We need food! ….Starting with breakfast.
Dale and Dave walked to our local épicerie (there’s no
boulangerie in our small town) but found it closed until next week for
vacation. They then drove 2 miles to the next town to find us breakfast croissants
at the Sainte Croix-en-Plaine Boulangerie.
Dale also found a caramel éclair which he shared with us as
well. That happens when your boulangère is also a patisserie (think pastry) Croissants and coffee and we're ready to head out.
The plan for the day is to drive to Colmar, a large town
just 10 minutes from here, visit the old city center and then head to one of
its large grocery stores (LeClerc, SuperU, or HyperU) to stock up on groceries.
Colmar “fête le printemps” (celebrates spring) with an
Easter market that goes from Easter till the end of April. We’re hoping to join
in on this last week of the fest. Houses are decorated in bunnies, Easter eggs, chickens and more. Besides the wooden stalls of the dealers,
highly decorated in eggs, bunnies, and other Easter symbols, there are
activities at the museums, music concerts almost daily, and other
entertainments – including some wine-tasting.
Figure 1 Easter Market
We found street parking (handicapped) just outside the
city-center and made our way to the first stop: the Office de Tourisme.
Figure 2 Leaving the Tourist Office
Map in hand, we set out on the self-guided tour of the old
city center before strolling the Easter Market.
“La Maison des Têtes”
(The House of Heads) is quite an amazing house as you can see with 105 carved
heads covering the outside.
Built in 1609 as a private house, it is best known for
being the seat of the wine growers of Alsace. The sculpture of an Alsatian
cooper on the very top (added in 1902 by Bartholdi) is a reminder of this house’s
former wine connections.
Figure 3 Sign commemorating the wine exchange & Statue
of the cooper (barrel maker)
Very noticeable at this time of the year are the pollarded
trees. This style of pruning keeps trees a more manageable size and helps
create a larger shaded canopy. But they sure look dead in spring.
Small plaques embedded in the sidewalks act as guides to the
“centre ville” walking tour. Notice the Statue of Liberty design.
Frédéric Bartholdi, the designer of our most famous statue,
is possibly the most well-known Colmar native. His home is now a museum dedicated
to displaying his work as well as family furnishings.
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Figure 4 Courtyard of the Bartholdi Museum
The Collegiale of St Martin is the second largest gothic
church in this part of France after the Strasbourg Cathedral. It sits
impressively smack dab in the center of the old city. It is the third church
constructed on this site and took more than 130 years to build. Completed
around 1365, as can be expected, this church experienced fire and the ravages
of the French Revolution. The colors in the roofing tiles remind me of buildings
in Burgundy. As with many Gothic cathedrals, the inside is quite dark with some
treasured religious art works proudly displayed.
Figure 5 Notice the colored tiles on the roof of the Collegiale
All around the collegiale an Easter market has been set up.
Small wooden shacks presented their wares of locally made foods, wines, snacks,
candy, toys…you name it. What made this market so special were the Easter eggs,
bunnies, chickens and floral decorations that covered these wagons. In fact, all
of the old city center was decked out in Easter décor that just made you smile
and think “Happy Spring”.
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| Rides for the kids |
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| One of the market stalls decorated for Easter |
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| Easter market stalls |
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| Behind the bunny are live chickens called "poulets de soie" - silk chickens |
But we couldn’t linger – we still had major grocery shopping
to do. We chose LeClerc, reminiscent of a Costco or Walmart superstore, but
with an organization we didn’t know. We wandered separately and together
scouring the store for items on our grocery list.
Strawberries are in
season and delicious. Some items we never found and had to give up. Of course, the
boys had to visit the wine aisles and stock up a bit. Wine seems to evaporate
around here. And, of course, we forgot to bring our French shopping bags (heavy
duty and plasticized) because they were in the trunk of our car at home. (We
use them for everything!) So we had to buy new ones. With my scooter in the
back and 5 large grocery bags, the only way to get the last bag in was to put
it between Kim and I in the back seat.
Figure 6 Lynn crowded in the back seat of our car &
Dale chauffeuring us all back home
Back home, groceries put away, it was time for aperos. The
first of many to come in Alsace. Cheers!
Figure 7 Our patio in Logelheim
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