We arrived at our hotel to discover that in typical french fashion we needed a map to get to our room. The directions were as follows:
1. Take the elevator to the 4th floor.
2. Go up the five stairs you see upon exiting the elevator.
3. Go through the door to your right and walk up the flight of stairs to the 5th floor.
4. Enter the 5th floor, turn left, and proceed down five stairs.
5. Your room will be straight ahead.
This is the second time I've felt like I was in a maze in a hotel in France. Our room was very homey to say the least. We called it an early night because we had a busy day ahead of us, and we were exhausted from trekking around Paris all day.
The next day, we woke up bright and early at 7:30am. (My Spanish friends strangely enjoy waking up early.) Around 9:00am we finally stepped foot on the streets. The first thing on our itinerary was the eat breakfast. We rounded the corner of our street and stopped at a little cafe. We enjoyed a nice breakfast consisting of croissants, orange juice, and espresso.
SIDENOTE: Maybe it's a New Jersey thing, but I've realized in Europe that we say "Espresso" very different from everyone else. Both myself and my other New Jersey friends here in Spain pronounce it as "eXpresso". I had no idea I was saying it wrong until someone pointed it out, and I then asked my New Jersey friends how they say it. Another word New Jerseyans say differently is the word "because." Language can be so much fun!
Anyway, we finished breakfast and headed to the train station to pick up Maggie. We then proceeded back to the hotel to drop her things off. After this we embarked on our Christmas market hunt. Because Strasbourg is famous for their Christmas markets and decorations, our hotel gave us a special Christmas map to use. Our first stop was the market in front of the train station. This market was very small and sold mostly food. Being that we had just eaten breakfast, it wasn't really the most exciting.
It is hard to describe the city of Strasbourg. It is a very small and easy to navigate. It appeared that most people didn't drive; they instead chose to walk or ride bikes. Throughout the city snakes a river. The river forms an island in the center of the city. Due to the city's location right next to Germany, it was involved in both World War I and World War II. The city suffered damage in both wars. Between the bike riding and the way the buildings are preserved, you felt like you were transported back to the 1940's. Being a sucker for history, this was my dream city.
We stepped into our second Christmas market which happened to be in the center of the city where they keep the giant Christmas tree. This market was very modern and sold mostly clothes. The tree and the surrounding decorations were the main attraction of this market.
Our third market, we more or less stumbled upon in our attempts to find the famous cathedral. This market was my favorite. It sold all things French and German. It is also where I had my first Gluhwein (pronounced "Glue Vine"). This is a typical German drink. It is a mixture of wine and brandy and it is served very, very, very hot. Perfect for the extremely cold weather we were experiencing in France.
How the Gluhwien is served
After this market, we headed the market in front of Strasbourg's famous cathedral. Here the market was big compared to the others we had seen. It had a mixture of everything.
After exploring the market, we stopped for a bite to eat. Mainly because we were freezing and our feet were so cold we couldn't feel them anymore. France is by no means warm in the winter.
After eating my favorite soup ever (french onion soup), we headed towards the river. We planned to cross the river and then loop back around to another part of the city where there were more markets and a museum we all wanted to see.
We followed the river to a museum we "thought" was the one we wanted to see. We were sadly mistaken. This museum was probably one of the worst I've ever been to. This can mostly be attributed to the fact that it was entirely in French and while my french is pretty good, it's not that good to enjoy an entire museum. This museum was about the history Strasbourg starting from the days it was first founded (a very long, long time ago.) The only part I paid attention to were the things I got to touch and the history of the city in its involvement in both WWI and WWII. My brain at this point was so confused at what language to use, I had to save my french for the moments I truly wanted to needed it.
After spending about 30 minutes in the museum that should have taken us two hours, we headed to the other markets we hadn't seen yet. One of which had pretzel figurines, a bakery (more or less), and the nativity scene made out of chocolate.
Eventually, we ended up back at the Cathedral which was finally open. We took this opportunity to visit inside. The cathedral itself is huge. It also houses a humongous astronomical clock.
After we finished the cathedral, the sun was finally setting and the city was starting to turn on its Christmas lights. We had yet to see the biggest and oldest market in Strasbourg so we made that our next destination. This market had everything. We sampled food until we were full (macarroons, fruit kebobs, chocolate, bread, pretzels, etc.), drank Gluhwien (no sun=frigid, cold bodies), and walked around the huge market for about an hour and a half. This market was also the most influenced by Germany.
After this market, our cold faces decided to call it a night and headed back to our hotel to thaw out before heading to dinner. Obviously we stopped every five seconds to take pictures of all of the lights. We also stumbled upon a laser-light show which we stopped and watched.
Finally, we arrived back at our hotel. After thawing out, we made friends with an old man who we always saw at the front desk. We're not sure if he was the owner or not or if we was simply a man who hung around the hotel. Either way he was precious, and we loved him. He gave us advice on where to eat dinner for the night. We finally settled on a restaurant that served typical Strasbourg food (a mix of French and German food). Our dinner proved to be basically disastrous. The thing with french people is that they don't like non-french people. So to get on their good side, you have to always attempt to speak french with them, never complain, and simply be the nicest person ever. If you choose to ignore the latter, the french will choose to ignore you. My Spanish friends were unaware of this. Our first strike was when we hung out around the restaurant for 20 minutes waiting for a table. Our second strike was when my Spanish friend unknowingly gestured to the host/owner for him to take our food order. And lastly, our third strike was when we had a dirty glass and the other American asked for a new one. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't spit in our food. While the food was good, we were basically ignored the entire night. At the end of our meal, we were supposed to receive a surprise free dish we assumed would be dessert. All of the tables around us got these AMAZING looking desserts handed to them. We figured we would get the same. Instead they gave us a "digestive" which I'm pretty sure was nail polish remover because it was the worst thing I've ever tasted. We poured each of our drinks into the water pitcher.
After dinner, we walked around the city some more and finally settled on a bar. I loved this bar because they served "Christmas Beer". I truly enjoy a good beer and being that I haven't had one since leaving the United States, this beer was the best thing I've ever tasted. After discussing our day, art, life, etc., we headed back to our hotel and tucked ourselves into our warm snuggly beds.
Part III to be continued tomorrow...
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