From Cochem to Colmar

Brad here again! 

Today we bid farewell to Cochem Germany, which has been our home for the past two days. Our first taste of Germany has been pretty amazing. But I think my body is ready for a salad :) 

After another breakfast consisting primarily of meat, cheese, and bread, the girls headed up to the castle looming high over the town (Reichsburg Cochem) for a little photoshoot while dad got a workout carrying the luggage up to the car.

 

After meeting up at the car we headed out for our next destination, where we'll be spending four nights: Colmar, France. Colmar itself looks very charming and scenic, but its location also means that it can serve as a good "base of operations" for visits to nearby towns in the region, as well as a really interesting hike that Leslie found. 

Given the distance (about a 4h drive), we opted to stop in Heidelberg Germany to break up the drive, stretch our legs, find some lunch, and play tourist for a bit. I will admit, I didn't do my in-depth research on Heidelberg before the trip because although it looked interesting, I initially deemed it to be too far from anything else we were visiting. But after we chose Cochem and Colmar as places to stay, it was a convenient midway point to stop for a break. 

Heidelberg is a little bigger and busier than Cochem (having a population of 160,000 vs ~5,000) but it definitely has character.  Interestingly, about a quarter of that population are students. Heidelberg University is Germany's oldest (and one of Europe's most respected) universities. 

After squeezing our rental car into a tight parking spot in a central part of the city we set out on foot, found some lunch, and explored the Marktplatz. I had been hoping to climb to the top of the steeple of the Church of the Holy Spirit (which apparently offers a great view of the old town), but we read online that it is only open sporadically to tourists and sadly today it was closed. Boo.

Church of the Holy Spirit

Come on man I wanna climb up that tower

While Leslie and the girls opted to grab some gelato for dessert, I decided to take a little walk and see if I could get a better view of the castle ruins perched high above the old city, of which we had been catching glimpses of since we arrived. 

I want to see those ruins up close 

And then I accidentally climbed to the top. 

Yeah I'm a little sweaty

A little piece broke off 

I still want to climb that tower

After meeting back up at the parking garage we began the second leg of our trip. I have to say, the driving experience in Germany has been interesting. Driving on the Autobahn has actually been pretty nice, and not as intimidating as I've been led to believe from stories I've heard. On the stretches where there is no posted speed limit, virtually all drivers have conducted themselves safely, acted predictably, and kept safe distances between vehicles.  In some areas trucks and trailers have to stick to the rightmost lane too, which greatly simplifies things. It's far superior to the drive that I am all-too-familiar with between Ottawa and Toronto on Highway 401, where transport trucks routinely cut off faster vehicles as they pull into the left lane, only to slowly crawl past other vehicles at speeds that are barely any faster than the vehicles they are passing. This being said, the speed limit signs in Germany have been... how do I describe this?  Overly prescriptive? In small sections of highway the speed signs frequently change from 130 to 110 to 90 to "drive as fast as you want." And there are often separate limits for different lanes, different vehicle types, different weather conditions... Eventually I will probably encounter an example of different limits for different hair colours too. You really have to pay close attention. 

After departing Heidelberg we eventually crossed back over the Rhine and found our way to Cochem. On the way we could make our the ruins of several medieval castles perched atop some distant hills, some of which we may visit in the next few days. This is definitely an area rich in history. 

Upon arriving in Colmar we met up with our Airbnb host, who gave us a detailed tour of our home for the next few days - a quirky little fourth floor (or for Europeans, third floor) apartment in a 16th century half-timbered building as is typical of the region. The entire neighbourhood is right out of a postcard. 

After settling in we walked a couple of blocks to a restaurant that Leslie found which specializes in regional Alsatian food with great reviews: Les Tanneurs. The girls all had slight variations of a regional favourite Flammekuchen, while I had a Spaetzel dish with cream, bacon, Munster cheese, and emmental cheese. But it came with a salad so I'm good! 

Leslie has already spotted a few bakeries within a stone's throw of our apartment, and has plans to head out and grab regional pastries for breakfast tomorrow. Over the next few days we have a short wish list of places to go and things to see, but in keeping with our usual approach to vacations we will play it by ear depending on the weather and what we're in the mood for. Goodnight from Colmar!