Colmar is a medieval town in France that is straight out of a fairy tale. With cobblestone streets, half timbered houses and a canal winding through the centre, it’s a charming place. Ivan and I spent a week there for Christmas with my brother and his family and then we all headed off to Germany for the new year.
Colmar
Colmar is gorgeous and definitely worth a visit. The food is great, the architecture amazing and the Christmas markets are some of the best in Europe. If you’re not a fan of crowds I wouldn’t recommend visiting in the week leading up to Christmas as there were people everywhere! Still, we had a brilliant time and just had to dodge the crowds.
Our Christmas jumpers were a hit and people took photos of the silly Australians. We wore them to a local brewery where Ivan and Geoff had a backstage tour.
Because Colmar is tourist-focused at Christmas time there are lots of fun things to do. Like this merry-go-round that big kids like us were allowed to use. Yeeeesss!
We spent a lot of time walking around the streets admiring the architecture and the markets while drinking vin chaud (mulled wine). This delicious drink is turning into a favourite of mine.
Christmas Day
We didn’t have a white Christmas but we did have a delicious lunch and of course ate and drank too much. Ahhh family! It was awesome. We also had karaoke featuring mostly Australian songs. Nothing says Christmas in Europe like a hearty rendition of Khe Sanh. Our neighbours must have loved us.
Riquewihr
After we’d sobered up post-Christmas we decided to visit one of the cute villages surrounding Colmar. We caught a bus to Riquewihr and visited a winery specialising in riesling. Sensational! The architecture in the town looked like it belonged on a chocolate box.
Off to Germany
After Colmar we all headed off to Stuttgart for two nights. We visited the Porsche museum. I thought I’d be bored because I’m not really a car person but it was really good.
Nuremberg
One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Nuremberg for New Years. The quaint house that we stayed in on the outskirts of Nuremberg was perfect in every way, except one of the toilets was very weird. Let’s just say I won’t be rushing out to buy one.
Nuremberg is a fascinating and beautiful city that is nearly 1,000 years old. It was a favourite place of Hitler, and the Nazi party held their rallies there in the lead up to WWII. The city itself was 91% destroyed by bombs at the end of the war but the old part of the town was rebuilt almost identically to how it had once been.
We visited the Documentation Centre museum which is the colosseum the Nazis built for their rallies. The museum is incredibly moving and is an honest look at how the Nazis rose to power and the atrocities they committed. The photos in the museum brought me to tears, especially the personal stories of the people who died in the Nuremberg prison camps.
We also took a tour of the tunnels that were used to store the treasures of Nuremberg during WWII. These included works of art, stained glass from the churches and anything that was deemed to be precious to the city of Nuremberg.
New Years
To get us into the New Years spirit we decided to drink lots of wine and sing karaoke. If Kenny Rogers can’t get you hyped then I’m sorry, but nothing will.
Ivan and I decided to stay home for New Years and see what happened in the neighbourhood whilst Geoff and his family went into the Nuremberg city centre. I’m so glad we stayed in as we got to witness the most insane fireworks display. We have never seen anything like it and it went on for more than an hour. Sorry about my cackling in the video below, but I could not stop laughing at how crazy it was. The main part in this video happened less than 50 metres away from us but enormous amounts of fireworks were going off in other parts of the neighbourhood. What a way to see in the new year with a bang!
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Our final stop on our German tour was the medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, another fairy tale village. This place was a definite highlight of our trip and we spent a magical three days walking the cobblestone streets, hiking the outer ramparts, eating amazing food and discovering the history of this gorgeous town. Parts of the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang were filmed here and I can see why, as it is so picturesque.
One night we joined the nightwatchman tour of Rothenburg and heard the history of this 750 year old village. It was very interesting and a little bit spooky. The nightwatchmen’s job was to protect the city at night and it was very dangerous work. Now I know how John Snow felt in Game of Thrones.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Our niece Erinn turned 20 while we were in Rothenburg and it was a great celebration. But of course, what’s a significant birthday without relatives dredging up something from the past? Now, for a bit of background, Erinn used to be terrified of the baddie in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the child catcher. It gave her nightmares for many years. So what did Ivan do? You can see below.
For those who have no idea about the child catcher, have a look at this Youtube clip (watch from about 40 seconds onwards).
After a wonderful birthday dinner for Erinn we walked the streets of Rothenburg marvelling at the beauty of this village. On our walk we found one of the village houses that was used in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Perhaps it was Ivan’s brilliant performance as the Child Catcher that gave us inspiration or perhaps it was the wine at dinner (probably the wine) but we decided to re-enact the famous scene. As you can see, the acting and editing is flawless.
Time to say goodbye to family
After such a brilliant holiday together it was tough to say goodbye. Geoff and his family had to head back to Australia and Ivan and I to our canal boat Laura which is in Roanne in France for the winter. There were many tears at our final farewell.
On our way back to Roanne Ivan and I had a stopover in Augsburg where it finally snowed! We were thrilled. It was only light, but it was snow nonetheless.
We love travelling by train in Europe as they are generally reliable, cheap (if you book early) and nice and clean. Many long distance trains have a refreshments carriage to buy food and drinks. It’s a great way to see the countryside.
Back to Laura the boat
And when we got back to Laura, we were very excited to see even more snow! Thank goodness Laura is toasty warm.
And now we’re settled into life in the Port of Roanne which is where we’ll stay until the canals open in April. We’ll do a bit of travel using Laura as our home base including a week in Bulgaria to go skiing. I still pinch myself and am so grateful that we’re able to do such amazing things on this break from work.
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