Strasbourg etc.

So Lyon has this festival of lights, la Fête des Lumières, whereupon they illuminate much of their glorious architecture in technicolor, put little candles in the windows, and use the excuse to attract many tourists and sell mulled wine and crêpes on every streetcorner. There are many professionally designed light shows, and it is pretty cool, if somewhat of a mob scene. Half in honor of this, and half just to pay an old friend a visit, 7 members of Andrea's Italian childhood posse came to town Friday night via a rented minivan. You can imagine the craziness that ensued.
So this weekend, I also had the good fortune to weasel my way onto a trip to Strasbourg with the staff/teacher's association. Which meant that after a late night of enjoying the illuminated downtown with the Italians, I got up at 4 (after less than 2 hours of sleep) and stumbled to the meeting point for the bus. My fellow lectrice Adeline also came along, and it proved to be a glorious journey. We had a nice big tourbus, I slept much of the way there.
We were dropped off in Strasbourg, a lovely town in the Alsace region, which is known for its complicated history of alliance with France, then Germany, then France, etc. The architecture is charming, much more Germanic than French, with the exposed wood panels and cottage style dominating over the cement and stone of the typical French edifices. This town is also known for hosting the politicking of the European Union, as well as for its Christmas markets, which was what brought us there. They were indeed quite nice, I found some beautiful used books, and a few presents. We also enjoyed some café sitting (and thawing), as well as much wandering about the city and stopping in cute stores. Then we went on a tourboat along the canals (even navigating a lock, my first!), seeing the lights and buildings from a warm and watery angle. After, the group of us enseignants (teachers and staff) headed to a restaurant serving up the typical Alsatian fare - meal (if not the delicious Christmas beer) covered by the association. We had a great time and sat with some people I knew, one woman who joined my class to practice her English, and her partner, whom I had biked with. It was a wonderful meal, followed by the classic Alsatian Munster (I highly recommend it).
The next day, after the nothing special but damn was it cheap hotel, we went on a vineyard tour in a small village outside Strasbourg. The man explained that his land has been used for harvesting grapes since the 1300s, and had us taste approximately twenty wines of different ages, types of grapes, all from his vineyard. I liked his Gewurtraminers best, but they were a little out of my budget... After, we headed to the village of Riquewihr, for some more charming architecture, some lunch, and some more Christmas market. I bought some Hansi prints and smelly cheese for the roomies, and we were headed back home. A busy but fabulous Euroweekend!
Also, in two weeks, I will be stateside! Email (or call me after Dec 21), and I would love to see you all!