Alsace is one of our favorite areas in France—and not only because Connie’s family has an Alsatian heritage going back to Napoleonic times. When we first visited in 2011, distant relatives, Nicole and Thaddeus, treated us to a tour of the old Lintz stomping grounds. Now we’re looking forward to exploring on our own.
Alsace has been ping-ponged back and forth between Germany and France for almost 400 years, resulting in a cultural blend of French style with a distinctively German feel. Traditionally part of the Holy Roman Empire, Alsace was annexed by France after the Thirty Years War, returned to the Germanic Empire after the Franco-Prussian War, repatriated to France after WW I, occupied by Nazi Germany in WW II and finally returned when the war ended.
It was cold and rainy when we lucked into a free parking space in Colmar on our way to Strasbourg. Our newest “favorite French town” was all decked out for the holidays but even without the decorations, Colmar would be very fattening eye-candy. The nasty weather didn’t seem to bother the Sunday strollers hunched under colorful umbrellas, rosy-cheeked kiddies in tow as they gawked at villages filled with gnomes and toadstools. ’Tis the Season, doncha know? Half-timbered homes were wreathed in garlands and lights, snowflakes and stars, tannenbaum and teddy bears. With so much to see along the curving streets—and no map—we were quickly disoriented. No problem . . every place we went looked wonderful.
As the rain fell harder we noticed the photos were blurred from raindrops on the lens. Weighing discretion against valor, we found our way back to the car and drove on to Strasbourg where Clement, we hoped, would be waiting with the keys to our AirBnB.
