Riquewihr, France

After visiting Monkey Mountain & Koenigburg Castle, we hopped in our minivans & drove about 20 minutes to the town of Riquewihr.

This is the town that the Disney Company sent their animators to when work was starting on "Beauty & the Beast."  This is the town that Belle's village is based on, & you can totally see it when you visit.  It's an adorable medieval town.

I loved the vibrant colored buildings (most of which were built in the 1300's & 1400's) with the timbered walls.  And then you add in the Christmas decorations everywhere, it truly was a magical town.

This fountain is the fountain that Belle sings at when she's reading her book during the first song in the movie.  It looks just like the one that was animated for the movie.

The girls were excited to find a single red rose in "Belle's Village."

The town is surrounded by a wall & a gate to the city.  The gate used to have a draw bridge which is pretty cool.  It was SO OLD.  I love old things.

Trek bought me a whole box of macarons.  Yum.  He knows they're my favorite.

After visiting Riquewihr, we drove another 15 minutes to Colmar, France (another adorable village.). We pre-booked the most amazing house that slept 13 people.  Traveling with other families is 100% the way to travel Europe.  There are these huge houses everywhere & they are dirt cheap when you are splitting the cost with other families.

We hit the jackpot with this house.  At first we were unsure because it was in the very center of the city kind of in a dark scary alleyway.  The building looked like it was tipping over (it was old), but when we walked into the actual house, it was gorgeous.  There was a huge living room with a projector TV & 3 couches, a huge table for 15, a nice kitchen to cook in, & five bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, & plenty of space for all 13 of us.

Karen & I cooked a big spaghetti dinner & we all feasted together then played board games & video games all night.  My kids LOVED having friends there the whole time, & Trek & I always are up for board games.  It was perfect.