Alsace: Underwhelming Colmar

We used Colmar, even more provincial than I pegged it to be, as a base for visiting the La Route des Vins d'Alsace (Alsace Wine Route). A smaller, paler version of Strasbourg, lacking the charm of the smaller towns on the wine route, it is otherwise skippable. I could have used more time exploring La Route des Vins d'Alsace, paralleling the Rhine River, except the bus schedule didn't agree between the tourist office, websites, and bus stop.

For the train from Strasbourg to Colmar we plotted to secure facing window seats by hopping into the first car behind the engine. The south side of the Strasbourg train station has been fitted with a plastic skin/bubble which stores thermal energy yet still reveals the old exterior. Neat. Our plan is successful. We roll down the Rhine River Valley immersed in the scenery.










Colmar has a beautiful Art Nouveau train station, and we passed a striking water tower while walking to our hotel.






Colmar is the birth place of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, designer of the Statue of Liberty. There is a museum.


The Marche Couvert (Covered Market).


The Colmar Old Town has an area called Petite Venice, filled with tourists, two geese, and one night heron.








The evening walk to the "closed" cathedral and Petite Venice was uneventful.