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Published: October 7th 2011
Marche de Noel, Place de la Cathedral
This part of Strasbourg's famous Marche de Noel, which can be found throughout the month of December here and also everywhere in Centre Ville. As you can see it is also packed with people. The market is gone by January 1 so keep this in mind if you plan to come here for the holidays. Note: All events mentioned in this entry occurred from December 28, 2006-January 2, 2007. For more updated trips and entries, please refer back to this site at a later date. An updated entry or trip will NOT include a note like this. Thanks and enjoy!
December 27, 2006-I had no choice now but to head back to Dijon in order to drop of my souvenirs and repack in order to head to my next stop, Strasbourg. I chose to visit Strasbourg because I was told by a lot of French people that it was very pretty but also had the best Marche de Noel in France. In fact, it was the first ever in France. I did want to see it because I did enjoy the Marche de Noel tradition and was curious to see how the one in Strasbourg compared to the ones in Dijon and Monaco (for more information on Marche de Noels please refer to blog entry entitled "Day Trip to Monaco." and upcoming blog entry that will be entitled "Christmas in France: The Basics.")
I took the train back from Nice to Dijon, took a cab home. I arrived around 9 PM so all
I had time to do was rearrange the items in my luggage and put the items that were staying home in their rightful place. The next morning, I take the 8 AM GMT train from Dijon to Strasbourg, with a scheduled connection in Nancy. I remember seeing a thin blanket of snow and ice as my train passed through the Burgundy region on its way to Nancy. Finally the rolling, pastoral, agriculturally busy green hills of Lorraine appeared. We arrived in Nancy thirty minutes late-I began to fear that I had missed my connection, especially since my platform was on the other side of the train station! I had to get there by going outside and walking around a street in the middle of centre ville in order to find the departures for further north. Luckly however my train for Strasbourg was late arriving, so I was able to make it after all.
I finally arrive in Strasbourg around 2, 3 PM GMT. I take a taxi to my hostel and get settled in my room. I then decide to do some sight seeing in centre ville and also find the Marche de Noel. The concierge at my hostel
gave me a map and some good directions that helped me to find my way. After encountering some historic buildings I finally find Place de la Cathedral and also the Marche de Noel. As mentioned in my previous blog entry (Day Trip in Monaco/Monte Carlo), a Marche de Noel is a traditional open air market held in most cities in France during the month of December. According to most French people, the tradition originated in Strasbourg, who got the tradition from their "German" neighbors (I put this in parenthesis because I think the tradition originates before the 17th-19th centuries which means that the Alsacian region's relationship was with probably Barvaria or another region in what became the country of Germany we know of today. This is a very important factor to remember when you travel through Europe and encounter historical facts because the Europe we know today hasn't existed for very long). Each market is different according to geographic location in France and also size, however what is common is the fact that artisnal gifts that are made by local, domestic and international artists. Here's an example of what I ended up buying at Strasbourg's Marche de Noel: There was
a local artist selling candle holders that were in the shape of traditional Alsacian houses. They were hand painted and crafted in clay from scratch. I liked them so much I bought two-one for my mother and another for myself. There was another vendor selling traditional Alsacian style pottery, which was also made by the individual there. I bought an ornament to put on the family Christmas tree once I got home. As I passed these stalls, I saw a group of artisans selling Russian dolls and other tradtional Russian crafts, and I also saw two artisans with Indian style carved figurines of animals, Hindi gods and other things. There was a stand that sold mulled wine or "vin chaud," spiced, warm orange juice, (jus d'orange chaud) and spiced warmed apple juice (jus de pommes chaud). I tried all three; I was already familiar with vin chaud from Dijon's Marche de Noel and also from Monaco's, however I would grade the vendor from Dijon's the best I tried during my trip. However, this was the first time I saw jus d'orange like this ever in my life, and I must say it was one of my favorite things during my
Strasbourg's Cathedral 1
This cathedral is huge, so I did my best to take it all in with my pictures but as you will see this was an impossible feat for me and my small digital camera at the time. trip.
There were a lot of people in Place de la Cathedral that day from all over the world. I heard peaople speaking English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and there were probably others. I then take an opportunity to visit the cathedral which was just massive both exterior and interior. It's definintly gothic more or less in the "German" style as opposed to most "French" styles, and that's all I know about it. I will say, this was one of the highlights during the visit because it's quite decorative in the inside, it's tall and has a very angular perspective, which gives it this almost towering perspective that illustrates its height. I then decide to head home, however on my way, I decide to buy for myself some cake at a local boulengerie/pattiserie for my twenty first birthday, which would be tomorrow on the 29th of December. All I could find were two small cakes: one filled with marshmellow and the other with chocolate moussee, but I was ok with that. I also bought a sweet bread known as "kouglehof" which is a traditional Chirstmas Aslacian treat in the shape of a "crown" (the
name in Alsacian means "King's Crown.")
I eat a humble dinner of The Laughing Cow cheese, grapes and bread and then go to sleep.
December 29, 2006 (aka my 21st Birthday)- I head out for another day of sight seeing in Centre Ville. After taking another stroll through the Marche de Noel, I go to a restaurant down a side street in order to get some lunch, which would also serve as my birthday dinner. I ordered chicken in a creme and mushroom sauce with spatzle. My chicken was incredibly dry as were thes spatzle, and the creme sauce was bland. However, I did like the idea and I have reproduced the meal back in the US at home. Nonetheless, I was disappointed by the quality of the meal and lamented that could have had something better to eat. I then come across the Musee des Beaux Arts, which is contained in a 200 year-old palace designed by the same architecht as Verseilles. The museum is divided into 3-4 different museums: history of Alsace/Strasbourg, Decorative Arts, Fine Arts (which features paintings by local, domestic and international artists through time), and Archeology I think. I literally spent my entire
afternoon here and must say it was one of my top favorite museums during my trip abroad. Then I go home, eat my cake and crack open a bottle of Cote de Provence (red) that I had purchased while on vacation in Nice. Before eating my cake, I ate more of my Laughing Cow cheese and bread and grapes.
December 30, 2006- After eating a piece of my kouglehof for breakfast, I spend my morning at the Musee des Arts Medivale (Museum of Medieval Art), which contains paintings, decorative arts, and sculpture in the form of grotesques, religious statues of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Joseph and the Saints, and gargoyles from all over France and other parts of Europe from all artistic periods during the Middle Ages. It is housed in this gorgous hotel or mansion from the 15th century. I spent about 3 hours here and I must say it was one of the most impressive museums I went to during my trip. After that, I eat lunch in a traditional restaurant near the cathedral, where I have baekoffe (a traditional stew made with beef, lamb and veal I think) and for dessert black forrest cake, which to
date is the best I've ever had! Actually this meal was the best during my trip to Strasbourg in regards to the quality of ingredients but also preparation. The meat in the stew was cooked to perfection, as were the slices of potatoes and carrots, all served in a traditional Alsacian baekoffe casserole dish. I then spend the rest of the day in Petite France, which is a neighborhood which dates from the 13th, 14th century where "French" artisnal workers were housed during the periods when Alsace had stronger connections to the regions that helped to make up modern-day Germany. The architecture is what most Americans would imagine Germany or the German Swiss Aples to look like-basically imagine this as the setting to one of your favorite Grimm Faery tale stories from your childhood and you get the idea. After taking lots of pictures I head home, however I decide to go into a bakery to see if I could pick up something special for New Years Eve tomorrow. I found a cake that was deocrated with chocolate fondant, with expresso mousse in between layers of chocolate cake. I go home to eat more cheese and bread before going to
Random Church, Strasbourg
Found this church near my hostel; didn't go inside but I found it to be quite nice. sleep.
December 31, 2006 (New Year's Eve)- I explore more of PLace de la Cathedral and I decide to do some more shopping, this time for local pottery. The Alsacian region has a huge, extensive region behind pottery making. Each region has its own distinct design and color pallate, however the most common feature is the stork, which is the symbol of Strasbourg, but I also believe of the region as a whole. I found this one vendor who had a very good selection of the local pottery, which is mostly used for cooking. I decided to buy two small baekoffe pans and then I purchased a kouglehof pan after asking the vendor's advice. He then graciously prepares them for shipment back home to the US by wrapping them up in bubble rap and putting them in a tightly sealed box, for no extra charge. I also purchased a few cookbooks, which are still treasured today and the food cooked from them enjoyed by my friends and family. I then attend Christmas Eve mass in the beautiful cathedral I had visited my first day in Strasbourg and then head home. I have no more cheese left, so all I
have left to eat is kouglehof, cake and my bottle of Crement de Bourgogne (the only sparkling wine produced in Burgundy) rose that I had purchased back in October (for more information, please refer to my blog with the subtitle "Wining and Dining in Beaune and Nuit Saint George.) I drank the whole bottle by myself to ring in the New Year, ate most of the cake and some of my kouglehof. For a little while I watched some of the fireworks go off and then went to sleep around 4 AM GMT I think.
January 1, 2007 (New Years Day) c. 12 PM GMT- I feel dreadfully hungover. The first thing I do when I get up is head to the bathroom and vomit because I felt very sick to my stomach. I felt like I had lived after being run over by a truck I was hurting that much all over and felt that weak. I decided to go back to bed for a bit, and didn't go out until 1 PM GMT and I drank lots and lots of water. I attended New Years day mass, and then I decided to take the canal cruise since
Random Buildings
These were also located near my hostel-I noticed that Strasbourg did have a unique architecural style, like most cities you find throughout France and Europe for that matter do and I would say this building and the random church photo exemplify this. that was the only other thing open. It was nice- I got to see some buildings that I didn't on foot like the huge cabbage shaped theater, an old prison and the EU parliament buildings and Court of Justice, and some more historic mansions and a lovely garden/park. I learned about the history of Alsace, and its complicated relationship between modern day Germany and France. The Alsace and Lorraine regions were given to France in the 1860s I think when Germany became unified and then during WWII, Hitler reoccupied it and destroyed 60 % of the city, but after the war both regions were returned to France. I also got to see how the city's complicated canal system worked, which had been in use I think for 200-300 years! I then get dinner at a local street vendor who is serving flamkeuker or Alsacian style pizza which contains a topping normally of creme fraiche, lardon (or bacon), onion and sometimes cheese or mushrooms. The crust is very thin, almost like a flatbread pizza. The cost of my flamkeuker was only 4 euro-for dessert I have a sweet prezel or brezel next door. I then go home, and start packing for
Hotel de Ville
A Hotel de Ville in French normally refers to a building designated as city hall; in this case this is Strasbourg's. my next trip, which would be to Paris.
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