Pissing, Pissing Down Rain

It did stop eventually, so I'm definitely not whingeing.  But the waiter from breakfast yesterday was right: it was going to rain today, it did rain today, and if he continues to be right it will rain tomorrow too.  But we don't care: it stopped now and then, and when it started again we always managed to find a covered cafe with plenty of coffee, biere or wine for occupying us until it stopped again.

We spent the day in Colmar, a Boulder-sized town just south of here known for its architecture (charmant), and its Petit Venise - a lovely little quartier complete with gondolas in the canal and markets and churches and yes, cafés with everything you could ever ask for when sheltering from the pissing down rain.

On our way to Colmar we decided to go to a supermarket called Cora for a few more umbrellas (it really was raining that hard).  As usual Peter navigated and I drove, which meant that our in dash navigator, who we've named Gwynneth (for the English accent and the terrible French pronunciation), gave directions that I overrode and Peter corroborated.  We got there eventually.  And Cora turned out to be a small town in itself - the grocery section alone had an astounding array and range of selections of every single type of food you could ever desire - entire aisles devoted to yogurts, others to cheeses, others to bacon.  You heard me: it was heaven on earth.  Fortunately we'd made coffee, eggs, bacon and pain au chocolat for breakfast at home before we left, so we escaped Cora with just three new umbrellas, paper towels, a sponge and some toilet paper.  Set for life.

As we came back into Riquewihr this afternoon we decided it was time for a good old fashioned wine tasting, and chose  a degustation menu complete with the local Pinot blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Gewürztraminer.  The Riesling won by a mile.  Fortunately we'd also parked next to a local distillier, so after the tasting at the winery we tried the local amber biere next door.  By the time we lurched home to the gîte we were thoroughly primed for our dinner of bread, cheeses, apple, smoked salmon, ham, and yes, more wine. But then the sun had come out, and it was only 7:30.... So after dinner we found a cafe across the way, ordered wine, pastis, and a coffee for dad, split a molten chocolate cake, consulted our green guide for ideas for tomorrow, and watched the shadows grow across the cobbled street. Erp.