Colmar and Southern Alsace

Due to the craziness of the holidays and then exam period in Germany, I haven't had the chance to write yet about the trip I took when my dad and his girlfriend, Lisa, came to visit (or the trip that Catie, Wes-friend Gilder, and I took to Amsterdam). As I'm leaving for six weeks of travelling next week (Scotland, England, Ireland, and Istanbul), I need to catch up before I leave. So here's the first installment!

I wrote about the first part of the trip in December (see my post on German Christmas Markets), but I haven't yet described the part where we drove from Tübingen to Southern Alsace, and then up to Strasbourg, Luxembourg, and into Belgium. It was a really fun trip, full of beautiful scenery, cute little towns, and some GPS adventures. I'm going to start today with a post about the first few days, which we spent in southern Alsace.

The drive from Tübingen to Elsenheim, where we were going to spend our first two nights in France, was a beautiful one. We unexpectedly found ourselves taking the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, or the "Black Forest High Road." This meant that we were driving up along the ridges of the mountains, looking down on the forest, before descending down curving roads and little black forest towns. If you ever get the chance to drive through Germany, I recommend making this part of your trip. Absolutely beautiful.

We stopped here to take photos - this is where a lot of hang gliding takes place

Up above everything: In front of that flag you can see the tips of the trees climbing up the side of the mountain

Shortly after leaving the Black Forest we crossed the border into France. The ease of this border crossing came as quite a shock for my dad, who hadn't driven through Europe since before the Schengen Agreement came into effect. He was therefore surprised to find out we were already in France, having not gone through any sort of passport control, and knowing only because of our GPS (and the change in signs). Shortly after we crossed the border, we arrived at our bed and breakfast, A l'Ancienne Boulangerie, where we would stay for two nights. True to its name, the building had been converted from an old bakery into a bed and breakfast, something that I found particularly exciting. A married couple run this b&b, and the husband used to do the baking when it was a bakery - which meant that our delicious breakfasts each morning included unique treats that he had made. My personal favorite was a scone made in the shape of a person, sort of like a gingerbread man. He also makes jam that we enjoyed each day for breakfast, which was so delicious that I bought some to give as Christmas gifts. The rooms were wonderfully decorated and full of antiques. The room we stayed in was in the attic, and had an adorable loft that I got to sleep in. The loft was decorated with antique toys, which fit in well with the theme.

Annette and Thierry, our wonderful hosts

A blurry photo of the cozy downstairs where we had breakfast each morning

Our first night in France began with a quick trip to Ribouvillé for dinner. However, because dinner doesn't begin until at least 7:30, we took some time to wander around the town first. Like every town we encountered on our trip, Ribouvillé was decorated for Christmas. I enjoyed trying to decipher signs after two months of learning French, and we all enjoyed the adorable Alsatian town and Christmas atmosphere, as well as the delicious dinner we had at the end.

Christmas in Ribouvillé

Excited because I felt like I had found Narnia

It was great to see some snow, even if it was fake

The next day we woke up early to have an adventure-filled day. Annette had told us where we should go near Elsenheim to see the most important tourist sites, and we knew that we wanted to head up to Colmar that evening. We started by trying to find our way to Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, which is a beautiful castle in the mountains near Sélestat. After some GPS adventures, in which we drove through innumerable dirt paths across and through vineyards, we finally found ourselves at the castle. One of the most visited castles in France since its restoration in the 20th century, it was a beautiful place to be on a sunny day in the mountains. There were signs everywhere telling us facts about Christmas. For instance, did you know that the first mention of a Christmas tree came from Sélestat in 1521? And that people used to hang hosts as ornaments, as well as the traditional candles, until replaced with spice cake and electric lights? Or that the pretzel is "based on the twisted bread of the Romans...given as a present during the Christmas celebrations, particularly between lovers, as a symbol of fertility and wealth. It was also connected to worshipping the dead and was often used as an offering at funerals."? The pretzel fact was my favorite, as I eat so many living in Germany that I feel obliged to know the history.

View from the castle

Pathway leading to the castle

In the courtyard

Giant wine cask

Medieval recipe for spice cake, aka gingerbread

pretzels!

The German eagle on the ceiling of a French castle served as an example of the essence of Alsace: Germany + France

Model of the castle

View of the castle from one of our winding roads through a vineyard

After leaving the château, we headed towards the town of Bergheim, because we had heard about a trail of crèches there. It appears that any citizen of Bergheim can make a crèche, out of whatever materials they wish, and it gets marked with a white star along the route of crèches. We saw an incredible variety of crèches, my favorites of which are shown below.

Elf Nativity!

Are the donkeys eating Jesus?

A street in Bergheim

At the medieval city walls

Our next step that day was in Riquewihr, where Annette had told us about a giant Christmas store that was open all year round and brought tourists from across the country. The store was full of overpriced ornaments, some of which were also too tacky for my taste, and most of which could be purchased at any one of the million of Christmas markets we had seen. Customers were herded through narrow aisles, where you had to make sure not to accidentally knock over any item. However as a cultural experience I was glad to have gone.

We also ran into yet another Christmas Market in Riquewihr. At this one, to celebrate now being in france, I purchased a croissant-shaped piece of marzipan, hot cider (the alcoholic kind), and some macarons. The market was slightly outside the city center, right next to an expansive vineyard and many wooden barrels and wheelbarrows. These wine-making accouterments were all over every town we stopped in in Alsace, and certainly added ambience.

Macarons at the market

A unique Christmas decoration after my own heart

Downtown Riquewihr

Wine barrels hanging out on the edge of town

The last place we stopped this day was Colmar, a small city in southern Alsace. Colmar had five Christmas markets, and I'm proud to say we made it to all of them (this was still somewhat near the beginning of our Christmas market adventure, before they all started to feel the same). These markets reminded me of the ones we had seen in Germany, and seemed to be more focused on traditional Christmas gifts and sweets than local specialties of alcohol and food, as we saw later in our trip. We enjoyed wandering around Colmar, as it felt particularly Christmassy, but after a long day we didn't have energy for much besides Christmas markets and more delicious food.
Here are some images from our evening in Colmar:

That's it for the first installment! Coming soon: Strasbourg and a drive up the rue des vins!