Strasbourg, the ‘capital of Christmas’
I returned on Sunday night from three days with a friend in Strasbourg, a beautiful town on the border with Germany that has a reputation for its traditional Christmas markets and lights. Even though it didn’t snow, I felt that I experienced a real European Christmas atmosphere. Strasbourg is in the province of Alsace, and people speak Alsatian as well as French and German. The markets (‘Christkindelsmärik’ in Alsatian) were lovely, there were stalls selling decorations, lights, craft items, and lots of traditional Alsatian food. The smell in the air was delicious – a mixture of cinnamon and hot bread… I ate soooo much! Doughnuts, bretzel (like a pretzel made from bread, covered in cheese, or cinnamon and sugar), chocolate coated fruit, waffles, chocolate, and lots and lots of bredel (Christmas cookies – gingerbread, cinnamon, chocolate - delicious!!) I just wanted to try everything all at once! I also drank hot orange juice with honey, and Glühwein (hot red wine with spices). Strasbourg is a great place to wander aimlessly, and most of the time I just followed the prettiest streets. The city is located on an island in the middle of the river Ill, and the whole island is a Unesco World Heritage Site. There were lots of cobbled laneways with their own unique Christmas decorations. The area called ‘Petite France’ (Little France) is especially charming, with all the woodframe houses preserved for centuries. I’ll put up photos on Flickr, just click on one of the photos in the viewer on the right and it will take you to my photo albums. There were lots of free concerts, and I went every evening to go and see a choir sing in either the Temple Neuf or the cathedral (which is an amazing building). Although I didn’t know any of the songs (which were sung in French and German), it was still lovely.The Christmas lights at night were spectacular, and there were many people in the streets (lots of kids too!), despite the freezing cold. The giant Christmas tree (30m tall) in Place Kleber was strung with fairy lights and other lit decorations, it was really pretty. Apparently they cut it down in some forest, but it looks like it had been growing there forever! I returned to Paris at midnight on Sunday, and I realized that I hadn’t really seen any of Paris at Christmas time. So on Monday evening I went exploring a bit, and I saw the amazing displays are the ‘grand old dames’ of department stores: Printemps and the Galeries Lafayette (kinda like David Jones but way classier and more… Parisian), as well as a beautiful Christmas tree in front of Notre Dame. Tomorrow morning I have to pack, I have class in the afternoon and then I am heading off to Prague! My birthday present to myself :)