Alsace Wines and American Cemeteries

I bet you've never seen an Advent calendar quite like this before! We had to think a while to figure it out since all the windows had already been opened. But after a while of pondering we realized the 25 openings corresponded to the days anticipating Christmas.

Such an adorable and sacred tradition. I had fun imagining the pomp that probably went into the daily shudder openings!

We drove from town to town along Alsace's Route du Vin to see what we could see. This Wine Road is an asphalt ribbon that ties 90 miles of vineyards, villages, and feudal fortresses into an understandably popular tourist package.

I thought the vineyards would look puny in the snow, but I was wrong. They were beautiful. Even without their leafy greens and luscious fruit.

The Alsace grapes extended far and wide hugging the mountains in lovely symmetry.

And wouldn't you know, another rainbow! This one arced across the sky end to end. We remarked that we weren't sure we had ever seen as complete of a rainbow before.

Where are those leprechauns and pots of gold?

On the front and back end of our road trip we visited two different American Military Cemeteries. St. Mihiel which is primarily a World War I resting spot. There are over 4,100 white crosses here. I didn't really think of WWI experiencing the loss of so many American lives. I was wrong.

And then on the way back home we stopped at the Lorraine American Cemetery. This memorial is over 113 acres lines with 10,489 crosses from WWII. A camera could not capture the extent of the grounds. Kirk said, it is just shocking. Indeed it was.