Colmar Easter Markets

Today was the first day of the Easter Markets here in Colmar.

As I had mentioned previously, this town is already a fairytale, and we expected even more beauty with the addition of the markets.  But…I wasn’t expecting today.  Overnight, literally, within the wee hours of the night, our fairytale town went from beautiful to other-worldly.  We awoke to nearly every building being decorated with flowers and colorful eggs, rabbits, and ribbons.  Multiple booths were set up and full of chocolates and pastries, painted treasures and handmade art. Jewelry and gorgeous pottery, ornaments and pretzels lined every side of the streets.  In many areas, fluffy bunnies hopped about, or giant roosters crowed near tiny little chicks hovering under a warm light.  Goats laid about while jacketed children smiled and called to them, candies in hand.

It was a dreamland, and today was only the first day.

I’m sure we will visit the markets nearly every day for the next two week, always finding something new and different.  But today, we settled on a handpainted rabbit and egg ornament for our Christmas Tree collection (we buy a new ornament from every place we visit, and I can’t tell you how much we love that collection).  We also bought a hand sculpted mask, a face that looks like it hides somewhere in the Black Forest.  It will be an amazing addition to the masks we’ve brought from far off countries, and soon, we will buy a new home in which to display them all.

That’s right, we have signed a contract on the sale of our house in Texas!  We sold the house!  We’ve already started the hunt for our new home, and think we have decided to head back a couple of weeks early from this trip to France in order to find a new home if we can.  It’s shaping up to be a very exciting year!

I hope you enjoy this peek at everything the Colmar Markets are – I wish you could be here in person to experience it yourself.  It’s not only the sites, but the smells, the sounds, the feel of it.  It’s nothing short of magic.