rainy glaciers express romantic ribeauville hotels
Best wishes for a wonderful and healthy autumn from Naz and I here in Switzerland. For me, the end of September is always exciting - it’s my birthday.
“So, Dan,” Nazy said, “I wanted to take you on the Glacier Express....”
“Wow! That’s a great train ride between St. Mortiz and Zermatt. That’s wonderful!” I thought.
“ ... except it’s raining in Zermatt and St. Mortiz.”
“So it’s probably raining along the Glacier route.” I replied.
“Right. So we can’t do that. And, eh, I don’t have any cake mix, so..”
“No birthday cake?” I gasped. “But I must celebrate a birthday, Nazy. Scientific research has shown that people who have the most birthdays live the longest. What will we do?”
“I could put a candle in your spinach.”
“I wonder if she’s joking,” I thought. I was setting the table and, ominously, Nazy was making salad.
Later that evening, Nazy reported that the weather in Ribeauville, France looked promising and...
“ ... it’ a beautiful little village, Dan. Close to Zurich. Let’s go for the weekend.”
While Nazy prepared for her art class, I searched the web for accommodation. Prices were all over the map, but I kept returning to Hostellerie des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre. However, the prices and room availability on the hotel’s private website were different from the offers on the discount websites. Baffled and befuddled, I turned to my secret weapon.
“Nazy, my dear!” I exclaimed. “Would you call this hotel and get us a good deal?”
As I expected, Nazy negotiated a suite and a great deal that she guaranteed with a ‘we’re coming’ email. (No credit card.)
“We will like this place,” Nazy said. “It’s managed by two sisters.”
We left right after Nazy’s art class - which ended at a time that: “ ... fits comfortably into the evening rush hour,” I explained as we took a convoluted route devised by our navigation computer to avoid major congestion.
.
“Do you think this is a good idea?” Nazy asked as we waited for yet another traffic light to change.
“I think that stopping every 100 meters for a traffic light is better than stopping 100 minutes for a traffic jam,” I replied.
We arrived at our hotel (see right) around 8:30 PM.
The Ribeaupierre Hotel had a low-key arrival procedure. Marie-Madeline showed us to our suite and provided directions to dinner. But, as I explained to Nazy:
“She didn’t ask for a credit card.”
“I know. She said that wasn’t necessary until we check out.”
“The key doesn’t lock the door from the outside,” I mumbled.
“Marie-Cécile said that it isn’t necessary to lock the door.”
The Maries had booked a French restaurant for our dinner. It was definitely romantic: when we arrived the entire building was illuminated by candle light. (The power was off.) I couldn’t see well enough to read the menu because..
“This candle,” I said pointing, “does not generate even one candle-power of light.”
“That’s impossible, Dan...”
“That candle is even dimmer than a Swiss eco-friendly lightbulb.”
“Now you are exaggerating.”
“But I can’t read the menu.”
“That’s because it is in French.”
“Ah..”
“We will just order the special menu.” Nazy concluded.
The special menu had great food. A LOT of great food. Nazy and I thought that we would choose a starter, a main course and a dessert... but the special menu provided three starters, three main courses, a salad and two desserts. Each course was reasonable in size and each tasted great. But at the end..
“ ... I can’t finish this dessert, Nazy.” I explained.
“Wow! It really was too much food,” Nazy replied. “You’ve never volunteered to skip dessert.”
The next day we decided to explore Ribeauville and the environs. Marie-Madeline also suggested a walk to Riquewihr.
While we were window shopping, I saw a small hotel in the center of town.
“Look at this, Nazy.” I said - pulling her from a ceramics shop. “This hotel has a ‘romantic room’...”
“Of course, Dan. We are in France.”
“But look: ‘La chambre Romantique: for one, two or three people.”
“Hmm..” Nazy replied.
“If anyone asks about a ménage à trois venue, we will know exactly where to send them.”
Following Marie-Madeline’s suggestion, we headed into the vineyards for the walk toward Riquewihr. The path was a little hilly, but the weather was wonderful. Nazy, equipped with her ‘identify the grapes’ handbook, picked a few samples.
“This is amazing, Dan. In Switzerland, they cover the vines with nets so the birds can’t steal the grapes.”
“... but here there are no nets so that people can steal,” I concluded - watching Nazy sample a muscat grape.
Later, Nazy asked Marie-Madeline about the missing netting - explaining the Swiss approach.
“Maybe we have enough grapes to share,” Madeline replied.
The adventure will continue in a mid-week update of The Weekly Letter
For photos of the trip, click here