Strasbourg

When planning the trip to Europe, one of the things I really wanted to do was go to the Christmas markets, because the concept sounded so lovely and romantic and Christmassy to me. From reading, it seems like Switzerland and Germany are the places to go, but Strasbourg is the French "Capital of Christmas", so I decided to go there instead. I was also influenced by photos of "Old Strasbourg" on my jigsaw puzzle app. Originally I'd looked at actually staying there for a night or two, but in the end I opted for a day trip (two-hour train from Paris).

It wasn't quite what I expected, but still pleasant. The stalls seemed to fall into four categories: Food (mostly mulled wine with crepes and occasionally bretzels); Christmas decorations; generic gifts/souvenirs (by this I mean that I saw stalls selling the same things at numerous locations in Strasbourg as well as in Paris); and artisans selling their own work. I bought a couple of things, but had to say no to others, primarily due to the fact that I still had four cities/two and a half weeks of travel left and these things were of the breakable nature.

My feet still hurt. And the tram stops at the two main Christmas markets were closed for "security reasons", meaning I had to walk even further. I also had some pretty intense vertigo/dizziness as a result of stopping my meds a week earlier (it was a problem in a few places, but Strasbourg was one of the worst days).

Other random bits and pieces:

• Strasbourgians have the most beautiful dogs (a few people had their dogs while walking around the markets). 
• Being sugar-free and not drinking alcohol severely limits beverage options at Christmas markets. Same goes for sugar-free / kosher with food. (Gluten-sensitive/intolerant people, just don't even think about it. Take ALL your own snacks.)
• The French inter-city train was my favourite re comfy seat, but no wifi. (The train to Amsterdam had wifi, but seats were not as "convenient", and to Berlin was completely different, with the six-seat compartments you see in many movies.)
• The clouds. Were. Amazing. - as a kid I had learned about many of the different cloud types, but I don't recall ever seeing so many different varieties at one time. 

-Annie.