Strasbourg's Christmas State Fair

Considering my traditional Christmas is fairly non-existent in Paris, this year we decided to travel to Strasbourg, France for a bit of holiday cheer. Originally we planned to take the high-speed train to the city that lies on the border of France and Germany. But with a round trip of 8 hours, it seemed silly considering we would only be in Strasbourg for less than 24 hours – so we opted to fly. Thankfully we changed our mode of transportation rather than the length of our stay because what we found didn’t meet expectations. Instead, it was reminiscient of the Kansas State Fair.

The city was beautiful with its canals and German influenced architecture. And their Christmas displays were colorful and playful with an apparent tradition of hanging stuffed animals outside the windows. But the Christmas market itself was a “hodge podge” of imported Chinese trinkets and trash.

There were no local artisans displaying their crafts. Rather, the booths were exploding with obnoxious Santa hats, oversized candy confections, plastic angels and anything and everything that normally comes free inside cereal boxes. But with mostly French speaking tourists roaming the streets, this sad display of festive fare was more than enough to appease their holiday sensibilities (considering they aren’t familiar with the commercialization of Christmas). But for Chris and I, it fell a bit short.

We did, however, find a few worthwhile boutiques hidden within the heart of the city. L’Alsace du Chez Vous features an assortment of pottery, tableware and other “eclecticables” from the Alsace region (too bad I lost their card). Chris couldn’t resist buying two ceramic pots molded for cooking chickens or stews. And of course we (or I should say Chris) sniffed out a gingerbread maker who sells the sweet treats in every shape and size. Pain d’Epices Mireille Oster (14, rue des Dentelles), located in Petite France, was the perfect treat to wipe away the memories of our lunch at Chez Yvonne (10, rue du Sanglier) whose time has apparently come and gone.

Next year, as Chris pointed out, we’ll be surrounded by Christmas markets galore. With many small villages throughout Germany hosting their own celebrations every weekend in December, our home base in Munich will give us the opportunity to truly absorb the holiday spirit on a local level. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll find the treasured Baum Kuchen tree cake that the French replaced with cotton candy and peanuts in Strasbourg.