In the northeast part of France, you will find the region known as Alsace. It’s a perfect mix between French and German culture and is well known as the group of towns that inspired the look of Disney’s original Beauty and the Beast.

While exploring the small village of Riquewihr near the east border of France, my friend Liz Beckwith and I were exploring the touristy shops that lined the city center street. We had previously learned about some of the cultural traditions and history of Colmar, and we had also learned about some of the traditional dress.

Now my friend Liz wanted so badly to see some of the old traditional dress in real life. She also had a love for the artist called Hanzi that is a great figure for those in Colmar. While we were exploring the town of Riquewihr we were on the lookout for originals done by Hanzi. we stumbled upon this small store hidden away in a corner.

We saw some of the traditional dress through the window and suddenly became excited. Then we entered the shop. A great guy named Frank greeted us, and we asked him if he had any paintings from Hanzi. He did!

As Liz was looking through the paintings, we started up a conversation with Frank. He started to tell us about his shop, why he opened it, and what it meant to him. His grandparents had owned tons of artifacts and he inherited them. He had artifacts in his store hundreds and hundreds of years old. We asked him why he was selling them- and he told us that he wasn’t.

He then explained that he was showcasing them more than anything. The only things in his shop that he was willing to sell was some of the paintings, and some of the dishes, and the rest was there because he had all of these things that were important to him and to his culture, and he wanted to share it with others. He told us that it was an amazing experience to have a “free museum” like this and to share stories about his town and his culture to those who visited.

He just wanted to share his culture and traditions with us and others who would also come and visit after us! We then asked him numerous questions about the culture of Riquewihr and of Alsace. He taught us about the traditional dress- how girls used to wear giant red or black bows on their heads, and how the color signified whether or not you were on the market to marry. (If you’re curious- black meant that you were too young or taken, and red meant you were single and ready to mingle.) He taught us about how the trim of each skirt signified what religion you practiced, and also about how the amount of knots tied on a string that would go around the women’s necks would signify how many animals her family had.

He taught us about why the architecture was the way that it was, and how it affected their everyday lives. Did you know that in Alsace, the color of each house used to signify what proffessional trade the family worked in?

Let’s just say that we were there talking to Frank for no short period of time- and we loved every second of it. Frank was so excited to share it with us, and we were eating it up.

Then, to our excited suprise, he asked us if we wanted to try some of the bows on. The incredibly old, incredibly important to him bows. Of course we said yes! He carefully helped us to place them on our heads and tied them around our chins. I don’t know how girls in Alsace used to walk around with them all of the time- they were not super light!

Then he asked us if he could take a picture of us with his polaroid to put on his wall of people who had visited and stopped and talked with him for a while. We said yes, so he had us hold up old traditional dresses in front of us and snapped a picture. Then he took two more and gave them to us for free so that we could have little keepsake memories for ourselves! It was so sweet and we were both so excited.

So now you may be thinking- how can I experience things like this during my travels?

Here’s my answer for you: ask. Ask questions and ask a lot of them. You will find that there are so many people who want to share their culture and traditions, and it is so much more meaningful to live it with other people instead of just reading it on Google (though I do love having you here on my blog.) The more curious you are- the more meaningful things will be- most especially whilst traveling.

But… don’t just take it from me. Go experience it yourself- go somewhere and be curious, and ask questions- and go make your own magical experiences!