April 27-29 Friends, Family, Fun

April 27-29 

This is going to be hard to believe. I can hardly believe it myself and I was there. Yes, the sun was out on Saturday. It was shining brightly. And I didn’t wear a winter wool coat. And it was even warm enough to take off one of my jackets. It was glorious! 

At noon on Saturday, I met Bruno Rojas in front of the Cathédrale. Who is Bruno Rojas, you ask? First, he is the great-nephew of my friend, Pamela, in Spokane. Second, he is a student at the University here in Strasbourg. He is just finishing his Master 2, and will begin his Doctorate in September. He’s studying and doing research in… um… some kind of neurology of the brain. Third, he is Mexican and American and plans to apply for French citizenship. He speaks 3 languages fluently. Those are the facts. He is delightful and I had a great time.

We first took a little gander through some side streets I didn’t know about. Then we stopped at a brasserie that I did know about but hadn’t been to before. My goodness! The spring beer was pretty good there. Then we went to a nice Alsatian restaurant for some traditional food. Super good. We talked a lot about Alsace and Strasbourg and what a great city it is. We just chatted about a lot of stuff. He told me many times how much he also loves Spokane and his auntie Pamela (aka Pammie).

(LOL. I see that I posted mostly pictures of food!)

Here’s one of the restaurant from the outside.

On the way back home, I wandered a bit and came upon a protest. Here in Strasbourg, and in France in general, there is quite a bit of angst about the «massacre à gaza.» It was an impressive procession. I felt sad as I watched the people go by. Some were angry, some looked determined but many just looked sad. What a world we live in these days!

On another note, I came across a French tradition for when a couple marries. The friends of the bridegroom take the bridegroom around to public places where he has to make a spectacle of himself in some way. I first came upon this group when I saw the bridegroom striking an unusual pose in the doorway of a shop. I missed most of his “task” but I did get photos of them walking away. I don’t know what the tee-shirts mean but you’ll notice that the bridegroom is wearing a pink headband and has pink training wheels duct-taped to his feet. The bride and her friends are also out and about doing unusual things in public. I saw them earlier but didn’t get photos. Here take a look….

Sunday, April 28 was a very long and interesting day. I went to Europa- Park in Germany with Sandra and Franck (Fabi’s son). This is the largest amusement park in Europe and apparently has been decreed the best. We were able to do “only” 10 attractions —11 for Sandra and Franck since I decided having a cup of coffee was more enjoyable than the Blue Fire roller coaster. Here are some photos…

Moving sidewalks from the parking lot to the entrance…

For €6 you can buy a photo of you on a ride…. or you can take photo of the photo with the “forbidden” sign.

For lunch I had a pulled-duck sandwich.

This roller coaster is the newest one. The wait to get on it was 2 hours so we didn’t try. I wouldn’t have done it because people turn upside down on the loops.  NOT!

Some Fun Facts: Europa-Park is divided into 16 European themed areas—meaning you go from Switzerland to Germany to England and Croatia and other places like fantasy land. There are over 100 attractions with 14 roller coasters and other fun things like cabarets, bands, shows… Every year, there are over 6 million visitors. That is 500,000 a month and about 42,000 people a day. It’s revenue is about €150,000,000/year. Can you imagine a world where that amount of money was spent on relieving poverty?

Sandra and Franck go to Europa-Park at least once a week and they have a Facebook presence about their weekly outing. Take a look—you can translate anything you want to know about under the posts and comments. It’s called Les F&S au Parc.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556692473504

We left Europa Park at about 6:00 and went to Fabi and Francis’ house for a fabulous authentic Alsatian choucroute dinner (45 minute drive). Aline and Cedric and Mia showed up and the whole fam damily was there. It was a jolly gathering with lots of laughter and jokes and teasing and I understood about 67% with help from Fabienne. The choucroute was beyond delicious and I got the left-overs for this weeks’ meals.

This is the book that Franck just got finished writing. It’s about a video game that he and his friends have played for years and years and it’s still very popular. So, he interviewed people about this game and then wrote it up.

Franck and Sandra are reading another book here—a satire about concerts because that’s their second love.

Now for the dinner…

This is….”meatballs” made out of pigs-liver. I know it sounds awful but it’s really delicious and it gets tossed in with the other stuff…

The “other stuff” includes boiled potatoes, ham, knack sausages, another kind of sausage, large pieces of lardon (bacon) and sauerkraut.

You put it altogether on a large platter….

NOTE: Choucroute: =Sauerkraut, but it’s very little like what you get in the states. This is one of my very favorite dishes and nobody makes it like Francis.

Monday April 29. Today

It’s was my last day of class and oh,boy! was I tired! One of my classmates—one of them from Saudi Arabia, brought coffee and figs to “celebrate” my leaving. The coffee was incredible—made with cardamom and saffron. It’s usually served in these little tiny cups but we had paper cups. The figs, too, were soooo delicious. It made leaving this group quite bearable. 

One of the last things we did was to take a photo of “the chicas” in the group so here we are—moi, Carolina from Argentina, Tsu Yun from Taiwan and Rabat from India.  (I’m sooooo tired in this picture!)

PS. The “dots” above our heads are part of a coat rack.

So there you have it. Next Sunday, I leave for Corsica. Hopefully, I’ll get  another posting out before I leave.

April 20-26 Another Fabulous Church, a Castle, a Hike and Fooood

April 20-26 Another Fabulous Church, a Castle, a Hike and Fooood

Saturday, April 20, marks the one month anniversary of my arrival. WOW! It’s hard to believe. The day was very cold with off and on rain. I did manage to go out looking for some things to buy on my list. Alas, I did not buy anything, I just did some Lèche Vitrine which literally means “lick the window” or, window shopping.

Sunday, April 21. Let’s forget this day even existed. It was on and off rain, hail and wind all day. I stayed in and moped.

Monday, April 22. Now that we’re getting to the last week of my studies, the class is beginning to gel well. Instead of staring at the floor when we arrive, we talk to each other and even encourage each other. On this day, during our break, the class wrote “good morning” in their own languages on the whiteboard. Then we took a class photo. It isn’t everyone but most people were there.

Tuesday, April 23, was extremely busy. I rushed home from class—even took the tram instead of walking—and regrouped to catch the bus to Bischheim. Fabienne and Francis were waiting for me. We went to visit Francis’s cousin, whose name is also Fabienne. There, I met Dominique who introduced himself as “Eric” and then there was “Pauline.” As we had coffee and cake, we talked about a lot of subjects and I realized that I’m understanding more and more. (Yay, me!)

After the gateau and coffee, we drove to another little town and visited a most amazing church that was built more than 1000 years ago. That’s the medieval age! Parts of the church have been added on to or redone since then but it’s still an amazing church. 

Here’s one of the oldest features.

And here’s a most interesting little sculpture. Adam and Eve with the proverbial apple of sin are at the bottom; a snake winds up the tree; and Christ on the cross is at the top. The detail of this piece is astounding.

The altar had a 2-dimensional tableau of the famous last supper painting. Take a look.

Here’s what the inside looks like. Stunning. (Not as stunning as the cathedral in Strasbourg but definitely noteworthy.)

How does this little village pay for upkeep? Just the heat bill must be astronomical. Oh, well….onward….

In the evening, we went to (cousin) Celine’s house for a BBQ. She and Jerome bought this old decrepit house during COVID and had it completely renovated. The outside was just spiffed up a bit and looks much like it did originally but the inside is super modern and gorgeous. It has an open floor plan and everything looks airy and so nice. Here are some photos.

I got in late from the BBQ and (groan!) I still had homework—a take-home test. I managed and then got to bed after midnight. C’est le vie.

Wednesday, April 24. I want to point out that it’s APRIL. Almost MAY. On this day, the temperature was 12 degrees below the average here. I wore as many layers as I could which included a heavy wool coat that Fabi lent me. Instead of continuing to whine, I’ll show you a couple of photos that impressed me as I walked here and there in Strasbourg. First is this building along the river. I walk by it every morning on my way to class. Notice that there is smoke coming out of the chimney and the morning sun makes everything stand out. I stopped here and contemplated the heat that was probably permeating the inside of this building. OK, I’m sure it’s just my fantasy acting up. I love this view. It is soooooo Strasbourg.

Later in the day, I walked through Strasbourg to get home, rather than around it by the river. I approached a man who was sitting on the ground and shaving his dog. I thought how cold the dog must be without any hair. Then, in a flash, I realized that the man had created this sculpture of a dog and a pup from sand. What talent! I had to take a photo…after dropping a little something in his little box. I was so impressed. And as for believing it was a real dog—-well, I think I was out too late the night before.

Thursday, April 25, was again a busy day. I rushed home on the tram, regrouped and took the bus to Bischheim again. I was at Fabienne’s house for only a few minutes when Aline and Mia arrived for an adventure. I haven’t spent much time with them so this day was delightful.

We drove to Wagenbourg Castle and climbed around and in and out of the ruins. This castle was also built in the medieval age. We could see the crests of the chevaliers on the walls of the castle. We even climbed to the top of the tower and took photos from there. WOW!

Notice the little « knight » in this photo above….

Photos from the tower follow…

And moi bundled up agains the cold….

After leaving the castle, we went on a little hike which took us on a trail that looped back to the town where we were parked. Although I was wearing lots of layers, it didn’t rain and I was not as cold as usual. That was a win.

Fabienne insists that this next plant is not mistletoe.

Later on, Aline and Mia left and I had dinner “chez Tafani.” It’s asparagus season here so we had large fat white asparagus and cold cuts and a bit of pig’s head. (Yes, real pig’s head! Take a look and figure out the “pig-headed” plate.)

After dinner, we chatted. After a meal, it’s usual to shake out the tablecloth to “feed the birds.” Francis mentioned that in Corsica, you can’t shake out the tablecloth in the evening, only in the morning. Shaking it out in the evening will attract the ghosts and of course, one wouldn’t want to do that. I told him about the ghosts I’ve met in my neighborhood through my Halloween tour, SpookWalk, and then I moved on to talking about the mansions, like Patsy Clarks, and the wealthy people who lived in Spokane at the end of the 19th century. I’m telling you, that wasn’t easy to do in French but I managed. They said they understood me but I wonder if they could pass a test on it. Hmmm. 

Friday, April 26. This was a strange day. The prof, Maeva, announced that later on in the morning, we were attending some kind of special presentation put on by some of the more advanced students at the school. It was part of something called “La Grande Lecture.” 

She explained what it was and I didn’t understand. We went into the grand salon where the room was filled with chairs. After awhile, the room filled up with people who filled all the chairs and even sat on the floor. Then the “program” started. One at a time, students stood in different parts of the room and read something. The readings appeared to be poems or short essays or little dramas. Each of the presenters read something in French, which I didn’t understand at all (Nothing. Rien. Nada.) and then they each read something in their language. I still didn’t understand it—not even the ones in English. I understood the words, but they made no sense. Others who are English speakers said the same thing. Even those who understood some of the other languages didn’t understand the readings in their language. It was very obtuse. WOW!

When I got home, I did a little research on “La Grande Lecture.” Apparently, UNESCO has declared Strasbourg to be the World Book Capital of 2024. It’s the first time that a French city has been chosen for this honor. There are all kinds of events and activities all week in Strasbourg to celebrate Reading. Apparently, Alliance Francaise is one of the places where such an event took place. I had an international cultural experience and didn’t even know it.

And so it is and so it was in Strasbourg, 2024.