La Fête des Vendages in Barr

Last weekend we attended La Fête des Vendages in Barr, a 45-minute train ride from Strasbourg. I found out about the festival earlier in the week from my instructors at the French language school. Not only did I pick up quite a bit of French during the two weeks, but we also had impromptu lessons about the local food and wine. This comes in handy for festivals this time of year, which include a lot of wine! (Maybe all French festivals do).

In preparation for Saturday’s trip to Barr, we went to the train station on Thursday to get tickets and scout out the tracks. Luckily we have Meghan, because she entitled us to a Carte Enfant+ which gives us discounts on some train fares, including a whopping 50% discount on travel in the Alsace region. Cameron, to his delight (but not ours), is considered an adult at 12 for the purposes of train travel.

It was a good thing that we went to the train station early, because we were very confused by the schedule. Barr is a very small station on the way to somewhere else, and it wasn't listed on the screen. The other thing we didn't know is that they don't post the track numbers for the trains until about 20 minutes before the train is about to depart. It turned out that we had to take the "Selestat via Molsheim" train - how do you get Barr out of that?? We felt a little silly going to the information booth twice to ask which train to take, but we finally figured it out. It's helpful to know that if your train says it's departing at 9:30, it's the only train leaving at that time (at least in Strasbourg), even if your actual destination is not listed. We felt much better when we got out to the track, where all of the small station stops were listed, including Barr. Before we left, we memorized the names of the two stations ahead of Barr, and on the train, we kept a close eye on the stations, as none of them are announced.

When we got to Barr, we did a couple of smart things. First, when it finally dawned on us that many French fêtes consist of wandering through stalls of things to buy (marchés), which our kids hate, we went to the candy stall and let them each pick out a bag of candy (read: bribed them). It's amazing how that will perk a kid up! 12€ later and we were good to go until lunch (ok, so some of that candy was Mark's and mine). The other smart thing we did that day was go for a hike in the hills above the town. We had a wonderful view of the village and surrounding area; we got to see grape vines up close (and even steal a few of the sweetest grapes I've ever had); and the kids got to clamber up and down a rock wall that guided us most of the way up the steep hill. The combination of the beautiful weather, the excitement of a train trip, and the different activities we undertook made for a great day for all of us.

A lesson we took from this day is that no matter how mature our kids are, they're still kids, and they like to play. While Mark and I enjoy walking around the city looking at buildings, or looking at all of the strange and wonderful items available for sale at a marché, our kids get a little bored by this. When we're out for the day or on our travels, we have to remember to make time for kids' play. It makes it easier for all of us.

email us
christinateskey @ yahoo.ca

view our pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christina-t/

We hope to hear from you! How are things going in your part of the world?