Day Thirty Four: Marckolsheim to Colmar and back: Grampies' idea of a day off.: (Year 34: 2001)

October 24, 2017

Flash Back to 2001:

Our older obsessions carried on in 2001, with farming, running, and our kids being right up there. The kids of course are the oldest obsession. This song expresses how we felt, watching them all mature:

Our four pride and joy kids, and two of their grandparents.

Steve blows by Dodie and takes the lead. But can he keep it?

In 2001 production and sales at craft fairs was still a major preoccupation for us.

Steve was a long way in time and in mind from wearing the fast lycra of a cyclist. Actually, he never did get into those kind of clothes.

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Fast Forward to 2017, France:

Dodie spotted the fact that just a little ways down the Rhine-Rhone canal (that took us to Marckolsheim) there is an intersection with the Colmar canal, and that had a path that could take us to Colmar. These canal paths are like interstates to us, and where there is one we feel we really have access to what is on the other end. We knew we wanted to visit fabulous Colmar, so we decided to stay put in Marckolsheim and head over there, unloaded.

The signage turned out to be perfect, and the path was too. We learned from trailside panels that actually the Rhine-Rhone canal had been planned to go to Colmar, but the army insisted it needed it to go south, to Neuf Brisach. Even so, the Colmar canal got put in at a later date. We were also not the first to think of living at Marckholsheim and going in to Colmar for fun. In the late 1800's there was a regular little steam train that took people in to the market in Colmar. The Colmar canal itself was still going great guns in 1930, and was only decommissioned in 1997.

Once again, riding by the canal was a fine autumn activity, with crisp air and leaves crunching under the wheels. There were ducks and a few swans to looks at. The swans were not quite as elegant and polite as most, as you can see from the photo of me getting mooned by one:

The canal path arrived at Colmar alright, but it is not as if it dumped you directly into a café in the old town. Rather it unceremoniously dumped you on the outskirts, more like by a LeClerc (Walmart equivalent). We dropped whatever mental pebbles we could as we made our way toward the centre. One big help was passing Camping de l'Ill, which is where we had stayed when here several years ago. We know that literally every beautiful old town is ringed by ugly modern development, but it is always a little hard to take. But then you pass that "pedestrian zone" sign and you are pretty much in paradise until you have to leave.

Colmar is just the same, although the pedestrian zone is slightly vague, with cars trundling around in some mysterious intermixing of where they are permitted and not.

The old town has several rather than a single focal point, but I guess I could say we managed to land ourselves in the "centre" because we arrived at the point where the little green tourist trains leave from. We decided to give the train a try as a way to get oriented before touring around on our own. To do this we put our faith in our two Abus chains, plus Dodie's Abus café lock. As it happened, our bikes were not disturbed in the slightest.

The tourist train may not have actually been the best. To start, four large and loud ladies seated ahead of us kept talking and laughing, and we could not hear the taped commentary, though Dodie finally yelled at them. Next, the train seemed to spin around the blocks in widening circles and left even Dodie confused about where we had been.

A rare shot of Steve. Here he is on the Green Train

One thing we did see from the train were two statues in squares, made by Bertholdi. Bertholdi was born in Colmar. He is the one who designed the Statue of Liberty (it was then built by Eiffel).

Once off the train we decided that we better find lunch sooner than later. Rather than wander about deciding which of many restaurants might be best, we basically chose the first one we saw. That was really a lucky move, because we were already in a lovely square, the outdoor seating was spacious, and we could park the bikes in sight. I made good on my plan to order schnitzel, and Dodie went for a sort of pot roast. The dishes came out very promptly, though inside the restaurant was very crowded, by what looked like a group tour. Both dishes were very good, and we especially like the accompanying vegetables, fries, and salads.

Actually the chocolate shop had a complete selection of "harvest" chocolates

At a gift shop - storks are common and very popular here

Maybe we did not quite realize that we might have been a little tired, or confused, but with the good food and the chance to look around, things snapped into focus.

What we saw with this focus was a place of real beauty, with Alsatian style buildings all about, flowers, water, and a great selection of shops. Among those shops, of course, were really a lot of patisseries, complemented by biscuiteries, a shop with luscious preserved fruits, and many shops with nougat - many with giant chunks or pies, and most from Montelimar.

But what Dodie wanted, and something she had seen from the train, was chocolate from one of chocolateries. The one she had spotted specifically was called "Choco en Tetes". The thing we were after was prominently displayed in the front window: Chataignes d'Alsace. These were huge chocolate creations made to resemble chestnuts. They had rough milk or dark chocolate outside, followed by a layer of green marzipan. Inside that was a smooth and hard chocolate shell, concealing chestnut truffle cream. Each part of this was instantly recognizable as top quality. These people were not fooling around.

By the way in case you thought chestnut was "marron" you are partially right. Marron refers really to the inedible different species "horse chestnut", but chataignes have two varieties, and the larger one is also "marron". Too bad the French could not be more specific on this critical issue!

Buoyed by the food and the chataignes, we set off diagonally across the old town, to make our way to the 'Little Venice" section. With a map in front of us, we began to make sense of where the train had taken us. The map has forty three points of interest, but we wisely were only trying to spot true landmarks, like the cathedral or the covered market.

Once you have it figured, things are of course easy to find, but until then it can be rough. So we were standing 25 metres from the Little Venice bridge viewpoint, where the train had slowed for all to have a look, and now we could not spot it. We turned on the GPS - oh!

In fact Little Venice refers to a very short stretch of the Lauch River as it flows through a corner of Colmar. The river is narrow and is lined, especially on one side, by very nicely decorated houses. There are two little bridges, and in fact the best photos will come from the "other" bridge - by the covered market - and not the one used by the little train. Anyway, you should find here photos from both bridges and in all kinds of directions.

The covered market is on the left. People seated by the water have bought takeout from inside

The covered market was something special also. Unlike in Netherlands where they have lots of cheese but it all seems to be the same kind, here were stalls with dozens, or hundreds of varieties. I took some photos at one and looked over at the seller to see if there might be any objections. But the lady appeared totally bored and inattentive. Yikes, I was thinking, does she have such a mastery of knowledge of all these types that now she can just sit there bored?

The market also had a few bakeries, no doubt to fill in any lack from there only being one per block outside. The noted the éclairs, just for fun, but what really seemed on need of buying was the nice looking Linzer Torte. Dodie had sent me in without any money, to prevent any impulse purchases, so now I had to go back out and get some. Linzer Torte is serious.

I found Dodie chatting up a three month old from Frankfurt. Each of us has their own obsessions. But we share too. I talked to the baby and parents, and Dodie got half the torte.

These are all from nearby, famous, Munster.

Just making sure there is a good supply of eclairs!

We have tried to select a few (dozen) photos to show the best of Colmar. Here they are. We really have little idea of what street anything in a photo might be on.

Hey, what is a shoe doing in here? Well, we are always on the lookout for anything fluorescent yellow.

To start off back to Marckolsheim it turned out we need to be in that square with the tourist train. So we hatched the plan of following one home. Two other cyclists were doing the same. We gave up though, because the train route is too circuitous. Notwithstanding we were able to make it back to Camping de l'Ill and onto our canal. From there of course, easy cruising.

It was so easy, that we carried on a bit to the edge of Marckolsheim where the Maginot Line museum is. The museum is housed in what had been a bunker ("casemat") on the line - number 35 in the third line of defence in from the Rhine. The museum is closed, but we looked at the bunker and some of the displays outside.

The line as the idea of a former war hero and Minister of War, Andre Maginot. It was bunkers, forts, and concrete shelters running from the south up to the Belgian border. However, because Belgium was neutral construction did not proceed into Belgium. So when the attack came (May 1940) it at first went north through Belgium. When finally the area near Marckolsheim was attacked in June, backup for those French in the bunkers was engaged in the north, and in this area the French were outnumbered 7 to 1. In the end, 86% of Marckolsheim was destroyed.

We picked up some food at a grocery in Colmar, so were in good shape for supper and even breakfast tomorrow. But we thought we might pass by a Marckolsheim bakery (there are three) way out just to be sure. Will they be open? We passed by one to check the hours: 4:30 to 12:30. Say what? I went into the adjacent Bar/Tabac to ask, and yes, those are the hours. 4:30 is truly 4:30 a.m. Fine then, we'll be there! (Or could be slightly late...)

At the Maginot museum located in a bunker.

This artillery piece had a bit of a history - see next photo. Several tanks and trucks were also displayed outside the museum.

It seems remarkable that the history of an artillery piece can be tracked like this.

Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 1,186 km (737 miles)

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