Mosel Wine Route & Nennig

As our week long adventure approached to an end, our last stop included heading north of Alsace and stopping through Luxembourg and then making our way through the Mosel Wine Route, along the Mosel River in Germany. We made a stop through Luxembourg and had a nice lunch at Le Pain de Quotidien and explored the city, it was quite busy and under a lot of construction so we continued along the Mosel route, where we traveled on a picturesque two-way road that took us through more charming villages with wine tasting caves, beautiful castles, and rolling vineyard-covered hills.

We reached the little town of Nennig, where our charming hotel was located... this time NOT haunted thank God! Our hotel Victor's Schloss Berg, was like a little medieval castle in the country... very cute.

We checked in and were taken to our picturesque room, where a bottle of champagne and thick Egyptian Cotton robes were waiting for us... the perfect touch to our last day!

We quickly changed into our robes and headed down to Indoor Pool heaven! I just love this concept of an indoor pool with perfectly temperatured water, heated floors and open glass doors. Europeans have really mastered this wonderful idea. Definitely no indoor pools in California, that's for sure!

We took our bottle of Champagne to the pool and enjoyed it while relaxing and swimming in the warm water. We were so content and and did not want to leave... I was already starting to get sad that I would have to say good-bye to Ry soon.

After relaxing the day away, we got ready to have our last special dinner at Victor's "Bacchus" Restaurant, which specialized in Mediterranean cuisine. We started the meal off with a plate of Spargel (my absolute favorite) in a rich and creamy Hollandaise sauce.

For our main meal we had tender prawns in a light tomato jus with a side of baby lettuce in a tangy raspberry sauce and a buttery rice pilaf. We ended with a selection of homemade sorbets and a chocolate mouse torte. It was the perfect ending to our week-long culinary journey throughout Germany and France.

After a good nights' rest, we had yet another delicious European breakfast at our hotel... we will sure miss these breakfasts when we get back home! We checked out of our hotel and headed along the Mosel Wine Route towards Frankfurt, this time stopping through a few of the most famous towns.

We strolled along the towns, taking in the old-world charm. We stopped in Koblenz and had lunch at this cute corner bistro and took in our last day together.

The views of the river with towns nestled around it were so beautiful, like little story book fairy tales. Too bad we had so little time in this region, next time we will have to carve out more time! Our last view was that of the Burg Eltz, a famous medieval castle at the top of the hill... so much history!

We had finally made it to Frankfurt and stayed in a hotel just outside of the airport... needless to say, it wasn't the best choice of location or hotel... apparently everything in the town closed super early and we were starving! Come to find out, what few places were open did not take credit cards and we were out of cash... we finally found a McDonald's and thank goodness they took our card... we would of eaten anything at that point! To top it all off, the room next to us decided to have a party all night long so we barely got a wink of sleep... oh the joys of traveling! We managed to get through the night and had to wake up very early to make our flights back home. Another VERY sad good-bye but this one was a little easier knowing that Ry will be coming back home in a couple months... what an amazing trip, we have created SO many wonderful memories and I am so thankful to have had this time together. Now I will be counting down days until Ry comes home, yippee!

Alsace Wine Route

After our wonderful adventures in Strasbourg, we headed west along the Alsace Wine Route and visited the charming Alsatian villages and towns of the region. We explored Obernai, Ribeauville, Riquewihr, Colmar, and Kayserberg by tasting in their wine caves and snacking on each of the villages' gourmet specialties. Each town was so precious and had it's own unique character and charisma.

Each tasting room had a family story behind it, it was so special meeting the wine owners themselves and getting to know a bit about each of their wineries.

The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed every minute in the sun that we could.

Our favorite village was Riquewihr, where we tasted at the famous Hugel & Fils tasting room, which was a classic brick cave with barrels upon barrels of delicious wine.

After wine tasting the day away, it was time for a break and what better way to savour the moment than feasting on yet another French classic...

Crepes! And truly one of the best crepes we've ever had. We patiently watched as they cooked the crepe batter, cracked an egg that was cooked to perfection, and topped with shredded cheese and ham. Ry and I felt like the French, eating our crepe on a wooden bench while people watching and bathing in the sun!

What an amazing day that soon had turned into a stressful one... we had booked another Relais Chateaux hotel in the forest and after taking a long, windy road to get to it, we were escorted to our room and I hated everything about it!! It was dark and depressing and I was convinced that it was haunted!! So we had to act like we were having an emergency and told them we had to leave... we were so embarrassed but glad to get the hell out of there! We made the trek back through the forest and began to search for a simple hotel around Alsace to get us through the night. We were having a really hard time choosing one... we concluded that the French are not the greatest hoteliers haha. It was late and we were so tired so we finally settled on a VERY basic room in the middle of a small town. Needless to say, it was NOT like our other hotels but thankfully ghosts were not going to be haunting us! We made it through the night and were excited to discover the last part of our trip... the Mosel Wine Region.

Restaurant Buerehiesel

The time had finally come for our much anticipated dining experience at the esteemed Michelin 3-Star establishment, Restaurant Buerehiesel. The restaurant was located in the middle of a beautiful park, which made for a lovely entrance on a paved road surrounded by tall trees and blossoming flowers. As we were escorted to our lovely table in the atrium-style room, chef Antoine Westermann's delicacies began to find their way to our table. A selection of freshly baked rolls, which was a master piece on it's own, along with an amuse of an onion creme gelee, a mini scallop in a basil sauce, and a delicate anchovy filet was the perfect palate teaser and prepared us for our main course.

We had a beautiful window seat and took in every moment... we knew this was a once in a life time experience and were so thrilled to have made it here!

After a nice break, our entrees came out... perfectly braised scallops atop a basil and tomato reduction surrounded by the most tender and mouth-watering chanterelle mushrooms. I was most impressed by the centered potato skin tower filled at the base with a whipped potato puree with more wonderful chanterelles and all topped with a heavenly cream emulsion. I must say that this was the BEST main course I've had to date, so perfectly balanced and delicate with all of my most favorite ingredients. Pre-dessert consisted of crispy thin cinnamon and sugar wafers along with petite pastries and dessert was a luxurious raspberry, vanilla, and coconut layered grenache torte. It was the perfect ending to our Buerehiesel experience and we left in awe of all that had transpired! Definitely the most memorable dinner and one we will never forget! It was off to our royal palace for a good nights' rest in preparation of our wine tasting day in Alsace!

Strasbourg, France

As we made our way down the beautiful, but extremely windy Black Forest mountain, we crossed the border and headed west towards Strasbourg, France. Once we arrived to the city, we were told that Petite France was the quarter to be in so we found parking and began our exploration of the city. We came to find out that this city has a rich history and that it was the Tour de France's starting point so, we got to see where all the bikers begin their long journey! The old parts of the city were so well preserved and at the same time there were lots of modernized shops and restaurants... it was the perfect blend. What a beautiful and quaint town Strasbourg was, we spent most of the day exploring the precious alleys filled with luxury goods, chocolates, teas, coffees, bakeries, restaurants, and patisseries.

I was most taken by this patisserie, with a French women standing in the window and waving a treat at us to try. As we stepped into the shop, I almost fainted with how delicious everything smelled and looked. Tea cookies of all kinds, meringues, an array of marzipan treats, and my absolute favorite...

Macaroons! Oh my gosh I was in heaven. I just wish I could of trapped the smell of these beauties baking and attach it to this blog for you! Flavors of pistachio, strawberry, lemon, chocolate, hazelnut, chocolate-chip banana (my personal favorite), coconut, vanilla, and rum raisin all found themselves in a bag and shortly there after in our tummies along side our cappuccinos.

After walking off all of the cookies, we worked up an appetite for a very traditional lunch that was customary to the region...

A Flambee Tart.. a super thin crusted-like pizza with a light cream sauce and veggies... we had two glasses of wine and soaked up the traditional Alsatian atmosphere... Strasbourg ended up exceeding our expectations all around!

After our lunch, we headed a little outside of Strasbourg to our castle-looking hotel... it was quite the experience! It was very old-world and our room was all pink and looked like a Queen's room from back in the day... definitely a first for us! We took it all in and after we got settled, we went for a walk around the little village... lots of foliage and a beautiful river... it was a nice walk before it was time to get back to get ready for our most special dinner reservation of the week... we had been waiting for this all along and could hardly wait!