Colmar, Petite Venise: No One Stopped Us

Armor Field Note: Colmar, Petite Venise, France

I stepped off the transport into what appeared to be a fairy tale someone had carved from stone and timber. The canal district spreads through the old quarter like arteries through amber flesh, half-timbered houses leaning over waterways in shades that remind me of Mandalorian sunset ceremonies.

The locals stopped their morning routines to stare. A woman dropping bread crumbs for canal fish nearly tumbled from the stone bridge when she spotted my beskar plates reflecting in the dark water. The tour boat captain idling near Koifhus square cut his engine entirely. Three children pressed their faces against a bakery window, pointing at my helmet while their parents hurried them along the cobblestones.

The old quarter opens to foot traffic at dawn. Best reconnaissance happens before 1000 hours when the tour groups arrive by rail from Strasbourg. Take the regional train direct from Paris in three hours or drive the Route des Vins if you want to survey the surrounding vineyards. The Koifhus serves as the central landmark for navigation. Little Venice stretches south from there along Rue de Turenne. The Bartholdi Museum chronicles the sculptor behind that massive statue the Americans erected in their harbor. Winter visits offer clearer sightlines with fewer civilians clustered on the canal bridges.

The boat captain never did restart his engine.