Strasbourg: La Capitale de Noël

This past weekend I was able to spend time in Strasbourg, France which is located in the Alsace region.  Alsace has switched between being part of Germany and France over the years due to the wars in Europe so it was so cool to see a part of France with such a cultural identity crisis: the food and drink are a mix between French and German specialties, the signs are in both French and German, and you can hear both languages on spoken in the cafés and on the streets.

To get there we decided to rent a car to and make the 3 hour drive instead of taking the train.  It ended up being only a little bit more expensive than the train but we had so much more flexibility with the car (and the drive was shorter!) so it was totally worth it.  Plus it was fun to see how historical sites are marked on the highways in France with detailed signs. (And we got to drive on the autobahn in Germany but I’ll get to that later.)  We also sang Christmas carols and played silly games to keep us entertained during the drive…typical road trip!

This was our car- it fit SEVEN of us! And is considered to be a large vehicle in Europe.
Did I mention it took DEISEL?! That's how "big" it is! 

We arrived in Strasbourg around 8pm and checked in at the apartment where we were staying for the night and then headed back into the city center.  (Another plus of having the car- no need to deal with bus or tram time limitations!)  We wandered around and took in the beautiful lights and the massive Christmas tree (98 feet tall!).  Since we still hadn’t had dinner we went to a cute place where I ordered Spezi (a German drink) which is Coke and Fanta mixed.  Surprisingly it was delicious!  For dinner I had fried and breaded Camembert on lettuce with tomatoes.  They legit served a wheel of cheese, fried and breaded...where else in the world can you order that for dinner? Only in France.  It was delicious but I could only eat ¼ of the wheel…so filling!  The next day we had an array of breakfast treats from a boulangerie near our apartment and then set out for a day at the world famous markets! (And these markets are France's oldest- dating back to 1570!)  There were 12 different markets in the city and we saw a little over half of them!  My favorites were the French and German themed markets.  I had been to Christmas markets in Paris and Rome in 2009 so I had an idea of what to expect but these topped my expectations! I enjoyed them so much: the atmosphere, all the handmade goods, the ornaments, the pretzels, mulled wine (and hot orange juice in this case!), the yummy chocolates, the street performers...the list could go on and on!  It’s really difficult NOT to feel in a Christmas-y mood while in these markets.  I did a good amount of shopping and a good amount of eating- so many great things I had to try!  One time when I went to get hot chocolate at a stand Papa Noël (Santa Claus) was there to order a coffee and we chatted.  That’s right, I talked to Santa in French. Needless to say I was super pumped about it.  

Papa Noël et moi in Strasbourg!

Aside from the markets I visited Notre-Dame de Strasbourg which is, hands down, one of the most stunning cathedrals I have seen to date.  I was literally awe-struck when I first saw it because it is not only massive but extremely detailed and ornate.  The inside is exactly the same….you just feel so tiny and there is so much rich history it’s overwhelming.  Other than the Vatican I have never felt smaller in a church. (I think façade of Notre-Dame de Strasbourg was more stunning than the Vatican, but St. Peter’s Square is distracting so it’s a tough call.)  While the markets were the main goal for the day (and we saw so many!) I do plan to return to Strasbourg some day.  It offers so much more than Christmas markets so it would be a shame not to see all of its other sites!  (It’s a bike friendly city, too, and has cute canals so I think I’d like to return in the summer and ride a bike around! Someday!!)  Since we were only spending the one day in Alsace once we were done seeing most of the markets we decided we should plan when we would head back to Dijon but then we had the brilliant idea to go to Germany for dinner!  Strasbourg is about 30 minutes from the German border so it wasn’t that out of the way.  We settled on heading to Freiburg, a small city that was on the way back to Dijon.  How fun is that…Germany- just for dinner!  It was a precious little town, with its own Christmas markets so we got to see a bit of authentic, German Christmas markets which is where the whole idea originated!  Not a bad deal!  Also, one of the assistants in our group is from Germany so it was really exciting to have her to show us around her country and give cultural tid bits we would have missed out on had she not been there!  While driving on the autobahn there (yes, there’s really no speed limit!) we practiced German phrases to order food in a restaurant and about restaurant culture. (For example, you have to greet the waiter by saying good evening and when you ask for the check the waiter goes to each person individually with their subtotal and you pay one by one.)  For me, it was especially cool to be back in Germany since it’s the first European country I ever visited and will always have a special spot in my heart!

Me with a Christmas market sign in Freiburg, Germany

It was a whirlwind, jam-packed day and a half that I will cherish forever!  December in Europe is magical- simple as that.


Word(s) of the Post:   Joyeux Noël (French) / Frohe Weihnachten (German)  -- Merry Christmas