Friday July 29- Market Day and Surprise Festival

Our village was host to the Farmer’s Market this day.  It rotates from village to village, depending on the day of the week.  And so, we patronized the cheese stand, the vegetable stand, and picked up an assortment of local spices.

Fresh veggies at the Riquewihr market:

The meat wagon:

The Spice Girl of Riquewihr:

A vigorous 7-8 mile hike through the vineyards to Kientzheim and back got us good and tired, but gave us the excuse to buy a boule of glace at our neighborhood “dealer.”  He now knows us! Does this mean we are almost like locals?

Crucifix in vineyard on walk to Kientzheim:

Monument in vineyard to local man. Real artillery damage or fake?

Nicely painted wine house in Kientzheim:

The essentials:

French bicyclist, complete with beret:

In the evening we got bored, and so decided to drive a few km to the nearby village of Hunawihr, which was supposed to be hosting a festival from 6:00 till 1AM.  It sounded interesting- nothing ventured nothing gained, right?

We parked the car on the edge of the village and walked up a long lighted path to a little community park, where a bandstand had been erected. There was a concession stand like you would find at a high school football game, selling beer, and wine by the glass or bottle. People were lining up to pay for flammenkuchen and BBQ sausages wrapped in a fresh baguette.  There was excitement and anticipation everywhere, as the crowds of families streamed in.

The band stand with the town musicians ready to entertain with "oompah" style music:

Traditional Alsatian dancers preparing to perform:

Soon the band began to play, and after an hour the Alsatian dancers entertained us with authentic local folk dances. 

The men show off their strength;  holding the women high off the ground. The team that holds up the women longest wins:

Check out this short video of the dancers:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiT2rLorYZY

Cute little village kids dancing around the light pole:

We sat down at a nice picnic table, with a closeup view of the dancing area and band. No one sat near us, because we were obviously “strangers”- until a man and woman about our age joined us.  To our surprise they spoke English to each other. This was all the opening we needed to engage them, in order to keep our language alive!

Turns out Bruce and his wife were Aussies on a 3 month European tour, and happened to be renting an apartment in the same block as ours.  Two of the nicest people, and fun!  Bruce was drafted to compete in the “hat dance,” and did quite well for himself.

Here's a link to the hat dance:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwzV0_ALCdo