July 15, 2010

France or Germany?

Today we began our discovery of Alsace, a region on the German border whose ownership has gone back and forth between France and Germany for centuries. Charming villages everywhere boast brightly painted buildings, frescoed exterior walls, and gingerbread tiled roofs.

Colmar feels like we just stepped into a painting, a palette of colors where flowers spill out of baskets and window boxes at every turn. Called “La petite Venise” or “Little Venice,” the city’s canals wind their way alongside cobblestone streets.

The signs hanging outside the restaurants and shops are intricate works of art.

Harrison’s passion for all things medieval led us to the discovery of the castle of Haut-Koenigsburg outside of Colmar . This enormous sixteenth century fortress stands on a high summit overlooking the Vosges mountains and was completely restored under Kaiser Wilhelm in the early 1900’s.