Alsace: Germany meets France
- Larissa Cruz-Jones
- Oct 12, 2023
- 6 min read
With the holidays being over, I wanted to catch up with some blogging. There are still a few articles I want to write about from our time abroad (i.e. trips i didn't get a chance to talk about, our Spain vacation, and our return to the States), and I would like to write about the Alsace province in particular. So here it goes!
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When we took this trip to Europe we initially wanted to visit Germany, since that's where hubby was born. I had envisioned we'd show our daughter the little town of Prien am Chiemsee (or "Prien", as her grandparents call it) and she'd experience it the way her father did as an infant; likewise her father would see it the way his parents did. Alas it wasn't meant to be and we tabled the trip for another time, when Baby G would be old enough to remember and appreciate it they way we would. As a substitute, hubby suggested we'd go somewhere where we could communicate with the locals instead; some place that spoke either French or Spanish. Thus we decided to spend a weekend in the Alsace province of France, where France meets Germany. Although not Germany, it was close enough (with its own unique "German sounding language"... which locals claim is neither French nor German) and therefore sufficient.
Colmar
By this time in our trip, we [especially Baby G and I] had taken many day trips and a few weekend trips. This was our official "special" French family trip, the purpose being to take our time exploring a completely different province and culture of France. Although there were many competitors (Bordeaux being a major one), the idea of visiting a part of France known for its Riesling wines and charming storybook-like villages was too tantalizing to pass up. Just google "must-see French towns" and Colmar (south of Strasbourg), along with other surrounding villages, will definitely be on the list!
Fun Fact: These cute Alsatian villages were a major inspiration for the Disney film Beauty and the Beast (my favorite Disney film).
The plan was for me and Baby G to travel ahead and check-in to the AirBnB, and hubby would meet us the following morning. I knew about fast trains and their efficiency in cross-country travel, but tickets are still a bit pricey; Speed train tickets are actually on par with the air travel tickets! This would mark mine and Baby G's first time on a European fast-train, what would normally be a 6+ hour car drive was only a 3 hour train ride from Paris. Best part? For her first time, Baby G actually did pretty well on the train. She kept saying "choo choo!" over and over again, and "wow!" at seeing us cruise rapidly though the countryside.
We arrived in the afternoon and checked-in to the AirBnB located on the southeast end of the city, near the fish monger's district and petite Venice. Baby G was very excited in her new homely surroundings and jumped on the bed with excitement, rolling around the comforter and snuggling between the pillows. Good first impressions out of the way, we took a walk to get to know the area and found out we were mere steps away from historical Colmar, right along the lovely creek (where boat rides are still possible!). This part of town was originally known for its wine producers and fish markets, where the professional fisherman and boatmen lived in the 1600s [aka. "the fishmongers district"]. Walking through it, you would never have guessed a fire burned down a majority of its houses back in the 1700s. Important renovation work was done in the 1980s to rescue and restore many of the half-timbered houses in this district.
As we were losing daylight fast, I was on the hunt to find and eat the infamous Alsatian cuisines (oh how the Parisians ranted and raved about these dishes!). Problem was, although I knew about some of the foods they served in the region, I didn't know the names of these Alsatian dishes (a common problem with other fellow travelers, I later found out). I could only describe what I knew about the dish [poorly] in French and hope locals knew what I was saying. For example, I wanted to try an "Alsace pizza", but the locals misunderstood and thought I was looking for actual pizza and said there weren't many pizza restaurants nearby. Slightly discouraged at this 'first-world problem' ordeal, I didn't let it break my spirit and continued my journey [my poor tummy starting to rumble and Baby G getting fussy].
Finally, I saw a sign with all sorts of pizza-like dishes (at a bar with no people!), and we were seated at a table. I found out the dish I was looking for was actually called Flammkuechen. With tables filling up at surrounding restaurants and reservations being advised, we sat down and ordered. Flammkuechen for me, and fries with apple juice (and ice cream for dessert) for the baby. As usual, Baby G made a lot of friends at the bar. As we ate the servers would watch from afar, cooing and awing as Baby G showed off her polite table manners, saying 'hello', and 'fries', and 'thank you', and 'bye-bye', when it was time to go. After dinner, we stopped at a bakery for bready treats (of course) and returned to the AirBnB.
The next day, as we waited for daddy to arrive, Baby G and I hustled around town for breakfast. We went back to the historic plaza from the previous night and found a warehouse that hosts the town's daily market -- or the "permanent market hall [terroir]". Breads, cheeses, butchery, bretzals (not pretzels), jams, and every French-German treat you can think of, it was glorious and I didn't know what to try first [coffee, duh]! And this little girl's "German-side" was totally showing as she devoured her morning bretzal.
[Major time skip: Here is where I insert our wanderings around town, playing at nearby parks, window shopping, visiting a few baby clothes shops here and there, looking at cute gift shops... yadda yadda]
... and before I knew it hubby arrived at the train station and was walking towards us. With our family of three once again reunited, we could now officially commence the sightseeing! I gotta' admit, the town itself was lovely and the wine and food were [heavy and] delicious, the actual sight-seeing however is sub-par unless you know exactly what you're looking for. No doubt the touristy things in this town were special and interesting, but it didn't quite grab my attention as much as other French towns did [I mean it is a small village, after all]. This is most likely because the Alsace region is largely famous for its Christmas markets and wine festivals, so we were technically visiting during their "off-season". In fact, an Alsace local mentioned that Christmas time in these parts is ABSOLUTE MAYHEM. Now, there's always a Christmas gift shop opened year round [yes, I did visit this one], but during the actual Christmas and New Year season there are so many visitors that the entire downtown is "way too crowded, and everyone is shoulder to shoulder... you can't even eat at the restaurants" [confessions of the previously mentioned local].
Nonetheless, we found a few curiosities and took many photos; visitors mostly spend their time hopping around the different villages for wine tasting, and perhaps this is why I felt the way I did. We saw:
The "House of Heads", an interesting piece of architecture built in 1609, named for the 106 faces/masks that decorate the building front facade. The "Dominican Church", which was large, pretty and a pinkish baroque style church. The "Pfister House", a pretty renaissance house (1500's) that was restored. The "Tanner's District", because if the fish people need a place a stay then so do the tanners, dammit! And many statues sculpted by none other than Auguste Bartholdi, yes the man who sculpted the Statue of Liberty ("Liberty Lighting the World"), and probably the biggest celebrity [aside from a Voltaire residence, and Jean-Jacques Waltz's adorable art museum] Colmar has to offer. See a nice statue in the plaza? Probably done by this guy!
Above all, what's the first thing we did once hubby got here??? We. Ate. Meat.
Alsatian cuisine is not for the vegan heart. Their food is bready, meaty and deliciously heavy! Foods such as Flammkuechen, Baeckaoffe, Choucroute Garnie, Potato Pancakes, Shiffala, Spaetzle, and not to mention hubby's favorites: Jambonneau Grille, and Cordon Bleu are the local specialties and France's dirty little [heart attack] secret. This is one of those things where I wish I had more pictures, but we ate our dishes just too damn fast. Besides, the pictures don't do the food justice in capturing how big the portions we received actually were. If meat and potatoes with sauerkraut [from the motherland!] are your jam, and you desire to be as stuffed as the pig you're eating, then you'll be in heaven... we were.
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