Our decision to return the bikes early proved to be a good one.  Heading out to the patisserie for breakfast the next morning, we found ourselves getting rained on again.  (We still apparently haven’t learned our lesson about always bringing our raincoats.)  The rain continued unabated throughout our walk to the rental car company, but fortunately we were able to secure the car without incident.  Best of all, it had a built-in GPS!   Ah, the joy of always knowing where you are.

We decided to attempt on four wheels what we hadn’t managed on two wheels the day before, and set off once again up the Route de Vin.  Our first destination was the village of Riquewihr, and it did not disappoint. Nestled into the green hillsides, straight out of a fairy tale — like something you’d see in Disney World, but all authentic.

The whole Route de Vin is lined with wineries and vineyards, and Bob and I decided we had to at least experience a bit of it.  The girls had shown a propensity to linger long around this fountain containing many large goldfish and koi, so we set them up there with soft pretzels and slipped off to do a wine tasting nearby.  A good time was had by all.  And it didn’t rain at all!

The next village up the road, Hunawihr, promised a “stork and otter reintroduction center”.  (Storks are VERY big here.  They’re native to this region in the summers, but due to

various human activities had dwindled to single digits around thirty years ago.  The region of Alsace made a huge effort to save them and

achieved great results.  One of the things we noticed is that many buildings have a circular platform built out on to the roof to host nesting storks, and may of them are populated.  There is stork-themed merchandise everywhere.)

Anyway, this place was way more fun than we had anticipated.  There were lots of different aquatic-related animals on display.  None of the bird habitats were enclosed, so there were storks, ducks, geese, and cormorants wandering around and flying through the air everywhere.  We saw giant hamsters (not actually sure if they fit with the aquatic theme) and these large aquatic rodents called ragondins that we couldn’t identify but

decided were most likely the famed Rodents Of Unusual Size.  There was this cool “parcour” walk that never would have flown in the US because of the likelihood of some tourist falling off into the water.  (All of us managed not to fall off into the water.)  When we climbed the observation tower above the trees, we saw that the treetops were full of stork pairs, preening and working on their nests.

Best of all was a really cool show that featured various animals that fish.  We couldn’t understand a word of the presentation in French, but it didn’t really matter.  The presenter brought out, in succession, storks, cormorants, otters, a sea lion, and penguins.  They jumped into a tank of water with clear sides.  Instead of doing human-taught tricks, the staff would throw live fish into the pool and we could watch — above and below the water — while the animals caught them.  It was fascinating, particuarly when watching the

cormorant do battle with an eel.  (The cormorant won, but it took some time.  After appearing to swallow the eel, the cormorant opened its mouth again to eat a fish, and the eel re-emerged and had to be caught again.)  I’m sure from the fishes’ perspective, it was much like being thrown into a Roman gladiator ring.

We made an attempt to make one more stop in Ribeauville, where we were considering doing a hike to some castle ruins — but there was a

festival going on and we couldn’t find parking.  (One downside of the GPS was that before we realized what was happening, it had led us down into the very narrow warren of cobblestone streets that seem to only be made for pedestrians.   Luckily it was also able to get us out again.)

All that remained to cap off a great day was another trip to the park for Zoe to run, and a sunset dinner in Colmar, followed by delicious gelato.  Tomorrow, onward to the Alps!