Colmar and on to Beaune

Our excursion to Paris started with traveling to Colmar and then Beaune. We started our travel very early on Monday morning with an 8 hour bus ride to Colmar. We took multiple stops along the way on the bus and kept ourselves amused by studying and playing games with the Ipad.

In Colmar we stopped at the Isenheim-Alter. Colmar is a very pretty city that is small in size but vast in historic German buildings. The tour of the museum was very cool and the panels from the Isenheim-Alter were very cool. In the church they even had the Isenheim-Alter able to drop down into the floor in case of a fire. After the tour, we got back on the bus and went Beaune where we stayed. When arriving to Beaune we got to do my favorite thing, which is have a group dinner. We got to try to famous beef bergonue, a delicious appetizer, and even some red wine. The group dinner ended with another hug to our coordinator and our professor. It was a great first day of traveling.

The next morning in Beaue we got to take a guided tour of the 'Hotel Dieu'. Despite its name, the 'Hotel Dieu' is a magnificent hospital that was founded in 1443 after Beaune was coming out of the 100 years war. The rooftop of the Hospices de Beaune ('Hotel Dieu') was made of ceramic tiles overlapping each other, painted in a Gothic checkerboard carpet theme. The inside of the Hotel had staying areas for both the rich and the poor. The rich living quarters consisted of 2 rows of beds lining the left and right had wall of hallway. The beds were the size of what appeared to be a little larger then a twin bed and would hold up to 4 people during times of fullness.The beds also had a curtain that could be pulled closed so other poeple did not have to see the nurse taking care of you. The bedrooms for the rich had larger beds with much more room, a fireplace, and beautiful artwork. In this Hospice we got to see a huge collection of medical tools from 100 years old, and they looked very similar to the medical devices of today's standards.

One thing that I also thought was very cool about the Hospice was that it was built on a river that could be seen through glass panels on the floor. This was used so that waste could be dumped into the river and taken away. In this Hospice we also got to learn about the vast amount of plants, animals, and sorcery that was used to develop medicines back then. The tour ended with the tour guide informing us of wine auctions that occur as donations for the Hospice and you can buy barrels of 500L.