Strasbourg = Christmas

My internet access at home is still in its rebellious teenager phase, so instead of uploading pictures to dazzle and inspire jealousy (snore), I’ll just have to write about Strasbourg.

Sunday, bright and early, we took the train from Gare de l’Est. John almost didn’t make it—we were actually in the middle of rolling our eyes and trying to figure out how to contact him while the train chugged away from Paris when he jumped out of nowhere and joined us.

We got into Strasbourg (located here, on this handy map) and it was rainy and grey… we walked a bit, tried to get some mulled wine (vin chaud—and apparently 10am is too early to serve it, because it wasn’t warm enough yet), and took pictures of all the decorations and huge Christmas tree in the square.

The whole idea behind this trip was to spend the day exploring the city and seeing the world-famous, oldest Christmas market in Europe. It’s spread throughout the city, and everything is covered with lights, random teddy bears, and ornaments. The city itself is absolutely gorgeous. Most of the center of town dates from the Middle Ages. The rest is slightly Baroqueish, which makes it look a lot like Salzburg, Austria.

We eventually got some vin chaud and followed it every two hours or so with the best apple cider I’ve ever tasted and extremely thick, dark hot chocolate. There was also a lot of gingerbread tasting— everyone was offering sweets, nuts, and all sorts of bread to me the whole day. By the time the sun set, I was politely refusing.

Lunch was absolutely amazing— Edelweiss beer, which I first tasted in Austria; Soupe à l’oignon; and the regional specialty of chicken, cooked in a creamy Reisling sauce, with spaetzle. Tasty little buttery worms.

We had a “snack” again later on: tarte flambée (like a pizza with muenster, onions, and ham, all on a light flaky crust) and Reisling.

There was also much shopping: bredel (cookies and biscuits that keep for a few months in a sealed tin), gingerbread, roasted peanuts, macaroons, ornaments, and other Christmasy things.

To escape the rain and get some sightseeing done, we wandered into the cathedral—where there was a German mass going on— and then took a boat ride down the river. I listened to the French children’s commentary on our headphones, and sort of semi-napped in the warm seats. We went past the oldest part of town, Petite France, and walked back later to see it up close. Then the boat turned around after the EU complex of buildings.

Courtney and I nearly didn’t make it to the train station, but we enjoyed our first class seats on the ride back to Paris. It’s only about 2 hours between the cities, and it operates out of Gare de l’Est. So I walked home.

Another thing that put me in the Christmas spirit? Movie Mondays at school. The day after Strasbourg, we watched A Muppet Christmas Carol, chiming in with lines or on songs, and now I’m ready to go back to Chicago and string up some lights while singing carols.

Just uh… not ready to leave Paris.