(click on the photos to view them larger and read the captions)
The day after my birthday/adventure in Strasbourg, one of my teacher friends offered to drive me to two of the most famous villages along the Route des Vins. The weather was verrrryyyy moody but really does the mountains and vibrant yellow vine leaves justice. If you're visiting Alsace and have the means and time to rent a car, I highly recommend touring around the Route des Vins. It's a stretch of villages and vineyards throughout the region that can be seen via car or bike. There's wine-tasting, buildings from the 12th century, French pastries, beautiful views, and plenty of quirky little shops to fulfill any souvenir needs (that day in particular, we stopped at a shop called La Légende de la Sorcière, which is devoted entirely to witch figurines).
Our first stop was Kaysersberg, which is northwest of Colmar. The drive is really spectacular, the road cuts through the vineyards, so the vines are taller than the cars, and the mountains are in the background as always. Riquewihr is a bit farther north and is more touristy and famous. The buildings are taller and the colors of the buildings bolder. One thing I liked in both villages was that on some of the buildings, the date they were built is carved into the stone over the doorway. We saw buildings as old as 1372! Obviously, they have been restored since then, but the bones of the structures are still original. In these special traditional areas, there are laws protecting the buildings from being too modernized. For example, if you happen to own one, it can only be painted in colors that are approved by the Alsatian HOA-equivalent, and you wouldn't be able to change the style of the windows or doors.
We walked around both villages and admired the beauty, me snapping away with my camera. French pastry shops are amazing not only because they smell absolutely delightful even from outside, but they usually hand out free samples. I got to try some bredelas, a kind of shortbread cookie that can come in a variety of flavors. I also had my first bretzel! Bretzels are just soft pretzels, but are an Alsatian specialty. They're fairly tasty as far as soft pretzels go, France does bread products extremely well, so it's definitely better than anything we'd have in the States. On the way home, we stopped at Grimmer, a chocolatier outside of Colmar, for a birthday hot chocolate and pastry (I seriously felt so spoiled with kindness on this first birthday abroad!).