So my last weekend away from Paris was with my mom! We traveled via train to Basel, Switzerland (where they have the most beautiful money ever) and then to Strasbourg, France. Basically, we good ol' Minnesotans needed a good ol' fashion snow fix with some holiday cheer. And it was also like a grown up version of what we did when I was younger. We would all dress up in our pjs, pile into the truck with some hot chocolate and drive around seeing the Christmas lights on houses in the neighborhoods, but now with the grown up version, we travel somewhere, bundle up with some gluewhein (aka vin chaud aka mulled wine) and go Christmas market hopping. Not sure which version I prefer, but the gluwhein is fantabously if I may say so (both version too, red and white). But back to the weekend with my mom.
First of all, Basel. Where there was real snow, like make-a-snowman-catch-snowflakes-on-your-tongue-and-bundle-up-to-snowblow snow! It was fantastic. The Christmas markets were awesome - and they were everywhere - you could walk a block basically in any direction and hit some type of Christmas market. One of them even had a rotating bar - which I really wanted to go on, except it was uber crowded. We went to the Cathedral and climbed up really old and kind of scary stairs up to the first overlook and decided not to proceed any father when we went to this tiny little door that opened up to a tiny little and very slanted staircase. Only regret is that we didn't find any real Swiss food restaurants to eat at, which was mainly our fault because we never made rsvps or went at a time that we could get a table, so we ate at the Irish Pub and then a French restaurant (that actually had a Swiss flair to it), both of which were great food and atmosphere.
Then it was off to Strasbourg, the capital of Christmas! Where we ate lots of French-German food, all of which was fantastic, especially with the vast amounts of gluhwein we had - the Alsace region is known for their white mulled wine, and it was very yummy. We walked through La Petite France (the French quarter) which is along the Rhine River and was very cute and quaint. Did lots of shopping, lots of shopping. Also visited the Cathédral de Notre Dame de Strasbourg, which was gorgeous, not as jaw-dropping as Notre Dame de Paris, but it isn't something to sneeze at. They had a fantastic nativity scene.
So, basically, it was a weekend full of Christmas markets, awesome food, lots of wine and SNOW!
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| Basel |
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| More snow in Basel |
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| Overlook in Basel |
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| Cathedral (Basel) |
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| Overlook in Cathedral |
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| Rhine River in Strasbourg (La Petite France) |
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| Rotating Bar in Basel |
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| Cathedral (Strasbourg) |
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| Strasbourg: Capital of Christmas |
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| Christmas Tree |
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| Nativity Scene (Strasbourg) |
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| Lights & Cathedral |
