Colmar

On Sunday the S. O. and I drove the circle-heading south to Freiburg-and then over to Colmar, France. The journey almost ended before it began.

While leaving Stuttgart-we came upon the ever present construction that is on going between the city and the town of Herrenberg. German traffic laws require you to slow down sharply in a construction zone-most times to 60 km/ hr. I had complied with this restriction and was driving in my lane when I heard the loud squeal of wheels as if brakes were being applied behind me. Glanced in my review mirror and saw a car had moved into the left lane-and then realized he had not seen a car already there. I hit the gas and that one move alone saved us from being hit because when the rear car swerved he turned-and you guessed it-he got slammed by another car, We just had escaped it by 1 car length. Between keeping an eye on the traffic in front of me, and hearing the destruction behind me, it was a nerve wracking start to our journey. Once we cleared the construction I stopped and checked the car over. We had in fact been blessed by not being hit by any pieces of car flying. The VW looked as good as ever.

Shaken, but resolved, we got back on the road and pressed onward. As you come to Freiburg-you pass through mountains in the Schwarzwald and there are some really beautiful rock cut outs. The day was glorious-it would have been a great day to be in a convertible. Once you hit Freiburg, the land level out again and then its passage through about 25km of farmland and you arrive at Colmar. The wine capital of Alscace.

Colmar has the distinction of being the last major French town liberated by the Allies in World War II. Apart from Normandy, the areas of France most bitterly defended by the Germans were Alsace and Lorraine. This occurred in part because the Allied surge across France in 1944 was slowed down by logistical difficulties as the Allies reached the easternmost extent of France, but the primary reason for the stout German defenses of these regions is that Alsace and Lorraine were claimed as part of Germany and would be defended as strongly as any other German soil. The battle of the Colmar Pocket was fought here in 1945 in January and February.

Its a very pretty town-it has the nickname of "Little Venice" , since it has some small canals that boats run on to various houses.

And lest anyone think the French are really ingrates-we came across several plaques looking this one:

The town is a modern city surrounding a very old ancient central old town. Many buildings in the old town can trace their roots back to the 14 and 1500's. Both the major church's can.

This is the Dominican Church-first established in 1235:

And the mixture of German and French influence is pretty amazing when you look at the buildings. Most of the tourist places can speak German just as well as they speak French. I had to explain to the SO about how many times in history this little chunk of real estate had changed hands between the French and the Germans.