La Capitale de Noël

When Margaret told me when she would be visiting, I immediately booked a hotel room in Strasbourg, which I had read has one of the best Christmas markets in Europe and is only a few hours away by train. That was back in August, and even then, we had trouble finding a place to stay. Fortunately, we found a recently opened hotel within reasonable distance from the city centre.

La Capitale de Noël

Many months later, we found ourselves in beautiful Strasbourg, which at this time of the year dubs itself, "La Capitale de Noel". For me, it was a return visit but Margaret would be experiencing the place for the first time. Our goal, then, was to balance Christmas shopping with touring the sights. 

Just a few of the figurines available

A few blocks from our hotel was the Christkindelsmärik, the largest of the eleven markets scattered around the city, and the one we visited most often. Margaret and I were impressed by the sheer number of items on sale here. There were figurines and many ornaments of various designs, local handicrafts, as well as a large selection of food. As expected, mulled wine was available to warm patrons as they shopped. 

These chandeliers hung over one of the streets

The Cathedral at night

As we headed towards the centre of the city, we were struck by how beautiful Strasbourg was at night. Houses were decorated whimsically, and lights were everywhere. As we wandered the streets, it was impossible not to feel the Christmas spirit.

Gorgeously decorated houses

Strasbourg waterfront at night

On our first evening, the concierge at the Hotel reserved us a table at a German restaurant, Au Pont du Corbeau, where we both decided to sample a local specialty, choucroute with Riesling. We were fortunate to find a place to eat since the city was chock full of others who had come for the famous markets. In fact, we were the first to arrive at the restaurant but half an hour later, there was not a seat to be had.  

Choucroute

The blue tree at Place Gutenberg

After dinner, we headed to the Temple Neuf for a free concert, put on by a very entertaining and talented brass quintet. What a treat that was! The event included a sing-along. I was thrilled that one of my favourite French carols that I recalled from childhood was played: "Il est né, le divin enfant." The best part, though, was the singing of "Douce Nuit' and "Stille Nacht", "Silent Night" in French and German. How wonderful!

The brass quintet in Temple Neuf.

On Saturday, it drizzled for several hours but that did not dampen our spirits. Our first stop was the Cathedral of Notre Dame, a gothic masterpiece that I had visited with Bob in the summer. At 10:00 in the morning, it was not at all crowded. There were two seasonal displays that I had not seen before: a collection of tapestries depicting the life of the Virgin Mary, and a very extensive nativity scene which traced many events in the early part of Christ's story. Near the famous astronomical clock, Marg was very taken by the Angel column, a very unusual feature. 

The Angel Column

Part of the Nativity Scene

Nearby, we visited another Christmas market and then crossed the canal to see two more as we followed the route that Bob and I had taken in August. On this Saturday morning, there was a brocante (collectibles market) set up too, so there was something for every shopper. Eventually, we popped into another church, Saint Thomas, where there was a service about to begin. We were accompanied by organ music as we explored the interior. The highlight here is a marble mausoleum behind the altar.

Marg rubs this fellow for good luck. It worked.

Mausoleum in Saint Thomas Church

In La Petite France, the old tannery district, the crowds got larger, as again, there were two Christmas markets set up, one right on top of the area where I had enjoyed lunch in the summer. We found a small café to have a bowl of soup before continuing our explorations. Good fortune visited us again, since shortly after we sat down, the "complet" sign went up. 

La Petite France district

Towers on the covered bridge (which is no longer covered, by the way.)

Eventually, we headed back to the heart of the city along La Grande Rue, the festively decorated main street. In Place Gutenberg, we visited the Belgian Village (apparently Strasbourg invites another culture to sell its wares every year), before going our separate ways. Margaret was interested in the Musée Tom Ungerer, while I wanted to hit the shops.

The Gutenberg Statue in front of the Belgian Village and a building with colourful dormer windows. 

Thanks to our concierge, we had a reservation at a French restaurant for dinner, Le Bistrot des Arts. Like the night before, the meal was delicious! Beforehand, we took in another free concert which featured three vocalists accompanied by a pianist. It was not of the same quality as the first one, so we left early. After dinner, our walk home featured more markets, and more lights.

Our favourite market, near our hotel

Alsacian pottery and sweets for sale

On our final day in Strasbourg, we headed for the Palais Rohan which houses le Musée des Beaux Arts and the Archaeological Museum, both offering free admission on the first Sunday of the month. We had expected to pay, so here was another bit of good luck.

Inside Le Musée des Beaux Arts

The view from the window of the Museum

On the way back to our hotel, we visited yet another market, stood in front of the massive Christmas tree, sampled some of the street food available at the Christmas markets, picked up a few more gifts and then headed for the train station, where the eleventh and last market awaited us. Of course, we looked at the wares there before boarding the train and returning to Neuchâtel.

In front of the Great Tree

Strasbourg's atmosphere was very seductive, and although there were many people there, it rarely felt crowded. This was clearly an event for families. We loved every minute. Our one regret: we should have bought even more! 

The Great Tree at night.

Visits and visitors

Over the past two weeks, I have been host to visitors - twice. My first guests were my former student, Emily, and her fiancé, Alex. I discovered some time ago that Emily would be coming to Neuchâtel for a conference so I suggested that she and Alex might want to stay with me. As it worked out, their time here coincided with my trip to Düsseldorf for NESDA, so although they were here for five days, I only saw then twice over two evenings.

Alex and Emily sample my first fondue. I am pleased to say it was a success.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed catching up with each other and I benefited from their presence in the apartment. Alex discovered that a router near the TV was merely an energy waster so that is now disconnected, and both he and Emily took care of some laundry for me while I was away. I think they left more food for me than I had before they arrived. They were wonderful guests.

Margaret meets the lion at the Hotel du Peyrou

Less than a week later, Margaret arrived for a longer stay. When I had suggested to friends back home that I would be interested in European Christmas markets, Margaret said she would love to join me in discovering what they were all about. Back in August, we planned two weekends of travel around these events. These would be my first weekends of independent travel since Bob left.

The Rheintorturm in Konstanz, a medieval gate on the Rhine

Our first excursion took us to Konstanz, Germany, a town on the Swiss border which is a popular summer resort, but at this time of year draws tourists to its Christmas market.

The Munster in Konstanz

The largest of the three medallions in the vault of the Munster

Since we arrived at around noon on a Saturday, we decided to explore the Altstadt (Old Town) first. We were pleased to discover that the local Cathedral, Muenster Unserer Lieben Frau, had some very unique features, including a filigree representation of the Holy Sepulchre in the St Maurice Rotunda, and, in the vault, three golden discs which are very old. Nearby, we had a delicious lunch of beef goulash at a small restaurant in the Cathedral square. The soup was so good, I was tempted to ask for the recipe.

The Holy Sepulchre in the Muenster

As we explored the old town, we saw Roman ruins, a gate/tower into the town and many charming buildings and shops. Konstanz is a magnet for Swiss shoppers, since crossing the border is very easy here, and German prices are more reasonable than Swiss ones.

Town gate

Eventually, we arrived at the market, the main reason for our visit. Margaret was good at finding "superior" booths which offered unusual gifts for the Christmas shopper. We also enjoyed some warm beverages that evening, a rum punch for Margaret, and a honey wine for me. These were served in china mugs for which we paid extra and then were refunded the cost when we returned them. We probably should have kept them as souvenirs.

Warm drinks add to the festivities.

Sugar and cinnamon adorns our homemade waffles. They were sold to us by two guys in a tiny booth. We lined up for quite a while to get these.

After dinner at a German restaurant in town, we returned to the market for a final look at the merchandise. We made a point to visit the Christmas ship, anchored in the Bodensee (also known as Lake Constance), a special feature here.

The Christmas Ship

The next morning, we made our way by train to Saint Gallen in Switzerland. This town had first entered my imagination through my many readings of Robertson Davies' Fifth Business since the tale is supposedly penned there. 

  Saint Gallen through the mist

Saint Gallen was very foggy all day, which made it hard to see the place clearly, but we were very glad we made a stop there. At one time, it was a very important centre where Prince Abbots created a principality around the monastery. Today, the grounds are a UNESCO world heritage site.

Stiftskirche - the Monastery Church which is now a Cathedral

The Cathedral on the site of the Abbey of Saint Gall is a masterpiece of late Baroque architecture. It is very beautiful and very uplifting. Once I entered it, I was reluctant to leave. The ceilings are painted with lovely images, and much of the rest of the interior is white or golden. The lines are very graceful too, another element adding to the church's majesty.

Inside the Cathedral

One of the staircases to the choir loft

Even more remarkable is the Abbey Library of Saint Gall. We were very fortunate to have seen it, since it had been closed for several weeks and only opened at 13:00 the day we visited. To protect its wooden floors, visitors must wear slippers over their shoes. Photographs are not allowed, so I have borrowed one from Trip Advisor to show you this very special place.

The Abbey Library of Saint Gall

Besides its awe-inspiring beauty, this library is a treasure trove of rare books and valuable artifacts. I was impressed that an ivory insert from Charlemagne's Bible was on display there; Margaret, always the librarian, was in heaven in this place, as she studied the classification system used and read the spines of many of the books in the collection.

The colourful interior of St Laurenzen Church

Just outside the abbey grounds, we stopped at another church, this one a Protestant one. It, too, was delightful, very colourful. I often wonder what Europe would be without its churches. They certainly are very pleasing to me.

The Christmas Market

Finally, we wandered through the Saint Gallen Christmas Market, much smaller than the one in Konstanz, where we bought cake to take back to our friends in Neuchâtel.  We were on the train before four and back home before dinner. 

NESDA

Back in June, I met my colleague, Dan Martin, in Kensington Market. He wanted to tell me about NESDA. Basically, he informed me that he and I would act as staff advisors for this group. I agreed, even though I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Well now I do, and I like it - at least most of the time.

NESDA is the acronym for the New European Speech, Debate and Acting Association, an organization that runs competitions in various public speaking events twice a year. International schools from many parts of Europe take part in these competitions. The language of discourse is English, of course, even if for some of the students, it is not their mother tongue.

Most of the team in Düsseldorf. Where were you, Katie?

In September, Dan and I ran tryouts for the team. Of the fourteen students who expressed an interest in competing, ten were chosen.  We decided to separate them into two groups - six who would act in pairs, and four who would debate, again in pairs. As well, any of the ten could choose to participate in individual events: original oratory, oral interpretation and impromptu speaking.

Katie waits for the judges to be ready before she presents the positive side of the debate topic.

Then came two months of preparation. The debaters had to research both the positive and the negative side of this year's assigned topic: Be it resolved that the advantages of immigration outweigh the disadvantages. The actors had to find a script that was serious in tone and that ran for 5 to 7 minutes - not a second under or over time. The original orators had to write and practice their speeches, while the oral interpretation folks sought out a funny piece of literature to read in a clever manner, often using a variety of voices. Only the impromptu speakers did not have to rehearse, although I suppose we could have had them practice preparing a speech on a random topic and delivering it.

Dan and I helped where we could, finding articles on the debate topic, and directing the acting pairs, but the bulk of the labour fell to the students.

Ready to go on the Neuchâtel train platform.

Finally, they were as ready as they were going to be and on a Thursday, we headed by train to Düsseldorf, Germany, where this year's competition took place. Our Neuchâtel students are at a disadvantage at these events, by the way, since this would be their first such competition while many of the students from other schools have been participating in NESDA for years. Still, we entered into the competition with a very positive attitude.

# 1 in our hearts

All dressed up for the day.

On Friday morning, we gathered at ISD (International School of Düsseldorf) where we met the participants from the other schools and I discovered that I would be expected to evaluate much of the day. For the students and the teachers, this was a very demanding schedule, running from our arrival at 8:00 and ending with the final competition at 18:15. The more events a student opted to enter, the more stressful the day.

I was one of the judges of the finals of Original Oratory.

Dan judged the finals of Oral Interpretation. The judges have their backs to the eventual winner.

On Saturday, the top five pairs or individuals in each category were back in the spotlight, and by the end of the day, winners were declared. Overall, our team competed well, although only one individual made it to the finals and no one placed in the top three. We later discovered that some of the judging had been erratic, and in some cases, blatantly unfair. But no dwelling on the negative for us!

Instead, we enjoyed a delicious team dinner of German fare in downtown Düsseldorf that evening, and were delighted to discover that a Christmas Market had opened already.

Düsseldorf Christmas market

The next day, on our return route to Neuchätel, we made a four hour stop in Freiburg. Unfortunately, the town was very quiet on this Sunday - even the Christmas Market was not open. Dan took us for an educational tour of the beautiful Munster, and then we and the kids went our separate ways.

The Munster is reminiscent of the Cathedral in Strasbourg, since they both use the same colour of stone.

This stained glass window seems to have been paid for by the pretzel makers.

Since we were so close to the Black Forest, Dan and I decided to try some Black Forest cake, while some of the students opted for a mid-afternoon meal. We also all enjoyed just strolling in the quiet streets after two days of relatively sedentary living.

Some of the girls enjoy an outdoor meal. That would have been too cold for me.

A lovely street scene in Freiburg

Town gate in Freiburg

Our last leg home took longer than expected since the German train we had booked ran late and we missed our connection in Basel - Swiss trains are always on time, of course. Eventually, however, we arrived home in Neuchâtel.

NESDA has a second weekend of competition next March in Barcelona. Now that they are seasoned veterans, the Neuchâtel team members plan to come home with some gold. No doubt, there will be a blog post then to celebrate our success.