Another day of exploring Colmar and surrounds. Started off by sussing out La Maison de Têtes, or the House of Heads. Built in 1609, it gets its name from the 106 Heads or grotesque masks that adorn its façade. It once served as a wine house. Next we opted to visit the Unterlinden Museum, an art museum housed in a 13th century former Dominican convent and also a former public bathhouse from the early 1900s. It is a collection of local and international pieces, some traditional,, some very abstract. One piece of interest was a tapestry of Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ which Picasso himself commissioned. We had seen the original in the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. It was Picasso’s response to the destruction of the town of Guernica in the northern Basque area of Spain by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in 1937. Amazing to see it replicated as a tapestry!
Also housed at the Unterlinden is an alterpiece called Isenheim which depicts the tribulations, torture and treachery experienced by Jesus in his final days. It was created between 1512 and 1516.
Geoff and Pam wanted to take a look at the toy museum, so we walked down there with them, just to see a different part of the old town. We opted not to partake, so instead walked back toward the centre as I really wanted to peek into the two churches. Irv chose to wait at the tourist office while I went off to explore. Unfortunately the Dominican church was closed and not open till 3:00, but St.Martin’s was, so I had to be content with that. Built between 1235 and 1365, like most Gothic cathedrals, it is very ornate within, with a beautiful altar area. They had a special display inside depicting Jesus’s last days using doll-like figures.
Met up with Irv, Geoff and Pam near the tourist office and went back to the car to head out for Turckheim, a small village not far out of Colmar. Geoff was interested in visiting the Musée Memorial des Combats de la Poche de Colmar. This is a collection devoted to explaining and honouring what happened during the second world war when Germany had annexed a good portion of this part of Alsace. The museum has an impressive array of artifacts from this successful mission by both French and American troops to free this part of Alsace from German tyranny. Before we tackled the museum, we stopped at a street side cafe and tackled some tarte flambée. Mine was a very yummy one with onions, goat cheese, honey and pine nuts! We got a good look at the town - population less than 5 000, since we got a bit turned around looking for the museum!!
Of course we couldn’t let the day end without doing some wine tasting, so we headed on to Hunawihr and a wine collective whose wines Irv was familiar with. A sampling of their pinot blanc, riesling and pinot gris was so well-received that we bought a bottle of pinot gris to have with our dinner.
We opted again to eat in, so off to the Super U we trotted and with the help of a friendly butcher bought the makings of a chicken curry dinner. A couple of card and dice games and it was another end to a lovely day.