Christmas Markets in Strasbourg

In early December, I took a train to Strasbourg with two friends, Emily and Hannah.  Emily was / is very excited about Christmas, and Strasbourg is the (self-proclaimed) capital of Christmas!  And it has the tallest natural Christmas tree in Europe (over 30 meters tall)!

It was lots of fun wandering the streets of Strasbourg – the architecture was interesting, the people were friendly, the markets were exciting, and there was lots of mulled wine.  It’s such a popular town to visit in December that most of the hotels were booked, so we ended up spending two days there but just staying one night.  It’s part of the Alsace-Lorraine area, which has been traded back and forth between Germany and France, so there are a lot of influences from both cultures.  The medieval buildings lining the river flowing through the city made the city quite picturesque.

Strasbourg has a beautiful cathedral in the center of town (I got some nice night pictures of it) with a huge astronomical clock inside.  Emily, who studies astronomy in Paris, and I went to a presentation of the clock so we could see the figurines move (and learn some of the history).  The first clock was built in the 1350s, the second was completed in 1574 when the first stopped working, and then the current clock was finished in 1843.  (Facts from Wikipedia)  

The presentation was actually a little depressing...it kept emphasizing how we're all on a slow march towards death.  And the clock (and our time on Earth) is ticking away. There was also a creepy grim reaper who rang a bell at 12:30, and then an old man figurine came out of the clock and then the grim reaper tapped him with a bone, and then he disappeared into the clock. To die! (Of course, he comes out at 12:30 the next day though.) 

In the markets, I bought lots of exciting things that I didn’t need.  Like candy, nuts, chocolate mousse, ornaments, egg liquor, beignets.  Hmm that’s mostly food.  I took a lot of pictures though.  While I may have come back to Paris with more things than I left with, I lost a mitten!  I tried wandering back through the markets for it, but I pretty much knew it was a hopeless cause. 

We also went to a few concerts.  We saw an Italian bag pipe (perhaps it was a zampogna?) group playing in a church.  It was an older crowd (not sure how many people choose to spend their Friday nights at an Italian bag pipe concert), but the music was very pretty and unique.  The next day, there was a choral concert in the center of town where the group sang Christmas carols, and the crowd sang along.  I could sing to Alleluia, but otherwise I didn’t know the words to the songs.  There was a song called “Il est ne, le divin enfant,” and I sang “il est ne, le petit enfant” the whole time.  Then Hannah and Emily told me it was the “divin enfant” which made more sense.   Kids are very small when they’re born though. 

Anyway, even though Strasbourg may be very touristy in December, I had a lot of fun!  And it’s a beautiful town in general that I’d love to visit again.   

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