Mittelbergheim, Shmittelbergheim!

A couple of weeks ago, we were invited to tag along to a street fair of sorts in Mittelbergheim, a small Alsatian town on the wine route. Very old, lots of history, lots of wine. Our friend Michel lives there in a house that was built in in the 17th century, and has been in his family since that time. For the festival, various business and homes opened their doors for tours and the selling of various crafts and food/beverage. We set up shop in Michel's outdoor garage, along with friends and a few horses. The weather was quite cold and dreary, but we had a great time exploring the town. Here are some pictures from our day!

Friends arrive via horseback:

Emmanuelle gets served lunch - a traditional Alsatian dish called Baeckeoffe - a baked stew with a variety of meats (mostly pork) and vegetables like carrots & potatoes. Add a nonstop flow of wine (Michel owns his own vineyard, as many home-owners do in this area), and you've got yourself a helluva lunch!

Gabriel and Melina chow down while listening to an intriguing conversation... at least, I think it was intriguing. Our small knowledge of French was practically useless here - most folks were speaking German or traditional Alsatian (a German-French hybrid).

Some photos Owen took after lunch while we walked around the town...

This horse was getting a manicure.A very large and very old grape press.
An "American Country Line Dancing" group! Complete with horrid country music!


Above, people transformed their caves into displays for local artists. Below, a family demonstrates making ceramic sculptures.



In Michel's hundreds-of-years-old garage/attic. I did not want my picture taken. Plus, it was scary up there.

Above - my new buddy. Below - a totally sweet ride.
If you look closely, you'll see the inscription above the door with the year the house was built.

I know we have seriously fallen behind in our blog-posting, but we are still experiencing some difficulty making sure that our older posts that have been modified for confidentiality get updated in various search engines' cache archives. Wow, that was a lot of technical mumbo jumbo! Regardless, I'll be posting shortly with Owen's attempts (and successes!) at making frog's legs (from our very own pond) and fromage de tete (from our very own pig). The Schnapps- and cheese-making posts *might* have to wait until our return. Keep your eyes peeled... and we'll see many of you very soon - just two more weeks until our triumphant return to the States!