Well it’s one of my favorite
times of year now….the holiday season.
Usually that starts with Thanksgiving, which was a little bit strange
for us this year being that they don’t celebrate it here in Europe. I think the strangest part about it was working
that Thursday and Friday and then knowing that everyone at home was gathering
together to eat delicious turkey meals and celebrate the holiday. Google did serve some turkey, sweet mashed
potatoes and chestnut stuffing for lunch on Thursday though. Nate came over and we had our Thanksgiving
meal that way. It definitely wasn’t the
same as home but it was nice to get a taste of some turkey. That Sunday, Nate made a pseudo-Thanksgiving
meal by roasting a chicken and making mashed potatoes and then some stuffing
from scratch (Stovetop doesn’t seem to exist here). It was quite tasty! Although our Thanksgiving was a bit different
this year it’s all part of the experience and we have so much to be thankful
for that I can’t really complain.
Zurich started putting up
decorations and lights the weekend before Thanksgiving. You’d start to see the Christmas stuff come
out in the stores and decorations go up throughout the city. On Bahnohofstrasse they have lights that they
put up every year and those were “officially” lit that Thursday evening after
Thanksgiving and that’s when I feel like the Christmas season really started
around here. The stores are playing
Christmas music, and there are decorations and lights all around the city. I just love it!!! This also means that the Christmas markets
have started as well. For those that may
not know, a Christmas market, from what I can tell so far, is basically like an
arts and crafts fair with food and of course glühwein. Glühwein is a hot spiced wine that is sold at
every Christmas market you go to. Zurich
has a few Christmas markets around the city which start at varying times during
the season. They have one at the main
train station which Nate and I checked out.
It actually wasn’t all that interesting to be honest. Perhaps being that it’s inside and at the
main train station has something to do with that.
Therefore last Saturday we were off for a day trip to Strasbourg,
France for a true Christmas market experience.
I had read and heard that Strasbourg has one of the oldest Christmas
markets in France and is quite nice. We
met up with our friends Stacey and Alex for the day. I must say, it was quite nice!!! Very
Christmas-y indeed. And definitely a
much better market than the one at the main train station. It was outside which was a step in the right
direction. The glühwein was tasty as
well. It was quite crowded though, which
I guess is to be expected when you go to such a well known Christmas
market. But that didn’t impact our
experience. We walked around the market,
had a good lunch and even strolled around the town looking at the shops. All of the streets we walked down were
decorated for Christmas and so fun! And
it was cold too which just added to the experience. I mean, it wouldn’t feel right if we couldn’t
be bundled up in scarves, hats and gloves, right? Once we had had enough, we hopped on the
train and headed home. A great way to
spend the day!
I must say, so far Christmas in Europe has not been
disappointing!
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