November 28, 2010 - Sunday last day

Eric and I decided to take advantage of our last day and drive to Baden Baden in Germany to take in their Christmas market.

The city of Baden Baden is up against the Black Forest. It is a very nice city with a large Casino, many nice homes and some popular thermal baths.

This Christmas market was much smaller but very nice. Many nice booths and lots of good German food. Eric had a large sausage and I had a mix of pasta, ham and sauerkraut with Gluhwein (hot wine) for lunch. It was warm and yummy.

We had a fun last day together. Instead of taking the autobahn back we decided to take the scenic route through the small villages. Most of them were having their Christmas markets also. We stopped at one in Offenburg and bought souvenir mugs with hot chocolate and more Gluhwein.

Time to get back to Holtzheim, finish packing, clean up our little flat and get some sleep before our 3:00 am departure time.

This is it for my blog. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my travels, I'm coming home!!

November 27, 2010 - Saturday

Spent the day and evening downtown Strasbourg at the Christmas market. Cold but fun.

Lots of shopping to do!

As the day went on the city became very very crowded. The squares with the booths like the one pictured above were so jammed with people you could hardly move through the aisles. It was a good way to keep warm.

So cute, our little Alsacien girl.

We had a great day and evening. Lots of shopping and lots of eating at the booths.

We said our good-byes to the Achards, not knowing when we will see them again, boarded the packed solid tram and headed home.

November 26, 2010 - Friday

Tonight was the start of the Christmas market in downtown Strasbourg. They expect 2 million people to visit the city from now until Christmas. This is the largest Christmas market in all of Europe.

We met Achards and walked to the stage where there was music entertainment until the the countdown to the lighting of the city.

The streets were all decorated in different themes. The street that has the Baccarat crystal shop on it has huge Baccarat crystal chandeliers hanging above the street. Gorgeous!

Justine, Taylor and Claire trying to keep warm! It snowed quite a bit today.

After enjoying the lights we all went to a restaurant outside of town that has the best tarte flambees. 

November 25, Thursday - Thanksgiving

Taylor and I were up with Eric this morning so he could drop us off on his way to work at Justine's house, where we were preparing them Thanksgiving dinner. Justine was so sweet to label her kitchen with post-its of where things were and how to work the oven. Good thing, because I would not have figured the oven out!

I put on my new Alsace apron for good luck and Taylor and I went to work.

We prepared two turkeys, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, raspberry jello, pumpkin pie and apple pie.

Taylor and Justine also invited Claire and Marion for dinner. This was a first Thanksgiving meal for most everyone and they asked what the holiday is. Eric told the Thanksgiving story over dinner and everyone enjoyed the meal. Thank goodness everything turned out fine, even with all our conversions in the cooking process!

We even felt a bit at home, because Laurent (Justine's dad) had the Lions game on TV. ESPN sports is the only station they get from the states with their cable and he loves sports! We then had a little light snow for the first time since we've been here. Happy Thanksgiving!

November 24, 2010 - Wednesday

Today Taylor and I got started on a few of the Thanksgiving dishes that needed valuable oven time that I would not have tomorrow. I made my first pumpkin pie with a whole pumpkin instead of pumpkin puree which you cannot buy here.

Eric said it was the best pumpkin pie I've ever made. Guess that means no more pumpkin puree for me!

I also prepared my sweet potato dish today in my little mini kitchen. Pecans were the tricky ingredient to find for this dish. They don't eat or cook with them much here.

This dish ended up with the best review at the dinner!

I also prepared the raspberry jello today, because it is so different here I wasn't sure if it would turn out and wanted to have time to come up with a plan 2 if necessary. I was so happy later that night when we came home to see that it had turned out perfectly!

After those preparations, Taylor and I met Justine at a large cinema downtown to see the new Harry Potter movie. Taylor had been so excited for weeks waiting for it to come to France. She was quite happy with the movie. This was a much larger theatre than one we went to last week and the seats were much more comfortable and the popcorn a little better but nothing like movie theatre popcorn at home.

November 22, 2010 - Monday in Paris

We still have a few train tickets left on our Eurail passes so Taylor and I decided to take advantage of them and go to Paris for a day. Eric dropped us off on his way to work to catch the 6:45 train. Early! Taylor had mapped out our day of events. We bought metro tickets and while in line for them we witnessed the Monday morning rush in the Paris train station. Really something to see. I have a new appreciation for my car and short drive to work!

We climbed the many steps up to Montmarte and did a little shopping and walked in and around Sacre Couer pictured here. Very beautiful. We then had a wonderful lunch in a restaurant in Montmarte. I had my first Beef Bourguignon and it was excellent. Taylor had pasta and then Creme Brulee for dessert.

It was very hazy but this is a view from Montmarte.

Logan asked us to go to La Cinematheque Francaise and take some pictures. We found it with no problem and went inside and walked around and even purchased a nice surprise for Logan!

I had been to Notre Dame two other times and was not able to get inside either time due to the crowds, so today with light tourism, we were able to get right in. The Cathedrals here are really incredible. We have been in so many, yet every time it takes your breath away.

We made our way to Champs Elysees and as we were walking towards it we came across the Paris Christmas Market so we browsed as we walked.
What a nice surprise.

We were on a mission to find Laduree where they make the world famous macaroons. We purchased a box of 8 different flavors. Yummy!

We made our way across the street to a cafe where
we had hot chocolate, tea, a lemon cake and creme caramel. Very nice! Who is spoiled now!

It was getting close to our train departure time but I had one last stop. Last time we were here I saw a gift item at the Starbucks at the Louvre that I did not purchase and wished I had. So we made our way to the Louvre and made that little purchase.

Back to the metro to catch our TGV back to Strasbourg after a really wonderful day in Paris. Taylor got us around perfectly all day. She has been here enough now that she has really mastered this city!

November 21, 2010 - Sunday

Today we did a little Strasbourg touring. We first stopped and walked around at an old Fort in Wolfisheim. We then drove past some of the large government buildings downtown. From there we walked through the botanical gardens near the University. The weather was rainy but it was nice to get out and walk around. Pictured here is a Chateau in the nearby village of Robertsau.

"Ears on the trees" on the grounds of the Chateau.

 We ended our day downtown Strasbourg with lunch in a restaurant where we had Tarte Flambee. It was pretty good but we have been told that they cannot bring wood into downtown Strasbourg, so that is not the best place to have this Alsacien speciality.

Later that evening we made some spaetzle and chocolate fondue. So good!