I've found myself saying this quite a bit these days. Late last summer we uttered these words while driving through the half timbered houses adorned by flower boxes overflowing with geraniums in the Salzgammergut-Austrian lakes district. I said it again when we rolled into in Montreaux Switzerland and marveled at the gorgeous Swiss Riviera. When we stumbled upon Colmar (see pix above) and Kaysersberg in France, I said it one more time..."Damn, I wish we would have found this place earlier."
It's probably for the best. Had we discovered these places earlier in our tour, we would have gone back three, four, five times. This sort of thing kinda runs in my family. Growing up I returned to Laguna Beach every year with my family. I cannot count how many times I've been to Vegas and Palm Springs. Visiting these places has become a "tradition". Don't get me wrong, there's something comforting about returning to the same place year after year (especially in Orange County). However, returning to the same place every year means we are missing out on the joy of discovering new places. It reminds me of some of the folks I met growing up who've never left CA or ventured past the borders of Texas.
So a couple weeks ago we experienced the thrill of discovery once again when we headed to Southeast France. As luck would have it, we accidentally stopped in the medieval town of Kaysersberg while I checked my map. The kids were melting down from a long drive so we decided to let them run around while I checked my map. Best thing that ever happened to us! This place was awesome! It reminded us of a French Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Later on that day we explored the old town of Colmar which also took our breath away. This place was distinctly French. I'll take an old village like this any day over a sprawling metropolis like Berlin or London.
Kaysersberg, FR
After a few wrong turns, a colossal kid meltdown, and a couple of newly discovered villages, we finally arrived at our primary destination: Montange des Singes or Monkey Mountain. Much like the San Diego Wild Animal Park, visitors get to enjoy the wildlife up close and personal. The place was essentially a preserve for North African monkeys where visitors we're permitted to litereally walk amongst hundreds of monkeys. Once you were inside the preserve, the only barriers were for the humans, not for the animals (see below). This was one of those places that we liked just as much as the kids. Take a look:
julia and her new BFF
"We're surrounded! They're everywhere"
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