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Published: September 29th 2006
Foie gras with the family
At my host father Yves' house Bonjour tout le monde!
Before we get started on the blog, we have to apologise for the 87 emails you all received last time... we contacted travelblog.org & they said it had to do with our server (Mozilla) so sorry about that but we don't really know how it all happened! Hopefully you'll only get this once (but please open it, it will be good I promise)!
Also, sorry for the delays in our updates but we've had a hell of a time finding internet for under £1 an hour, as it takes us about 2-3 hours to do each blog (download photos, resize them, write our journal...) PLUS we've been job hunting and to be honest finding a job in London is PRIORITY 1 at the moment, it's so damn expensive!
So after the last installment - we left Belgium and spent a few days in Paris doing our washing & visiting the Picasso museum (well, I think he's spent some time in Amsterdam too!).
On Friday 25th August we took the train to Strasbourg in Alsace, and no it's not part of Germany! It has a 'colourful' history, having been German at least twice before
Tour of Strasbourg
The covered bridges & river fortifications of La Petite France, Strasbourg but now is the seat of the European Community, sharing the parliament with Brussels.
We were staying with Nelly & Olivier - I lived in Nelly's host family 13 years ago!!! It's unbelievable how the time has flown. We had a great weekend with my host parents Yves & Violette and I was so happy that Scott could finally meet them. We all got on so well, it was as if I'd never left & as if Scott had already known them for ages. As for the food that Nelly cooked for us... onion tart; quiche lorraine; rabbit stew with mushrooms and traditional Alsatian pasta / noodles; le baekoffe (a casserole with beef brisket, pig's tail & pork shoulder marinated in a bottle of reisling layered with potatoes, carrots & onions - YUM) and so many desserts & tarts I can't even remember. We also went mushroom gathering in the forest next to my host family's summer house so she made us a ceps mushroom tart - it tasted so good after all our hard work hunting them down!
Now, by this stage, Scott's French is coming along so well - he can say 'please pass me the
salt' (passe-moi le sel, s'il te plait) and 'oh dear' (merde). And he was learning about the French sense of humour & play-on-words ('a demain' means 'see you tomorrow', but 'a deux mains' means 'with 2 hands' - unfortunately they sound exactly the same... poor Scott!)
Through the week we did a Sarah-guided tour through Strasbourg city (and we even had a beer at some of the old haunts), we had several more meals with the host family (fois gras, champagne, duck, cheese, bretzels - it's hard being in France) and several trips around the region. My favourite day was on the Wine Route, a famous wine trail (it's even in the book '1000 things to do before you die'). Oh yes. There was wine. Mum and Jim were also over for a holiday and the 4 of us went on a bus tour through the region, stopping off in gingerbread-house type villages and tasting fantastic reislings, gewurtztraminers & pinot gris. We also ate "pain d'epices" which is like gingerbread / biscuits (traditionally Alsatian) and we ate lunch a 'Winstub' restaurant (more traditional cooking washed down with a great gewurtz, yum again). And for dessert we had black forest...
Traditional Alsatian house
Reminds us of gingerbread houses without Hansel & Gretel! well actually we went to the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle for a view over the Black Forest. Amazing.
The next night we went to Corinne's parents house to see her family again and to meet Julian's parents who had just arrived for the wedding. Corinne's Mum Charlotte cooked choucroute for 12 people (the Alsatian version of sourkraut) with 3 types of pork, 3 types of sausages, and cabbage & potatoes cooked in wine... mmmmm! Her Dad Gerard was so excited that we were here he must have opened about a dozen bottles of beautiful wine followed by a selection of schnapps (it's so rude to say no, we HAD to have some). It was such a great night, thank you so much Charlotte & Gerard for your hospitality!
On the 31st August it was a very special day for me, my 30th birthday (aaargh!), so thank you to all my family & friends who sent me emails to wish me well on the day, it was really appreciated from so far away! I have to say it was great to spend it in the sunshine of Germany than in the wind of Wellington 😊 Yes it was off to Germany
The Wedding!!!
Mum, Me, Corinne, Jim, Julien & Scott all looking as happy as punch! for the day to Europa Park, the German equivalent of Disneyland?!?! We went with the bride & groom Corinne & Julien, plus heaps of their friends, many of whom I went to high school with on my AFS exchange and haven't seen since! It was really great to catch up with them again... they have all become such successful young Frenchies and many have worked overseas for investment banks, OXFAM, the UN, doctors, engineers... watch out! The first stop was the 'Silver Bullet' which is the longest roller coaster in Europe - it doesn't have any loops as such but a series of SIGNIFICANT drops and corners, awesome. The best ride since (Amsterdam...!) well, it was great anyway. Then there were the obligatory water rides and more roller coasters, ending off with beer & bretzels at the bar.
And now for the entire reason we left NZ for France... the wedding!
On Saturday 2nd September we took the train to a town north of Strasbourg called Saverne - well the wedding was actually in Waldolwisheim (spell that one Claire) and we expected to be able to get a taxi from Saverne to the hotel, and the only taxi available in the whole town agreed to meet us... in 3 hours! No thanks. So we managed to find a sympathetic bus driver who agreed to drop us off in the middle of nowhere where it was a short walk across the highway to the hotel... yes, the hotel was in the middle of nowhere. We had 3 hours to order a taxi (this time they were more obliging) and we set off to the church. Adventures!
The church was so cute, and a big stork had made it's nest atop the reception hall roof next door (apparently a sign that babies are on the way for the newlyweds!?!?). The wedding was a very formal catholic mass with a choir. We did our best to follow it all in French, but the only time we weren't lost was 'I do', it's the same the world over! Corinne was so beautiful - she wore a white chiffon gown with hand-painted white grape bunches and leaves around the edges. So can you guess what the theme of this French wedding was? Surprise surprise, wine. There was an area by the church where the 200-odd guests enjoyed champagne cocktails and wonderful hors d'ouvres in a marquee. The wine and beer were flowing, lots of photos were taken and the more champagne I had the more talking I did as we caught up with lots of friends we'd met through the past few weeks and even more people I went to school with in 1993.
We were called into the meal at about 8.30, and our table theme was Montana wine from New Zealand. Funnily enough Corinne came to NZ for my 21st birthday, and we went on a wine tour to Blenheim for the weekend... with the obligatory stop to Montana. How thoughtful, it was such a nice surprise for my parents and us! The wedding treats for guests were so cute; each female guest received some of the famous Alsatian gingerbread biscuit iced with the bride and groom's names and the date of the wedding, and each man received a small bottle of eau de vie (juniper berry schnapps?) from Savoie, the groom's area, in the south-east of France.
But I'm sure you are all dying to know what we ate?!?! (Well... Rebecca, Dave, Nic, Molli & Greg, Cushla & Donna are, aren't you guys?!?!)
The meal started with whole fois gras & mini toast served with a delicious gewurtz, the main was a rare veal steak with truffle oil & girolles mushroom sauce, dauphine potatoes and roasted cherry tomatoes - and of course a reserve Bordeaux. There was next a cheese course of 4 different cheeses (including the stinky but delicious Munster cheese from Alsace, watch out it can crawl across your plate without warning!) and more red wine. Then pre-dessert shot glasses filled with finely cut fruits bathed in mint or basil. And finally a dessert of tartes & gateaux served at 1am. By this time, Scott & I couldn't even spell gateaux so we gave it a miss and went back to the hotel. Apparently the DJ finished at 4.00am so most people only had a few hours sleep before we all went back to the wedding venue for lunch the next day.
Corinne's family had organised staff to make Tarte Flambée in a portable woodfired oven; it's a traditional Alsatian thin-crust pizza covered in quarg / fromage blanc (like cream cheese) with fat strips of lardon bacon & onions. And for the gourmand you can add extra cheese - just what you need to cure a hangover.
We stayed in Strasbourg for a few more days enjoying the hospitality of my host family, and we were fortunate enough to visit both sets of my host family's grandparents. They were all so pleased to see me again and of course to meet Scott. We then left on the Wednesday morning for Nimes in the south of France - the tropics!
Nous voulons vous remercier encore pour votre acceuil et pour des vacances extraordinaires!!! Gros bisous et merci encore a Nelly, Olivier, Violette, Yves, Charlotte & Gerard, la belle Corinne & son beau Julien 😊
More photos to follow as we have safely stored them on disk, and then promptly 'misplaced' it in storage at my brothers place... And tune in next time for another installment of Nimes & Marseille coming to a PC near you.
So, Dr Phil is on and I'm hungry so I'm off to cook bangers & mash for lunch. Just kidding! Most people here eat sausages with chips & mushy grey-green peas... yuck. So kids, be safe (and happy birthday Sean for next week)!
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Jamie
non-member comment
Mushy Peas..nooooooooo
For gods sake stay away from the mushy peas!!!. Turkish is your best bet. Charcoal Chicken, Crnr Holloway Road and Windsor road. Get yourselves a small Chicken Shish with all the salad, Yogurt and Chilli Sauce, with a side of green Chilli peppers (or chips)...washed down with a £1 can of Stella from the offie next door!!!. best budget meal you could eva ask for! :>)