Friday May, 8 is Victory In Europe Day which celebrates the formal surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allied Forces in 1945. Our apartment host in Strasbourg sent us a message the day before to let us know that everything would be closed for the holiday. Larry learned that there is a special group pass for unlimited train travel on holidays and weekends so we decided to buy a train pass and hit the rails heading towards Colmar, France.
Colmar is about 26 kilometers from Strasbourg. It’s a city that we visited many years ago and we liked very much but, it was winter, frosty and very cold! For this trip, we enjoyed a blue sky day. We walked from the rail station to the city center and didn’t recognize the city as the parks are green and flowers in bloom. It still has the half-timbered houses and the famous canals that give the city the name Petite Venise. It’s a beautiful small city.
Next to one of the canals is Marche Couvert or Covered Market. It was open, even on this holiday and everything was perfectly displayed.
And a sign that it’s spring…
And lovely flower bouquets…one of the things we love most about a French market. This one with peony blossoms…just ready to open.
We enjoyed a traditional Alsatian lunch and made our way back to the rail station for our next stop…Sélestat…also in the Alsace region of France. The city has a well-preserved old town with features of its German and French cultural heritage.
The old town had many shops…this one selling watches and clocks.
We enjoyed the day but back in Strasbourg in the evening we realized that we were weary because we walked more than 17,000 steps!
Train travel is an easy way to get around – we were happy that we had a chance to see a little more of France!