April 16, 2026 La
maison charmante near Colmar
France is calling us again. We don’t know how many more
trips we will be able to make as old age is starting to set in – especially for
Lynn. More on that in a later post. We’ve rented a house which books itself as a
“charming house near Colmar” in Alsace, France. That will be our home from
April 22-June 26.
Alsace is the eastern-most province of France. It is a mix
of French and Germanic names, buildings, and customs, reflecting it’s history
of passing from France to Germany and back again a number of times depending on
the power and reach of their respective governments. Dave and I have visited
this area before - a really long time ago when we lived near Stuttgart Germany. Alsace borders the Rhine River on the east and once crossed,
one is in the Black Forest of Germany. To the southeast is Basel Switzerland.
Alsace is shaped by its geography – long and narrow - due to the Vosges mountains to
the west, the Rhine River (now the border between Germany and France) to the
east with a relatively flat plain between the two.
Of course, it’s a wine growing region specializing in white
wines. Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris & Muscat are most frequently
grown. Wine from Alsace used to be sweet, like its German counterpart. But
today, Alsatian wines are dry and minerally. Check out this overview of the
wines of Alsace: https://www.grapecollective.com/alsace-where-french-and-german-cultures-converge/
Our guestbook is
quite full to our happy delight. My brother Dale and wife Kim will travel with
us from Detroit to Paris where we will pick up our leased car, then drive the
160 miles to our house. Dave is reading travel guides, and I’ve researched the most important thing - where to buy groceries on Thursday morning.
We’re hoping France will let us in and we know it will be wonderful
to be (mostly) unplugged. Of course, we’ll have
to see what airports are like and whether new fees will arise due to the
oil crisis. We'll keep you posted.
We hope you will come along with us as we discover Alsace. Breakfast
croissants, here we come!
