May 29, 2014: Colmar

We spent today in the picturesque Alsatian town of Colmar, our home base in the area until Saturday morning when we'll start heading south toward Chamonix in the French Alps. We did a walking tour of the old town seeing, among other things: the Customs House, the Cathedral of Saint Martin, the Dominican Church, the Maison des Tetes (House of Heads), the Unterlinden Museum and a number of other sites. We also walked to the train station to reserve bikes for our Route des Vins (Wine Route) ride tomorrow. All told, we walked somewhere between 13.5 and 15 miles (Rich was wearing two different pedometer-type devices and we got two different readings from them). Either way, it was a half marathon plus!!

We seem to be falling into a pattern of breakfast between 8:00 and 9:00 AM, lunch somewhere around 2:00 or 3:00 PM and dinner around 9:00 or 10:00 PM. Of course, we've been indulging in an afternoon gelato or pastry snack to tide us over until our evening meal. Those of you who know my husband are probably in shock that he is actually waiting until 10:00 PM to eat. You may even think I'm lying, but I swear I'm not. I think I've finally gotten the man to adjust to continental time (although he does start to whine a little around 6:00 PM).

Early Morning Walk Along the Canal

Lunch at an Outdoor Cafe

Gothic Cathedral of St. Martin

Dominican Church

 

View of the Canal

May 28, 2014: Verdun Battlefields

Our plan for today was to leave Reims in the morning, tour Verdun and the surrounding area for a few hours and, by early afternoon, head to the town of Colmar in the Alsace region of France (a 3+ hour drive). By late morning, after a few wrong turns and missed roads, we finally found the stretch of road between Verdun and Douaumont we were intent on seeing. Once we started down this road, it was like stepping back in time and witnessing first hand the horror of Verdun.  

For it was in 1916 that the Germans laid siege to the town of Verdun and its surrounding area. The artillery blasts and trench warfare lasted for 300 days and nights and, in the course of the fighting, annihilated thirty towns in the area. It was the longest and bloodiest battle of World War I. More than 100,000 French soldiers (and even more German soldiers) died on Verdun's battlefields. The bombing decimated the area and, although there are now lush forests where there were once only scorched earth and blackened trees, the landscape still bears the scars of this long-ago battle. Everywhere you walk, the land undulates (an aftermath of all the artillery shelling that created the lunar-like landscape), there are still a number of trenches visible, and six of the destroyed villages were never rebuilt. 

We trod through some of the communication trenches, stumbled our way across the shelled landscape, and solemnly walked through one of the destroyed villages. We visited the Ossuary Memorial, a tribute to all the French and German soldiers who died on the Verdun battlefields, and walked through the cemetery of Christian crosses and Muslim headstones. We even peeked in the basement windows of the Ossuary and saw the bones of hundreds of unidentified soldiers. It was all so sad.

Needless to say, we spent much more time in Verdun than originally planned and didn't leave the area until after 5:00 PM. It was almost 9:00 PM by the time we arrived in Colmar. Our hotel is absolutely charming and we enjoyed a very late dinner before heading to bed.

Communication Trenches

Barbed Wire Atop Fort Douaumont

Ossuary Memorial

View from our Dinner Table

May 27, 2014: Reims

Arrived in Paris @ 9:00 AM, breezed through customs (amazing!), got our luggage off the conveyor belt, and met up with Becky and Jerry just outside baggage claim. Together we went to pick up our car (again, a breeze) and got ready to head out of Paris. Rich and Jerry had to finagle our luggage into the trunk like a jigsaw puzzle, but we got everything to fit. (If Becky or I buy much of anything, it's going to end up on our laps for the rest of the trip.)  We reached Reims in time for a late lunch and then toured the city and its most famous landmark, the Reims Notre Dame Cathedral. This is France's version of Westminster Abbey and it was here that 26 French kings were crowned. The exterior of the cathedral, besides depicting religious events from the Old and New Testaments, also includes statues of the French kings.

Reims is also the champagne capital of France. On a whim, we stopped at the Tourist Office to see if we could get reservations for a champagne cave tour and tasting this afternoon (It was already @ 4:15 and most wineries close by 5:00 or 5:30).  As luck would have it, a small winery, Charles de Casanove. was able to accommodate us. We had a nice tour and sampled 3 different types of champagne (very generous pours!!). I'd been jet-lagged all day and had been feeling a little woozy and thought the champagne was going to do me in, but I actually started feeling better. I think I just discovered a new cure for jet lag!

The rest of the evening was pretty boring. Rich and I went back to our hotel to get some sleep and Becky and Jerry went in search of a Laundromat.

Packing up the car

Reims Cathedral with all its Gothic buttresses

Reims' icon, the Smiling Angel

Interior view of the Cathedral

Jerry in front of the Porte de Mars,
 ancient Roman entrance to the city

May 25/26, 2014: Travel Days

We're on our way to Paris, via an overnight stop in Houston (this seems to be the kind of hoops one has to jump through if you want to use your mileage for a trip to Europe during the summer tourist season). We spent most of the day in airports or on airplanes, starting with an early morning flight to Seattle, where we spent 2.5 hours before boarding a plane for Houston. No problems with delayed flights or lost baggage, so all is good. Tomorrow we fly from Houston to Paris, arriving at 8:30 AM Tuesday morning (that's 11:30 PM PDT Monday). If all goes according to plan, Becky and Jerry will pick up our rental car at Charles de Gaulle airport and meet us at passenger pick-up (wherever that is at CDG). From there, we're on our way to Reims, the champagne capital of France (do I see champagne cave tours in our future?). Stay tuned for a new post on Tuesday. 

En Route to Houston

Only View Worth Capturing