Colmar and Wine-Tasting in Alsace

Yesterday we took our second IES weekend outing, this time to Colmar, a city about 45 minutes west of Freiburg in the Alsace region of France. Upon arriving by bus, we got a tour of the city. In the process I learned about Alsace, which has had an interesting history, having switched between French and German possession a few times. The people of Alsace, especially the older generation, speak in a distinct French dialect that adds in some German words and flavor. I got the impression they think themselves a bit distinct from the rest of France, if only because the rest of France has at times looked down on their peculiar dialect. The tour guide pointed out lots of shop signs made by an Alsatian artist, and he described how every sign he made not only uses the French colors (blue, red, and white) but also depicts something distinctly Alsatian, like a traditional costume, for example. You can see the women in the sign below is wearing such a costume and also the French colors in her clothing:

The old city is beautiful, with lots of half-timber houses painted in wonderful colors, cobblestone streets, old Dominican cathedrals, and delicious-looking French bakeries and patisseries. There were at least two street musicians playing the accordion, which lent a suitable and also cheesy French air to the whole place. It was also a new experience not knowing the language being spoken around me. I usually ended up panicking responding in both German and English when shopkeepers would say "merci" or "au revoir," even though I know a few basic French words. Here are a few pictures from walking around:

A typical street in the old part of Colmar

St. Martin's Church

This church had a big stork nest on its roof. Alsace's symbol is the stork, because they represent faith and happiness and also are said to bear children. To keep storks in the region, the Alsatians have been good about giving them good places to nest and also, because frogs are getting scarce, importing frozen frogs for them to eat. Some of the storks like it so much in Alsace that they stay there through the winter.

Little Venice district

We had lunch at a place called...Flunch. It was a cafeteria-style almost fast food restaurant, but it had a cheap buffet option, so we made the most of a hot lunch. We had two hours to walk around by ourselves, so we went into St. Martin's church and then got some coffee (cappucinno, probably some of the best I've ever had). The museums were all closed from 12-2, right when we had free time, so we didn't get to see the famous Isenheim Altarpiece.

After having an opportunity to walk around the city ourselves, we drove to Eguisheim, the home of Wolfberger winery. We got a brief tour of the winery but it was mainly useless except to see the giant barrels they use. Then we got to taste the wine. And by taste it I mean drink it. They gave us this almond cake called Gugelhopf, and then a lady walked out and poured us glasses from four different types of white wine, a sparkling wine, riesling, pinot gris, and a spiced wine called gewürztraminer (they are best-known for white wine in this region). No one told us a thing about what to look for or how to taste the wine...no fancy glass swirling or anything, so it basically just ended up being all of us drinking different glasses of wine. It wasn't exactly the educational experience I expected, but it was fun nonetheless.

We drove back to Freiburg, where I went out with some people to dinner and then walked around a lot with them, ending up in a bar but going home early because of the long day. I took some pictures of the Münster at night, however, since it was lit up and the moon was perfectly positioned:
Sadly, they are restoring the steeple, and will be working on it for the next five years, so the scaffolding will not be gone in my time in Freiburg. Even so, it is an impressive building.