Dad and Sherrie are here!

My Dad and Sherrie arrived last Thursday morning, and Peter and I are so happy to have them here. We have already introduced them to some Alsatian cuisine, specifically "La choucroute aux poissons" which is a sourkraut dish served with three different types of fish.




After dinner we gave them their first glimpse of the dramatic beauty that is the Strasbourg Cathedral......



Yesterday, we drove over to the medieval town of Frieburg, Germany in the Black Forest. This town, which was founded in 1120 was just as charming as we had heard. Some of the original city gates are still in amazing condition. Here we are in front of one gate called the Martinstor. (try to ignore the subway and mcdonalds......how unfortunate.)



And of course, we had to check out Frieburg's main square which is towered by its beautiful cathedral:


It was completed in 1513 and seems to be undergoing some restoration currently:


Here Sherrie and I are posing in front of the remnants of the morning market that is held right in front of the cathedral.


The city also offers several nice green spaces including paths along this fast moving river. Several bridges cross the river, adding to the romance of the city.


And of course, a trip to Germany would not have been complete without a traditional German meal. My dad frequently traveled to Germany during the course of his career and has been looking forward to this visit so that he could have his favorite German dish, Wiener Schnitzel.


More to come as we explore Alsace for the next few days before leaving Friday morning to find the sunshine in Provence............

Handshuheim

This past weekend we had the chance to take in a real Alsatian tradition. Our friends Nadia and Nico took us an "Auberge" for some traditional tarte flambée. I would not do the Alsatian tarte flambée justice if I tried to describe it on our blog, so I won't try. To see it and taste you have to come to Alsace.

This is the auberge or farmhouse/inn where we ate dinner. These family run auberges are scattered throughout the countryside in our region. You can always find a friendly smile, cold beer and excellent meals at these places.


While French people are usually very refined with their dining etiquette, tarte flambée is the exception. The only utensil on the table is one knife for dividing the tarte into pieces. After that, it's hands only........much more my style.

Although we ate 3 tarte flambées will still had room for dessert. We weren't going to pass on dessert, but when Nico told us that the chef of the restaurant is former champion "glacier" in France we decided to have two. A glacier is a champion ice cream maker and his desserts were amazing.


Our friends enjoyed their dessert immensely...well Nadia did, Nico had to fight his way in there.


Future visiters to Strasbourg can expect a trip here.

Another International Sunday Lunch

Sunday lunch is a big tradition here in France. It is an important time to enjoy a relaxing meal at home with friends and family and to talk, and talk, and talk. French people love to talk around a table. I think this is why they love meals with several courses. While it is very different than the American "hurry up so we can watch the game" mentality, it is turning out to be one of my favorite parts of life here. Some of my favorite memories of our life here have occurred around a Sunday lunch table and this past Sunday was no exception. If fact, I think I could even go as far as to say that this Sunday lunch takes the prize as my most interesting meal thus far.

Let me explain why......... We attend an International Church here in Strasbourg and it has been such an amazing blessing in our lives. We have met some of the most interesting and wonderful people. And Sunday, I had an opportunity to have lunch with several of them. Our hosts were the Fruhauff's who live in a beautiful farm village 20k outside of Strasbourg.



Evelyn prepared a delicious meal that included several courses, two of which were dessert:


During lunch, we realized how many different nationalities and languages were represented. Somebody had the idea of us saying thanks to our hosts in each of the represented languages. We had a total of nine and it was so cool to hear each guest express their gratitude for the day in their native language. We heard English, French, German, Alsatian, Nigerian, Spanish, Italian, Greek, and Bulgarian. It was a really cool moment.


What a group!


After lunch we decided to take a walk around the traditional Alsatian village of Obernai. These are my friends from Nigeria posing next to the traditional Alsatians. Christian is here studying engineering at the International Space University and his wife Prisca is here visiting him.


The three American girls:


Those of you who know me well know why I had to stop and admire the Easter display at the Obernai Patisserie. (yes, I have been known to eat an entire chocolate easter bunny in one sitting....a big one.)


You may notice Peter is absent from these photos. Don't worry, he is still alive, but just barely.........the work-load has been pretty heavy these past two weeks, so he didn't make this lunch. His hard work will pay off though, when we head to sunny provence in a couple of weeks!

Traditional Thai food......in France??

We love Thai food, so when Peter's classmate from school DiDi offered to come over and cook for us, we happily accepted his offer. When he arrived last Sunday afternoon with bags of groceries, we knew we were in for a treat. He made himself at home in the kitchen and went to work:




The finished product was a delicious (and spicy) lunch of hot shrimp soup with ginger, teriyaki chicken with an assortment of sauces, vegetables and rice.


All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon......


Thanks DiDi!

Very cold, but very beautiful Berlin

The above photo is of the neighborhood where we stayed in Berlin. We LOVED this city, even though it was so cold, we had a hard time staying outside long enough to snap pics of all the sights. We spent our first afternoon checking out a couple of museums and figuring out the bus system.

On our way to our second museum,(the first was the Berlin Photography Museum, which was currently featuring only one photographer named Helmut Newton. If you google him you will know why this wasn't a pleasant surprise and why I can't put any photos of the exhibit on this blog. I think it's safe to say this museum was Peter's favorite of the trip.) we passed an open area full of snowmen and snow women. It was an amazing sight! Here is one of the bigger more impressive snowmen.


Across the street from the snowman field, was this beautiful church. The Berliner Dom(Berlin Cathedral), built in the 1400's, suffered devastating damage in WWII and just reopened in the 1990's after a complete restoration.


The second museum was not R rated and was really interesting. It is a hands-on museum documenting what it was like to live under communism.


The Restuarant the first night was recommended by our hotel owner and it was the perfect place to warm up with some hearty german cuisine and of course, a crisp Pils.

They even had traditional plates without meat!



Day two started with a photo op outside of the German upper house of Parliament. This was like a field trip for Peter, seeing one of the governments that he has been studying.


We also stopped by the more contemporary section of Berlin, Potsdamer Platz, to check out the Berlin Film Festival. No celebrity sightings, but we did get this photo op on the red carpet.


Here is the Berlin Victory Column that is in the center of their huge city park, Tiergarten. This was built to celebrate the Prussian victory at the end of the Danish Prussian war and is one of the most famous landmarks in Berlin. We could imagine how beautiful this would be in the summer, surrounded by all the green trees and grass of the park. Not in February though.


And of course, we had to have our picture taken in front of a piece of the wall:



And here is Peter at checkpoint Charlie. It was so crazy to think that within one block of this street, people were living under communism on one side of the wall and were completely cut off from their free neighbors. When we were in parts of former East Berlin (like Alexanderplatz, the crowded square in one of the Bourne movies) it was so bizarre to realize that 30 years ago, life here was completely cut off from life on the other side of the wall.


Our last night was a snowy one. Walking the streets in the snow was so fun and romantic......and cold.



After another tasty german dinner, we witnessed a protest on the street outside our hotel. Peter always loves these.....


We loved this city so much that we are thinking about returning in the summer...........