A Day in Colmar, France


The Fishmonger's District, Colmar



This day began with pouring rain. I headed into Selestat, a short drive from Orschwiller, to the train station and took a short ride to the city of Colmar. By the time I got there the rain had subsided for the most part.

Colmar was founded in the 9th century and is famous for its exceedingly picturesque old town. I had fun wandering the lanes of the old town. It was charming and cute and rather touristy. I must have been really hungry because I took a lot of photos of food. I took the short boat ride down the river in the Little Venice section of the city. This was fun and you get to go under really low bridges where the clearance requires you to duck down into the boat or risk having your head smashed in.

Then I went in search of a place to eat a Tarte Flambee, which is the Alsatian version of pizza. Now, as a solo traveler I've noticed in some restaurants, in certain parts of the world, that having to seat one person seems to disturb the waitstaff. Well, Colmar gets the prize for interesting waitstaff behavior. I wanted to eat at a place on the river but the waitress wouldn't even give me a menu at the first place I tried. They wouldn't seat me at the second place I tried even though I was trying to sit at the family style seating, in hopes of meeting interesting fellow travelers. Then I walked around to a less busy area and saw other people eating by themselves outside and enjoying the afternoon just like I wanted to. That's the place I went. And there I had a marvelous Tarte Flambee Forestiere and then a lovely cup of tea.

Late in the afternoon I returned to Orschwiller during a thunderstorm. There I alternated between phone calls with colleagues from my day job, texting with a friend, and having to run down the street and out into the vineyards because the sky kept doing spectacular things. I can only imagine what the residents of the area thought after I ran down the street, camera in hand, then into the adjoining vineyard for the third time that evening.



The Pfister House. Built in the mid-1500's.



St. Martin Church. 13th century. That little dark blob on the top right of the church roof is a white stork nest with the storks in residence.


The Fishmonger's District, Colmar


Various forms of yumminess.


Nougat and Caramel


Boulangerie.


This was second breakfast.


Macaron. One of the few baked goods I actually don't like. They are pretty though.


Charcuterie


Sausages!


Pretzels!


More sausages!


Not all store windows in Colmar are full of food. Sometimes they are just full of magical, eclectic stuff.


Store front.



Detail of store front.


Building details.


Wood frame construction detail.


Wood frame construction with interesting decorations.


Wood frame construction with interesting decorations. If you are walking through the fishmonger's district I guess there should be fish.


Little Venice


Little Venice


Out on the canal in a flat bottomed boat.


Going under one of the many bridges over the canal.


Little Venice from the canal.


The well deserved tarte flambee forestiere (means has mushrooms on it). I ate every crumb.



There is a modern section of Colmar. Here I am walking through the Place du Champs de Mars.



Carousel in the Place du Champs de Mars.



I didn't have time to explore Selestat, which was my original destination and I never actually went into the old town. Go figure. This is the water tower built in 1906.


Back in Orschwiller the sky starts to do interesting things after a thunderstorm.


The vineyards of Orschwiller and the end bits of a double rainbow.


Orschwiller

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