Les Marchés de Noël en Alsace

As though my December wasn’t busy enough, I decided to squish in a quick weekend trip to Strasbourg before going home for Christmas.  Strasbourg had always been on my necessary list of places to see while in France again to visit my old roommate Marion and an even older friend, Mélanie (who’s already made a few appearances here) because they both live in/near Alsace.  This also just happened to be the big weekend for the huge Christmas markets in Alsace, which are supposed to be of superior quality.  Alsace was also my second choice of region for the teaching program I’m in, because I was intrigued by the German influence on the area and was hoping to be able to work on my German as well while there, but, of course, Lyon won overall.

Iris, the other American assistant working with me in Belley, was also spending the weekend with me at Marion’s but we arrived on different trains.  My 5 hour train journey began at 10 am on Friday and I had a seat at a table on the upper level near a woman from South Korea and a German guy whose brother is well-off in politics and knows Angela Merkel (apparently).  The plan was just to listen to my music and enjoy the scenery for 5 hours, but then they started speaking German and I couldn’t help but eavesdrop.  They had been talking earlier but when the train reached the TGV tracks and started going 306 kph (190 mph) the German got all excited so I listened, wondering why.  Apparently 306 kph is really fast, so I took a picture too.   

My eagerness to listen to them did not go unnoticed and soon enough I was asked in German if the cookies I was eating were Prince cookies (of course they were).  I gave him a “ja” and then the guy seemed surprised that I understood or was just expecting me to say more, and it got silent… so I followed up with “I’m an American but I speak French and some German” because the awkward silence made me want to reveal all my secrets, or at least not end the conversation on such a weird note.  So he was excited to learn that I speak English and from then on we chatted the next few hours about the differences between America and Europe and eventually parts of Asia (he was surprised our Korean neighbor was so tall for a woman).  Towards the end I just wanted my music back because listening to music on a long train ride is what I love, but I got over it and was just proud of myself for at least getting that far in German.

Upon my arrival I hung out at the train station until Iris’s train pulled in.  Once together, we headed towards the city center and grabbed a bite to eat and some vin chaud (mulled wine) at one of the markets along the way.  We walked around a bit to check out some of the markets and hung out in the biggest square, Place Kléber, where we eventually met up with Marion.

Strasbourg Cathedral

 

The name of a market in Alsacien, the local language

 

After picking up a quick dinner, Marion had fun plans for us for that evening: a French improv show!  One of the teams that came out was dressed in very American military costumes, waving a huge American flag.  They probably never could have guessed there would be Americans there that night.  Luckily for us though, as part of the audience we were able to vote which team had the best performance after each game.  Also for some reason the theme was The Walking Dead and the MC's were dressed in apocalyptic or zombie costumes.

The next morning Marion, the sweetheart she is, bought us all breakfast from a boulangerie so we could try some Alsatian/Christmas specialties.

After our delicious breakfast we headed out to the markets again before a fun roadtrip with Melanie!

In the afternoon we met up with Melanie at the train station and headed out to a small town called Riquewihr to check out its famous Christmas market and see more of Alsace.

Following our trip to Riquewihr we stopped by Melanie's parents' house in Matzenheim, just outside of Strasbourg, for some lovely homemade Alsatian Christmas cookies. 

Once we filled up on cookies and hot chocolate we thought it'd be a good idea to go and meet up with Marion for dinner in Petite-France (the cool, old-school German-style part of Strasbourg).

 The cool thing about Strasbourg, in addition to the fact that it has an impressive multicultural, Franco-German feel, is the fact that the main city center is basically an island, called the Grand Île, surrounded by the Ill River and is considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being the only entire city center to have such an honor.

For dinner we ate at a well-known restaurant along the river where I enjoyed some salmon and potato pancakes.  Being from Wisconsin and having a rich German heritage, potato pancakes are commonplace to me, something I had taken for granted until I found out Iris had never had them or even heard of them before.  Gotta love the heritage (and Milwaukee/Wisconsin in general).

Sunday was sadly my last day in Strasbourg.  Iris left early in the morning so it was just Marion and I strolling the streets of the 'bourg.  Gratefully it was a sunny day and I was able to take some better photos of Petite-France and other endroits.

Marion & I

After lunch and some more vin chaud with Marion, I headed to the train station and departed for Lyon.


Next up: home for the holidays, my trip to Iceland and my return to London!