Wine Route Day 8 - Colmar Old Town

After a very pleasant and reasonably restrained breakfast, we took a slow and deliberate stroll into the centre of Colmar setting off at around 10.30 by which time it was already 24 degrees (75F) and promising to get hotter.

We began our town walk through “Little Venice”, so named because... well, it DID have a canal. Just the one canal mind you but a very attractive one which therefore had tourists by the dozen eagerly queuing up for boat rides - of the “plain old boat” variety rather than anything more exotic like a Gondola (the main picture of this post is of THE canal). We swerved the boat ride in favour of perspiring our way through the fish quay (no actual fish today, thank the Lord) and then following the official walking route through the rest of the town. We did it backwards, just to be contrary.

Colmar is very lovely and had we not been slightly “over-quainted” in the past week I am sure we would have been wowed. As it was it was really too hot to appreciate all those splendid brightly-coloured half-timber buildings and cobbled streets. We therefore scuttled like lizards between the patches of shade and focused on ticking off each official cultural site (in reverse order) until it was time for a well-earned beer.

After some refreshment we visited the Musee Hansi, dedicated to a favourite son of the town, the prolific local artist, Jean-Jacques Waltz, who went by the nickname “Oncle Hansi”. He was a passionate French Nationalist and deeply resented the two major German occupations of the region and his city during both the world wars. His satirical cartoons landed him in a lot of trouble with the German forces and on one occasion he was was badly beaten and left for dead at a time when he was nearly 70 years old. But he survived another 10 years to see the end of the Second World War and the restoration of his beloved Colmar back to France. His range of painting styles was truly amazing, running from oils to watercolours, inked cartoons and he even turned his hand to sign-making for local businesses. All in all a fascinating insight into a true local hero. One of his post-liberation cartoons is one of my uploaded photos.

A very late lunch this afternoon was another salad which was huge and very tasty but eaten in a restaurant which managed to have us stepping back out into the scorching sun in order to cool down. Several nights of heavy restaurant meals have caught up with us so tonight we are staying in our Guest House/Villa with some rustic bread, meat and a very pungent local cheese. And perhaps a Cremant Rose to wash it down.

I am also delighted to report that the House Cat - Barracat - and I are now fast friends and we have just spent a delightful hour stretched out on a sun lounger together revelling in England’s miraculous victory in the Ashes Headingley Test.

Tomorrow we leave for the final leg of our adventure as we climb into the Vosges Mountains (actual mountains this time) for a proper mountain retreat. I have a slight concern that there will be no phone signal or WiFi so I may not post again for a couple of days. How ever will I cope?