December 28, 2022 A Castle, A Commune with Ancestors, An Interesting French Tradition

 December 28, 2022

Thursday, December 28 was a long day. We started out early to get to Haut Koenigsburg right after it opened. Haut Koenigsburg is a medieval castle. When we got there the parking places were already filling up. I’m glad we started out early. I’ve been to HK before but I’m still in awe to see the wonders of the construction, and weapons of war in medieval times. When we left at 11:00, all the parking was taken and people had to climb half way up the mountain to get to the castle. OK, they had to walk, not really climb, UP the road a long ways. I’ll just show you some pics…

“Haut” means “high” for a reason….

After leaving Haut Koenigsburg, we went to Selestat. This is the town where my grandmother was born and raised (1904-1918). That would be Sarah’s great-great-great-grandmother. I thought she would be impressed but I don’t think she felt the vibes of her ancestors like I did, My mission was to find the places that made up my grandmother’s life. I had pictures that I took sometime in the 90s. That’s all. We went to the office of the mayor and asked if anyone recognized any of the pictures. The women in the front office did not recognize any of the places in the photos, but they called to a colleague who came out and looked at the photos. Amazingly, he said “Yes, this one is on “such-and-such” a street….and that one is on “such-and-such” a street but it’s been remodeled. He identified about 6 photos…all except one. How did he know? What an amazing man. We set out and found the church and elementary school where my grandmother went.

The school…

Then we used Google to help us find the house where my grandmother’s grandfather lived. It was on Rue de Grenouille (Frog Street).  I don’t have the old ones digitized so I can only show the ones we took. 

The last time I was here, a woman came to the window and asked us why I was taking pictures. When we told her, she invited us in to show us the inside. This time, no one was home—you can tell by the closed shutters. I decided to commune with the spirit of the house instead….

We next found the house of my grandmother’s grandmother. It’s now apartments…or maybe it always was.

Again I decided to try to connect with the spirit of the house and with my great-great-great-grandmother. (Sarah’s great-great-great-great-great grandmother—I think. I lose count.)

We decided to not look for the other places. It was time for lunch. I had boar, Fabi had pigs feet, Sarah had a hamburger patty. After lunch we walked around a bit and looked at this beautiful old town center. I imagined my grandmother walking…running down the little streets….and they were truly just large paths.

In the evening, we went to dinner at Veronique and Claude’s house.

This is an interesting house with interesting people. They have a menagerie of pets—2 large parrots, 3 African turtles, two dogs and one cat. They also have chickens and other animals at another place.

The Baby….I took photos of the Mom and Dad but don’t have them (????)

Back to the dinner. We had spaetzle and liver dumplings. Both Sarah and I decided that it was surprisingly delicious.

For dessert, we had a nice surprise. It was a Gâteau des Rois. Gâteau des Rois is King’s Cake. On January 6, there is a custom where the youngest child goes under the table and decides who gets the first piece, the second piece, etc. The person who gets the first ‘Fèves’ is the king (or queen?) and they usually get a crown to wear for the evening. (Think Burger King) Ok, Fèves are little tiny figures of characters from stories…like Lion King, or Rapunzel, or Asterix or Tin Tin. It’s all quite fun. Some people collect them. In fact, Veronique gave me a box of them. Claude is a baker so they had lots and lots. Here’s a picture of the gateau and of Veronique with her “crown” on—she got the fèves.

I know it’s not January 6th but they wanted us to experience this tradition. What fun!

Looks like I’m done with Thursday.

December 27, 2022 The rest of the day

 December 27, 2022

In the afternoon, we took the bus to Petite France. Like I said before, Strasbourg is built on an island and Petite France is the old old part of Strasbourg on that island. There are old buildings with the traditional beautiful architecture and shops and the canal. We decided to go to the walkway above the old city “gates” at the water entrance to the old town. You can see people on the walkway in this picture…

Inside the building, we walked by gated rooms that held the old statues from the cathedral. It seems that after 600 years or so, the statues didn’t look so good. So, for those that had deteriorated beyond repair, they put them in the gated rooms so people could see them. They made exact copies of them out of the same stone to put on the outside of the Cathedral. Here are some of the better ones. Amazing.

From the walkway, we got a panoramic view of old Strasbourg. The towers marked the entrances to the gates in the olden times.

I zoomed in on the cathedral.

On our way back to the bus stop, we stopped at a used clothing store where Sarah had a bit of fun. Do you think she should have bought this gem for 90 euros?

There were soooooo many people in Strasbourg. There were sooooooo many people on the bus. We were on the bus for quite awhile before Fabi realized that we were on the wrong bus. So at the last stop where there was a connecting bus, we got off and made our way to another bus stop and finally got home. I think she has the “lost” gene like I do.

At home, it was time to fix dinner. Sarah had told Francis and Fabienne that at home, she used to make open faced sandwiches with leftovers. We have LOTS of leftovers so they asked Sarah to make these sandwiches. Sarah turned on the music and started to work chopping and slicing. It was quite the thing. I think that Francis was flabbergasted at Sarah’s preparations. And at the music. (Sarah said that it is not possible to cook without music.)

Finally, with the table elegantly set for our dinner, the sandwiches were served.

They were declared delicious. But now we have about 4 left-over sandwiches to eat. Sarah said that her family would be able to eat all of them. Where are you Chris, Louise and Connor?

And so it goes for Tuesday, December 27.

December 27, 2022 The poignant story revisited….

 This is a YouTube video of the swim in the lake on Christmas. If you look carefully, you can see me very briefly in hat and coat and boots. In the water, Sarah is next to Francis who is wearing an orange ball cap. After entering the water, they are on the left side of the screen. It’s a bit more than 4 minutes long. This is not the one that was on the TV.

https://youtu.be/8s-9uf8IpKc

December 25-26, 2022 Eat, Drink and Be Merry

 December 25-26, 2022

The Christmas Day celebration involved Aline-Cedric-Mia, and Lucienne (aka LuLu), Francis sister. The very first thing we did was to watch the news clip about the “Polar Plunge.”  There was an excellent view of Sarah flopping backwards into the water. 

As usual, we had l’apéritif. We opened presents. I gave presents but didn’t take pics of them. I know you’re getting tired of the same song with a different verse.

Mug rugs for Aline made by Louise, Sarah’s mom.

A drawing of Mia by Sarah

A painting for Mia done by Sarah.

Here is the painting, done by Sarah, and the wall hanging, made by Louise that Sarah gave Fabi yesterday.

OK, the food….excellent, of course. Foie gras and salmon…2 different dishes, not one.

The next course was leg of lamb…. With a kind of couscous and a creamed bean dish. I don’t know the kinds of beans. They looked like baby lima beans but didn’t taste like them.

The cheese platter was provided by LuLu. It was ENORMOUS!!!! We hardly put a dent in it.

There was one round of cheese that had a little “guillotine” which I thought was clever, but then I learned that you turn it, not chop it, and it scrapes off the top layer of the cheese into the shape of a flower…in theory. I have a picture and a short video but I’m not sure the vid will work for you.

 https://share.icloud.com/photos/001956fq8FbwH8tNIgoa4-tTA

For dessert, we had Buche de Noel. (My keyboard is not typing all the marks it needs.) This is a log of ice cream. Incredible! One was chocolate and one was vanilla.

OK, I’m done with food for Christmas. Our conversations were ordinary. My French is getting better….or at least easier. It’s taken me a week to get into the groove. Now I want to stay longer just to work on French. Verbs and Pronouns!!!! What a problem.

Now on to December 26….

We left a little after noon for Sonia’s place. Sonia is Fabi’s sister. I hadn’t seen her yet. There were 22 people there for fun and festivities. 

Here’s a quick rundown of the food. Better, yet, I’m getting a bit overwhelmed, So I’ll just show you the pics. You’ve seen it all anyway….

OOPS. I guess I missed some courses. The ice cream cake was awesome. Half of it was layered with chocolate, caramel and coffee ice cream. The other half was banana, plum and vanilla. Frosting on top and little meringues around the side. Claude, who is Veronique’s husband, is a baker so he made it. There were cookies, too. I tried an anise one. Sonia made them with powdered anise instead of liquid so they were not white inside like the ones I make.

Sarah and Jade discovered that they are both 17-year old artists.

We played around with our presents. 

Part of the day was bitter sweet for me. Many times I’ve been to France and to Strasbourg. I usually stayed with Jeannette and Rene. Jeannette is the one who was so patient with my lack of French the first time I came and was so supportive of my endeavors to learn. She also liked the history of places and showed me all the nooks and crannies of Strasbourg and told me their stories. She died during COVID time. I think it was because no one could come visit her in the assisted living place. Today, I really missed her and Rene. They lived in the downstairs apartment from Sonia, who owns the house. I was remembering all the good times I had there. It’s now time for the next generation to step in, so her son, Christophe bought the house in the courtyard. This first picture shows the house where Jeannette and Rene lived and the second is across the little courtyard is where Christophe and his family live.

We left early—before 6:00. Back at the house, Fabi and I talked about the people in our lives who had died. Not a super good topic for the holidays but since we both miss her parents, Jeannette and Rene, it was a good conversation.

Franck and Saundra came over for a little while to pick up some left-over cheese from yesterday. It’s Franck’s addiction so the cheese goes to a good home. I think I will see them again when we go to Europa-Park next week.

For now it’s time to stop and hit the sack. Tomorrow, I think we go to Petite France.

December 25, 2022. A poignant story…

 December 25, 2022.

25 years ago, a man named Jean Paul, aka Paulo, started a tradition. He gathered together 4 friends, and on Christmas morning they went to the lake and ran into the freezing cold water. The next year, the 4 friends gathered again and a few others joined them. And so it continued. Some years, the friends were joined by lots of others and in other years, there were only a few. Some people did it only once…that was enough. Others, like Francis, stuck with it year after year. 

This year was different. This year Paulo was very sick. He couldn’t swim in the lake. His friends decided that they would jump into the lake just like always, and he could watch it on WhatsApp, as they took the plunge. Unfortunately, yesterday, December 24, Jean Paul, aka Paulo, died.

This morning was different than the years before. 

Many many people showed up. Even the media from 2 television stations came.

They gave speeches. 

The original ones made signs. 

They all decided to jump into the freezing cold lake in memory of their friend. 

Sarah, too, decided to jump into the lake with Francis to remember Paulo.

Everyone was tense and excited. Waiting….waiting….

Then, there was a count-down and…. They ran, They walked. They jumped for joy.

Some got out quickly while others lingered….

Afterwards, everyone was energized and happy.

Sarah and Francis had a unique, shared experience.

But will Sarah do it again? Only time will tell….