The weekend of Nov 24 was a busy one for us! Friday and Saturday we saw Chamonix and then went back to Lyon, changed our clothes and hitched another train North to Strasbourg for Sunday and Monday too see the Christmas markets.
Originally a German tradition, outdoor Christmas markets have spread throughout Europe. They have lots in France but the oldest French market is in Strasbourg because it frequently changed ownership between Germany and France. It's right on the border between the two countries, and as a result the culture is a little bit different than elsewhere in France. Strasbourg is in the Alsace region, which is all kind of eccentric compared to the other French regions, having been influenced by border countries.
How do I know all this? Well because I like to learn things about everywhere I visit...and because I chose to do my French project and presentation on the city! haha
Anyways! The markets show case hand made and local crafts and other little gifts and specialty foods. My favorite was the pain epice, we tried it from all the different stands before we decided on our favorite.
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| entire booths dedicated to nativity scenes - now you can have a brown baby jesus if you want |
Other traditional foods include vin chaud, cider, and spiced hot chocolate (yum!) and this weird potato mix fried with sauerkraut and bacon - i think that's coming from the German side of things.
All in all I enjoyed walking around the markets, enjoying hot drinks and seeing the whole city lit up. Really made me look forward to the holidays. And I found everyone such lovely gifts! The funniest part of the trip was seeing Kelsey's disbelief/embarrassment while me and Cassandra shamelessly haggled with the vendors lol! Guess I have some Manchisi in me after all ahahha!
No more travelling after this, our final trips were much more relaxed then the more extravagant ones in the beginning; but they were the perfect way to wind down the trip and we are looking forward to coming home to everyone!
love al
