Colmar

[sandy]

I was reading this article in a magazine yesterday, about this town called Colmar. The article is called "Stork´s paradise", because there is a conservation center of these birds nearby. It looks more like a German village, but it seems to be a beautiful place. It is also the birth town of sculptor Frederic August Bartholdi, the designer of the Statue of Liberty. I checked the official website, but it is really bad and I think it doen´t make justice to the town, so I scanned the magazine article so you can see the pictures.
It also says it is a great place to spend Chirstmast, and that there´s great food and wines (of course!).
Maybe one of you have already been there and can share something more.

www.ot-colmar.fr/

[Shoesy]

It looks like a fabulous place to visit, Sandy. You're absolutely correct about the website not doing it justice.

[sistereurope]

This may be in Anne's neck of the woods so perhaps she could give us some more info. It does look VERY German. I probably drove right by on my first trip to Germany!

[Anne]

SANDY, THIS IS ALSAAAAAACE !!!

I exalt you for your incredible good taste

Colmar is at the center of Alsace, this is the town where my mom and husband were born . And all the old towns and villages look that way . And yes, Alsace is absolutely great at Christmas, with all the ancient Christmas markets . And stork is the symbol of Alsace .

Anyone who wants some more info about Alsace can ask me

[sandy]

Oh Anne, what a nice place to live in! Maybe when you see one of these villages you´ve seen them all, and you get tired of it, but I think I wouldn´t. They all look like fairy-tale towns. But it really doesn´t look like France, it is more like Switzerland or Bavaria, right?

[Jody]

Don't forget that Alsace passed back and forth between Germany and France for centuries. Even as late as WWI and WWII it was still changing hands.

[luckyluc]

Some of the architecture of l'Alsace and la Lorraine might remind you of Germany but the people are very French.

Vous n'aurez pas l'Alsace et la Lorraine,
Et, malgré vous, nous resterons français.
Vous avez pu germaniser la plaine,
Mais notre cœur vous ne l'aurez jamais.

[Anne]

Luc, I've exalted you too, you are just too cute

What Luc wrote is a patriotic song from the time when Alsace and a part of Lorraine had been annexed by Prussia . As Demarais mentionned it, Alsace changed hands quite a few times : it was member of the German Empire until Louis XIV, then it was again annexed by Prussia between 1871 and 1918, and then again by Germany throughout WW2 . Yes, people feel very French (certainly not German ), but as a result of this painful history they feel very much Alsacian to begin with, because they have survived terrible times by sticking together and having their own - and still very vivid- dialect .

Sandy - Yes Alsace is very different from the rest of France, and it looks a bit like Pays de Bade, the German area just opposite the Rhine river . I didn't mean at all that once you've seen one of the villagages you've seen them all, not at all . Driving the hilly vineyard road about 170 kms throughout old villages is a real enchantment . Strasbourg and Colmar are beautiful towns and the slopes of the Vosges mountains are litterally lined with romantic ruined castles .

Here is a nice website:

www.tourisme-alsace.com/

Click on "photo album" (a bit cliché pictures, but it still gives you an idea) . And Gitte, you can find the tarte flambée receipe in "wine and gastronomy" .

[Anne]

Needless to say, I'll be delighted to help anyone here who would want to visit Alsace

[iank9]

Hi,

Can I just say we visited Colmar a few years ago, and found it to be one of the most picturesque towns we have ever visited in France. Les Fleurs! We were in a village called Wattwiller, in the Vosges, and enjoyed trips to the Grand Ballon, the Eco Museum, as well as the wine tours around Turckheim and Riquewihr . A really good holiday!

[anneparis]

Hey ! I was there last week !! I visited Strasbourg too and we did the "route des vins". It was fantastic !!
How can I post pictures here

[sandy]

Anne
You have to download your pictures first to a service like Photobucket, and then copy and paste the IMG code here. There´s a thread that explains it perfectly, I´ll see if I find it.

[sandy]

Here it is:

www.ourparisforum.com/index.cgi?board=technical&action=display&thread=1179455098

[cigalechanta]

We stayed in Colmar at a hotel that over looks the canal as pictured. That area is called Little Venice.

[Anne]

Sunday was the beginning of "l'Avent" time (four Sundays before Xmas), so Christmas markets have opened in Alsace . See pics :

www.marche-de-noel-alsace.com/avav.htm

My favourite is the Colmar one, but the biggest (about 250 little chalets), most ancient (16th century) and most famous one is in Strasbourg . Now it is overrun with tourists , but I still take a walk there every year when we go to Strasbourg for Christmas, and drink a glass of Glühwein and eat a cinnamon doughnut, because I have done so ever since I was a small child (well, not the wine of course :, when there were hardly any tourists around .

And next week-end I will start baking my "bredele", the traditional Alsacian Xmas cookies which you can also buy on these markets .

[trechic]

Thank you Sandy and Anne for bringing this part of France to my attention!! I just want to be there spending my Christmas holiday! Perhaps, one day. It's right out of a storybook!
Anne, please do post your photos here...I am sure we would all love to see them!

[sistereurope]

Anne,
The thing I loved most about Germany was the Christmas market. I was Hamburg twice during the season, and I loved walking around in the market, sipping gluhwein while looking at all of the beautiful christmas ornaments. It seemed SO unlike a lot of our commercial displays - it really put me in the spirit! I was wondering if there's a major difference between the French and German markets? (aside from the language, of course). I'd love to see a picture of the market in your area if you get the opportunity!
Thanks... enjoy the festivities, and Frohe Weihnachten !

[Anne]

Sister, there is no difference between the markets in Alsace and in Germany, simply because Alsace was a member of the German Empire when these markets were created .

I am sorry to disappoint many of you, but the Xmas markets in other areas of France are just recent, marketing copies of the Alsacian ones . There is absolutely no tradition of Xmas markets in other areas of France (except maybe in Provence ? don't know about it), not even in the area where I live now, which is close to Alsace yet . We are used to spending one Sunday before Xmas in the nearest big city (Metz) to do some Xmas shopping and also walk the market, but even though this market is pleasant enough, it is just a 15-years old copy of the Strasbourg market ...

[sistereurope]

Wow, Anne - I never realized that Colmar was that close to Freiburg Germany! My sister went to the university there for one year, and we stayed with her. It was beautiful...I wish now that I had ventured over to that area of France!

[muffya]

I love Alsace as well!! We stayed in a gite for a week 3 yrs ago and loved it! I can taste the reisling from Weinbach Vinyards now. Sigh I bought a lovely tablecloth in Colmar for my patio that takes me back every summer I use it. My kids loved the Snorks (yes, that what my little called them)