The Christmas market at Strasbourg

As we came out of the station in Strasbourg, we saw our first Christmas kiosks on our way to the hotel only 100 yards away.  Having dropped our cases off, we were soon out again in search of the Christmas tree.

Around the base there was a platform for groups to have a photo and a couple of 'villages'.

Rather than one large Christmas market, there are several sites. Around the Christmas tree, most stalls are in support of charity.  Others sites are selling Christmas decorations, tasteful (and not so tasteful) gifts, sweets and chocolates and, naturally, mulled wine.

After a traditional Alsaicien lunch (choucroute for Pat), we went back to the hotel until dark. Christmas decorations were everywhere.

Son et Luminere was in progress on the walls of the Apple store.  Below, the entrance to one of the sites of the market. 

  

The tree at night. 

Finally, some photos of Strasbourg by night. 

Now we are back home and preparing for Christmas with the family.

Pat and John on tour

Pat and John on tour

Pat and John on tour

Andlau

Usually when we are in this area we take a picnic and walk through the vineyards and woods to the top of the hills.  It was very dull on Wednesday and so we looked at taking the train from Barr to Colmar, a larger town to the south of Andlau where we were staying. All but one train would leave us waiting on the station platform at Sélestat for an hour, and as we had an appointment for a wine tasting at 5pm, this would give us little time in Colmar.  A wander around Andlau and lunch was therefore on the cards.  We found ourselves at the large church in the centre of Andlau which we had not visited before and amazingly it was open.

The church is on one of the routes to St Jacques de Compostella - still a far way to go from here.

Andlau abbey was founded by St Richardis (the local saint) in the late 9th century.  Part of the current building was consecrated in the 11th century and there have been several rebuildings since.  

One of many interesting carvings in the west porch dating from the 12th Century.

The nave to the left and Ste Richarde below. 

The crypt, which is 11th century, is full of very old statues; this pieta is 13th century. 

Our next stop was the local museum. The building was once the large house of a seigneur in the centre of the village.  Over the years that we have visited Andlau, we have seen it being restored.  The house is traditionally built and displays show how the traditional Alsacian house has evolved over the years, the building skills and the stone mason's signs carved on stones which make the house.  

The basic structure of an Alsacian house is a solid base and a wooden structure above.  There were 'kits' that you can try to put together, demonstrating just how intricate the design is.

After lunch in front of a fire in a restaurant in front of the museum and a rest in our hotel, we set out for a wine tasting with a vigneron we have bought from for almost 25 years.  An order will be going in when we get back home and the wine will be shipped to us.  Here are some views of the tasting room.

Then we returned to the hotel for dinner and packed ready to move on to Strasbourg the next day.

Pat and John on tour

Alsace and Strasbourg Christmas market

Strasbourg Christmas market has been on our list for a while, but, so far, it's been difficult to fit in. As we are spending Christmas in France this year, we have taken the opportunity to spend a few days in Alsace and Strasbourg.
We are travelling by train; from Beziers to Montpellier (30 mins) and then a train direct from there to Strasbourg (6 hours) and the final leg is a local train to the nearest town to our winemaker town (Barr, 30 mins). 
There has been a lot of rain in the Languedoc in the last week, but the temperature has been around 15 degrees.  By contrast, we are expecting temperatures only just above zero in the north east of France and there is a possibility of seeing snow.
As we travelled along the Mediterranean coast and through Montpellier, we saw plenty of flooded winefields. Our route from Montpellier takes us through Nîmes, the up the Rhone valley to Lyon, Macon in Burgundy, across to Chalons in the Champagne region, Besançon, Belfort, Mulhouse, near the Swiss German border and Strasbourg on the German border.  
We reached Beziers at 07:30 this morning via the school bus.  It was still dark, so we had a good view of the Christmas decorations. We thought that Santa was quite cute.
Our train trip went smoothly and so by evening, we were in our usual hotel which is now under new management.





Andlau, where we are staying is decked out for Christmas.  Many lamp posts are decorated with Christmas tree, making walking on the pavement hazardous.







On Tuesday, we walked to the next village to visit our winemaker, Jean-Pierre.  On the way, we spotted a foal with its mother.  We had seen and photographed the same foal just after it was born in May, so it was lovely to see it again, still with mum.
We met Jean-Pierre's father, Pierre en route, pruning the vines.  We were sad to hear that, Doris, Pierre's wife, had died very recently.  We knew her well, after 20 years of buying wine from the same domaine (below).







After arranging a tasting for the following day, we walked on to the next village, Barr, where we stopped for a cup of tea and a cake with Father Christmas at a cafe all decked out for Christmas.  Barr has its own small Christmas market which begins on Saturday.







This is where the local Christmas market will take place. 

All around the village are display boards recording the events of 70 years ago when France was liberated.  Although the Normandy landings anniversary were commemorated in June, Barr was liberated only in late November, 1944. At this point an American tank was destroyed by the Germans.




The wine fields on our way back to the hotel with low cloud and 2 degrees Celsius.


In the evening, we walked across to Mittelbergheim again to eat in a good restaurant where all the wines are from the village.  This is another Mittlebegheim domaine.


Pat and John on tour