The Small and Simple Things: A New Start: Europe 2022 Part 1

Welcome back to the Perkins Patch!!

Once I started working on our travel website (Trip Reporter) a few years ago, I pretty much stopped writing here. I spent a lot of time building that up and recording all of our travels, but I miss recording the more day-to-day parts of our family, and being able to record trips in a more casual way without tons of thought and editing.

So I'm taking a break from Trip Reporter, and I'm going to record our latest trip here. No pressure, no perfection, just us.

This trip was originally scheduled for April 2020 . . . yeah. Then we rescheduled for summer 2021 . . . that didn't happen either. But April 2022 did! The extra COVID testing and paperwork were a little inconvenient, but we had some great times and saw beautiful places and I want to remember those times.

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

We flew into Luxembourg and had one night here. It was really fun to be in Europe again and walk around the Old Town and "the Grund" down below, with the elevator in between. We found the church of St. Michel (my dad got a kick out of that!) and we loved the old ruins and spiral staircases that are still part of the city. And all our kids loved the cat at our house (we just rented a room in a house, an interesting accommodation for one night!)

Alsace Region, France

After a night in Luxembourg we drove into France. Beautiful, picturesque, charming France. I loved it. And it was so fun to see Megan using some of her French--she understood so much and helped us navigate the grocery store, the roads, and more.

French grocery store on the way to our apartment--of course!

Riquewihr

Our apartment in Riquewihr was right by the main street through the village, and we loved wandering around and seeing the colorful buildings.

Jon and Jacob taking a run through town

Jon and I enjoyed a beautiful night walk through the little village

The kids enjoyed an Easter Egg hunt around the apartment on Sunday morning--the eggs had Euro coins inside that they could use for souvenirs!

Colmar

After a short night in Riquewihr, we were on to church and walking around in Colmar (Easter Sunday!) and 2 nights in Eguisheim. Easter time was the perfect time to be there since they deck out all the buildings with bunnies and nests and eggs!

Eguisheim

Our apartment here was right on the main circular path that goes around this little circular village. It was so quaint and peaceful and perfect--just like Beauty and the Beast. We loved walking around and enjoying the atmosphere and beautiful houses and shops.

My favorite part of our stay there was getting to the bakery first thing in the morning for fresh bread. The whole town was empty and quiet except for a line at the bakery, it felt so French! And the baguettes, croissants, and other breads were so delicious and still warm. Mmmmm.

There were stork nests on top of the church and it was fun to watch the storks fly in and out.

We also rented bikes and Jon and Jacob (then Jacob and I) really enjoyed biking around the surrounding countryside. The vineyards were just starting to bud with new leaves and the spring flowers were gorgeous.

Down time in the apartment

It was fun to open the windows and pretend like we were in Belle's Village from Beauty and the Beast!

Ribeauville

We walked through this charming village then took the path up the hill to the remains of Ulrich castle and Giersberg castle. It was a steep hike, and I appreciated Jacob sticking with me and cheering me on!