It's finally here!!! My weekend in Strasbourg, in detail, in colour, with lots of pictures of food and pretty houses!
Ok where shall I start? Let's just dive right in: my Mama picked me up at the station on saturday afternoon and we drove straight over the border to Kehl, a cute little town in Germany, for some serious shopping. Cosmetics are a lot cheaper over there and the "Eiskaffee" is to die for. €76 worth of organic shampoo, conditionner and make-up later, we made our way into the town centre to an oh-so-typical ice cream parlour.
Germans have a thing about ice cream. They take it very seriously. It can be snowing
outside and they'll still be eating it. Just imagine what it's like
in the summer. Now they don't really go in for style and refinement, but the flavour can't be beat. Real coffee, no sugar, no whipped cream.
We took a walk around town, stopped at H&M where my Mama bought some clothes and I didn't...what's wrong with me?? I've lost my shopping mojo!
See the funny looking squares that the kids are jumping on? These were part of a playground. Each paver played a different note! I won't say which one of us spent ten minutes trying it out...anyway, after all that fun we were ready for some real food:
Flashy blue tablecloth? Fake flowers? Frilly paper coaster-thingy? Gothic font on the menu? Yep, we must be in Germany!
Spätzle with mushrooms and cream? Yes please.
It was so nice just to sit outside and watch the ice-cream eaters walk by. A perfect evening.
We kicked off the next morning with some Mother's day treats: a pair of Japanese bowls and the repurposed tub I told you about
here, filled with some goodies.
Before leaving Paris I baked some earl grey muffins and mini-cakes using
this recipe taken from one of my favourite food
blogs.
They turned out delicious even without the rhubarb glaze. My Mama brought a slice of banana bread for me. NOTHING tastes as good as her banana bread.
(psst! see my new nail varnish? I'm sensing that coral is going to be my next favourite thing)
After this delish breakfast we walked to the "Petite France" quarter of town for some fresh orange juice and to admire the architecture and the canoeists rowing away on the little canal.
Never forget to stop and smell the flowers!
The shop in the red building sells Christmas decorations and is open all year round! Strasbourg is very famous for its Christmas market, being close to Germany. If there is one thing that Germans are undeniably good at it's Christmas. See the pretty looking terrace on the left of that picture? Here's a close up:
Pretty dreamy, don't you think?
On the way we spotted a restaurant that looked perfect for lunch, so after a long walk around the area we went back and had this:
Blanched dandelions with the yummiest bacon, croutons, herbs, etc.
Still hungry?
Pea soup with pistachio, mascarpone and (hidden) smoked ham chips
Probably the nicest quiche I have ever had. Black forest ham!
Loved the plates!
Did we have room for dessert? Not really. Did we have some anyway? You bet.
Nutella and mango tiramisu!!
Even the bathroom was fun!
After this big and delicious lunch we did some more walking into the old part of town to see the cathedral.
We did some people-watching,
these naughty doggies were trying to escape! Embarrassing for their owner but quite funny to watch!
some bird watching,
then we decided to go on a boat ride to see more of the town. Unfortunately the boat was closed top so I couldn't get any good photos.
Basically we saw lots of these:
Now it's going to sound like we did nothing but eat, but the thing is we
wanted a little snack before going back to our hotel, so we went for a
Flammeküche. Think very very thin pizza with cream, onions bacon and
Munster cheese. Yum!
We needed the extra energy for our walk home through town since it was a chilly evening!
On sunday we had a nice lie-in and made our way to the station, stopping
for (you guessed it) a little lunch before I caught the train back to
Paris.
A perfect weekend.
Well, except for the rain that started falling 5 minutes before I got off the train. Typical. I'm not sure if you can tell but there was a LOT of water on the ground. I more or less had to wade through it to get across the square to my flat.
Good times.
