Strasbourg at Christmas time

Strasbourg - Capital of Christmas

This weekend past I headed to Strasbourg, France, to catch up with Hauke who is there for a year on a study exchange (between European universities it's called Erasmus). Strasbourg is only about 250km away, so two hours on a direct train. I'd been there for a day trip back in March when I'd been visiting a friend further south, in Mulhouse.

Hauke and I before the ball

I arrived at 3pm, and after dropping my stuff at his place we headed to the mall. Shopping usually isn't on the cards when we get together, but we were going to a ball at the university that night and we needed formal stuff. We were dashing from store to store, and kept bumping into another Erasmus student on a mission to find tights, but finally got everything done and after a few laughs at the awkwardness of Hauke trying to ask the lingerie shop assistant for a backless bra for me in french, we headed home to get dressed and have a few drinks before we went out.

A bunch of the Erasmus students

Rita from Ireland and Majorie from the USA came over, and after we were all dressed up and well-watered and had taken the obligatory prom photos we headed in. A lot of people had paid to go earlier and eat, so we were arriving as everyone was already into the swing of things and lost no time on catching up by drinking the cheap beer. A lot of faces of other Erasmus students became a bit of a blur, and while we had a good time, nothing exceptionally remarkable happened, and then sometime around 4am we toddled home with us girls feeling rather sorry for ourselves after a night in extremely high heels.

One of the many squares in Strasbourg

Saturday got off to a slow start, we didn't make it out the door until after 3pm, but we headed into town to see the Christmas Market. Strasbourg has a really famous and large one, which unlike in most cities, is spread all around the place, with many sections having specific themes. Each year they invite a different country to have their own section as a guest of honour, so this year there was a 'Little Switzerland' section with a lot of cheese and watches, including a fondue stand where instead of dipping things into a pot full of melted cheese they had cut massive wheels of cheese in half and had managed to melt the cheese on the inside, so that the half wheel was working as a kind of bowl that they could dip things into.


Hauke drunk some Gluhwine (mulled wine) but I was doubtful that my stomach was prepared to hold that down after what I'd put it through the previous night, and so I stuck to spiced hot orange juice, a nice alternative that I haven't seen before.

Christmas decorations in a pedestrian alleyway in the centre

The Christmas decorations in Strasbourg are really hard to convey through photos, just the shear volume of stuff decorating each tiny alleyway and each shop made it hard as photos where too noisy for you to be able to recognize individual decorations, and photos can't show the atmosphere or how packed the place was. It really was incredible, I thought the Christmas markets and decorations that I've seen in Germany and here in Luxembourg were amazing, but they have nothing on Strasbourg. One street even had a row of actual chandeliers encased in glass or fabric boxes suspended down the middle. The council's electrical bill must be massive, as would be the amount of money poured into buying and installing the decorations, but I guess they get it back from all of the tourists. I also didn't take so many photos because it was just too damn cold to seriously consider taking my hands out of my pockets!

Woman serving Gluhwine

The sun is currently setting before 5pm here in Europe, and it was really windy in Strasbourg, so while I think it was a lot warmer than Luxembourg, with the wind chill it was really freezing and we ended up sitting inside the massive Cathedral for quite a while just to try and keep warm! We had another quick gluhwine with a guy Hauke knew from highschool and some of his own Erasmus friends, the three of them had come for the weekend too, and then headed back home to warm up again!

Dinner at the Mexican place

We'd planned the night before to go out for dinner with some of the other Erasmus students, so we met them and went to a mexican place that Latin-American-born Majorie insisted was awesome. Unfortunately it was so awesome that it was really full, so we ended up going away for a beer and not getting to eat until 10pm! Luckily it was really worth the wait, everyone enjoyed their quesadillas and fajitas, and Hauke managed to eat his own 'plate full of different meats' (just meat. Big hunks of fried meat. Crazy!) meal and then finish off two of ours' as well!

Wandering around the city

We'd wanted to go out that night, but everyone was so tired from the previous night and so full from dinner that no one was really up for it, and we kept having issues with bouncers and places being full. After one last attempt to go to the University nightclub, a random place above what I think was a small shopping mall in amongst all the uni buildings, we called it a night and went home to bed instead.

We again didn't make it out of bed before lunchtime the next morning, and in the afternoon headed back into town. There probably is more to do in Strasbourg than either of us realise, but with me having been there before and it being so cold and christmas-dominated, we mostly just kept wandering around. We did manage to climb to the top of the Cathedral, which was cool but not as impressive as it once would have been, having climbed up church towers with similar views in most European cities that I've visited!

View of the rooftops from the Cathedral

Finally, we met up with Rita for a little bit, got our photo taken with a random drunk Russian, and headed back to the warmth to watch a movie before I headed to the train station for the evening train back to Luxembourg.


Photos are here, or even better ones from the last time that I was in Strasbourg are here.

Saarbrucken's Old Christmas Market - Germany

Saarbrucken Christmas Market

Two Saturdays ago I went to Saarbrucken, a German city of about 175 000 people and capital of the Saarland region, on the border with France. It takes just over an hour to get there by bus from Luxembourg. The Christmas market begins in mid November and runs until Christmas, but on one weekend every year they have an additional market set up on the other side of the bridge from the main market.

Stall selling Christmas wreathes

Christmas markets originated in Germany, the bordering Alsace region of France, and Austria, and were a street market and celebration during the four weeks of advent, usually set up in and around the market square. They have rides for children, the nativity scene, shops selling crafts and Christmas stuff, different types of food stalls, and boothes selling Gluhwein, hot mulled wine. Normally they put on some kind of nativity show at least once as well for children. The food I've seen sold includes a huge variety of sausages and grilled meat, waffles and crepes, gingerbread and candy, popcorn and roasted nuts, and usually there are regional specialities and the occasional asian or italian stall as well. I visited the Gottingen Christmas market last year but didn't write much about it on here.

The Gingerbread house

The Christmas festivities began right near the train station, so I walked down the big pedestrian street and shopping zone in the middle of the city, taking in all of the Christmas stuff and ducking into the occasional chain shop on the way past! I reached the main market in the square first and stopped to have a good look around. I really loved the Gingerbread House stand selling gingerbread hearts. They have things like "I love you" written on them, and you're meant to buy them and hang them around the neck of your sweetheart - the only person I saw wearing one was a middle aged man, quite funny!

People drinking Gluhwine outside a stall

Gluhwine is normally served in mugs that have a logo with the name and year of the Christmas market on the side, I took one from the Gottingen market last year and decided to keep the tradition going by stealing another one this year (they take a $5NZD deposit for the cup so it's not really stealing!). Last year I couldn't stomach the Gluhwine at all, and although I've been learning how to drink red wine while travelling around Europe and found the taste a little better this year, I still hid in an alleyway and tipped most of it out so that I could throw the mug into my bag.

Mistletoe, sold by the Lions club

I then followed the crowds over the river, to the additional part of the market. Here, the market winds from a church at the bottom, along a long inclining and curving road, up to the Saarbrucken Castle. The Castle isn't much of a castle, its just like a big administrative building. This part of the market was mostly dominiated by stalls selling crafts or wares, international foods, mistletoe, christmas wreathes, and charity organisations selling or doing various things as fundraisers. It was quite cool to see the mistletoe there for sale, as we don't have it in NZ. I'd spent months this year trying to work out what all those balls were in the trees until someone in France told me what it was.

Schnitzel on a stick

I tried rostwurst, one of the many varieties of German sausages (German sausages are one hundred times better than those back in NZ) and a massive schnitzel skewer thing, three pieces of fried crumbed schnitzel on a stick, handed to me in a piece of bread. There were also a lot of casseroled mushrooms, bread spread with what looked like herbed cream cheese, and deep fried balls of something that I saw a lot of, I think some might be regional specialities, and I saw a couple of stands selling the Schneeballen that I saw for the first time in Heidelberg. I quite liked going to the market alone, so that I could stop and look at whatever I wanted without feeling guilty, but it meant that I didn't have anyone to explain all of these foods to me!

View of the end of the market from the Castle

By now it was getting late and I'd spent enough money finishing off my Christmas shopping, so I headed back towards the train station, detouring past part of the river and the town hall and into a few more shops. Arriving back at the train station was scary, there were police cars everywhere (I counted 21 before too many were arriving and I couldn't keep track) and there were police all over the place, stationed in a ring outside and at the entrance to every platform, as well as those waiting in vehicles or just milling about. Police in Germany are a whole lot scarier than NZ police as well, they wear dark clothes and army boots and carry huge guns, and these guys had what looked like riot gear on, complete with different numbers on their backs to identify their squads. At first I thought there was a bomb in the station, and then I noticed what looked like drunk right-wing skinheads standing around or talking to the police, but then someone said it was just because there had been a football match and they were preventing riots (I guess drunk right-wing skinheads and German football fans look pretty much the same!). It was pretty intimidating though, and really reminds you that you're not enveloped in the safety of New Zealand anymore, these are countries in which bombs in train stations and riots or shootings by far-right terrorists occur every so often.

The bus ride back was uneventful, and then I spent several hours wrapping the Christmas presents that will cost me a fortune to ship back to NZ. I really feel in the Christmas spirit now and can't wait to visit Strasbourg in France and their huge Christmas market next weekend.

A Winter-white German Christmas

Merry Christmas! or Frohe Weihnachten!

Hardegsen

I felt much better after a good sleep, and so on my second day here we set off to visit some local villages and castles. Unfortunately the weather didn't want to play ball, and many roads and buildings we closed due to the snow and ice, but we visited a little village called Hardegsen that had a wee castle and a lot of amazing buildings. It is really crazy to see houses that are older than New Zealand, and the narrow streets and old slanting and warped framework really amaze me. They are all two or three stories tall, so quite different to most of NZ where houses are mostly one story but sprawled over a bigger area (excluding Wellington!). Hardegsen has a thing about donkeys, so all around the town are these lifesize donkey statues, all painted differently. I made a bit of a dick out of myself trying to climb onto one when it was covered in ice, lucky for me Hauke was on hand with the camera to capture all of that! During the night it had rained but frozen as soon as it landed, so everything was covered in a layer of ice. Things like plants and flowers look amazing encased in ice, my camera is really getting a workout!

Christmas market

In the evening we put up the Christmas tree (it has candles on it instead of fairy lights!) and headed back to the Christmas market to catch up with all of Hauke's old school friends, the place was packed with people all bundled up and drinking mulled wine. It was great to see Anki, a friend of Hauke's that I got to know when she visited New Zealand! A group of us then went for dinner at a modern Italian resturant, and then headed to a club. The Savoy is inside an old prison, with three different bars on different floors. It was quite cool to hear Belgian, French and German songs that I've known for a long time like Alors en Danse in a club. Hauke's friends were all really friendly and welcoming, I really appreciated the effort they put into making me feel comfortable, like finding me an english version of the menu and even those that only had a little english would come over and chat if they noticed I was standing alone.

Opening christmas presents

Christmas Eve is the main celebration here in Germany, so after we woke up, admittedly quite late, we went to collect Hauke's grandparents from another town. They are really delightful, they remind me quite a lot of my own grandparents and were so cute trying to communicate with me! She had baked four different cakes and made a desert, so we spend the afternoon eating cake with coffee; I was full a long time before dinner began! In the early evening we walked to the tiny local church for an informal service where the children re-enact the Christmas story. Hauke and his brother Arne went to great pains whispering to me what was going on, giving me the giggles at their stating the obvious "well they just went to the stable because the inn was full". My attempts at singing German Christmas carols got a few laughs in return!

driving on christmas eve

After church we tucked into dinner: barley and egg soup, followed by wild pork, potatoes (mashed potatoes rolled into balls and cooked again), red cabbage and salad, with berry pudding and a bottle of kiwi wine. Gifts were opened after dinner, and I was really touched to be handed a sack of presents to open first. Hauke's grandparents gave me a handcrafted traditional mug, specially made for me with my name on it - I am so appreciative that they took the time to organise this before I came, and among other things Hauke and his parents are giving me a trip to Austria for skiing. They had me in tears, I feel truly blessed at how welcomed and cared for I am. Hauke's dad Georg is always explaining things and asking how I am, and his mother Karin has an amazing sense of humour, she is always laughing and is always trying to make me feel comfortable in subtle ways. We skyped with my own parents and grandparents, everyone here in Germany thought dad sitting at the piano in his pijamas playing Te Haranui for them was hilarious!


The return drive to drop off Hauke's grandparents was amazing, it was snowing again and it was almost impossible to tell where the road ended and the fields began as there are not roadside fences here like in NZ. I am really impressed with Hauke's driving skills, as the conditions are absolutely terrible. Overall, it was a really lovely Christmas, the snow and -7degree temperatures really give it a different feel to Christmas in NZ!

Hann Münden

Today has been quite relaxed, we went to see Hauke's uncle and their family where I made a complete idiot of myself falling down their internal stairs! 'Fail' has become a big word between us, and as I fail at both walking around outside in the snow and walking around inside Ive been told by Hauke that I fail completely at remaining upright in Germany. Skiing is definitely going to be interesting. We detoured past a castle in Adelebsen, its amazing to see them exactly as you imagine, perched up on the hill with high walls, towers and spiral stairs. We also visited Hann Münden, a really old city with amazing buildings that are hundreds of years old but five or six stories tall. We had coffee in one and I walked up to the fourth floor. Coming from New Zealand, the warped and buckling floors and stairs are quite scary when you think about what would happen in an earthquake! Our attempt to find another castle using the GPS system was quite funny, we ended up firstly in a carpark and secondly in a dead end road where we struggled to turn around! We headed home on the autobahn again, it was still quite dangerous going really fast but even 180km/hr amazes me!

preparing for skiing

Tomorrow we are going to Austria! I have been kitted out with snow clothes, skis and woollen socks handknitted by Hauke's grandmother, although I feel like I've eaten so much since I got here that I will be rolling down the hill rather than skiing down them! Hauke told my family on skype that he was taking me skiing, and I think their laughter in response showed him that I really wasn't kidding when I said it would be quite entertaining! We just had a big meeting about it around the table to go over all of the planning, I love the way they include me even though I don't understand a thing, still have no idea what's happening, and am just going to go with the flow. I do know that we get up early and take a train to Munich, and from there to Rauris in Austria, but after that, no clue! It will be interesting!