Walkin' In A Winter Wonderland

Last weekend, Emily, her friend Lexy, and I travelled to the Alsace region of France, where some of Emily's ancestors come from. We stayed in Strasbourg and spent half a day in Colmar, a little village half an hour south of Strasbourg. I adored it. Emily did too. It's one of her favorite places.

When we left on Friday, snow was piling up in Grenoble. It was beautiful to see, but unfortunately it made our train late to Paris. After rushing through the metro though, we discovered there was another TGV to Strasbourg, so we hopped it. We didn't officially have seats so we sat on a bench by the luggage rack. When we got to Strasbourg, it was snowing just a little, but it only rested on the rooftops. With the abundance of Christmas lights and petite stone roads, Strasbourg's centre ville is enough to make you feel cozy and at home, despite the temperature being about 28 degrees Farenheit.

European Parliament

Cathedral

The next day we explored the city some and saw among other things, the European Parliament, the Cathedral, the astronomical clock, and the statue of Gutenberg. It's beautiful and historic, and fairly large. There are many old and adorable Alsacian buldings. Walking around the city, one can feel see the mixture of German and French influences, but Strasbourg still remains distinctly French. We ate tarte flambée, a speciality of the region, and we spent a lot of time exploring the Marché de Noël, called the Christelkindelsmarik. The Christmas market tradition originates in this area and has been around since 1570. Therefore, the Marchés de Noël in Alsace are the best in France. They are huge and exciting and bustling. The cities of Alsace also go all out with their Christmas decorations, which perfectly complements the architecture.

Colmar is very typicaly Alsacian: the architecture, the Marché de Noël, the cozy neighborhood pub, small parks, old stone roads, and lots of delicious food including tarte flambée, choucroute, and sauerkraut. The town was partially covered in snow and absolutely charming.

Colmar

On the way home, our train was held up for 2 hours right before reaching the station in Montbéliard because of a car accident that I guess blocked the tracks somehow. Once we reached the station, we had to wait another hour for a replacement conductor. Needless to say, we missed our connecting train in Lyon. The SNCF was nice enough though to provide snack boxes for us (not delicious, but containing the important elements of the food pyramid) and a bus back to Grenoble. We finally made it home at 2am.

The river in Strasbourg

Marché de Noël & one of the oldest buildings in Strasbourg