And so another trip comes to an end. Can’t complain when I have managed to have three very different trips in a year although it remains to be seen how next year will pan out given what a painful time we are likely to see in the UK.
Anyway, happier things. Today was the final day of the trip and, with a later afternoon train out of Strasbourg, that meant we were able to have another go around some of our favourite Christmas markets with much much MUCH smaller crowds than on Saturday.
This ended serving two purposes. First, it was the time to mop up any souvenirs we wanted to get. For me it meant to fulfillment of a long-time desire of mine to have a proper Christmas Market grub crawl. After all, there were three of us which means we’d be able to try a bunch of things whilst not having to buy three portions of everything.
First was a visit to the Christkindelsmarik, aka the oldest market and the one we did last back on Saturday. The food was spatzel with knockwurst and a Munster sauce. This is the kind of spatzel I had really been fancying when we’d visited Colmar – so I am extremely glad to have had some now.
We then went through the largest market, with the Christmas tree, towards the Place au Chateau market. The food was a tartine flambé with sausage and emmental. There is not a theme here, but having seen a lot of people walk around with this, I just really wanted to try it. It’s something so simple and when I think of the price point of 6 Euros, the London markets really do have a lot of nerve.
Walking onto the Saint Thomas market, we had the best part of the grub crawl – potato galettes with Munster on. Honestly, it didn’t really need the cheese because the galettes were just so flavourful and crisp. This is something I am going to have to look up at some point because I need to know how to make these and then watch myself balloon.
Finally it was back to the Place Kleber market to have dessert of a chocolate covered soft bretzel with a final cup of hot apple juice. The grub crawl was complete and final souvenirs have been bought. All that is left is to actually get on the four trains that will get me home and rest up before work in the morning. Trips like this really are just too short, but should be enough to lift the spirits as I write my magnum opus (aka my handover notes so I can move on to a new job). This blog will be quiet once again until late April where more holiday diaries will hopefully be going up – covid permitting.
Before I Kick 