Strasbourg to Colmar

I struggle to find words that can truly encapsulate the beauty of this trip, so I shall simply tell you the story and hope your imagination, along with my photos, are enough to bring you into this journey.

I began my walk not in Strasbourg but rather in Barr, roughly 30 kilometers from Strasbourg and 40 kilometers from Colmar. The weather was perfect: a blue sky with isolated clouds as far as the eye can see, roughly 70 degrees, and a calming breeze which prompted the grass’ gentile movement and sound. After about 5 minutes of walking I ran into grape vines. If you asked me what made a vineyard so beautiful I honestly couldn’t give you a straight answer. Is it the fact that one is encased in greenery? Is it the clusters of pearls that we call grapes? Is it the knowledge that what vineyards produce one of the most valued liquids in the world? Or maybe it’s not the vineyard at all, but rather the cornucopia of vineyards that surrounded me as I walked. I couldn’t tell you. What I can tell you is that as I walked through these rows I couldn’t help but laugh. A wave of joy and shear disbelief came over me because I could not have imagined a walk like this. For all of my travels and all of my hikes and rides I have never laughed because a view was so damn beautiful that it was hard to comprehend. It was as if I was walking through paradise.

Vineyards were not the only thing that guided my path however, rows of wild fruit trees and bushes guided my way. tunnels stretching miles long are constructed by magnificent tress pointing me towards my final destination. The wonderful thing about walking is that ones ability to explore is not infringed upon. There’s nothing to worry about, no bike carry or car to lock and so stopping to eat some wild blackberries or apples on the side of the road isn’t an inconvenience. Furthermore, one is able to look at where they have come from. Looking back at your path, I’ve found, will provide you with some of the best sights you could ever imagine. It’s an important lesson – one’s past is often a forgotten gem that is replaced by the future, which may or may not be as wondrous.

While the trip was obviously beautiful, majestic even, it was also informational. Walking for eight and a half hours can be very monotonous. Just one stepping one foot after the other and then repeat over and over and over again for hours would frankly be quite boring. So as I journey throughout Europe I will now be accompanied by esteemed authors in the form of audiobooks. During my journey to Colmar I finished The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli and I began Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, which I finished right before I began writing this post. I have a myriad of books lined up for my journey ranging from books written in the 8th century BC to modern novels dealing with political theory to historical novels dealing with pre-Columbian America. I am so excited to read all fo these books and I implore you, if you don’t have one already, to simply pick up a book. Any book, it can be fiction, biographical, comedic, horrific, just start reading or listening to something. It’s something I wish I started doing a long time ago.