I WILL See A Castle, D*mmit!

After our last night in Colmar, we headed to Molsheim via a visit to the castle Haut-Konigsberg. I had planned to use that as a base to explore the wine route some more and to go back to Herrlisheim. We had two nights reserved in a hotel there.

The castle was unbelievably crowded. In fact, we couldn't even find a parking place at all.

So we decided to give up on it and head to Ribeauville instead. After all, Ribeauville has not one but THREE castles. I could just get my castle fix there.

Or not.

Turns out, you can't get there by car. To the castles that is...so we walked around town while they taunted us from on high.

Hot and tired, we decided to head to our hotel and just relax and see the town there.

Even before we pulled into the hotel, I questioned the wisdom of deciding to stay there.

First, there is very little to see in Molsheim. In fact, in 30 minutes of walking around town, we basically saw all there was to see.

Then, there was the hotel. The room was clean enough, but very small. And a little smelly. And hot. With no AC. So our options were to roast or to sleep with the mosquitoes. We opted for the latter. There was a badly painted over mold stain in the bathroom, which had no shower. And when I attempted to unplug a lamp to charge my phone, the outlet CAME OUT OF THE WALL!

We decided to change our reservations to just one night and reserve an extra night at our next stop, Heidelberg.

We did find a surprisingly good Italian restaurant in town, and the waiter was even from South Carolina (his mother was a Charlestonian and his father was French). From the outside, it looks like a cheap pizza stand, but the food was excellent.

That night, we roasted, and mosquitoes buzzed my ears constantly. It was miserable. And then at 7 am, I heard someone tapping a toothbrush or razor on the bathroom sink so loudly that I actually thought they were in our room.

No, the walls were just that thin!

We went to breakfast, which for 8 euros only got Mary one cup of coffee before they ran out. The croissants had already run out by 8:45. All that was left was some cold cereal, sliced Swiss cheese and lunch meatloaf.

The decision to leave was clearly a good one.

We headed north and stopped at Souffleheim, which is know for its pottery and is only a couple kilometers from the town my dad's family is from. I got a little wine jug and then headed to Sessenheim to get pictures of the church there (minus the funeral) and then back to Herrlisheim.

We went to the city hall and found Jacques, who despite speaking very little English, helped me me find several Schohns in town. It was a little like an episode of "Who Do You Think you Are?"

We left there and headed to Heidelberg. The hotel was MUCH better! It was gi-nourmous! It actually used to be a studio apartment, so we had couches, a dining table and a kitchenette.

And best thing? It is walking distance to the castle. I could see it in the distance when we walked to the Old City that first night.

There is finally a castle in my future!