Christmas Markets

Christmas markets are in full swing in France and other parts of Europe right now. Several of our friends said we must go and experience them, and so we did.

Taking the scenic route to the Alsace region takes a little longer but you can't beat driving to 3,200 feet and experiencing the fabulous views, winding roads, and the tall stands of pine. This time we were blessed with a prior night's snowfall. 

Michele our American friend in Vittel, recommended Colmar and Kaysersberg, both towns have been summer visits for us, and both offer a quaint, old world feel. We were not disappointed with either town, but Kaysersberg was exceptional. Many hand-crafted gift items, ornaments, artisan cheeses and sausages.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

Jack Frost nipping at our nose...

A little vin chaud (hot wine) was perfect to stay warm, and little
more to stay warmer...and some more to stay extra warm.

In addition to numerous vendors selling everything from Christmas ornaments, to hand-made hats, to jewelry, there were just as many food stands with baguette sandwiches, crepes, tartines (similar to pizza), a multitude of pastries and gingerbreads, roasted potatoes with cheese, seasonal beers, wine, hot dogs and sauerkraut, bretzels (pretzels in this region), chocolates, foie gras, jams, and honey. It would take several days to sample this gastronomic extravaganza.

As the sun dropped below the horizon, things indeed came alive with the beauty and serenity of Christmas. Colorful twinkling lights and the ambiance of a European atmosphere played out like days of yesteryear.

Joyeux Noel!

Thanksgiving in France

George and I try to hold onto some American traditions in our lives even though our life has changed so much since living in France. But from time to time we just throw up our hands, because there is not much else you can do.

In our area, buying greeting cards, shopping on Saturday nights or Sundays, not to mention shopping over the lunch period (I say period instead of "lunch hour" because lunch breaks can be 1 to 2 hours where stores close) and receiving good customer service almost doesn't exist.

The French aren't greeting card senders like us, so it is a challenge if not impossible to find the appropriate card for the appropriate occasion. Oh Hallmark, where are you when I need you. The stores close on Saturday night at 7:00, 8:00 if you are extremely lucky. We have experienced this last minute shopping frenzy akin to the day before Christmas (no exaggeration here) when everyone is trying to get what they need before that final hour on Saturday! On Sundays 99.9% of the stores are closed, except, of course, the bread stores. And if you are without a receipt when returning a purchase, you will not get a refund or store credit. These simple things are frustrating to us, but we have adjusted.

I have never seen whole turkeys in the supermarket, plenty of other foul; duck, chicken, coq, pigeon, etc. So when it came time to search for a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, my American friend Michele who has lived in France for a long time said, you will have to order it. And so a week before our dinner I did just that. Consulting my French tutor on how to order the the whole turkey instead of the parts was my next step. In fact, I have never seen anything but turkey breast in the supermarket, so it is a mystery where the other parts of the turkey go.

George and I headed to the supermarket on Saturday to pickup the said bird but to our disappointment, there was no bird to pickup. We were told through a broken translation that the bird would be available on Sunday (it never dawned on us that the store is not open on Sunday). Our plea that we have 7 persons coming for dinner in six hours prompted them to tell us they would call the farmer and perhaps the farmer could deliver said bird to our house. George and I left the supermarket and waited patiently for a ring at the door, a phone call, or email letting us know where-is-the-frick'n bird! At this point can you tell that our patience is beginning to run thin!

During this waiting time, we were wondering several things: 1) is the turkey the farmer's bringing, going to be alive. Picture us chasing a bird around our fenced in yard, George with machete in hand, me helping to corner the darn thing, 2) is the turkey the farmer's bringing, going to be dead, but with feathers and insides intact. Uh, okay what do we do now? Get the hot water boiling! Sue, here's the knife, you have experience with hunting, right...uh, yeah, thanks George 3) the turkey the farmer's bringing, is going to be the freshest we have every had!

As it turned out we received no phone call, no email, and no farmer with bird in hand at our door.

So back to the supermarket I go, George staying home in case there was the slimmest of chances that the farmer was still coming.

But as it turned out I was told upon my return to the supermarket that whole turkeys are not available until mid-December, the girl who took my original order did not know this. Whole turkeys are only sold and cooked nearer to Christmas, at least in our area of France. So we ended up with roasted chicken and turkey breast. So next Thanksgiving, we will be throwing the traditional turkey idea to the wind and who knows what will be cooking in the Strohmaier kitchen.

Florence, Italy

We seized the opportunity with another French holiday on November 1 and 2, and since we were already in Paris, flew to Bologna, and caught a 35 minute train to Florence for the weekend.

Firenze as the Italians call the city, is known as the cradle of the Renaissance. The museums and architecture reflect this at every turn. Florence has many museums, too many to visit in a long weekend, but we were able to visit two. Top on our list was the Accademia Gallery where Michelangelo's David has been since 1873. Formerly placed in the Piazza della Signoria in 1504, a replica is there now. Michelangelo carved David from one piece of marble which stands 17 feet high. We were forbidden to take photos of the original but it is quite something to see the original, all 360 degrees of him.

Replica of Michelangelo's David located
in the Piazza della Signoria

Michelangelo and Galileo's tombs can be found at the Basilica of Santa Croce. Florence is also the home of the Galileo Museum.

 Tomb of  Michelangelo

Tomb of  Galileo

The Uffizi Gallery was recommended as a must see and we were not disappointed. We were able to purchase tickets in advance to enter at a certain time period, rather than stand in line which made it nice. Besides the great art it also offered nice views of the city on the second floor.

You can discover many excellent restaurants serving up true Italian specialties, open markets, street vendors and this time of year, roasted chestnuts. There's also great shopping where you can find fine Italian leather goods -shoes, jackets, purses, wallet, belts and ceramics hand painted by local artisans. We found some ceramics and luck be with us, the shop owner will be traveling to Nancy, France in February and offered to deliver them for us. Something unique are the retail stores located on the Ponte (bridge) Vecchio that crosses the River Arno.

Ponte Vecchio

For the size of Florence you wouldn't guess it's a walking city, but it is. The streets are narrow and cars, let alone buses, have a difficult time navigating the streets. If we had brought a car, we would have been charged 30 euro a day to park it, yikes! The majority of the people either walk, ride bicycles, or motorcycles, but from time to time a car does make it through. It makes for a quieter city and cleaner air.

A perfect vehicle to navigate Florence's narrow streets

We arrived after dark for the weekend and was hoping to see some of the Tuscan countryside on our departure, but our train ride was a 90% tunnel ride through the mountains, what a surprise!

Here's more photos at this link:
http://flic.kr/ps/285kjt

Barcelona, Spain + other sites

I had the unexpected opportunity to join two of my high school friends in Barcelona recently. We knew that they were coming to visit us in France for quite some time, but when they said join us in Barcelona, I couldn't say no. And so on October 21, I hopped a train from Nimes to Barcelona. I met Sue and Sandra at the apartment they rented in the Old City Centre of Barcelona, an excellent location. If you ever want to visit Barcelona and prefer an apartment vs a hotel, I'd highly recommend this apartment that sleeps 4, website www.bcngotic.com

I asked a local friend who recently visited Barcelona what to see. Her answer was the architecture. I was perplexed by her answer thinking that, sure the architecture, but what else. But I totally understand her answer now. The architecture is quite exceptional throughout the city.

Architect Antoni Gaudi's work can be seen throughout Barcelona. His unusual trademark is influenced by forms of nature, curved lines, and organic shapes. He also used mosaic pattens to adorn the outside of buildings.

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia is an extraordinarily, beautiful chapel, like none I have ever seen. We stood in line for over one hour, but without a shadow of doubt, well worth the wait. Similar to many large churches in Europe which took hundreds of years to build, this church has been under construction since 1882 and it has, depending upon who you ask, a couple more decades to go. When completed it will be the tallest builidng in Barcelona. It is interesting to see the modern transformations of the chapel on both the inside and outside versus the gothic outer facade.

Sagrada Familia Chapel 

Sagrada Familia Chapel inside

Two other unusual buildings Gaudi designed are the Casa Batllo and Casa Mila, completed in 1906 and 1912 respectively. Time was not on our side for visiting the interior of these structures but it was remarkable to just see the outer design of the two buildings and marvel at Gaudi's thinking and design.

Casa Batllo

Casa Mila

We took an open air bus tour, a good choice to see the city with a limited time frame. The best seats on the bus are on the top level especially on a warm, beautiful, sunny day. Unfortunately the top was full when we got on. Never fear, Sandra is here. Us three girls were silently competing for seats on the top with two young German boys. Once someone came down the steps, people aggressively go for the steps to get up top. But these boys were not going to get past Sandra, if she could help it. With an out stretched arm toward those boy's chests she asserted her female authority and told them to WAIT--WAIT--WAIT. She kindly motioned Sue to go up the steps. I am sitting close by watching all this transpire. The boys looked in bewilderment at Sandra and I could see under their breath say--wait (it appeared they did not know English)! Sandy turned and proceeded up the steps to join Sue at her seat. I wish I could have videoed the whole process, it was hilariously to watch, you go girl!

Sue demonstrating Sandra's assertiveness

The 1992 Summer Olympics hosted by Barcelona generated a transformation of several parts of the city including recovery of the beach front and the installation of a large marina. Frank Gehry's fish sculpture commissioned for the Olympics can be seen on the ocean front. It is made of stone, steel, and glass and measures 114 by 117 feet.

Frank Gehry fish sculpture

We toured the Picasso Museum but photographs were prohibited. The Museum is comprised of Picasso's early works including his teenager years that were interesting to me; he was so talented at an early age. And it also includes paintings from his blue period, but lacked the cubism that I love so much about Picasso.

From Barcelona we took the train back to Nimes and took in the sights there, then further north to Lyon.

During the 16th and 17th century, Lyon was known throughout Europe for their high quality silk. At its peak, there were 15,000 silk looms in operation and before the French Revolution of 1789 more than half of the people of Lyon where sustained by the silk industry. But because of the French Revolution the silk industry was almost completely destroyed. Today you can tour the Silk Museum and visit a small scale silk workshop. We visited the silk workshop where silk is still being produced and sold. We watched an artist color the silk and saw some of the processes of placing patterns onto the silk.

Lyon, France - applying color to silk

Lyon, France - silk paint shop

Lyon, France - patterns

Lyon, France - silk workshop

Paris, the city of lights was next on the agenda. I warned Sue and Sandra that the lines for the Eiffel Tower were very long all summer. But we got there late, around 8:30 and and was pleasantly surprised to see only a 10 minute wait, what luck! The Louvre, Museum d'Orsay, Chateau de Versailles, Arc de Triomphe were also our stops. It was great spending some time with Sue and Sandra and catching up, we had a lot of fun and some good memories were made.

Practicing our French - Quelle heure est-il (what time is it?)

Here's some more photos of our trip at this link:

http://flic.kr/ps/285kjt

Aix-En-Provence, France

George and I took the opportunity to visit Aix-En-Provence several weeks ago in preparation for my travels further south. Located in the heart of Provence, Aix-En-Provence is best known as the birth place of Paul Cezanne, the post-impressionist painter.

George with statue of Paul Cezanne

His painting can be found all over the world, however the Museum d'Orsay (one of my favorites) in Paris holds a fair amount of his work.

Aix-En-Provence has created a Cezanne walk that leads you throughout the city to important locations related to the artist. By following the brass C on the sidewalk you can see and learn all things Cezanne. Descriptions of each location can be obtained from the Office of Tourism.

Birthplace of Paul Cezanne

School attended by Paul Cezanne

Unfortunately, time did now allow us to visit Cezanne's workshop, I would have enjoyed that, but that will be for our next visit. We were able to find his final resting place on the edge of town.

Paul Cezanne's grave site

For a late October day, the weather could not have been nicer, in fact the city boasts 300 days of sun per year, we cannot come close to that where we live. Aix-En-Provence has wide boulevards with large sycamore trees (I think the French call them plane trees) and

contrasting narrow "Old Town" streets.

Aix-En-Provence is a university town which adds to its vibrancy and is a great city for shopping. The city reminded me of the quintessential France, the kind of city you see in all the travel brochures or books. And from these photos, you can see why:

Normandy, France

This trip titled Normandy is so titled because that is where my visiting Mom wanted to go in all of France. After learning more about my Mom's traveling partner Mary, the most well traveled person I have ever met, I knew that my Mom was in good hands before her arrival and upon her departure back to the states.

But before we could get to Normandy, George and I wanted to show both Mom and Mary some gems of France close to our home, Strasbourg and Beaune. Strasbourg is known the world over as the seat of the European Parliament. This building sits in contrast to the numerous half-timbered buildings you will find in old town Strasbourg. There are beautiful parks, excellent biking trails throughout the city and a mixture of German and French regional foods.

Strasbourg center

As mentioned in a previous blog, the area in which this city is located was once Germany, then France, then Germany, then France.  I do not know how many times it changed hands. 

Construction of the magnificent Strasbourg Cathedral began in 1015.

Strasbourg Cathedral

 Inside the church is an astronomical clock that displays animation everyday at 12:30.

Strasbourg astronomical clock

Beaune, located in the heart of Burgundy country is a cute little town, great for relaxing, shopping, and dining. One of the attractions in this town is Hotel- Dieu (Hospices de Beaune).  Established in 1443, it was once a hospital for the poor. Interesting things we saw during our tour were unusual instruments used by nurses and doctors back in the day, that would appear somewhat barbaric today. The apothecary was most interesting as well with records showing very bizarre ingredients thought to aid in medicinal remedies such as eyeballs and ground goat skin.

Next stop - Reims. Located in the champagne region, we had the opportunity to visit Taittinger Champagne cellars. Underneath the city there are many champagne caves (cellars). These caves were originally dug or mined by the Romans for chalk. The interesting thing is that the chalk walls have carvings in them.

An advantage of chalk is that it absorbs moisture, so there isn't a damp feel in the air. But the best part was the tasting after the tour. My Mom went from not liking champagne very much, to liking it, in a matter of minutes, who would have thought!!! The Reims Cathedral is significant because this is the church were the coronation of French kings took place. In 2011, the city celebrated the Cathedral's 800 year anniversary.

Onward west - We found an adorable bed and breakfast west of Paris for the night, Le Moulin Du Bechet. It was part B & B and part conference center. Our room had an unusual aspect to it that one door to the room opened into a conference room. We joked the prior night about me leaving the room in the morning with a fistful of euros, kissing George goodbye while he stood at the door in his bathrobe. But we couldn't strike up the nerve to proceed with this humorous parting. But perhaps in France, the joke would have really been, on us!

Further westward - Mont St. Michel has been on my must-see list and I was happy when Mary said she'd like to visit it too. It is an imposing structure even from many miles away and it is hard to miss looking out over the horizon. Construction developed in the early 8th century and continued on and off for the next 10 centuries. It has been a place of pilgrimages, a monastery and a prison. During high tide it is an island.

Mont St Michel

Our next stop -The Normandy region. We toured the beaches of Omaha and Utah on our own for most of the day, walked around St Marie du Mont, a small town near Utah Beach, and visited a museum on Utah Beach.

Historical plaques throughout the town square of St Marie du Mont told short stories and photographs of events leading up to, and following the invasion of June 6th, 1944. One plaque told of a German officer who was looking over his maps high up on the church steeple. A big gust of wind came along and swept the paperwork out of his hands. A nearby painter found the paperwork and stuffed it down his pants. The paperwork contained valuable information that the Allies would use in the war efforts.

The First Mass celebrated the 1st Sunday after the
Allied Landing at the Church in Saint-Marie-du-Mont
(photos was inside church)

The following morning we had a guided tour of Omaha Beach, Point du Hoc and the American Cemetery. Before the war these beaches had other names. But the code names were adopted as such after the war. To our surprise we saw signs for a German Cemetery too.

In this photo Utah Beach is almost at low tide, similar to the morning of June 6, 1944. The soldiers were told that there would be rocks to hide behind when they landed - there were no rocks to hide behind. This is the length of beach that the Allied Forces had to travel...

Utah Beach

before reaching this hill to climb. I cannot come close to imaging these feats of courage performed by soldiers during D-Day.

Utah Beach

Paris, our last stop before taking Mom and Mary to the airport. A tour bus was the best option we decided given the limited mobility of my Mom. So we saw all the popular sites in Paris on a double-decker bus. A perfect way to get around on a warm and sunny day.

Rooftop at Printemps store

My first time to the Paris flea markets, and I gotta say, I am hooked. I don't think there is anything, that you cannot find there. It is amazing, but we only scratched the surface. But to my surprise, (but shouldn't have) were the vendors setting themselves up for their lunch.

Lunch for the flea market vendors-I think the seated guy caught me taking
this photograph, whoopsie. But behind him was a large tray of oysters
on the half shell. I'll say it again, the French know how to eat.

Paris flea market - Trying on vintage clothing.

Here's a link to more photos of our trip. My apologies to the photos that are not oriented correctly if you view them using the slideshow. I think there is a bug in Flickr, the photo sharing website.

http://flic.kr/ps/285kjt