This weekend, we were able to make a quick trip across the border to Alsace, France. We made Strasbourg, only an hour and a half away and just across the border in France, our base.
We got a late start on Friday and drove through some of the thickest fog we have ever seen; we could barely see in front of the car. It followed us all the way to France and didn’t let up. We didn’t arrive until almost dinner time, but luckily our hotel was across the street from a mall with a ton of restaurant choices. We had delicious burgers and watched a movie in the hotel.
When we got up Saturday, the fog was gone thankfully. We drove about 45 minutes south to Colmar, a smaller, preserved medieval town. The town was getting ready for Christmas and decorations were everywhere. The Christmas Market stalls were set up for the market starting in a few weeks.
We had lunch in an outdoor restaurant and even though it was freezing, we had to take our jackets off because the heaters worked so well. We all got hackfleisch, which ended up just being burgers without bread.
We walked around taking pictures of the town and let the kids do some of their Christmas shopping. The town was so beautiful. Sometimes when you visit picturesque towns, you will turn a corner and find the “real town” has ugly parts too where tourists don’t go. We walked and walked and walked the whole town and couldn’t find an ugly corner. There wasn’t much to do besides walking and shopping, but we still had a good time and we definitely will be back.
After Colmar, we had to make a pilgrimage to Cora, France’s version of a Costco. People regularly cross the border from Germany to stock up on wine, cheese, and French delicacies at wholesale prices. We were surprised when we got there to find that they also had clothing stores in the same center. Brooklyn and Matt did some damage in H&M before we made our way into the actual store. We stocked up on wine, chocolates, and advent calendars and checked out all of the food departments. Since we weren’t going straight home, we didn’t get anything perishable but made mental lists for next time.
We had dinner at a ramen restaurant that Ryan picked. He definitely impressed all of the other French diners with his slurping skills.
Sunday, we checked out Strasbourg, even though the fog was back. I would describe Strasbourg as a larger version of Colmar. It’s also charmingly medieval and was made even more cute by the Christmas decorations that were going up
Strasbourg has a huge cathedral, also called Notre Dame. The biggest difference between it and the one in Paris is that it only has one tower. My many Google searches to find out why have not been successful. They started construction on the cathedral in 1015 and it wasn’t finished until almost 1500. They were having services on Sunday so we couldn’t check out the inside but as we walked around the exterior, we could hear the music coming out.
Another “attraction” in Strasbourg is the Pont du Corbeau, mostly because you can take pretty pictures from the bridge of the city.
We walked over to Petite France, which is an almost perfectly preserved medieval neighborhood with all cobblestone streets, half timbered buildings, mills, and canals. It was really pretty but I bet it would have been prettier without the fog and clouds.
I had been hoping for a French Onion soup and had not been successful on Saturday. We walked and searched and finally gave up after looking at about a hundred restaurant boards. Maybe French onion soup isn’t a thing in Alsace? We settled for pizza (surprise, surprise) and then headed home.
One really cool observation we all had, was that even though these towns are literally just across the border from Germany, they are 100% French. As soon as you drive across, you notice the French architecture- even modern buildings with hipped roofs and rounded gables. Everyone speaks French, of course, and the food and wine is thoroughly French. I guess this shouldn’t have surprised me, but I expected it to be France with a “German Flare.” I also unexpectedly loved both places a lot. I thought this would have been a “one and done” trip but now I see us coming back often.
Here are some more pics from our walk through the city:
Links:
Strasbourg Cathedral: https://www.cathedrale-strasbourg.fr
Petite France: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_France,_Strasbourg
Cora: https://www.cora.fr
Gilcrests Abroad 