L'Alsace Profonde (Deep in Alsace)

A Pair of Seasoned Tourists in the "Little Venice of Colmar": Lou Henry, 7, and Claire, 4

As an intro to the rest of our tour in Alsace I would like to emphasize that Alsace is very kid-friendly. Our grands, Lou Henry and Claire were trained last June during our tour of the Jura mountains. This year they were absolute professionals. At 7 years and 4 years respectively nothing seemed to daunt them. They climbed the heights & showed no fear of any environment.  As JJ points out, Alsace has a safe feeling about it. It is orderly. The traffic is relatively slow and controlled, when compared with cities in the Jura where pedestrians must be extra careful when crossing a street because cars have the momentum of steep inclines. There is easy access parking everywhere.  (As half- German the Alsatians exhibit some excellent traits in the domain of cleanliness, maintenance, and practicality.) In Jura the nature walks required one’s complete alertness so as not to fall or otherwise hurt oneself. But, as I’ve stated, Alsace is particularly nice for children: stork sanctuary with an hour-long show, butterfly museum, the medieval castle, wiener stands, open markets, fairytale towns with curio shops, flowers, inner city canals with decorative bridges. Alsace is a feast for a child’s eyes. 

 See I didn't lie: Storks guarding the Collégiale St. Martin (actually the cathedral) in Colmar 

Cathedral in Colmar: Notice the stork's nest on the roof top left. Also notice the rarer yellow color of the grès des Vosges mentioned further down.

Mont St. Odile is a convent & shrine to the patron saint of Alsace. The short story of St. Odile is, as one might expect, medieval & fraught with cruelty, miracles, repentance and redemption. The future St. Odile (b. 662 d. 720) was born blind from birth to the reigning Duke Étichon of Alsace. He wanted a boy & was angry when a girl was born who was also blind. He ordered the little girl to be summarily killed, but her mother Bethwinda secreted her to safety  where she was reared in a convent, Baume les Dames,  deep in the Jura mountains. At age 12 she was baptized by St. Erhard of Regensburg when she suddenly and miraculously recovered her sight. St. Odile’s younger brother, Hughes, passing by one day, was duly amazed at his sister’s recovery of sight. He took her home to Alsace where the duke, in a rage because his orders had been defied, killed Hugues before he ever saw his daughter. Odile fled to a cave near Freiburg (in Germany) but when in a dream God told her that her father was deathly ill, she came back to nurse him back to life.  She succeeded in softening her father’s heart of stone. He was repentant and rededicated himself to Christ. For her love and patience Duke Etichon built a convent on Mont St. Odile where she became the first abbess. Of special note: St. Odile is the patron saint of the blind (and other ocular afflictions) and in the days before glasses people would make the pilgrimage to improve their eyesight. 

Historically, Alsatians used to make an annual pilgrimage, climbing the steep mountain on foot. On the day that we made this pilgrimage it was overcast & raining. As luck would have it there was a bike race taking place during the afternoon. Driver Joanna was constantly hazarding a pass around singles, doubles, or groupies of fearless cyclers. & just when we all thought she had passed the “winner,” Mon Dieu!  There would be another struggling pedaler. The mount was wooded to the extreme & darkened by  a clouded sky. This particular road to Mont St. Odile was all two-way with acute angles & blind hairpin curves. It was with great relief that we all arrived without incident to the beautifully maintained buildings of the shrine. The site, completely modernized and pristine clean, now serves for all manner of religious retreats, clergy and laity. St. Odile must still inspire great Christian love and charity because visitors and personnel were the very kindest that we met on our tour.   Even Pope Jean Paul II couldn’t resist going to such a holy place.

Kaiser Willhem II's Play Castle

With #4, Lou Henry and Claire, JJ & I visited Haut Koenigsbourg  (High Kingstown). A few photos will demonstrate how this high medieval castle-fortress was built onto the mountainside.   Maybe the reason it is intact is that it, like the famous Ligne Maginot of WWII, it has been essentially unused for warfare. Paradoxically, this preserved château-fort was a ready backdrop for any dramatic rendering of play or film. Particularly famous is “La Grande Illusion”  cinematic masterpiece directed by Jean Renoir shot in the late 30's. It was a ruin when the city of Selestat slyly offered it as a gift to Kaiser Willhem II. Restoration took several years. The kaiser hired a famous architect & spent a lot of money. Work was completed by 1908.  But the Kaiser could not enjoy his new “toy castle” very long because Alsace - plus the castle - went back to France in 1918. Today, the French cleverly defray some of the maintenance costs by charging an entry fee, serving sandwiches and drinks, & having musical shows, theatrical presentations & films in the courtyard.  

Lou Henry and Claire with other children at the entrance to chambers

These are wood-heating ceramic stoves added during the Kaiser's renovation.

Highly decorative mural in the hunting room

J. J.'s favorite room: la salle à manger

On the same day we came down from the mountain fortress to Selestat, a nice, sleeping little city with many churches and flowers; you’ll ask why I use the word “sleeping.”  Well, we wanted to have a bit of lunch and everything was closed from one to five. And the locals were militant about it. The one cafe that was open refused to serve us the merest sandwich! In response we turned on our heels & left in search of a more gracious establishment. The only thing we found was the perfunctory “resto” at Intermarché, the equivalent of a Target. At least the server was quite pleasant and very practical with the children. The reason I mentioned the number of churches, always beautifully painted, restored, & maintained, is that Alsace is still under the German system as regards churches and religion. It is the only province in France in which the government pays not only upkeep of churches, but also the salaries of the clergy. Apparently, Alsatians liked this aspect of German oppression.

This is one of the many churches in Selestat built with the more common pink grès des Vosges, stone from the Vosges quarries. It resists freezing and is easy to cut and mold.  

Ever kid-friendly: a classic merry-go-round

Colmar is the prefecture of Haut-Rhin (High Rhine) one of Alsace’s 2 départements, or counties. Might one say that it is probably the bastion of Alsatian culture with its cathedral, university, & museums? It is also the capital of Alsatian wine. It is less grandiose than Strasbourg (pop. 275,000) whose streets resemble those of Paris redesigned by the Baron Haussman; but Colmar ( pop. 66,000) is probably more historical with older, lower, decorated, restored buildings. She struts her stuff for tourists in the old city where one should be a pedestrian. Despite the impressive cathedral Colmar has a protestant majority, although catholics have never been oppressed. We visited L’Eglise des Dominicains, once a catholic church now converted into a museum, that houses the masterpiece of Martin Schongauer, a high medieval Alsatian artist/etcher, called “La Vierge au buisson rose.”  (The Virgin of the Rosebush) The Unter Linden (Under the Linden Tree) Museum is where one finds the Issenheim triptic an early Renaissance work (1505-15), by Mathias Grunewald. This museum contains only works of outstanding artists who plied the upper Rhine valley in search of commissions. Of course, we must buy photos in some form from the museum boutique, not take them for ourselves.

Colmar: Flowers, colorful houses, boutiques, and a place to sit. #4, far right, fascinated by the architecture, took as many photos as I did...for some future replica of a French village in......... China.

*Sorry, no photos of Mont St. Odile