Road trip stop #3: Colmar

A short (hour) drive across the border from Freiburg to Colmar, France, the Capital of the Alsatian wine region and surprise bit of trivia fact: hometown of the sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi, who designed the Statue of Liberty.

Colmar has had a tumultuous history with many different rulers (Sweden briefly during the 30 Years War, France when conquered by Louis XIV, back to German rule during the Franco-Prussian War, back to France after WWI, to Nazi Germany in 1940, then back to France in 1945 when liberated by the Allies). Consequently, it along with much of the Alsace region has a strong German heritage. The German influence can easily be seen in the architecture which looks more German than French. Also the Alsatian dialect has German origins, but is unfortunately an endangered language that is declining with the population decline. However, we heard more German spoken in Colmar than French!

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We stayed in a lovely hotel on the edge of the historic old town. The rooms had been recently renovated and were clean and modern with windows that opened nice and wide. Upon arrival, Kiwi staked claim to the bed while der Junge claimed the window ledge! No matter, I was eager to get out and explore the town!

l'hôtel

interior!

exterior!

the above picture makes me think of the scene from the Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast when the little village is waking up in the morning and the townspeople are throwing open their windows and calling out "Bonjour!"  In fact the little town from the movie is exactly like Colmar!

Colmar, like Freiburg, also has canals through it's old town.  However, Colmar is a much, much smaller town, the canals were fewer but wider.

The Lauch River

la Petite Venise ("little Venice")

La Petite Venise, formerly the quarter where butchers, tanners and fishmongers lived and worked, is crossed by canals supplied by the Lauch river and now has many little restaurants with patios overlooking the river

photo op over la Petite Venise

pretty street scene

Église Saint-Martin 1234–1365

lunch time!

There was not a ton of things to see and do in Colmar.  The small town can be covered in about an hour.  Except of course, what a pleasure to stroll through the pretty streets, find an outdoor cafe to lounge at, enjoy the sun, and watch the people.  Which we did! Also you must, of course, have Alsatian wine...  which we did!

bed time!

Tuesday is the bank holiday to which we owe our road trip.  So I feel it is respectful to do at least a little bit of research to better understand the history of and reason for the holiday.

So I have learned that the holiday is "am ersten Mai" or the 1st of May and it is "Tag der Arbeit," aka Labor Day...

Labor Day in Germany (along with many other countries) was actually inspired by events in the United States. Specifically, the Chicago Labor strikes which began May 1, 1886 in pursuit of an 8-hour workday. These strikes were truncated on May 4 by what is now known as the Haymarket Massacre:

The police were trying to disperse the strikers when an unidentified person threw a dynamite bomb at the police force, killing seven officers. The police reacted by shooting at the strikers and killed at least four, and wounding as many as 70. The exact number of strikers killed is not known as many were afraid to seek medical attention, fearing arrest. The Chicago Herald described a scene of "wild carnage" and estimated at least fifty dead or wounded civilians lay in the streets.

In Paris, 1889, a gathering of world socialist parties voted to support the U.S. labor movement and selected May 1, 1890 as a day of commemoration for the Chicago strikers. The day was not an official holiday in Germany, however the tragedy of Blutmai ("bloody May") in Berlin, 1929, helped to make it an unforgettable date:

In Berlin the ruling Social Democratic (SPD) party had banned workers' demonstrations, but the KPD (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands) held demonstrations anyway. The KPD had about 8,000 demonstrators against a police force of 13,000. The police used violence (spray and batons) to disperse the unarmed demonstrators. As an outcry, citizens from all over Berlin and surrounding suburbs joined in with the protestors to amass around 25,000 people. The police responded with further violence in a resulting bloodbath that left 33 civilians dead, 198 seriously injured, and 47 police injured. Subsequently, the resulting divide between the two workers' parties (KPD and SPD) helped to give the Nazi socialist party a stronger platform.

In 1933, the Nazi's officially made May 1 a national holiday, "Tag der Arbeit."

May 1st is also recognized as a national holiday in more than 80 countries as International Workers' Day and is celebrated unofficially in many other countries.

On a very different and lighter note:

(Not the reason for the bank holiday...) May 1st as "May Day" involves the ancient tradition of raising a Maypole to welcome spring. A Maypole is a tall wooden pole made from a tree trunk (pine or birch) covered with colorful ribbons, flowers, carved figures, other decorations. In Germany the custom is to place a small pine tree on top of the Maypole, which is usually set up in a town's public square or village green. Traditional dances, music, and folk customs are associated with the Maypole. In small towns virtually the entire town comes out for the raising of the Maypole (with festivities involving Bier and Wurst of course). We actually saw a Maypole in the Black Forest town of Hinterzarten, but as it was not May 1, it was not decorated yet!

Another custom: In the Rhine region, a boy will deliver the maypole to a girl's house the night before. The tree is typically from a love interest, but a tree wrapped only in white streamers is a sign of dislike (hmm, I wonder if that is a precursor to teepeeing someone's yard?). Girls will place roses or rice in the form of a heart at the house of their beloved one. On leap years, it is the responsibility of the girls to deliver the maypole.

The morning of May 1st in Colmar: on every street corner and church, women were selling bouquets of green leaves...? I am not sure why and too sheepish to ask in English...

also in the morning an antique car show setting up in the Cathedral square.

 I really liked this car!

And now we travel back home...