Bonjour France

Today we're leaving Wurzburg and heading to Ammerschwihr in France. It's about a four-hour drive and sits on the border of Germany and France.

But first, we had to get everything out of the apartment and into the van. We've unpacked bikes and a baby gear and accumulated more things already so there were lots of trips up and down the four sets of stairs (mostly by Tyler). He's a pro at playing Tetris with luggage though.

We hit the road around 11 after Smith's nap and he played for about half an hour then was back out for a good chunk of time. We made it two hours before he started to fuss. And we covered a lot of ground over those two hours. The Autobahn is really serious! It's amazing how slow 120 starts to feel after you've been zipping along.

Halfway through we took a break for gas and to try to feed Smith (teething has made him a bit finicky with nursing these days). We also had lunch at a German truck stop and the food was pretty decent, though not pretty! We hit the road again and it was smooth sailing and absolutely beautiful. Such great scenery along the way.

We pulled into Ammerschwihr at 3:30 and met with our lovely Airbnb host who was incredibly friendly. She showed us the place which is a super cute two bedroom apartment. There's tons of space and it's got a nice modern feel to it. As great as our last place was, it's really nice having a full sized fridge, dishwasher, oven and multiple rooms.

We unpacked the van then the plan was for Smith and I to drive to the supermarket (2km away) which would have been my first solo trip in the huge, STANDARD van. Now I can drive standard, but this feels way harder. After trying a few times to get out of the driveway and failing every time we decided today wasn't the day. For whatever reason I can't for the life of me get it going from first. The clutch feels super long and I keep stalling out. Oh well. Guess the drivings all up to Tyler! ;)

Tyler had a couple of calls so Smith and I went for a stroll. Ammerschwihr is tiny but super quaint. The population is 1784 and it has really old buildings dating back to medieval days. It's also a big wine town, like the whole region, and is known primarily for the

Kaefferkopf varietal, one of the Grand Cru vineyards. There are a couple ATMs, two bakeries, and wine caves; that's about it.

So, Smith and I came across a wine cave and had a delicious tasting. We bought a couple nice bottles and then went to the bakery. Really, we hit up all the sights.

Then it was back to the apartment for a quick nap and we headed out for dinner afterward to the cutest, french-est restaurant in Beblenheim called Le Gambrinus. They specialize in tarte flambee, which is like a really thin, light pizza with bacon, onions, and cream. Magnifique! The owner/manager took a real shining to Smith and wanted to play with him. Smith was having fun with it at first, then not so much.

The drive back to the apartment was incredible. We hit the magic hour and the light was just bouncing off the vineyards. This is a beautiful little corner of the world and I'm so happy we stumbled across it.