Cathedrals, Shopping, and Beauty and the Beast!

Hey guys! I can't really believe my life right now. I went to Strasbourg, France this weekend, and tomorrow I leave for 3 German towns and 1 French City to learn about the medieval witch hunts. Then I have a week of classes and I head to Italy! I feel so lucky to be able to do all of this, and I am so excited to learn about the witch hunts in the places they actually happened and see Italy!! But before I depart to become a witch, attend sabbath, eat babies, and brew potions (this is actually what witches were accused of), I wanted to give you an update on Strasbourg!

My friends and I choose to go to the city because it was relatively close (we haven't activated our eurorail train passes yet so we didnt want to go somewhere too far without those), and we had heard it was really pretty. Strasbourg is in the Alsace region of France, right on the Rhine by the German border. The entire region has passed back and forth between France and Germany throughout history, and became permanently French after the second world war. It has retained a lot of its German culture though, and sort of like Luxembourg, is a fascinating mix of both! France has tried to make Strasbourg an important part of the state since it became permanently French, and several European Union buildings including the Court of Justice and the European Parliament, are located there. There is also a large university, and a very famous Catholic Cathedral.

We had tickets to get on a 16:00 train (get used to the military time over here) on Friday afternoon, so we had a few hours to hang out after classes ended. My two friends (Kelly and Margaret) decided to take advantage of the train station's location and explore Lux City more. I have been going there about once a week and am really trying to learn my way around. The other day, Kelly and I had stumbled on a delicious looking store with a chocolate fountain in the window and didn't have time to go in, so we went back Friday afternoon. The place was adorable and specialized in hot chocolate made in a special way. Basically you would choose a wooden spoon that on the end had a huge chunk of toppings and flavoring. Then you put it in the steaming milk they brought you and as the chocolate melted, delicious hot chocolate was made! I choose a hazelnut nougat spoon, and it was so delicious! I also tried one of their homemade desserts- an apple tart that I know my mom would love- and it was great! We enjoyed the atmosphere of the shop for a bit and then headed to the train. The ride was supposed to take a little over 2 hours, but because of a 30 minute delay due to snow, it was about 3 hours. It really wasn't bad though and the train was comfortable!

We arrived around 7 in Strasbourg, and found our hostel without our problem. We had read in the guide book that our hostel was so nice members of the European Parliament often stayed there, and I think it was true. The crowd staying there was quite diverse, we saw older people, families, and young people like us. It was very bright and clean and our private room had a bathroom and shower. After putting our stuff down and freshening up, we headed towards the city center. We just followed the Cathedral to get there and as we got closer, we could see the top of it less and less. Just as I thought we were lost, I turned a corner and saw the entire Cathedral before me! It was gorgeous, and the pictures I took really don't do it justice. It is amazing to me how ornate the architecture was, how beautiful the stained glass was, and just the enormous size of the entire structure! I cant believe people built it without modern technology! After standing in awe for a few minutes, we walked on a tried to find a restaurant in Petite France, the cutest part of the old town, for dinner. It was dark and we had to wander for awhile (ok, we were lost) before we found one, but eventually we did! We ate at a place with typical Alsacain cuisine, and to honor my German roots, I got sauerkraut. Although I liked the sauerkraut (it reminded me of thanksgiving) I wasn't a huge fan of the accompanying meats. There was sausage and some fatty pork and beef, and not being a huge carnivore to begin with, they weren't my favorite. But it was an experience, and I was glad I tried something local! After dinner, we met up with another group of MUDEC students who were in Strasbourg at a bar ironically called the Raven! It was fun to hang out with them and experience my first ever French bar.

The next day we were busy, but not completely overwhelmed. That was one of the nice parts about Strasbourg, we did not feel pressured to see a ton of uber-famous sites, so we could kind of just wander around and take in the city. We went to the Cathedral and saw a presentation about the medieval astronomical clock that is housed there and still sounds every day at astronomical midday, which is 12:30. The 12 apostles come out of the clock at this time and rotate around a spinning contraption. We watched a short movie about the clock's construction and significance, and then saw the actual 12:30 ringing. Honestly, it was freezing during the movie and the movie slightly cheesy, so it wasn't our favorite part of the day. But it was neat to see the 12:30 ringing! After that, we ate a delicious lunch of crepes, and then explored the city on foot. We walked around all day, and did a great deal of shopping- France has its best sales of the year at this time and we took full advantage! We mostly went in clothing stores, but also some cute home decor, candy, and tourist shops. We saw Petite France during the day, it was gorgeous. We took some pictures by sunset that turned out really well. The whole town of Strasbourg honestly reminded me of Belle's little village in Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite movies ever. All the tiny houses, beige with brown trim, and the brightly colored ones as well, created such an enchanting effect! Later in the afternoon, we made our way back to the Cathedral and climbed the 334 winding stairs to the top. Our legs were a little shaky, but the views were incredible and definitely worth the hike! It was great to see the city from a bird's eye view, and we realized how big it was!

Later that evening, we got dinner and drinks on a fun, lively street called Rue de Freres (road of brothers). We found a bright, cheery little place full of young people called Flam's, that specialized in another local specialty, tarte flambees. They are sort of like pizzas, but with a really thin crust that is almost like a cracker. You can get them in any topping and we each choose a different one- mine had all kinds of veggies- to share. We were also happy to get salads after our less than healthy eats the past few days. The food was great, and despite a drink ordering mishap (we thought we were ordering a wine cocktail but actually got straight shots of liquor in tests tubes- oops!) we had a nice time. We went to a very modern, swanky bar after for a drink, and just had a relaxing evening of girl talk. My one friend didn't feel well much of the day or night, and that was a little hard. She was trying to have fun, but I could tell she was starting to get sick, so I felt bad. Altogether though, she felt ok, and we still managed to have fun!

On Sunday, we woke up early and went to the Cathedral for mass. Although I could sort of understand the French the priests were speaking, not being Catholic made it difficult to follow (I wasn't exactly sure what we were doing), but it was a really beautiful and interesting service. Their was a choir that performed a series of chanting call and response portions, and the acoustics of the Cathedral made their voices echo across the congregation. The service was crowded, and it seemed like a mix of both french tourists from other areas and regular members. I want to go a Catholic mass in the states when I get home so I can compare the two! After mass, we had grand plans to go to a chocolate museum and factory we had found a brochure for at the tourist office. However, it just wasn't in our destiny to make it there. We first tried to buy tram tickets to go the stop indicated on the brochure. I'm not sure if it was a result of human or technological error, but none of our credit/debit cards would work in the machine (I think we tried six). It only took coins, and we had all just spent ours buying postcards. In the end, we got change from two nice Americans and bought the tickets. We thought it would be a few minute tram ride away and we would be there, but when we got off the train in Baggersee, an outskirt of Strasbourg, we found ourselves in a strange little industrial complex area, with a car dealership, a walmart type place, and a bunch of office buildings. We ventured in a restaurant to ask directions, and the frenchmen had never heard of our museum but vaguely suggested we take the tram in the direction we had just come from. Then we realized we had to take a bus from the tram stop (we thought it said you could take bus or tram but really it was bus and tram), that wouldn't come for 30 minutes. It was cold, a little snowy, and we didn't have much time, so we just decided to proclaim it our first travel fail and head back. We ate some delicious chocolate cookies instead while we waited (that store I was obsessed with in Brussels is apparently a french chain so I was able to get the best chocolate cookie ever again) and headed back. Before taking the 5 o'clock train back to Lux, we got tea in a really cute little shop with a rustic, old time atmosphere. We walked around a bit more, caught our train, and were home by 8:30 pm. Altogether, it was a very nice weekend! Strasbourg wasn't the most glamorous or fast paced city, but it was a really interesting mix of a lot of things, not to mention charming and beautiful!

Tomorrow, I leave for my witch hunts travel tour! We are going to Trier, Shiere, and Rottenberg, Germany, as well as Nancy, France. We will be meeting and going on tours with expert witch hunt historians ( I suspect they are actually wizards who are friends with HP) and having free time to explore the towns! I am excited! I don't think I will have my computer, but expect a full post recap when I return. Also check out facebook, I am putting up photos from Skiing and Strasbourg soon!

Hope you guys are doing well! Love you all!

C