International Holiday

We hope all of you are enjoying the holidays and resting well. The days with my brother Hollis and his girlfriend Kristy were great. During their stay, we had the chance to share an Southern-American style Christmas Eve with some of my classmates from school. While most of my classmates are from nations in the European Union, several are from even farther distances. The distance between Strasbourg and "home," partnered with the need to study for our final exams that start in January, meant that several of my friends decided to stay here in France for the holidays. So Whit and I decided to include them in our Christmas Eve dinner with Hollis and Kristy. The countries represented were: USA, Albania, Romania, Japan and Thailand.

Whit and Kristy somehow managed to prepare a traditional southern Christmas dinner with only ingredients that can be found at the French grocery store. They came through with a delicious home-cooked meal that everyone enjoyed.
In this photo, Hollis and Whitney are explaining the very strange concept of corn bread.


We enjoyed a wonderful meal, several Bieres de Noel and interesting stories of different christmas traditions from all over the world.

Here, we had gathered around to sing christmas carols....but, since Hollis and Yuki (from Japan) were acting as DJs, we were, instead, treated to several choruses of "Eye of the Tiger" and various other great 80s music. Although is wasn't "Silent Night", "Rocky" helped us have an international christmas.

Christmas in Paris

What can a trip to France be without a trip to Paris. We had the chance to go with Hollis and Kristy just before Christmas and it was an action packed day.

Bright and early, we took the high speed train (TGV) from Strasbourg to Paris.



As we screamed through the french countryside at 180 mph Hollis was beside himself with excitement.



Of course our first stop was The Eiffel Tower. She was covered in fog, but still pretty cool to see.

Next stop was a true french lunch, then L'Arc de Triomphe

The skies cleared and the view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe was quite impressive.

Here is Hollis and Kristy with a view down the action-packed Avenue des Champs Elysées. Paris traffic is nothing short of intense, even during the holidays.

However, the aggresive driving and the bustling city didn't stop Hollis from getting a first hand look at the world's most famous street.

We worked our way to the Louvre.


Even though museums are supposed to be serious, that does not mean that we have to be...

Michelangelo's famous sculpture "Dying Slave"

This is a close as we got to the Mona Lisa. If any of you have ever loaned Hollis anything nice, then you know that this is actually way too close.

After battling the crowds in the stuffy hallways and corridors of the art musuem, Hollis and I were more than ecstatic to be back out in the fresh air. Time for a reward....

Hollis found a new love in France, a lovely blonde named "1664". The Kronenburg brewery (located in Strasbourg) makes a delicious and affordable blond beer that Hollis used as a subsitute for water throughout the day.

Kristy and Hollis definitely hit the highlights of Paris....

The Notre Dame cathedral is a can't-miss during Christmas.

Three out of the four of us call LaGrange, Georgia home, so, we lugged along our hometown newspaper for a couple of photo opportunities. That's right, La Grange is french!


We were so excited to see the Eiffel Tower all lit-up in her full splendor during our last stop on our tour of Paris.

The tower at night is quite romantic, as is the rest of Paris
It's wonderful to be "home" for Christmas, no matter where you are!

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast"-Ernest Hemingway.

À table

Another great part of Christmas is enjoying spending time with family and friends. We were able to celebrate Hollis and Kristy's arrival with a wonderful dinner with our great friends Nadia and Nico.

Nico hails from Montebéliard in the Franche-Comté region of France. Nadia, my classmate from school, is from Bratislava, Slovakia, from a Czech family, and she speaks more languages than I can name.



We did raclette for dinner and cooked at the table:




Everyone was in good spirits. But, who would not be happy with a huge meal of potatoes, french cheeses, fresh cuts of meat from Nico's region, and a delicious wine pairing from Savoie?




Hollis provided most of the animation during the evening, including changing skin colors. We dramatically learned during dessert that Hollis is allergic to almonds, amongst 6,000 other things. After breaking out in hives and putting Nico on alert to drive him to the emergency room, Hollis had us all a little worried. Luckily, this wasn't Kristy's first experience with Hollis's allergies, so after her quick action with the Benadryl, Hollis recovered quite nicely. In fact he never missed a beat.



The dinner also marked the end of my first semester of school. Although, Nadia and I were extremely sad to see the first semester go, we are happy to be sleeping more. We both are big fans of the Masters program at IHEE (our school), no matter how demanding. But, school will remain close to our hearts and minds even during vacation, as we prepare for final exams in two weeks. Gotta love that French school calender!


More Christmas adventures coming soon...until then, Merry Christmas Nadia and Nico!

White Christmas anyone??

Peter's brother Hollis and his girlfriend Kristy arrived last night to a very cold, very snowy Strasbourg. Being from the south, a white Christmas is something always wished for but seldom received. So, needless to say, we are very excited that our first French Christmas may be even more picturesque than we thought.



Here I am before my morning jog........it seemed like a fun idea until I actually stepped out into the 12 degrees f air......... maybe I didn't think this "training for a marathon in the dead of winter" thing through..........

A visit from Mom

Sorry I haven't posted in over a week, but I have been busy preparing for and then enjoying the visit of my mom. It was so great to see her and have her here with us in Strasbourg. She had a whirlwind week full of Christmas markets and sightseeing and I loved seeing her experience France.

Here are some highlights.........
St. Nicholas visits French children on the night of December 5th. Don't get this confused with Santa......totally different person. He usually brings traditional tasty treats and we were very excited to receive our first visit from him.


Strasbourg is the french "capital of Christmas." I can attest to this by the insane crowds that flock here from all over France every weekend to soak in our beautifully lit Christmas markets. These markets are all over the city and offer all things Christmas.....crafts, ornaments, warm spiced wine, and every kind of delicious treat you can imagine. The city is especially charming after dark, when the entire city is lit by christmas lights. So, of course, we spent several evenings exploring.





We spent two days and one night in Paris. Peter was busy studying, so I was the sole navigator of this trip. Those of you who know my sense of direction (or lack there-of) understand why this picture is so important. I did a lot of this during our 48 hours in Paris. I am proud to say, however, that we didn't get lost once.


Our hotel was down the street from the Eiffel Tower, so it was our first stop.


We tried to hit as many highlights as possible.....here is mom at the Conciergerie:


We walked all the way down Champs-Élysées in the evening rain. The entire way is lit by pink twinkle lights (the parisian version of Christmas I guess) and it was so incredibly beautiful. The rain made it even more spectacular. (That is until we were searching for the metro stairs and crossing the 10 lanes of traffic to find that the stop was actually on the other side of the street.)


Notre Dame was extra special because of the gigantic Christmas tree in front:

After returning from Paris, we filled the rest of our time with more Christmas fun.

I taught mom my new "bredle" making skills..... here is the finished product:


And we ate a delicious Raclette dinner:


Unfortunately for Peter, he had several papers and presentations due this week, so this is how he spent the week:



But he did come out of the cave long enough to help with the Christmas tree:





All of our holiday decorations (including halloween costumes) are in the same box. After writing 3 papers and 2 presentations in one week, the pirate hat and sword were too much for Peter to resist. But then, everybody knows that christmas tree decorating is even more fun when you are wearing a pirate hat...........


All in all Mom's visit was such an incredible blessing and a great way to start the Christmas season. Thanks Mom!