In Colmar, France

The second day after the Polterabend we went with Eny’s mom, Gudrun, to Colmar, France. It is about an hour drive from Lörrach, where we stayed with Sven and Eny.

Colmar is a city with many buildings which are many years old. The city is in a region of France called Alsace. This region has a very interesting history. The people in this area were an independent state for some time, though in more recent history they have moved between being a part of France and a part of Germany several times, especially during the two World Wars. So these areas have a mixture of both French and German culture, though we are told that the rest of France does not consider the people of this region as really being French, and the Germans don't consider them as being really German. We found the combined mixture of the two cultures to be quite nice.

This one here says it was originally built in 1383.

Colmar is a very quaint, picturesque, and beautiful town to walk around in. There is a section called Little Venice, because of some canals.

While here we learned that it is famous for having storks. On top of one of the churches there is a big stork nest with several storks in it. So it ended up being perfect for us to be here while Rebecca is pregnant. We even purchased a French baby toy called a dou-dou, which we had read about in a book about an American woman having a baby in France. The dou-dou we picked is a stork! Eny, who is a midwife, later told us that sometimes when a labor is going on awhile, they tell the parents to put sugar out on the window to attract the stork to come more quickly.

Stuffed Storks on the side of a building

Stork Nest on top of a church building

Church that had the stork nest

Fake stork nest above the door

Once in the city, I was quite hungry and wanted to get a little snack from a bakery with both French and German foods. I got a sandwich and a dessert here. There were many choices that looked quite good.

This city was very enjoyable and relaxing to walk around. The beauty and quaint atmosphere made it one of Rebecca's favorite parts of our trip.

Where's Ilya? Can you see him?

Before leaving, we stopped at a creperie where we enjoyed some delicious dinner crepes and a dessert crepe. They had outside seating where the atmosphere was very nice, and was added to by a man playing an accordion not too far off.

Rebecca in front of the creperie

Ilya at lunch

Gudrun and Rebecca at lunch

We had a wonderfully peaceful day in Colmar to both of our delights.

After Colmar we met up with Sven and Eny, and a few others for dancing lessons they were doing to prepare for their wedding dance. Then we ended the night with some pizza at an Italian restaurant.

Michele and Thomas (Friends of SvEny's and now our friends too!)

Sven and Eny