Les Marchés de Noël

So how have the world-famous Christmas markets of Strasbourg been? In a word: unbelievable. In an awesome, I-want-to-live-here-forever kind of way. I will repeat once more: the whole city is illuminated, and walking down the streets at night is simply magical. I wish this would never end. I walk through Christmas markets every day, and I never tire of them. On one street, the city even strung chandeliers across the buildings, and they look incredible when they are lit up at night, although cameras have a hard time capturing the image. 

My mom even made the trip to come see the marchés! And me, of course. Unfortunately, I had a lot of work (EPITECH plus a four-hour final on Saturday) but we still managed to have a lot of fun together! One of the first things we did on the Wesnesday--the day she arrived--was go to Café Michel for some warm drinks. It's cold here in Strasbourg! Then, I took her to our beautiful cathedral. One thing that makes Strasbourg's Notre Dame special is the astrological clock that it houses, which dates back to 1843. After viewing the clock, the two of us climbed to the top of the cathedral's tower, same as I had done when Laura visited. This time, though, it was not raining and we could see the huge mountains in the distance. My mom even insisted on taking a selfie up there (her first selfie!), which I found hilarious. 

After climbing all those steps, we ate a late lunch of tarte flambées at Flam's, then explored the Christmas markets in Place Broglie. We even tried some vin chaud (hot, spiced wine!) which is a strange concept but in reality is one of the best things I've ever tasted. I think the two of us bought vin chaud every day afterwards, since it is so delicious! I really must get the recipe. 

For the rest of the week, too, we ate well: choucroute, spatzle, macaroons, crêpes, knacks, all sorts of gingerbread, numerous tarte flambés, and of course, lots of vin chaud. It was a very successful culinary experience, I believe. Thursday night, we even stumbled upon the slightly hidden Marchée des Délices, which is the Market of Delicousness, literally translated, of course. Just kidding, it's the market of local delicacies, featuring all sorts of cheeses, meats, pain d'epices (gingerbread) and, of course, wine! There were even booths holding wine tastings, so my mom and I wandered over to one of those quite quickly. 

Other things that happened during my mom's stay? Well, on Friday night, there was a free ballet and children's choir in the Cathedral, so we saw that. It was really nice, actually, and all the songs where Christmas-themed yet were sung in English, French, German, Italian, and even Russian! We also had a "sleepover" on Saturday night, where I slept over in her awesome hotel room for the night instead of staying at my host family's house. Flipping through the tv channels during the sleepover, we watched Friends dubbed in French, and the beginning of the Miss France competition. Sunday morning, after our sleepover, we went running together in the beautiful Parc de l'Orangerie, which was only a minutes walk from her hotel.

Sunday was also big because we made a quick afternoon trip to Colmar. It was my third time in the charming Alsatian town in the past month, but I wasn't complaining. Colmar is pretty in a different way than Strasbourg is: there are a lot more colombage houses and they are much more colorful, painted pink and blue and yellow and green... The whole town is lit up as well, and there are tiny Christmas markets sprawled all over too! Surprisingly, they are    not all selling the same things as the Strasbourg markets, either. My mom and I had a wonderful time walking around Colmar, and I couldn't have asked for better. 

I was really sad to say goodbye to my mom Sunday night (she left at 6am Monday morning), but it wasn't too bad, knowing that I'll see her again in less than two weeks!! And I'll end with some pictures from my mom and my last day in Colmar. To my family, I'll see you soon, and I love you all!