In Germany we have a big tradition of "Adventskalender", a wall calender with 24 doors, where each day starting December 1st you open a door to find a little gift until Christmas day. So I thought I will do the same here and "open" until Christmas each day a door with a little story behind each....
Compared to traditions in Germany Christmas season in Paris does not really exist, except in shop windows. But no real Christmas markets, something which I miss most about Germany. To get some more hint of pre-Christmas I decided to spend my last weekend in Alsace, a region in the East of France, now linked to Paris by the fast TGV train within 2-3 hours. The region has a long and difficult history of back and forth belonging to either Germany or France. So while being a French region, you will find German traditions, town names, family names, and many people that speak still German.
The town I chose to spend three days was Colmar, famous for its Christmas markets, while not as huge and crowded as Strasbourg, and I also visited some small villages on the wine route, Ribeauvillé and Kaysersberg. Besides Christmas the best time to visit the wine route and therfore come back is obviously September and October, to admire the vineyards' colors and hop from wine tasting to wine tasting during the harvest season. A little selection among my 150 pictures taken...
One of the culinary specialties to enjoy with a local white wine : Flammekuechen, or tarte flambée, a super thin "pizza" covered with cream, bacon and onions, yummie....
To make a link to my previous post's image : in Colmar I was surprised by a couple of connections to the US. I found out that Bartholdi, the builder of the statue of liberty was born in Colmar ! Also tonight it is official : Lance will ride through Colmar on July 17th next year. Good luck with the French spectators...
And I was taken to an American WWII memorial monument in the middle of the vineyards (Sigolsheim "Bloodhill"), part of the difficult history the region has been going through :
Thanks for sharing your pictures -- it looks so nice! Makes me want to go back for the Christmas markets. I'm glad you had a good get-away. I hope you had a few brezels for me!
Posted by: girl cook in paris | December 02, 2008 at 07:32 PM
You won't believe it, but when I saw all the bretzels, I remembered that you had mentioned them, and indeed had to buy one !!! Too good !
Posted by: Ulla | December 03, 2008 at 12:55 AM