Voyage en France: Strasbourg

A trip to Strasbourg had been recommended to me often. The pretty, French city is located in northern Alsace – close to the German border, and is well known for its Christmas markets. Indeed, the city calls itself the Christmas capital – 'Capital de Noel', and with good reason: almost all the open spaces in the city were crammed with stalls, when I visited with some mates this Saturday.

Strasbourg is located along the French – German border, closer to Luxembourg than Switzerland.

Yep, another post about Christmas markets, but this is the season for it, right? So why not consider Strasbourg. Despite being in France, it has a really authentic German style Christmas market, offering a huge amount of stalls - selling bizarre Christmas trinkets and sickly, sweet Vin Chaud (Glühwein or mulled wine). The city itself feels quite festive thanks to all of its decoration and the amount of tourists doing their Christmas shopping.

The city was full of people who had the same idea.

Unfortunately, the masses of tourists and shoppers in the city meant that looking for a restaurant to eat lunch in that was both authentically French and not full, was a challenge that took us on a wild goose chase. After quite some time we managed to find a decent place that didn't have a queue lining up outside. It turned out to be as much of an authentic French restaurant as we could have hoped for. Quality, rare fillet steak was the order of the day and an opportunity we couldn't allow ourselves to miss out on, as the same quality dish in Zurich would have required taking out a small loan.

The search for food took us across the city centre, passing through the picturesque old town.

It was a novelty hearing a language that wasn't German and having to struggle to communicate with anyone. Three years of French at school (and over six years of neglect) have resulted in me having no choice but to utter the most basic of phrases and point at things – with the odd English or German word thrown in for good measure. A pity really, maybe I should give it a shot to pick it back up again. How hard can it really be?

Back in Germany: Freiburg

On Sunday I spent the day in Freiburg im Breisgau. A friend of mine studies there and another came down from Berlin, so I thought it'd be cool to get together again. Freiburg lies in south west Germany and is just an hour and a half's train ride away from Zurich.

The Altstadt of Freiburg is really pretty, especially with all the Christmas decorations that have been put up.

Freiburg also boasts a great Christmas market within it's tight, windy streets. German Christmas markets are renown for their festive spirit and German Glühwein (mulled wine) makes quite a good incentive to go and meander around the mismatch of stalls.

The Germans know how to do Christmas markets. There are countless ones across the whole of Germany which many people come to visit.

Getting involved in the tradition of Kerzenziehen (candle making) was also possible at the market. By paying a few Euros you can try your hand at decorating your own Christmas candle in a variety of wax colours. This is really popular amongst children, as they can often come up with some really creative designs. My friends however decided to give it a go, and well, the less said about how their masterpieces turned out, the better!

A candle 'decorated' by one of my friends with some more professional ones in the background...

Anyone looking to go and do some Christmas shopping – and enjoy it at the same time – may want to consider going to Freiburg. It's worth making the trip simply for the merrily priced Glühwein!

A Day in Basel

My train journey to Basel today was rather pleasant. After helping an old lady with her bags, she proceeded to sit at my table, where we then talked for the duration of the trip. It was nice to use the time to practice my German – it certainly beat staring out the window aimlessly for an hour, besides I got the impression she was quite lonely. What was rather surprising was that after carrying her luggage off the train once we arrived in Basel, she stuffed a 100 Swiss Franc note in my hand (£75) – ordering me to use it to finance my student life. Of course, I didn't accept the money and gave it straight back. Although perhaps hanging around train stations helping people with their luggage could become quite profitable if I were to ever hit rock bottom!?

Basel lies on the spot where the French, Swiss and German borders meet.

The reason I went to Basel was to meet up with a friend who's currently spending an exchange year in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. It was nice to catch up as well as see the sights of Basel. Basel is situated in the Northern part of Switzerland, where the French and German borders meet Switzerland. It's known as the Dreiländerecke (3 country corner).

Despite it's proximity to France, the local language of Basel is still Swiss German.

The Altstadt (old town) area of Basel is very picturesque and has quite a few sights, as well as shops, comparatively more than Bern. There was a noticeable amount of activity in the city, perhaps due to the rowing race which was taking place on the Rhine.

One of the market squares in the Basler Altstadt.

I would suggest that anyone thinking of going to Basel should consider going this coming weekend or afterwards as that is when the infamous Basler Christmas markets will be open. We saw the preparations for the Christmas market by the cathedral and it looked rather festive indeed.