Alsace et Lorraine

I’ve come to the realization that throughout my travels this year, I haven’t really seen a lot of France! Yes, I’ve seen Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic. But not a lot of France. I’ve had a few trips to Paris, but I haven’t really seen any new parts of France besides where I’m living.

Over the last few weekends, I did visit two new French cities. My time’s almost up here, so I’m still trying to see as much as I can! One city, Colmar, is pretty close to Strasbourg, and is in the Alsace region. The other city, Nancy, is in the neighboring region of Lorraine. 

In history classes you always hear the term ‘Alsace-Lorraine,’ because those were the two regions that Germany was always coveting.

Colmar is supposed to be the quintessential Alsatian city with lots of cute German-looking, fairy-tale-looking buildings. I couldn’t miss out on seeing that! 

Since the city is pretty small, I just wandered around with no plan or map. 

The river running through the town made it look even more similar to Strasbourg. 

I would have probably been more impressed by Colmar if I hadn’t been living in Strasbourg for the last six months. I thought Colmar was pretty much a cross between Strasbourg and Barr (the little town where I work). However, I think it was definitely still worth making the trip- it’s a charming and beautiful town.

This was not so charming though. It’s called the “Restaurant House of Heads.” Yum.

I learned that Colmar is the hometown of Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty. I don't have a picture, but I did get to see his house. Apparently there’s a replica of the Statue of Liberty in Colmar, but it was unfortunately too far for me to walk to.

The week after this little day trip, I took the train north instead of south. In Nancy, I had the privilege of a French tour guide to show me around! Merci à David!!

The main square in Nancy is called Place Stanislas. I liked it because it looked very classically French. I love how Alsace looks, but sometimes it’s hard to feel like you’re in France when everything looks like Germany. #firstworldproblem

I mean, these gates look like the ones at Versailles. How much more French can you get?

We stopped in a few pretty churches and little art museum before moving onto what I’ll call the ‘American’ portion of the day.

David is a lover of all things American, so he took me to one of the most American places I’ve ever seen in France.

Voilà. Yep. I felt pretty at home here. Buffalo, totem poles, even some Taylor Swift music playing inside...you wouldn’t think a place like this would exist in France!

We finished the day with some bowling and seeing the movie Monuments Men. I didn't even know that bowling existed in France either haha

So my day in Nancy was a nice mix of France and America...kind of like myself, n’est-ce pas?

I only have 3 weekends left in France. This weekend I’m heading to Geneva and Grenoble for what will likely be my last overnight trip while I’m here. Yep. I’m starting to get nostalgic about leaving Europe already.