Strasbourg & Colmar Christmas Markets

Strasbourg, France

One weekend before Christmas, Nate had to travel to the UK for work, so my friend, Mallory, and I decided to take a little trip to France to shop at the Christmas Markets. Neither one of us had ever been to a Christmas Market before, so we had no idea what to expect, but we had both heard a lot of good things about the ones in Strasbourg and Colmar, so we decided to go. However, we did not expect for them to be closed! We were a little disappointed to find out that all of the booths in Strasbourg were setting up for opening the next day, but we still tried to make the best of it by touring the city and shopping (indoors)!

The empty and sad Christmas booths...

Jake and I are standing in front of the Strasbourg Cathedral... the biggest cathedral I've ever seen!

I tried to fit the whole tower of the church in this picture, but it just wasn't possible. I later came to find out that this cathedral was the tallest building in the WORLD from 1439-1874. I would not want to be the one climbing that ladder attached to the front! As soon as Mallory and I thought we should go inside somewhere to get a little relief from the cold weather, we conveniently stumbled upon an amazing sweets store! They had every sweet imaginable...

Everything you pointed to... They would let you try! Those are some big smiles :)
After getting our sweet fix and buying some goodies for Christmas presents, we ventured back out in the cold to walk the streets of Strasbourg. They had a very different way of decorating for Christmas than Basel. They had actual chandeliers hanging in the streets... never thought I'd see that!

Colmar, France

A couple of months ago, Nate and I traveled to Colmar during the day because it was only a 40 minute train ride from Basel and it was a charming little city. I wanted to take Mallory there because she had never been and it was on the way back from Strasbourg. I was glad when we got there because it was even more charming with all of the Christmas decorations and lights.

Also, the Christmas Markets were open! The markets were scattered all over the city, so they had signs pointing where to go to the next one... this was good because Nate is usually my human map.

At the markets, you could buy....
Sausage (and lots of it)

Half of a pig (eew!) ...

Cheese (I dislike the smelly kind)...

Hand-made candles...

Large bread ... That loaf was as long as me!

Hand-made soaps that smelled SO good!

Hand-made manger scenes...

And of course, chocolate and candy...We bought some good gifts, ate some good food, had a lot of laughs, and by the end of the day, we were tired! So we took one last look and one more picture before heading back to our home away from home.

Basel at Christmas Time

Even though we didn't spend Christmas Day in Basel, we were able to get a good feel for what Christmas is like there. Since the Swiss don't celebrate our American Thanksgiving (obviously), they jump right into decorating the city for Christmas at the beginning of November. Some people may think that is a little too early, but since Christmas is my favorite time of year, I loved it. It definitely helped Nate and I get in the Christmas spirit!

The streets were lined with REAL Christmas Trees...

The trams were decorated with garland and bows. Some of the drivers, like this one, even dressed up as Santa!For those who have studied German, you know that the language has the longest words in history, but this one surpasses them all... Johann Wanner is a world-renowned Christmas tree decorator from Basel and the word under his name says something like "Christmas-ornaments-and-lights-and-tree-decorating-store" ... Wow, that is a mouthful!
One of my favorite pedestrian streets, lined with Christmas trees and lights...

Downtown had pretty arches with snowflakes on them

They lit up everything, including churches and stairways! Nate is posing so nicely for the camera...

Christmas Markets in the oldest square, Barfusserplatz Even our bank was lit up!

Market Square. And me & Jake...

The other side of Market Square. This place is packed with people buying all kinds of goods and fresh produce during the day, but on a freezing cold night like this one, it's empty, because all the smart Swiss people are inside staying warm! Walking home to get warm... Jake looks frozen stiff!

The Swiss Tennis Experience

Nate and I really got into playing tennis with each other before we moved, so we were determined to keep it up. We shipped our tennis racquets, balls, and shoes, but when we got there, we didn't see any courts. We came to find out that most of the courts are indoors and there is no such thing as a public tennis court! We were not too happy to find that out, so I started asking around where to play. I made a friend at church who also played college tennis and she invited me to a doubles tennis social. I had no idea what to expect and I hadn't played in two months, so I was worried I'd be a little rusty. When I went out to play, I was, indeed very rusty, but I ended up having a wonderful time. There were people of all ages (even though I think I was the youngest one there) and everyone was so nice. Also, they all spoke English!! That was the best part!

Here is a picture of the indoor court facility... it was very nice

Funny tidbits: It is hard to play social tennis after being an instructor. I caught myself giving people pointers because that is just the teacher in me... oops! They probably didn't appreciate it, but once I told some people I used to teach, they said... oh, it makes sense now! Also, before coming to Switzerland, I had never, ever, paid to play tennis... usually, people paid me to play with them. But I had no choice, if I wanted to play, I had to pay... around $40! It was almost $500 for the coordinator to rent 3 courts for 3 hours.

The surface was ... believe it or not... carpet.

I had never even heard of playing tennis on carpet. It had a similar feel to playing on grass because the ball skids easily. It was really hard to return a fast ball with a lot of spin. I wasn't used to it, so I felt like an amateur when I was returning a fast serve. I somehow misjudged the ball and framed it a couple times... so embarrassing!

Here is a closer look at the carpet...

Snow in Basel

Before moving to Basel, I was looking forward to having snow around Christmas and throughout winter. I mean, it's Switzerland... the land of chocolate, cheese, and I thought, snow! Once we moved there, we were told that it rarely snows in Basel because of its location... so needless to say, we were a little disappointed. Much to our surprise, it snowed for three days straight in the beginning of December. It was a light snow, but it was absolutely beautiful. Nate says that there was a "blizzard" right before he left to come to Raleigh for Christmas (I had already flown home), but unfortunately, I don't have any video or pictures for proof! The funny thing is, the snow doesn't really stick. It sticks a little to the roof tops and trees, but melts once it hits the road. It accumulates on the grass, but there's not much of that in the city! Everyone says if you go just 10 minutes outside the city everything is covored with snow. Fortunately, I got to see that on my train ride to the Zurich Airport... and they were right... fields, hills, and forests just covered in fresh snow. It really got me in the Christmas spirit!

Here are a few pictures from the first time it snowed in Basel. I was so excited, I took pictures out of every window in our apartment (which isn't much!), but here they are...

The view from our cozy bedroom... the rooftops are red-orange

The view from the balcony... to the left and the right The view looking down the street from the living room

Looking out the living room windows

Here is a picture of one of the central areas for trams... there is some light snow on the rooftops. Can you find the McDonald's?