come with me: Rick Steves Loves Colmar Too!

If you know me, you know that I have an intense love for Rick Steves, the wow-those-are-large-glasses host of a European travel show on PBS. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, but everytime I channelsurf past my local PBS affiliate and discover an episode of Rick Steves' Europe, I'm obligated to watch. I guess you could call this show and my 2002 WAM trip my personal travel bugs. They bit, and I've been dreaming of galavanting around Europe ever since. Anyway, one of Rick's favorite places in France is a town called Colmar, in the Alsace region and close enough to Nancy to deserve a day trip. Colmar is famous for being the most adorable of all Alsatian towns, and I can't disagree yet. Since its Christmas market season, my friend Hannah and I decided that Colmar was a must. Unfortunately, we picked the coldest day of the year to go.

Our adventure started on the TER Alsace from Nancy to Colmar. Unknowingly, we sat in a really cold train car. As the train rolled into Lunéville, my former haunt, the windows began to ice over. A conductor came in and told everyone to move--the heat was broken in that car (we were wondering why we could see our breath). Shortly, we were sitting in a warm, sunlit car en route to Colmar, passing through mountainous areas of Lorraine and Alsace and commenting on how Christmasy everything looked (it snowed the night before).

In short, Colmar was amazing! And cold! Upon arrival, it was -7ºC/19ºF (without wind chill) and lightly snowing. That was the high temperature. Luckily, the cold could not freeze our spirits. We wandered around the town, from market to market. I ate a heck of a lot of good food: a white sausage with ketchup (my bratwurst substitute), chocolate covered strawberries, tarte flambée (thin crust with crème fraîche, bacon, onions and cheese), free Christmas cookies and nuts, hot orange juice with honey and spices, and vin chaud (the first time I'd ever sampled hot white wine...usually its made from red). We met and took pictures with St. Nicolas, who was wandering around one of the markets for children (and children at heart). He gave us the free nuts. We ended our day at a neighborhood of Colmar called La Petite Venise (Little Venice), which is located right on the canal, with brightly-colored houses. When we got too cold, we would quickly pop into a shop to browse and reheat.

On the way back home, we stopped briefly in Strasbourg and ate a little more food at the Christmas market in front of the train station. On the train, we heard a guy say that it was -14ºC/7ºF. I don't care who you are...that's cold. Also, on the train ride back, I remembered that my Polish professor at UWM, upon hearing that I would be in the Lorraine, told me that I must visit Colmar. Thanks Pan Mikoś!!