A Summary of the markets we visited this December. Not a lot, as I fly to the US on the 17th so our time was limited.
We started with a weekend in Strasbourg. We had planned a tour of Alsace, with stops in Riquewihr and Colmar, but our friends had two extra tickets to Cirque du Soleil in Strasbourg so we ended up spending the whole weekend there instead. We'll do Riquewihr and Colmar next year!
We stayed at a nice airbnb apartment on the outskirts of the main part of Strasbourg. It was a 20-minute walk on nice paths along one of the canals to the pedestrian area, or a 5-minute walk to the tram and then 3 tram stops. So, it was basically the perfect location for us. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about the terror situation in France before we went, but staying in an apartment outside of the main drag in a quiet residential area helped a bit for sure. And there was high security everywhere - police checking bags before you entered the completely-closed-to-traffic downtown area of Strasbourg, extra police presence, smaller markets than usual, and before we entered the theater for Cirque we were patted down and swabbed for explosive residue. It's sad that France has to have so much extra security, but I felt better knowing it was there for sure.
Anyway. Here are some pictures from around Strasbourg the two days we were there. We started out wandering around a few of the smaller markets on Friday evening (there are maybe 10? markets around the city). Excuse my poor night time picture taking skills with my iphone.
We ate dinner at a restaurant called the Onion (L'oignon), which had been recommended to us by one of our friends who lived there for several years. The food was excellent, though a little buttery. But french food is always amazing and full-fat. I enjoyed some scallops over risotto and Martin had the tiger steak, which had herbs and peanuts on top of it. Below is a pic of the outside of the restaurant and the wine-cork curtain that was inside of it (I'm saving that for a cork craft idea!)
On Saturday we wandered into Strasbourg on foot and visited the rest of the markets. It was really crazy crowded and not all that enjoyable. Below is Martin pausing on the walk into town.
There is one market that focuses on one country or city every year, and this year it was Portugal! I tasted some of the Portuguese wines and one was decent enough to buy (we drank it the next night already).
The obligatory cathedral pics. It really is impressive, but hard to capture on a camera.
There are a lot of houses decorated throughout Strasbourg. This one wasn't even one of the better ones, but alas the only one I took a picture of! Several of them had stuffed teddy bears all over them. It was really neat. Too bad I have no pictures to show you lol.
And the Christmas tree, in one of the squares. It's supposedly a "market" but it only contains a few stalls. Not even worth visiting except to see the tree, which is likely more impressive at night than during the day.
And of course we made it to our favorite market, Deidesheim, just this weekend. Just 9 minutes on the train from our town, or a 10-minute car ride. It has really nice things to buy, just a higher quality in general, and I find it really atmospheric. The problem is, like everything in the Pfalz is becoming these days, is that it's crowded. So we went early on a Sunday afternoon this year. There were still more people there than we had expected, but it wasn't too crowded. And okay I know I post pics from Deidesheim every. single. year. but it's a little different every time!
For example, this year we got hot chocolate! It being Sunday and mid-day, we weren't in the mood for alcohol (okay I had Bailey's in mine!). These were amazing and just hit the spot.
Okay I just thought it was funny that this place had the word "Krack" on it. It was selling Glühwein and I'm not sure what Krack means or how it related.
One of my favorite treats, kisses! Chocolate-covered marshmallow. :) I was good this year and didn't buy any, but I really wanted some.
And Martin got some roasted chestnuts, one of his favorites.
We ate "Feuerlachs" for lunch - that's fire-roasted salmon, with a mustard-dill or yogurt-herb sauce, on a roll. I usually go for greasier fare when at a Christmas market, but this year I decided to be healthy.
And finally, a few pictures from the new market in our own little town, Bad Dürkheim. The market here is small but atmospheric! Hopefully they keep doing it.
