Strasbourg and Christmas

Situated on the border between France and Germany, Strasbourg, the ‘city of roads”, is truly at a crossroads in Europe. The city, at least the original, historic part, or ‘centre ville”, sits on an island in the delta of the River Ill, which empties into the Rhine. One can easily see why the European Union chose it for the home of the European Parliament and various attending offices. The city is flat and easily walkable. There is also a brand-new tramway system in place and bicycles seem to be everywhere (much of the historic center is off-limits to vehicular traffic). 

Strasbourg is not only the home to the EU but also where Gutenberg printed his first bible (there is a statue commemorating this in the Place de Gutenberg) and where a young army engineer by the name of Rouget de Lisle wrote the “Marseillaise’, the French national anthem.


The city is also the home to one of the largest and coolest Christmas markets in Europe; the very reason, in fact, that we went in the first place. No, not to buy so much as to look at the Christmas decorations which were rumored to be everywhere – and we were not disappointed.


It was clear and cold early Tuesday morning when we left our apartment and walked to the San Marcel metro stop, hopped on the no. 5 and got off 15 minutes later at the Gare de L’Est (the “Eastern” train station) and boarded a train heading, well, east. After nearly five hours of passing through the lush eastern side of France, still green although barren of leaves, tracking much of the way along part of the immense French canal system, we pulled into the beautiful city of Strasbourg. (photo below: Gutenberg.)




(By the way, on our outbound leg we took one of the slower, regional trains outbound, since it was less expensive; on our return we took the TGV that got us back to Paris in 4 hours. By June of 2007 the high-speed TGV will be running to Strasbourg and reduce the time between Paris and Strasbourg even more.)

The train station in Strasbourg is undergoing a major (and I mean MAJOR) renovation and chaos abounds everywhere. However, if you just follow the signs for the “centre ville” you’ll do fine. If you have luggage – which we didn’t thank heavens – take a taxi. While the city is flat the historic city center is a warren of side streets and alleys that can curve and seem to go nowhere and everywhere at the same time. But it makes for great exploring!

We walked to the Hotel Cathedrale, located smack in the middle of the “grand isle”, surrounded by canals and bits and pieces of the River Ill, and right across from the Cathedrale, an enormous pink sandstone gothic pile, in the very heart of the old city historical district. Since our room wasn’t ready, we left our bags and headed out to explore and have a bite of lunch. First stop was the tourist office; just around the corner from our hotel, at 17 Place de la Cathedrale (www.ot-strasbourg.fr.)

We wandered around the cathedral and then started looking for someplace to eat lunch. After rejecting a couple of cafes that seemed to be inundated with smoke, we found a great little place just a few hundred meters from our hotel, the Café de L’Ill. We both ordered the “menu du jour” that consisted of a delicious potato-leek soup, followed by a terrine of potatoes (“pommes du terre”) with Munster cheese. We also sampled a delicious Alsatian sparkling wine, a “Cremant. Nor would it be the last time either. . . . Anyway, the food was delicious, very filling and tasty, the service very friendly, and the languages a hodgepodge of Gerfrenglish. In fact we returned for our last lunch Thursday afternoon before heading to the train station and enjoyed another superb afternoon repast. Susan had Quiche Lorraine (although we were in Alsace and not Lorraine) and being an Illinois boy I had the potato terrine again (sans soup however).

(€45 for two people, with wine. Café de L’Ill, 9 Place du Marche aux Cochons de Lait, 67000 Strasbourg; tel: 03.88.23.22.74.)

After lunch we strolled for a bit, admiring the decorations that seemed to be everywhere, hanging off the sides of buildings (climbing Santas seemed to be very popular) and down every side street and across virtually every major thoroughfare. We were certainly looking forward to going out in the evening to see the lights.

Upon returning to our hotel we checked in, picked up our bags and settled into our room that overlooked the Place Cathedrale, and just relaxed.

As the shadows lengthened and twilight became the order of the moment, we grabbed our coats and headed out the door and into the cold, clear night.

We strolled around the several nearby “places” where the various Christmas markets were set up for the holidays. One was devoted to just Rumania and featured many vendors in their folk dress and lots of Rumanian music and dancing as well. Other markets such as the one in the area of “petit France” focused on local Alsatian products while the huge market set up on Place Broglie provided a wide array of crafts as well as food and plenty of kitschy items as well as Christmas trees and sundry decorations for the home.

After our stroll we ate a light dinner of pizza at an unremarkable restaurant near our hotel and headed off for one last evening stroll before turning in.

We awoke to another clear and cold day, full of sun and promise and we intended to make the most of it.

After breakfast in the hotel (coffee, fruit and small but tasty croissants) we headed out into the Christmas crowd. Our first stop was not 100 feet away from our room, the enormous cathedral directly across from our hotel, or rather to the top of the cathedral. We found the entrance to the stairs which led us up to the viewing platform, paid our €3 fee, and began our climb of 366 steps. If you are prone to dizzy spells and vertigo you might want to skip this part of a trip to Strasbourg, although frankly the views of the surrounding countryside are worth the effort. (Actually only a couple of places along the way up made us a bit giddy.)


From the top you can see the Vosges to the north and the Black forest to the east and south. Fortunately for us we had a pretty clear day and thoroughly enjoyed spending a few minutes running from side to side, just to see exactly where we where. There is something oddly appealing about such a phenomenon; being in a position to place such a broad perspective on the physical space we inhabit, crowded and congested. But when we find ourselves at “the top” so to speak, we feel free of such congestion. Maybe it’s the panorama that gives us so much pleasure. Who knows?

We found the exit stairs and wended our way to ground level again, passing one of the statues of a horseman, possibly a person of some noble blood, upon whose head other visitors have thought to toss coins. (What is it about tossing a coin in a fountain, a well, a pool of water, or in this case onto the head of statue some 100 feet or so in the air, that gives so many such pleasure? Is it a superstition that still grips many of our species?)


After finding ourselves back in the crowds we headed for the river, about 10 minutes’ walk from the cathedral – remember we were on an island – and found the landing dock for the cruise boat around the city. We bought our tickets (€7 per person) and about 15 minutes later boarded a modern glass-enclosed canal barge. The boat was about half-filled by the time we cast off for our hour plus cruise around the “grand isle”. Each seat of the boat had a small set of headphones on it and we were instructed, in a variety of languages on the loudspeaker, to put on the headphones and fiddle with the channel knob until with found our language. From then on everyone had a guide to help them pick out the choice spots along our route of travel.





The barge cruised lazily passed old Strasbourg, now called “Petit France”, where the wooden-timbered houses lined the canals and tributaries of the Ill river, through a couple of canal locks, onto the more modern side of the city and of course past the European Union buildings, dramatic in their use of glass and steel.


After we left the boat Susan and I strolled along the quai (“key”) to “petit France” where there was a little Christmas market. A few meters away found us in a quiet little courtyard where another Christmas market was in full swing, all the vendors selling local products. We stopped at the Domaine Loew wine tasting booth and tried several Alsatian white wines – and purchased two bottles to take home. We also passed a vegetarian restaurant we had read about in the France Rough Guide and the menu looked so good we decided to come back that evening.

After a leisurely afternoon strolling and then relaxing in the room we headed back out after dark for yet another foray into the world of Christmas markets – it seemed that just about every “place”, or square in the city had something going on and of course we never ceased to be amazed and enthralled by the variety and sheer number of lights and decorations which were everywhere. After a stroll around the ‘centre ville” we stopped at a pub in “Petit France” and had a couple of glasses of sparkling Cremant before going to dinner.

Our choice for the evening was “Poeles de Carottes” a delightful vegetarian restaurant. The place was packed with what seemed to be mostly college-age types, but we found a table for two with little difficulty. The service was wonderful – two young women working the front end by themselves, with the help of a very efficient dumb waiter. Susan and I both had gratins, she had a brocolli and mine was potato, naturally; in fact it was a variant of the terrine dish I had had the day before. This too was made with Munster cheese but with a topping of cumin seed and all roasted together and then placed under the broiler. (Cumin is apparently one of the most popular spices in Alsace, and is used in another local favorite, choucoutre, a variation on sauerkraut.) We also split a healthy portion of a delicious flatbread dish filled with cheese and topped by (what else) cumin and nicely broiled. A perfect accompaniment was a half bottle of local Riesling. The Alsatians seem to do wonders with cumin, potatoes and Munster cheese, dishes that should be easy to replicate at home. (2 Place des Meuniers 67000 Strasbourg; tel: 03 88 323 323.)


We strolled back to our room in the quiet of a very cold but crisp and clear evening, glad to be alive and just happy to be there.


The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, checked out and since we had several hours before our train back to Paris left our bags at the front desk while we strolled once more through the “centre ville”. Naturally we stopped at the Café de L’Ill for lunch and just as naturally I had the potato terrine again – and yes, if you must know it was just as good as the first day I had it.

After picking up our bags we headed off to the train station and soon after arriving boarded our TGV for the quick return to Paris.

What a trip we thought, and what a fantastic city; a great place to spend a couple of nights and what a place to start a serious tour through the Alsatian wine region. Maybe someday. . . .

Wish you were there,

Steve