THE ROADSTER IS 10 YEARS OLD!!!! WE CELEBRATED BY JOINING THE FRENCH MR-S PASSION CLUB IN ALSACE
While checking out the events section on Roadster Owners Club http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/index.php I noticed that Club MR-S Passion http://www.mrs-passion.com/forum/index.php had posted an invitation asking if members wished to join them along with fellow enthusiasts in a celebration of 10 Years of the Roadster.
The list of events planned looked too good to miss……Staying in a chalet for the three day event, having meals provided and the opportunity to drive round the stunning Alsace Region of France, taking in visits to two of my favourite vices (not the vices you are thinking of), one being the Ritter chocolate factory, the next at a winery....HEAVEN!
An international attendance also made it a very interesting prospect, more so as I have difficulty speaking the English language let alone any other but once Anne’s and my name were added Google Translate became a good friend.
As the region we were to visit dabbled a little in wine production I thought it only fitting to ask fellow wine expert (expert as in we both know how to open a bottle of wine without spilling it) Nigel and his wife Carol, would like to make the trip with us - this took all of ten seconds for them to decide it would be a great trip and confirm their attendance. So MR2 Roadster Owners Club and the British representation for this event had doubled in strength, I hope our fellow continental Roadster owners know what they are letting themselves in for?
The list of events planned looked too good to miss……Staying in a chalet for the three day event, having meals provided and the opportunity to drive round the stunning Alsace Region of France, taking in visits to two of my favourite vices (not the vices you are thinking of), one being the Ritter chocolate factory, the next at a winery....HEAVEN!
An international attendance also made it a very interesting prospect, more so as I have difficulty speaking the English language let alone any other but once Anne’s and my name were added Google Translate became a good friend.
As the region we were to visit dabbled a little in wine production I thought it only fitting to ask fellow wine expert (expert as in we both know how to open a bottle of wine without spilling it) Nigel and his wife Carol, would like to make the trip with us - this took all of ten seconds for them to decide it would be a great trip and confirm their attendance. So MR2 Roadster Owners Club and the British representation for this event had doubled in strength, I hope our fellow continental Roadster owners know what they are letting themselves in for?
Tuesday May 11th 2010
11.15am and we are packed (every orifice in the roadster) and ready for the off. The weather is iffy but we take the top down to start off with. Later we have to put it up as it is raining but it must be noted that this is the only time for the whole holiday. At 15.25pm we arrive at Nigel and Carols and settled in for the evening.
Wednesday May 12th 2010
5.00am (oh the joys!) we start for Dover. It is a frosty morning but bright and clear so we take the tops down (they will stay down for the rest of the holiday!) and enjoy the fresh air - well it wakes us up at least!
6.30am we arrive at Dover and join the queue
for the ferry finding ourselves next to a group of Lotus something or others… 7.30am we are boarded and go get some breakfast. 11.05am we disembark at Dunkerque and so starts our real adventure. Our first stop is at Auchan for the very important stocking up of the bottles of wine which we find so necessary on a journey like this (hic!). 12.00 high noon and we are off heading for Metz in fine weather. 15.25pm we enter Luxembourg and at 16.30pm we are back in France! 17.45pm we arrive at our first stop - a hotel in Metz. It is a pleasant place although at the back of an industrial estate, however the rooms are clean and adequate.
we find a lovely place to eat within walking distance. It is called “Crocodile” though as the ambience is trains we could not work out why! The food - well.........................
WOW!!! We have an ‘all you can eat’ option - wonderful starters, choice of main, gorgeous deserts and wine on tap!!! Suits us fine.
Hope the Nom-Nom song doesn't annoy you too much ;-)
Thursday May 13th 2010
10.10am breakfast eaten and we are ready for the off again, driving on country roads so we can enjoy ourselves. It is fine weather again. 12.30pm and we stop at a small taverna for refreshments - coffee and tarte which are very nice.
13.00pm it starts to rain but we keep the tops down and motor along so it doesn’t bother us, the countryside is lovely. We are actually driving through the clouds - it is really weird but a fantastic drive - have you ever seen the roads steaming???
we arrive at the chalets in Alsace. They are in a place called Metzeral and are in a very picturesque setting. We can’t unload the cars yet so we go find the bar and get ourselves a refreshing beer.
14.00pm the first of our foreign colleagues arrives Edouard (cow-boo) and we are relieved to find he speaks good English (in fact he is our translator for the whole of the stay and is very much appreciated by us all). 17.30pm Cyril and his wife arrive - they are the arrangers along with Edouard of the stay and having said our hellos we finally get to see our chalet. It is small and basic but adequate for our purposes and we unload the groaning roadsters. Then we go to a large ‘club-house’ - well it is a big chalet with plenty of room - to have a ‘meet and greet’. We are presented to everyone (about 20 or so people so far) and are given champagne to toast the forthcoming holiday. Also we are all given special t-shirts with the 10th anniversary printed on them AND we four are given MR-S Passion caps as well!!!!!! It is so lovely to be made so welcome. Next comes a very nice four course meal in the restaurant which sets the precedent for the holiday as we had four course meals everywhere! Naturally we had bottles of wine on the table and we just had to drink them.
Friday 14th May 2010
11.00am we are off on our first arranged trip - there are 17 cars all roadsters bar one which is an Lotus Elise - we make an impressive convoy!!! We drive along pretty winding roads (the sort so loved by the roadster whoohoo) heading upwards all the time. After motoring along nicely testing out the driving abilities of everyone we arrive at White Lake (erm it is not white?) where we gather for a picnic lunch and photos. The lunches are very generous and we are more than satisfied! 13.00pm and we are off again. After this we drive along more delightful roads to a chocolate factory - Ritter. Here we stop for a tour of the factory which is very interesting and then we get a drink of coffee and a taste of the lovely chocolate, followed by a chance to buy as much as we want - yummy!!
Not sure what route we took but it was certainly a fun drive for the Roadsters
A few pictures taken at White Lake
........................Then we drive to Ritter's chocolate factory
Saturday 15th May 2010
Breakfast at 8.00am as we have a busy day ahead. 9.20am after some late people (erm too much wine the night before?) join us we are finally off. We lose a few people on the way and then lose the winery but eventually we all arrive - it is a bit of an adventure! We all go in for an arranged tour which is very interesting and afterwards we gather for a tasting of three of the wines followed by an opportunity to buy wines. Next we go for a short walk to a very nice restaurant where we have another four course meal (boy are we going to get fat!) with wine again!!!! Of course the drivers cant drink so much but us passengers can enjoy it. We set off again and make our various ways back to Metzeral, enjoying the drive as usual, we arrive at 18.00pm. Then we have a very special evening. Cyril and Karine have given up their afternoon to shopping for and preparing a lasagne meal for us all which is fabulous. Then Cyril is out at the bbq cooking sausages as well. The whole evening was very pleasant and we spent a lot of time discussing the runs and cars and comparing notes - yes even us English managed to join in the conversations!!! Bed was at midnight for us four though I suspect the others stayed up much later playing card games.
What a great silver car (the white one is OK too)
...........and of course we have our cars
Sunday 15th May 2010
Up at 8.30am and so to breakfast. Nigel takes several of our new friends for a quick blast in his car - just to show it off you know.
(Hope you don't mind me using the picture from the forum guys?)
(Hope you don't mind me using the picture from the forum guys?)
Then packing of the cars….shove heave it all goes in!