Strasbourg Christmas Market: Part I

To get away from all the gloomy news about the unstable economic situation, I purposely made a concentrated effort this year on my blog to show the fantasy Christmas still holds. I took an overnight trip to Strasbourg the week before last especially to visit their famous Christmas Market. As you can see the nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn is mad for Christmas. I was relating a story to someone the other day as to why I like Christmas so much. When I was a kid I had to go to Hebrew school, which I hated, for two hours everyday after school. When I took the bus to go to school during Christmas time, we would pass the Italian neighborhood , where all the houses had the most extravagant Christmas lights and decorations. It was all so beautiful and magical to me, so when i arrived at school and lit the the very plain Menorah and played with the paltry dreidel for Hanukkah(please don't think I am belittling my background and Jewish heritage) it was quite a disappointment compared to my newly discovered world of Christmas . Not until I was a teenager did I celebrate a real Christmas and my partner Vincent is Italian, and he LOVES to go all out for Christmas, so there's never any lack of it in my household. We just finished decorating our tree as I write this.

Strasbourg is in Northern France in the Alsace region bordering Germany and  was founded by the Romans in 12B.C.The  Middle Ages was the golden period of the city when it was a Germanic Holy Roman Empire.  In 1681 Strasbourg became French , and was annexed back to German empire from 1871-1918, so it is equally influenced by France and Germany. In 1988 the city celebrated its 2000 year anniversary and was classified a world heritage site by UNESCO.

Strasbourg's  biggest event each year is the extensive Christmas market which has existed for over 400 years. It centers around the magnificent Gothic cathedral that was was started in 1176 and completed in 1439. Hundreds of merchants load their small stands with everything that spells Christmas. I went with my friend Pam Grant and we tasted, drank, and shopped our way through the market in the morning, taking it all in. After  a delicious lunch at Saint Sulpecce,a  quaint restaurant with traditional Alsace cuisine, Annie Demoulin, of the Strasbourg tourism office, gave us an informative tour of the city. We started at the church, where she went into great detail about its long history and also about  the Astronomical clock that has daily performance at 12:30PM of animated apostles marching in front of Christ. Afterward we we went to Petite France, the former fisherman's, miller's, and tanner's district with half-timbered houses with long sloping roofs dating back from the 16th and 17th century. We passed covered bridges and weeping willows along the river and canals and a horse drawn stagecoach made us feel like we never left the 17th century . A long, slow boat ride completed our tour of the city and now I was eager to see the Christmas Market come alive at night. The red, green, pink,blue, and orange lights were so much more vibrant at night against the brown gingerbread houses and dark red stucco buildings.  We were intoxicated , literally and figuratively by the hot mulled wine, and we sampled anything the generous merchants put in front of us including spice bread, jelly candies,many forms of chocolate, and yummy hot cranberry juice to warm us from the bitter cold.

We continued to walk every nook and cranny of the city, making sure we didn't miss one Christmas display, ornament, light, or stand. Tired, frozen and happy, we thawed out at our hotel that evening, satisfied that we had done it all.

It was interesting to see the sharp contrast of the city between day and night. I documented both in photos and today I am showing the city in the daytime. Yes, the city is festive for sure during the day , but nighttime lights  brings out an indescribable magical quality, which I will show you tomorrow.

Strasbourg Christmas Market
Till 12/31
Strasbourg is 2:20 minutes from Paris Gare de L'est by TGV train

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Comments

[Anne]

I lived in Strasbourg for three years and it was great to go to this famous " Marché de Noel" . It's really wonderful!

[June]

Loved your photos of Strasbourg, brought back memories -- I was there with my husband about 30 years ago, and I'm sure the half-timbered houses and canals haven't changed a bit. We were there on a Saturday and I tried to get into the synagogue (which was patrolled by armed guards) but as I was not a member, they would not let me in.

[Audrey]

2 hours a day i Hebrew school? Orthodox? Cause both my kids have been b'nai mitzvah (bet you didn't realize Kennedy is a Jewish name:) and they went to school twice a week for 2.5 hours.