Christmas 2012 part 2 of 3 (will it never end?!?)

Wow, it's been longer than I planned to get the rest of this up and out to you all. I think sometimes writing about fun is hard. I could probably sum up this entire entry with: "I went to fun places with really fun people. We also ate really good food." But that just isn't that interesting for you all. So, I'll give you a bit more information.

The 23rd of December I picked up nice and early, and hopped on a train (shout out thanks to JP for getting me to the train station before 8 am). Trains in France over the holiday season are super busy. So there was lots of people watching and baggage negotiating en route.
Everybody had suitcases, including me, and baggage holding racks filled up fast. My TGV from Paris to Strasbourg was... cozy? There was a hispanic family of some origin travelling with about 3 adults, and at least 2 small children, and about 7 massive suitcases... But we eventually got everything sorted out and nobody had to sit on top of their luggage. So that was super nice.

So after some number of hours of travel I arrive in Strasbourg. Ready for a brief history lesson? Here we go!
Strasbourg is in Lorraine, a region of France that is right on the border of Germany. Alsace (the neighboring region) and Lorraine have long been flip-flopping regions. They really have only "belonged" to France since the reign of Louis XIV, meaning they have been French for about 200 years. Which, in France-time, really isn't that long. Before Louis XIV made things official, the regions had been flipping back and forth between France (the Gauls) and various pre-German principalities.
Then Alsace-Lorraine was re-taken over by the Germans during at least one of the World Wars. Furthermore, Strasbourg really is close to the border... like 20 minutes by train.
What all of this means, is that Strasbourg is a really interesting city. For all that it's in France, the German influence is omni-present: All street signs are in both French and German. The architecture is clearly German-influenced, both in style and in construction (the Germans, especially in southern Germany and Bavaria tend to have more red colored stone that they use to construct important buildings and cathedrals. It's a very distinctive color, and this stone is not found anywhere in the rest of France as far as I'm aware). I was very aware, very quickly, that this was, is, and has been for as long as it's been a city, a border-town. A meeting place, a trading post, a strategic point. Strasbourg was (and is) all of these things. Pretty neat huh?

Right. That's that. Now, where was I? Oh yes, onna tram. I'm on a tram from the train station to try and find my hotel, where I would be joining Katt and her family for Christmas week.

Oh wait... more background? I think yes!
Katt is a very dear friend of mine from UO; we dance, and talk, and drink tea, and hang out and she's generally a lot of fun. And her family is also lovely. They are based near SF and I've actually stayed with them when I had to go to the French Consulate to get my visa. So I'd previously met her mum, dad, and two of her sisters.
Well, Katt and her family have extended family in Europe. And this year, by a stroke of luck (the universe loves me sometimes) they had decided to celebrate together... in Europe! And they actually picked Strasbourg, France to do it! (This is actually quite logical, Strasbourg has a reputation as one of the most festive European cities ever. It's Christmas Market is one of the best, if not the best, in Europe.)
So, Katt and her family, being truly wonderful people, invited me to join them for some festivities! How lucky can a girl get?
Now, when I say "the family got together for Christmas" I mean maybe six people? When the T clan gets together for a family Christmas... it's a whole different story. There was thirteen of them. Plus me. Oh holy cow. I actually asked Katt to send me names in advance, so she very kindly sent me a little bio. Which, of course, I didn't get around to reading before I showed up in Strasbourg... whoops.
So you'll get to meet them as I did.

I show up around 2:00 in the afternoon at the hotel. T's were arriving all across the course of the day at various times from various locations. So I had no clue who was already there or how I was supposed to check in. So I go wandering up to the main desk, and explain. Luckily the T's were a known entity... I think that's what happens when you book a gazillion rooms under the same family name. Anyhow, the desk clerk very kindly called up to Control Central (Katt's parents' room), and Dana came down to sort everything out, and tell me which room I was supposed to be in.
Dana is a matriarch. She's got six kids, a very bright and energetic husband, and she runs the house. She is always wonderfully kind to me, and I have great respect for her. So she comes sweeping out of the elevator, gives me a lovely hug and a room key, and sends me off with great efficiency.
Up I ride to the fourth floor. I was to be sharing a room with Katt and her two younger sisters, both of whom I'd met before.
I find the room, open the door, and ask "Has anybody ordered an American?"--BAMKatthug. What a welcome! She had to let go eventually so that I could breathe, otherwise I suspect we might have spent the week in the entry hall hugging.
I spent the next couple of hours meeting everyone else. I took to calling them the T Clan. With love.
There is Dana and Lloyd. Katt's mum and dad.
Katt's younger sisters: Vicki and Cindy.
Katt's older sisters: Meredith and Sam.
Katt's paternal grandmother (a lovelier woman is hard to meet.)
Katt's  "          grandfather (very smart... he knows about black holes!), (His wife joined us later in the week. Also a lovely woman, a sort of hippie with a wicked sense of humor.)
Katt's dad's sister: Chris. She is the one who lives in Europe, in Holland actually, with her family-- her Dutch husband (a very nice man, with a lovely accent), and her adopted son. Chris reminded me a lot of my aunt.
Everyone was ridiculously to me and extremely welcoming. I loved getting to know all of them.
And watching 5 sisters interact was hilarious! I've just got the one (who I love to bits), and I think I'm glad...? They sort of dog-pile all over each other, and everyone of them knows exactly how to drive the others batty. But it's clear that there is love in the provocation. Most of the time.

So yeah, there was a ton of them. And me. The T Clan all have quite strong family resemblances. it's pretty clear they are a family, and a striking one at that! Lloyd is very tall, as are most of his daughters. Even Chris' husband is tall. So it was quite impressive when all fourteen of us went anywhere to do anything. (I was vaguely reminded of a mongol horde invasion... only with much better fashion, and in a very polite way... so the analogy isn't that good, but it's my brain so there.) This could be something as small as meeting in the lobby, to walking down the street, to going into a restaurant to entering a fashion boutique.
(Segue: the T women have excellent taste in clothes, and going shopping with them as a family was amazing! Lloyd sits and observes, the six women [and me by association] sweep through the shop, take over the dressing rooms, giving frank opinions to each other, swapping out clothes and sizes, "try this on you'll like it" "it doesn't fit me, Vicki you try it" "not your color" "yes that's lovely!" etc. It's a general scene. And so. much. fun.)

I think we gave a couple of waitresses heart-attacks in all honesty. Having a party of 14 in France, even in a big city, basically means that you take over the entire restaurant. And worse! They are Americans. Stereotypical American tourists don't know how to behave politely in a nice restaurant, let alone speak any French, hence instant waiter/waitress panic.
But, of course, this is not at all true with the T's. The T's have lovely European manners. They are also aware that a party of 14 is... well... extra work, and are therefore willing to make appropriate allowances. As far as the French went... they had me!

I got to play translater, backed up by Chris who also spoke some French, and her food vocab tended to be better than mine, so that was excellent! It's always good to know what you are ordering.
Translating menus, relaying orders to the waiters, talking with the desk clerk in the hotel, I even called AirFrance for them at one point (and I was super proud of myself there- phone conversations are tough!).
I actually really enjoyed it. It's work, but once you get a flow going, you just sort of have to step back and just let the language take over. Though it did mean that I tended to forget which language I was speaking. Poor Katt had to remind me once or twice that she couldn't necessarily follow me when I chatted at her in French.
I did threaten at one point to put this on my CV with Katt's dad as a reference. I may still do!

And all of this, without actually telling you what I did... but this was so much a part of it. Katt and her family made the holiday for me. It was so much fun running around with all of them. I think I got to spend some time with each of them, and I would have spent more!

But, enough gushing. Time for some touristing!

Christmas eve we all went trucking out to the Christmas market. The holiday market in Strasbourg is, as previously mentioned, kind of a big deal. There were actually lots of tourists, foreign and French, running around the market. And it was a huge market!
The center of the market is based around the Strasbourg Cathedral, a massive and beautiful piece of construction. Talk about a location! Wow. But the market is spread out all over. We spent the course of the next week stumbling across new little pockets of stands. It was such a treat. They have everything; carved houses, ornaments, scarves, jewelry, art, candles, and pretty much anything you can think of.
Of course, my favorite thing about any Christmas market is food! Be that chocolates, crepes, waffles, pretzels (a German staple, and all over in Strasbourg as well), or hot drinks.
I think my favorite would probably the vin chaud. Literally, "hot wine," though a more appropriate translation is probably mulled wine, as the french love to add spices, oranges, and liqueur to the wine to enrich the flavor. Vin chaud is a seasonal thing, and it works! France can be bitterly cold, especially during December, and vin chaud warms you right up. Most cafés and bars will serve it, but it can also be found (served piping hot) at the markets! Yum.
Traditionally vin chaud is made with red wine. Strasbourg however, is in a region known for white wine. So a bit of a local speciality is White mulled wine. I tried it, obviously, and enjoyed it. Interestingly enough, I preferred the more traditional red vin chaud (even though I tend to prefer white wine).  This is a tradition well worth bringing with me back to the States.

Then for Christmas eve dinner everybody got all dressed to the nines and we went out to a very nice restaurant and ate lots and lots of very good French food. So much food. So... much... hmmmm. So good.
The only downer of the night was the "stockings incident." Once again proving my life is hilarious and awkward. I had one pair of lovely black stockings. And somehow... they decided to hate me.
I put them on with my dress, and didn't notice until we were leaving the hotel that the elastic at my waist was busted. So the stockings were migrating. In a southerly direction. Bit not good.
Then we got lost, and did walking around trying to find the restaurant. And I had to keep trying to subtly yank up my panty-hoes. This, as most girls know, is not a subtle motion.
Luckily we found our restaurant before they had slid to my knees. Dinner was seated, no problems there.
Walking home was bad.
They made it to my knees.
Katt had to be my human shield while I attempted to pull them back up. In retrospect it would have been much more subtle to just kick off my shoes, remove the tights, and move on. Now you know ladies: when your stockings bust, don't try to preserve your outfit. Just take the dratted things off!

Christmas day was very chill. We hung out in the hotel room, opened gifts (They even had gifts for me! Thank you Chris for including me in your gift exchange! It meant a lot to me!), made food, and generally just took it easy.
Hilariously enough, our Christmas dinner/lunch was tuna fish sandwiches and soup. This is eerily similar to what my family traditionally eats for Christmas eve. So I got to uphold a personal tradition too!

The rest of the week was more being a tourist, some shopping, more really good food, and general awesomeness.

A group of us went to Haut Koenicsbourg, a really really cool castle on top of a REALLY tall mountain. We even had sunshine, and an incredible view over the valley. Castles are fun! This castle in particular has a really interesting history (like the region it flip-flopped often between rulers), which I will not bore you with the details. But should you ever be in the area, it's well worth the price of admission.

We also got to go to the local modern art museum. They had a special exhibit on about Spirits and the Occult in art through the ages. I loved this exhibit. Some of the pieces were truly breathtaking, and some of them truly creepy. It's so interesting to see how representations of spirits and the unknown has changed (or stayed the same) through the ages.
I would honestly have walked through the entire exhibit a second time. As it was I went really slowly through. And then went down and checked out a special exhibit they had on occult books from the Strasbourg University library. Old books and magic? It doesn't get any better than that!
This exhibit might get an entry of it's own someday. I do have that much to say about it. But I won't gush here. Just... yeah. Some artists have it right. Wow.

I do have to mention: Katt is awesome. She and I did an "Irish reel" (with neither of us really knowing how technically to do one. Details, details.) to live street musicians in front of the Cathedral. And we rocked it. Katt is very good at getting me over my inherent hesitation of making a loon of myself in public. (Not that I don't do that anyway, so really, I might as well do it while dancing.) It was a TON of fun. Dancing to street music is great fun. Go out and try it!

On our last full day, the entire family took a day trip to Colmar. Colmar is a small town about an hour and change south of Strasbourg. It has another famous Christmas market there. I almost preferred this market to Strasbourg, it was a few days after Christmas and things weren't so crushingly crowded. We wandered around, bought chocolate, traditional holiday buiscuts, and such. It was a lovely treat. Katt and I split a pretzel covered in cheese. It was very good.
I got the impression that Colmar is quite touristy, but with the Holiday Market running it felt much more like a real town, with interesting things. It also has a lovely old Cathedral, and perfectly medieval cobbled streets and row houses. Europe is pretty!

Our last night in Strasbourg we decided to get take-out and eat in the hotel. We actually found a thai food place two doors down, and Katt and I went, got menus came back, worked out a massive order and went back. It seemed easier to order in person than trying to call in a massive order with complex requests regarding sauce, peanuts, spice, etc.
The poor little waitress didn't know what hit her. I think the restaurant itself would have seated maybe 15 people.... and here we were ordering for fifteen (Edwins wife had now joined us) to go. But like a champ, she took our order, gave us a deal on rice, and told us to come back in half an hour.
I think she went and helped the cook to make all that food, but it was really good! So that was awesome. And so came to a close my last night in Strasbourg with the T's.
A more generous family you will not find, nor more welcoming. Thank you a thousand times for letting me celebrate with you all! It was a truly special holiday for me.

The next day we all packed up. People left in various stages. The older sibs left early to catch a flight, Chris and her family drove out a few hours later, and the rest of the T's piled into a rental car to head to Switzerland.
Me, I packed up, and caught the tram back to the train station. I was headed to Germany, to meet up with Lydia for New Years!
And I think Germany is going to have to get an entry all of it's own.
So tune in again, for Germany, New Years, and my great skiing adventure!