Return to Riquewihr

This morning we returned to Riquewihr to visit Feerie de Noel, the Christmas shop that had closed before we arrived last night.

Here's the queue to get into the store. There must have been about 50 people in line when we arrived but it fortunately went fairly quickly.

Once inside, it was basically structured like a miniature Christmas version of IKEA -- i.e., one-way only with the cash registers at the end. And if you like Christmas decorations (ornaments, snow globes, nut crackers, Nativity scenes, etc., etc.) you would have been in heaven.

I hadn't planned on buying anything, but it's probably impossible to make it through the whole store empty handed. Given the initial line and the time required to navigate the one-way path, you almost feel obligated to make a purchase. And so I did.

Our return to Riquewihr also gave us the opportunity to tour the city a bit with the benefit of daylight. I liked the traditional buildings, with their angular wooden designs and interesting colors.

For lunch we had reservations at L'Auberge de L'Ill in nearby Illhaeusern. The restaurant is by far the most acclaimed restaurant that I've ever dined at (it's held three Michelin stars since 1967) and we were seated in a nice private spot just off the main dining area.

The food was excellent, as should be expected I guess. Here are a few pictures of the courses ordered by either Emilie, her mom or me.

After the meal we walked around for a bit as a three-hour car ride was the only remaining item on our itinerary. I took the following picture from a bridge just adjacent to the restaurant.