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Visiting Colmar
For your trip to Europe, include a visit to Colmar, France - Princeton's Sister City in the heart of Alsace. You'll get a good taste of the bustle of the "unified" European economy as well as the charm of one of Europe's best-preserved historic towns. Colmar is a great place to visit - a little bigger than Princeton but has many similarities. It is steeped in history, with a center is very medieval -- just as ours is colonial. They've done a marvelous job of historic preservation, particularly in closing off the old center of town, keeping vehicles out, and reserving it all for pedestrians. It's easy to get around and the food and wine are magnificent. They love Princeton - You'll be welcomed in Colmar like a long-lost sister. Tell them you're from Princeton and they will fall all over themselves trying to be gracious hosts. Everyone knows about Princeton; there's even a new apartment house called "Le Princeton."
There's lots to do in Colmar. It’s a particularly good place to walk, but also plan to take day trips nearby.Throughout the city, you'll find old half-timbered houses, canals, wonderful churches, great museums, and good downtown shopping. Unterlinden Museum with the Isenheim altarpiece by Mathias Grunewald. After the Louvre, it's the second most-visited museum in France. Hôtel de Ville - the modern city hall. Dominican Church with Martin Schongauer's "Virgin in the Rosebush." Maison des Tetes. St. Martin's Collegiate Church – in the center of the city. Bartholdi Museum, birthplace of August Bartholdi, the sculptor of our Statue of Liberty, a museum devoted to everything you ever want to see or know about the man who wanted a giant lady at the opening of the new Suez Canal and finally saw his dream fulfilled in New York harbor. There are Bartholdi statues all over the city. Center of Town Place de la Cathedrale Old Guard House Pfister House Rue des Marchands Place du Marche aux Fruits Koïfhus -- old customs house, market square, now city's conference/meeting center. Bartholdi's statue/fountain of Baron Lazare of Schwendi. The Old Town Rue des Tanneurs La Petite Venise - canals of "Little Venice" Covered Market, Little Wine-Grower fountain Place des Six Montagnes Noires, Bartholdi fountain Rue des Augustins South End Place Rapp & Champ de Mars Water Tower and Statue of Bartholdi Court of Appeal Sightseeing Outside of Colmar Visit the little nearby towns up and down the Route de Vin (the central Wine Route), each one straight out of a fairy tale picture-book. Look for: Guebwiller (with its Musée Florival and impressive churches) Rouffach (see storks' nesting on the towers), Eguisheim (visit Beyer winery and caveau) Hohlandsbourg Castle (high above Turkheim) Munster (up in the hills, where the cheese comes from) Kaysersberg (birthplace of Albert Schweizer) Riquewhir (visit Hugel winery) Ribeauville (visit Trimbach winery) Haut Koenigsbourg, the gigantic castle the German Kaiser, William II, restored at the turn of the century. Drive up and take walks in the nearby Vosges Mountains. Follow the Route de Crête (the Crest Road built during World War I), which connects all the highest points of this small mountain range. There are magnificent overlooks of distant lakes and valleys and skiing in the winter. Go up to Strasbourg with its Council of Europe, European Parliament hall, and its great old cathedral. There are excellent museums, including a brand-new Museum of Modern Art and a folksy Musée Alsacien, which shows how people have lived in this region. Just south of Colmar is Mulhouse, a modern industrial city (including a Peugeot factory), interesting auto, train, textile, and fire apparatus museums. Visit Basel in Switzerland, with wonderful art museums. Across the Rhine, in the German city of Freiberg is a fascinating college town; or visit Baden Baden, one of the old spa resorts.
There are lots of good hotel accommodations around the city, but we would especially recommend:
Telephone: 03-89-23-59-59 To direct dial from USA: 011-333-89-23-59-59 The owner and manager is Richard Riehm, who is also a deputy mayor of the city. He takes particular delight in being hospitable to Princetonians. He and his staff speak English quite well.
For the best in dining, try: Rendez-vous de Chasse, Richard Riehm's dining room at the Hotel Bristol. Au Fer Rouge, right in the center on the Rue des Marchands near the Koifhaus. JY, Jean-Yves Schillinger’s new spot in Petite Venise There are plenty of other less expensive but delightful places throughout the center of the town. Outside of town, look for:
Caveau d'Eguisheim in Eguisheim, to enjoy choucroute a l'alsacienne (Riesling-soaked sauerkraut with sausages, ham, etc.) Caveau Morakopf in Niedermorschwihr, a village wine cellar out in the vineyards Les Violettes, Theirenbach, a new country inn at the foot of the mountains. When up in the hills be sure to lunch at a "ferme auberge" (a farmhouse that serves hearty meals, especially a scrumptious meat pie). When in the small towns look for a “caveau” (a wine cellar that serves meals). You will have no trouble finding fun places at reasonable prices. Have tarte flambee à l'oignon with its thin crust, thinly sliced onions, cream sauce, and other garnishes. You may never go back to pizza again. For the big, expensive splurge, consider treating yourself to:
Crocodile in Strasbourg, Buerheisel in Strasbourg. Regional specialities you may want to try include: Foie gras -- goose liver Flammekueche -- cream cheese on thin pastry Choucroute garnie à l'alsacienne -- sauerkraut with various meats and sausages Baeckoffa -- layers of potato and various kinds of meat Coq au Riesling -- chicken in Riesling wine Trout "au bleu" -- fresh trout Kougelhopf -- a yeast-dough cake Tarte alsacienne -- fruit tart with vanilla cream
By Connecting Flights -- There are connecting flights into either the Basel-Mulhouse or the Strasbourg airports. Try connecting through:
Zurich (or Geneva) -- on Swiss (formerly Swissair) and various American carriers London -- on British Air and various American carriers Amsterdam -- on KLM In several instances, these airlines now fly out of Newark. Air France also flies out of Philadelphia. In both Paris and London, you may have to transfer between separate terminals -- and even separate airports. Check carefully and plan accordingly. Air France (and its code-share partner Continental) flies out of Newark to Paris' Charles DeGaulle Airport, where there are Air France connections to Basel-Mulhouse or Strasbourg. British Air also flies from Newark with similar connections via London's Heathrow Airport. From either the Basel-Mulhouse or the Strasbourg airports, there are good flights to most other major European cities. It is also possible to reach Colmar by flying into either the Zurich or Frankfurt airports and then connecting by train. Both of these have good connections directly from the airport terminal. From Zurich Airport there is an express train every hour to the Hauptbahnhof in Basel. There is a special French section of that station from which trains regularly run to Colmar. The Bristol Hotel (where anyone from Princeton is especially welcomed) is right across from the station. By Train -- Leave Paris from the Paris-Est station, from which fast trains (4 to 5 hour trip) regularly go to Strasbourg or to Mulhouse. A change of trains at either then gets you to Colmar in about 35 minutes. One or two Paris trains each day get you direct to Colmar without changing. Connections can also be made with the German rail network via Strasbourg and Karlsruhe and the Swiss-Italian rail networks via Basel. By Car -- From Paris, France's A-4/A-32/A-34 Autoroutes get you to Strasbourg. The A-6/A36 get you to Mulhouse. From either, the four-lane A-35 expressway connects to Colmar, about halfway between. The Swiss expressways connect into Basel, where the A-35 goes up to Colmar. The German autobahns connect into the A-5 along the east bank of the Rhine, where it is possible to cross over to the Colmar French side at Strasbourg, Freiburg, Neuenburg, or Basel.
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