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| Daisy in front of one of Colmar's canals |
We spent Sunday in Frieburg, Germany, trying to find a waschsalon (laundramat). Most of the town was closed though. Lovely little city with several medievel buildings. We have all noticed how much more fit and active the Germans are. Biking, rollar blading, walking. So many natural places to enjoy, and they are filled with German families. Lots of campers too! You can't imagine the size of these mountians that folks are biking (!) up!
On the way home from Freiburg we stopped at "Steinwasen Park", a fun little outdoor play-park. Elaborate playground and obstacles courses, a huge rope bridge, lots of animals to see, a chairlift and luge ride and some exhibits on the local history. We stayed for a few hours of fun, Black Forest-style!
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| view from the rope bridge at Steinwasen Park |
Colmar did not disappoint! They call it "Little Venice" due to canals that wind through the city. It has a large pedestrian area we enjoyed wandering through, fancy shops, vendors selling crepes, local crafts, cheese, wine, pastries and chocolate. I hope our pictures do it justice - such a beautiful city. FYI, Colmar was the birthplace of Auguste Bartholdi, creator of the Statue of Liberty.
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| The garden at Unterlinden |
We visited the Unterlinden Museum. It is housed in a former convent for noblewomen (under the linden trees), the nuns apparently had some of the best vineyards around. They made wine and used the proceeds to feed the poor and sick.
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| He is Risen! A panel of the altarpiece - so awesome! |
The Unterlinden contains the prestigious Issenheim Altarpiece, painted by Mathias Grunewald between 1512 and 1516. It was painted for a monastery that housed a hospice for victims of St. Anthony's Fire, a horrible, disfiguring disease caused by ingesting rye infected by pasasites. Gazing on this altarpiece was to help them accept their sufferings...
Either way, it looked like it could have been painted yesterday, the colors were so bright and clear. Lovely.
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| Cloister at Unterlinden - can't you imagine the nuns walking these halls? |
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| Sharing a nutella crepe - yum! |
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| St. Martin's Cathedral - kids and I need to brush up on our Catholic saints! We keep seeing St. Sebastian, tied up and pierced all over with arrows. |
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| one of the vendors in the pedestrian area |
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| all the shops are decorated for Easter |
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| inside a little courtyard we found |
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| Colmar, France |
A whole week under your belt, so cool! Are you all learning German and where are you of to now? As for the AT I think we will be pulling into your driveway on the 19th. That should give you 2 days to rest before we crash!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHey! Learning "needed" German, plus please and thank you. We are so close to France that many understand french and that has helped us out in a pickle.
ReplyDeleteHeaded to Rome next. We leave here on Friday and stop in Milan for the night. We are going to meet a couple of Italian homeschooling families while we are there! Then to Rome on Sat.
We will be going to the Vatican for Easter! A neighbor of the man we are renting from has offered to pick up the tickets we have reserved - very excited!
We will be in Rome until the following Sat., then we head to a house we have rented in the Florence area.
As long as you don't expect a clean house, weeded garden or fully awake hosts, you won't be disappointed on the 19th! (I know you don't!) It took us two days to get over the jetlag arriving... don't know about the return. Looking forward to seeing you all in all your AT smelliness! We will take turns talking about our trips! Can't wait!