My quest to learn more about the Siblings and the world they left behind is nearing an end here in Alsace. But more stories to tell. As I have mentioned before, the Vosges Mountains run north-south and are paralleled with the Black Hills mountains in Germany with the Rhine River between. The one documentation of the Siblings is in Woerth which is in Lower Alsace and a suggestion that they may have had some Swiss roots (because of their name) which is nearer Upper Alsace. So it is possible that they could have migrated down the Rhine valley near Colmar.
Today, Suzele took me on a backroads tour of the wine country along the Vosges Mountains. I arranged my tour we her after I found her on the internet www.GetAlsaced.com and she has a FaceBook page of the same name. She has definitely lived up to my expectations. I must take a moment to acknowledge all of the Louisiana connection I found in Alsace. Not only did Suzele grow up in Lafayette, the two guys I visited with in in the courtyard of our hotel are from New Orleans. What is the odds of the only Americans I met in Colmar would be from our part of the world? Speaking of the courtyard, notice the window at an angle since that entry is through an old tower.
One part of history that I failed to mention earlier is the historic wine cellar os Strasbourg Hospice dating back to 1395. It continues in operation today. There is a good website that tells all about its history.
Two of the museums that I visited in Colmar may be of interest to you. Colmar is the birthplace of Augusta Bartholdi (1834-1904) best remembered for our Statue of Liberty. The second was dedicated to Jean-Jacques Waltz, better known as Hansi. When Alsace was occupied by Germany (1870-1914), he stimulated the town’s passive resistance with his drawing, primarily children’s books. He kept alive the tradition image of Alsace with humorous drawings of grotesque looking German soldiers and good natured villagers in traditional costumes.
Suzele took me out into the vineyards in the Vosges Mountains while this is the end of the season and colors are still beautiful.
As we went through little villages and towns i marveled at how much remains from the early time. My head began to swim with all the data. One little tidbit was that the difference between a village and a town was when a village gained enough clout it was allowed to build a wall around it for fortification. Many sections of those walls remain.
