsace to just rest and relax, cook our own food and see how we feel.

It would just be a shame if we were unable to enjoy somewhere like Italy because we're too burnt out.

Thoughts??