All in for the Alsace

Today was a big travel day - we drove a few hours to the Alsace, a region in northeastern France that has alternated between German and French control over the centuries and incorporates a mixture of those cultures.  Our home base for the next two days is the city of Colmar - with its beautiful half timbered buildings and “little Venice” canals. 

I did some research tonight, and I guess historically the colors of the house had meaning, though this has fallen away over the years:

* blue for the woodworking trades (carpenters, joiners)

* red for iron related trades (blacksmiths, iron workers)

* yellow for the bread trades (bakers, pastry chefs)

* green for the leather and fabric trades ( tanners, saddlers, weavers)

* beige for the stone trades (masons, stonemasons, roofers, plasterers)

Another thing that Colmar is famous for are its storks - and Janka was able to locate a nest for us on top of a cathedral.  Hopefully it isn’t delivering any babies to us tonight.  

We did hit a little rain during our Colmar orientation and hung out under an awning looking at French eyeglasses for a while. 

And Kat tried to balance out this tilted house

 But then we went for a little Alsatian wine and charcuterie - so who cares about a little rain?

More tomorrow from the Alsace and Colmar - inspiration for Howls Moving Castle, Beaut and the Beast and I’m sure many other stories and films since it’s so picturesque- but I’ll close with some bears we saw in a window for my mother-in-law who loves them - and a cute bunny sign on a local shop.