Colmar, Eguisheim, Kaysersberg and Strasbourg, France

I have been reading some blogs of other women and/or families that live in Europe and some of the prettiest pictures I had seen were of ones in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France.  It's located right on the border of Germany, so we decided to combine it with our trip to Europa Park.

Unfortunately, the high temperatures were in the mid 90s.  EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  Or roughly, 35C.  We were somewhat miserable!

 But you really, really need to go to the Alsace wine region during the summer! The incredible flowers and the painted half timbers are just unbelievable!  Todd and Natalie being... Todd and Natalie.

 Reddish half timber with flowers!

I feel like the house in the middle is sinking in this picture.  Look at the one on the left!  Great detail!

We decided to take the little train tour around town. It was only 25 minutes and we were hoping for some shade and a breeze.  Ahhh yup, nope.

The Musee Hansi is an art museum, but I liked the art on the outside!

Saint Martin's church in Colmar began in 1234 and was completed (gothic style) in 1365.  This was my view of the transept.

Pink on an even brighter pink.

More half timbers along the river.

So many colors!

La Lauch river in Colmar.

Family selfie (sort of) on the train tour of Colmar.

Cooooooool. Maison Pfister, built in 1537 and restored in the 1800s by the Pfister family.

The iconic House of Heads.  Built in 1609, there are 106 heads on the façade of this home!  I was a bit disappointed as I've seen pictures of this place with many flower blooms in the window boxes.  But none today for us!

Pretty buildings on a pedestrian way in Colmar.

One of my favorite colors of blue!

At the Permanent Market Hall (Marche couvert de Colmar), this statue shows a guy pouring back his wine from a jug.  Yum!  Smart statue!

We went into the market and got a little lunch.  Quiche, salad and wine for me and Todd, and some baguettes for the kids which they got to eat outside on Quai de Poissonnerie.

Eating baguettes on Quai de Poissonnerie at Le Petite Venise.

This section of Colmar is probably the most famous for it's colorful buildings along the river.

Hmmm.  Not so sure about the floodplain management situation here.  But I DO love that color blue!

Instagrammed Le Petite Venise area.  Normally I dislike Instagram changing the colors on me (which some of it's filters do, and I feel like it's a dishonest photo) but for this picture, it just lightened it a bit for me.

Fountain Roesselmann by Auguste Bartholdi.  You might know Bartholdi by another famous sculpture work he did, The Statue of Liberty.  He was from Colmar.

The portal to the church of the Order of St. Jean of Jerusalem.  Although the church itself is much newer, this portal has been here since 1268.

More half timber homes with functioning shutters.

I liked the addition of the yellow here, but they totally missed a portion to make it even and my OCD is causing me to tick over this!

One of the reasons you go to Colmar in the summer is for all of the flowers that are out.  So beautiful!

No worries.  Our streak of hitting up an Irish pub in some random (non Irish) European city still stands.  And it wouldn't be Europe if Phil Collins wasn't playing!  "Take a look at me now...."

MIGHT have been a nice happy hour.  It was so hot out, we didn't have much choice but to take frequent breaks in the shade. 

Blue on blue!

There's so much going on here, I'm not even sure where to begin.

The Maison Pfister again, but this time you can see all of it!

Todd and the kids wandering the streets of Colmar.

Not only are the half timbers and flowers beautiful, but I love the signs over the buildings.  (Ummm, not the tabac one...)

Red, brown, yellow, blue, orange and green.  And a slight bit of pink on the right.

The kids were hot and begging for ice cream.  I found the MOST AMAZING ice cream I may have ever had in my entire life.  Lavender.  It was out of this world.

The flower boxes were something else!

Sweaty spaghetti!  In the perfect shape of the backpack.

For the late afternoon, we decided to trek down to Eguisheim.  This area of France is known for it's many vineyards.  Look for the castle ruins high up on the mountains!  (And the reflection of my iPhone in the window...)

As if it wasn't even possible, Eguisheim was probably even prettier than Colmar!  They have won numerous awards for having some of the most beautiful blooms in Europe, and even won the Entente Florale Europe competition in 2006.

One of the most beautiful spots of our entire trip on the Rue du Rampart, Eguisheim.

Me and my little buddy (he's the man!) in Eguisheim.

Colorful buildings and TONS of flowers in Eguisheim.  But wait.  Is that a blue AND purple house on the right!?!  (Faints...)

It's just overwhelming to my senses.  Oh hello up there!  I didn't see your cute little self peeking at me from your window!

A delicate flower among the flowers.

I swear this child does not know how to make a normal face ha ha.  She thought these flower holders were super funny!

Eguisheim is an interesting town.  It's round, and has two walled layers that surround it.  People have since built on the walls, but you can walk between them.  This is where all of the most beautiful homes are.

I love balconies and half timber!

Walking into the more downtown area of Eguisheim.

One of my FAVORITE things about this region is the legend of the western white stork (or, La Cigogne in French).  Now, the folks around here LOVE the storks.  They sell the stork image on so many things, from keychains to oven mitts.  But as recently as the 1970s, there were fewer than 10 mating pairs of these birds in this region.  But thanks to efforts by conservation groups, there are more than 600 couples today! They can fly as far as 15,000 km away on their annual migration to warmth, with many of them going to Africa. If a stork family builds a nest on your roof, it's said to bring good luck to your family!  (Here though, we see one on the roof of the church).  And they are creatures of habit... returning to the same nest for their entire lives.

What?  It's hot, you say?  You say that we should stop yet again for some cold drinks?  Ok. Thanks, Grant!

We had dinner at this fantastic little restaurant (Caveau du Heuhaus) in Eguisheim and Natalie and I tried escargot for the first time!  (Note: Natalie dislikes grilled cheese and hot dogs, but eats escargot!)

Not a real stork, but pretty nonetheless.  Maybe you can get a smidgen of luck by putting fake storks in your window??

Blue half timbers make my heart swell.

We tooled around Eguisheim after dinner to walk off a bit of our meal... and what did we see?  Someone's pet chicken.  On a leash.  But don't worry... he has food and water.

 

The sun was starting to set in Eguisheim, so we headed back to the car.  LOVED the little paper lanterns by this flowery house!

 

All the colors!

St. Leon Square. I'm pretty sure this church roof would be incredible if they just put a little TLC into it!  It was built in the late 1800s and dedicated to Pope Leo IX, who was born nearby in Eguisheim in the year 1002.

Black and yellow, black and yellow.  I love these crazy flowers!

Bright and early (orrrr, not...) on day two in the region, we traveled up to the Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg. 

As we parked the car, I spotted a lizard! WHAT!? I didn't know they roamed these parts!  (He's on the left side of the rock if you can't see him.)

The Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg is thought to have been built in the 1100s, up on one of the Vosges Mountains.  It was abandoned after 1633 (the Thirty Years War, aka: Battle of the Catholics vs. the Protestants) and nearly burnt to the ground by Swedish troops.  I found this hysterically funny... the Swedes?  One usually does not think of the Swedes as a power house!

Remember at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna we saw something like this?  A woman dressed of the Middle Ages shouts down to all of us (in French, of course, so I have no idea what she was saying!)

VERY cool.  This is where they stored their cannon balls!  (Concrete of course, and not iron).

Raise the bridge!  Raise the bridge!  The enemy is coming!

Natalie and Daddy inside of Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg.

The castle itself was completely renovated between 1900-1908 by Kaiser Wilhelm II.  Why Kaiser Wilhelm, you ask?  Because isn't he from Germany?  Yes but this part of France has gone back and forth between the hands of France and Germany.  After the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871, this section of France actually belonged to Germany.  It switched hands again, this time back to France after the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.

The pretty staircase above was recreated during the renovations (it's in the tower looking structure on the left).

Natalie:  "Mommy, pretend I'm making some dinner here in the kitchen!"

Todd:  "Pretend I'm pouring myself a glass of wine!"

This poor guy.  Seriously, being tall sucks!  It's not like he can help it!  He just doesn't fit in Europe!

Although not all re-creation, a lot of what we saw in the castle was recreated based on items they found in the rubble ruins of the castle.  The dining room reminded me of something right out of Game of Thrones!

This was one of my favorite pieces.  It's a ceramic fireplace, and we have one in our house, although ours is not as beautiful as this.  You put the wood in and start a fire, and it heats the room quicker and holds on to the heat longer because of the ceramic.  This too is a re-creation, but you'll read more about it below.

Todd got an audio guide and told us all about it.

Dragons were the symbols of the Pagan gods to remind them of the Christianization of the Alsace region.

State rooms of the more royal and wealthy were up high with south facing views.

And what amazing views they were!

This was facing a bit more southeast over the valley.

And this was facing more to the east.

Panorama from the South Tower.

Grant was so cute.  Every window he came to, he pretended he was shooting arrows at the bad guys!

The end of the entire tour was super neato.  When they first began to excavate the area, they found literally tens of thousands of pieces of various objects in the rubble, dating from the 12th-17th centuries.  It ranged from tools to kitchen utensils to ceramic heaters.  Like a puzzle, from this they were able to recreate the objects that were in the castle during the various centuries.  Here is an example of how they recreated the fantastic ceramic fireplace you read about above!  They found a chunk of ceramic and filled in the blanks from there!

The kids thought it would be funny to switch gender roles for a minute.  They're so cute!

Three Bailey's and a tower.

Since we are in a very, very big wine region of France, we felt the need to stop at ONE wine cellar for some wine tasting while we were here.  We picked Paul Blanck based on some good online reviews and it didn't disappoint. 

Although we didn't get any selfies at the fantastic Paul Blanck wine cellar, we were thankful for the tasty wine and the fact that it was, indeed, cool in their wine cellar.  And we came home with four bottles of wine!

We spotted many vineyards on our drive toward home.  We decided to stop into Kaysersberg to check it out and get some dinner.

Pretty downtown Kaysersberg, France.

These towns are just full of flowers and color.  Kaysersberg is the birthplace of Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1952. 

Having another round of cold beverages at the Caveau du Schlossberg in Kaysersberg, France.  Man, it was hot!

 

The children asked if they could go play under the trees in Kaysersberg.  Of course you can.

It was already late in the day so we didn't get to see nearly as much of Kaysersberg as I wanted to.  And admittedly, it was just so hot.  We normally aren't ones for wimping out and just resting, but it was oppressive.

A storm blew up over the mountains behind us but sadly did not bring us any rain to cool us all down.

Make it stop. This was at 5 pm!

Heading back to Colmar, I just liked this little place on the side of the hill.  It looks like a tiny castle!

A beautiful, but very, very sweaty evening in Colmar.

For some reason, on Sunday, I was thrilled with the prospect of being in an air conditioned car for half of the day.  On our way out of Colmar, heading toward Strasbourg, we saw Lady Liberty! 

Sorry.  We were in the car, so all you get of her face is a picture through the lines of my rear window defroster.

We parked next to the Barrage Vauban - a 17th century bridge and weir system (although now it's just a bridge).

You can either walk through the Barrage Vauban, or you can go upstairs and walk across it.  The views of Petit France are very cool from up here.  You can also see the great Cathedral Notre Dame de Strasbourg (Or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg) in the distance.

The cathedral towers over everything in the city.

If we had more time, I would have liked to have done a boat tour of both Colmar and Strasbourg.  Next time!

Looking down the Ill River in Strasbourg.

Strasbourg, much like many other cities and towns in this region is full of half timbers.  Let's stop for some lunch, shall we?

Hey. I'm not driving home!

They're kind of hard to see in this picture, but I liked the little grapes on the criss-cross bars that are in front of the windows.

Ahh Strasbourg.  We hardly knew ye! 

The Pont St. Thomas bridge has cool views of the lock and dam system.

Pretty Strasbourg buildings on the Ill River.

Our one and only stop in Strasbourg HAD to be the amazing Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg.  Construction started in 1015 (!!) and was completed in 1439.  At 142 meters (466 feet), it was the tallest building in the world (whoa!) for well over 200 years between 1647 to 1874.  It's still the tallest existing structure that was built in the Middle Ages.

I liked this building on the Place de la Cathedral. 

The square was bustling with people on a hot summer day.

The west façade is enormous and features thousands of sculptures.

The inside of Strasbourg Cathedral.

The Strasbourg Cathedral organ, with amazing detail, from 1385.

The Chancel and alter area.  Although most of the stained glass in this church is from the 12th-14th centuries (eek!), this piece is from the 1950s.  It had to be replaced after it was destroyed in WWII.

The Nave of the Strasbourg Cathedral, with the Rose Window

The Astronomical Clock is one of the highlights.  We happened to be there at 2 pm when it went off.  It's not ANYTHING like the midday fun, where at 12:30 pm, the parts come alive, moving and ringing bells.  However, to the left of the clock (that is in the middle), you can see an angel there who rang a small bell for us, twice to indicate it was 2 pm.  This enormous piece gives the time, the phases of the moon, the date (as well as important Church dates), the day of the week, the position of the planets, and even the signs of the Zodiac!

More pictures of the Cathedral Square in Strasbourg. I like the greenery covered hotel!

Random painting on the side of a half timber.  Cops are sleeping on the job and this man has wedged himself between the supports above!  I'm not sure what he's trying to do though, break in?

If we had more time, we probably would have checked out the Church of St. Thomas.  There's an organ from 1741 that Mozart played in here!

Looking back to the east along the Ill River.

That turquoise blue is something else!  I'll take 6, please!

Finally time to head home, and one more time across the Barrage Vauban.

Not cool cars on the A8.  NOT COOL.  To quote Todd, "We weren't even going fast when we got that!"  Poor George Jetta.

Oh! I almost forgot!  On the ride home, we crossed the Kocher Viaduct!  Since we were on top of it, I couldn't get a good picture, but this is what it looks like from afar.  It's on the A6 and is the highest viaduct in Germany, and before the Millau Viaduct was built in France in 2004, it was the bridge with the highest pillars in the world!  It sits up 185 meters in the air. (Picture taken from Wikipedia, by Bernd Haynold).

Until next time, Alsace Region!