FRANCE: Discovering Colmar

On a Saturday night in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, we were discussing over dinner what we were going to do the next day.

We took a look at Google maps to decide what options, out of endless options, we could choose from.

Colmar, France, located in the Alsace region of northeast France was less than an hour drive away.

Google maps said it's old town has cobblestone streets with medieval and Renaissance buildings. 

That sounds cute to me.

So, we got a wild hair and decided to do a Sunday drive to France to check out Colmar.

Colmar is REALLY cute! 

Ownership of the region has been passed back and forth between Germany and France over the years. The result is a unique mix of the two cultures, including architecture, food and drink.

We would turn a corner and figure that would be the end of the little medieval village, only to find it kept going. 

And then around another corner, and MORE! 

It has an area called Petit Venice. It was where Colmar’s merchants lived and they transported their goods around by boat. The story goes that different colours were used to display different types of businesses –fishermen’s house were painted blue, or a butcher would have a red house. 

My new personal challenge has become looking for old signs over shops and figuring out what kind of enterprise it represents. Some are easy and some take a little thought. 

That night, while discussing our “Highlight of the Day” we both said the unexpected gem of Colmar. (A close second for "Highlight of the Day" for John was the "unexpected" size of his beer!)