My first stop on my Christmas adventure was Strasbourg. It has the oldest and biggest Christmas market in France (and maybe even Europe). I nearly died walking to the train station carrying my heavy bags in warm winter clothes, but I made it in time. I had to switch trains in Paris, which means switching train stations, which means taking the métro. Needless to say, I was sweating by the time I got to my second train. On the train I was at one of the four person tables and the three other passengers were large middle-aged men. I read the whole trip up to Strasbourg. I got to Strasbourg around 4:20pm and there is a market right outside the train station, but before looking at the market, I lugged my bag to the hotel. My arms were very tired at the end of the day.
After relaxing for a little while, I walked back to the market outside the train station, which was much smaller than I thought, but there were nice lights around, and it isn't the only market in Strasbourg. It was dark when I went out walking, so I followed wherever the lights took me. I wasn't expecting to go very far, but I ended up walking a lot more than I thought I would.
The start of my walk around Strasbourg
Place Kléber, the first market that I found and le Grand Sapin (the big Christmas tree)
Le Grand Sapin. The lights changed colors, so I have a bunch of pictures of the tree with the different colors.
The lights leading to the Cathédrale. I wasn't expecting to make it to the cathedral this night, but I just kept walking and it wasn't as far as I thought.
The Cathédrale the first night. I had been here before but it's so much more beautiful than I remembered
During my time in Strasbourg, I always heard people singing or playing instruments on the street, but this was probably the best just because they were dressed as Santa.
The famous Maison Kammerzell
Following the lights down this beautiful passage
Walking down the Carré d'Or. It was much prettier in person.
More of my walk around Strasbourg
I walked all the way to the market at Place Broglie, which is the other direction from the Cathédrale
You can't tell from the pictures, but I really did go all over the place that first night.
Saturday, December 19
My friend Thea joined me in Strasbourg but not until Saturday evening so I had all day to walk around and see more of the city. I went searching for the creepy angel statues that Amelia saw when she was here, so I went into many different churches but never found them. I bought a few little ornaments that were made in the region and I bought food from the stands for lunch, but I didn't spend much money while I was here.
I walked along the river in the morning while eating a croissant that I bought from the boulangerie near my hotel.
Eglise St. Jean. I thought this was going to be the church with the angels but no luck.
Eglise protestante St Pierre le Jeune. I'm thinking this was probably the church with the angels but it was closed when I walked by it.
Walking around I could often see the Cathédrale
The market at Place Broglie. It was probably the biggest market with the most food and ornaments
I love how Nutella writes other things on their jars. This was at a stand selling crêpes, but I didn't get one.
Market at Broglie
Then I went into the Cathédrale because the line wasn't too long
Inside they had a series of scenes including the Nativity of course.
I liked the decorations they had on the chandeliers in the Cathédrale
the side of the Cathédrale
The market in front of the Cathédrale
I walked around Petit France a little
A cute sign to another market
Eglise St Pierre le Vieux
The Nativity scene in Eglise St Pierre le Vieux
An interesting...thing
Eglise catholique St Pierre le Jeune
More interesting things in Place des Halles
Walking along the river as the lights start to come on
More lights to follow
Then I went back to the hotel and met up with Thea. We walked around a little bit and had dinner at a restaurant called Le Gruber. It was pretty good and very busy.
I didn't notice the light that said 1000ans (years) before! The Cathédrale is 1000 years old!
Some fun decorations we saw while walking around the different markets
A nativity scene at Place Kléber
Le Grand Sapin
Thea and I didn't walk around as much tonight as I had last night, but that was okay with me because I had walked a lot during the day.
Sunday, December 20
Today was another busy day with a lot of walking and exploring the markets that Thea hadn't see yet. I already saw most, if not all, of the markets before Thea got to Strasbourg only because I just happened upon them, not because I was looking for them.
We got up early today and no one was around because the markets weren't open yet, so we took lots of pictures.
We started at Place Kléber
Typically the tree is surrounded by people but since it was empty, we were able to take pictures in front of it.
I didn't realize there was this little display of the town in front of the tree
Then we walked over by the Cathédrale
I thought this was a pretty building with the decorations
I liked this building but the store itself is a little much
Then we took a walk along the river
There was an adorable duckling so of course I took a picture of it!
We saw some pretty buildings on our walk
I thought this was a really cool building and then we found out it's an international high school! How fancy is that building for a high school!
Eglise St Paul, we didn't go inside because there was a church service starting.
An extravagantly decorated building
We walked around Petit France, which is supposed to be the prettiest area in Strasbourg
I do like the colorful buildings
More of Petit France
We didn't stay out too late only because we were so tired of walking. But we did walk around a little bit at night before going back to the hotel.
Monday, December 21
Thea and I tried to get up early again today to walk around Petit France when there wasn't a lot of people, but our plan didn't work as well as it had yesterday. We still got there early enough to not have huge crowds in our pictures, but there were more people walking around today than there were yesterday.
Here I am in Petit France
Another pretty picture of Petit France
Then we waited in a long line to go in the Cathédrale to watch the astrological clock ring. I had seen it once before, but this was Thea's first time so she really wanted to do it. We had to stand in a crowd in a small space waiting for the clock to sound for about an hour. They played a video that talked about the construction of the clock and the meaning behind it. It was very interesting. It rang for about five minutes and then was done and Thea wasn't very impressed; she had wanted it to do more.
The astrological clock in the cathédrale
Afterwards, we met up with the German assistant who is also working in La Rochelle but was in Strasbourg visiting a friend. We went into the Palais Rohan, which is right next to the Cathédrale, and we walked around all three museums inside: Musée des Beaux Arts, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and Musée Archeologique.
Palais Rohan
Inside the Palais: Musée des Arts Décoratifs
The library room in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
Musée Archeologique was downstairs and they had a lot of stuff found around the region
I think this was the lid to a tomb or something. I just thought it was funny that a guy wanted just one little goat on this huge slab of stone.
We spent about two and a half hours walking around the museums. Then the three of us when to the movies to see the newest Hunger Games since the German assistant and I had wanted to see it in La Rochelle, but it was only playing in 3D. We saw it in French without subtitles, but we were all able to understand what was happening and what they were saying. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The movie ended around 6pm and Almut (the German assistant) left to go stay with her friend after it ended. Thea and I walked around a little bit more since it was our last night in Strasbourg. We got some hot wine and saw some more lights.
The lights on the buildings changed colors.
Another picture of le Grand Sapin
Please ignore the big Monoprix sign in the background and enjoy the pretty ball lights around the little village
Thea and I ate at a Thai restaurant that night since we don't have a lot of variety back in La Rochelle, and we had tried the regional food already.
Tuesday, December 22
The next morning, Thea left before me because she was going to return to La Rochelle before going to Paris. I had an uneventful train ride to Paris. In Paris, I stayed with my friends the Ferguson's who had kindly invited me to spend Christmas with their family. The three girls Melanie, Megan, and Marissa were home so they let me into the apartment. It was about 1:30pm when I got to their place and we went to a nearby boulangerie to get something to bring to their mom for lunch. I bought a little quiche to eat for lunch since I hadn't eaten anything yet. We walked to their mom's office since it is close to their apartment, and it was a beautiful day out. We sat up on the balcony of the building which over looks a park and you can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. It was a nice way to start my time in Paris. The rest of the day was spent relaxing since we are on vacation.
Wednesday, December 23
Today Melanie and Marissa and I went walking around Paris. First we went to Sainte Chapelle since Marissa and never been there before.
When we got off the RER we saw the St Michele fountain
Sainte Chapelle
Inside Sainte Chapelle
They did a lot of cleaning inside Sainte Chapelle and it looks even more beautiful
Then we went to Notre Dame
Before going inside, we went down to the Archeology crypt which showed what Paris used to look like. It was really cool.
Inside Notre Dame, this was their Nativity scene which was beautiful but hard to really look at with the crowd around it.
Inside Notre Dame, there were these beautiful tapestries
We got Berthillon's ice cream and walked around and saw this old wooden building. Then we got falafel for lunch.
Then we went to the store BHV and this was one of the views from the top floor. They have a balcony that people can go out on but it was closed.
We did a lot of walking around Paris today and relaxed the rest of the night.
Thursday, December 24
Today I went up to the Christmas market at La Défense. There was a lot of food and clothing and jewelry but not a lot of Christmas stuff.
The market at La Défense
Another picture of the market
When I was in the métro going back to the Ferguson's apartment, I ran into Mrs. Ferguson, Melanie, and Marissa. They were out shopping and just happened to be going home at the same time.
We had tacos for dinner and watched a Christmas movie before going to the American Church in Paris for their Christmas Eve service. It was a beautiful service with lots of singing and several readings from the Bible. They had a bell choir preform. At the end, everyone was given a candle and we sang Silent Night.
On our drive to church we crossed the bridge that leads right to the Eiffel Tower. A beautiful view on a wonderful night.
After church, we drove around and looked at all of the different lights. Melanie and I were going to try and go to the midnight mass at Notre Dame, but when we drove by the line was out the door and across the bridge! And it was raining so we decided not to go. I didn't take many pictures on our drive since it's hard to get good night pictures in a moving car, but here is one of us driving up the Champs Elysées:
It's not a great picture but the lights were beautiful. The trees looked like champagne glasses bubbling up.
We drove by Madeline, l'Opéra, Place de Voges, Galérie Lafayette, Printemps, etc. It was a very nice Christmas Eve.
Friday, December 25
Merry Christmas!! Today was a day of relaxing and cooking and of course opening presents. We spent most of the day at home, but in the evening we went to one of their friend's houses for dessert, which was very nice. Then we drove around by Sacre Cœur and the Moulin Rouge before going home.
I am so thankful that I have friends with whom I could celebrate the birth of our Savior. It was such a blessing to have Christmas with them in Paris. This was my first Christmas away from my family and they made it much easier to be away. I did miss my family, but I was able to talk to them briefly.
Saturday, December 26
The Ferguson's were leaving for a family vacation so they drove me to the train station so that I wouldn't have to take the métro with my big heavy bag. I stored my bag at Gare de Lyon and then walked around. I found the Promenade Plantée, which is really close to the train station and I walked around there most of the afternoon.
Promenade Plantée
I was surprised to see flowers still in bloom with it being the end of December!
the promenade was pretty long and I walked the whole trail. I also took a break and sat on a bench in the sun and read for a while.
Later I met up with my friend Lizeth because she was in Paris with her family. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to talk because I had a train to catch at 6:30pm, and she couldn't meet me until 5:30pm. Lizeth and I stayed with the same woman in Dijon when we were studying abroad and that was the start of a good friendship. It was nice to catch up with her no matter how brief it was.
The next week I spent in Les Sièges with my relatives. It was a very lazy week. On Sunday, Fred and Anne Sophie came over to his parents house (where I was staying) with little Ethan, who is now two and a half years old! He was born only five days after I left from studying abroad! I can't believe it's been that long already! During the week we did go out and do some shopping but besides that I was a couch potato with their dog Caline. On New Years Eve, a bunch of their friends came over for dinner and to celebrate. We drank a lot and ate a lot! It was all good fun. But it was very different from what I'm used to and a really missed spending New Years with my family and the Medina's! On January 1st I took the train back to La Rochelle. Once again, I had to transfer in Paris and take the métro. I feel bad for everyone who's had to sit next to me because I probably smell after sweeting so much lugging my stuff through the métro. Now I am home and getting ready to go back to work tomorrow. I don't want my break to end, but I am here to work.
Until my next adventure! :)
