A Day in Alsace

Today Katia and Carlos took us to Colmar and Riquewihr in France.  Colmar is about an hour and a half from Zurich and a lovely ride. Carlos' GPS made us laugh as it would say "stay on this road for a long time".  We concluded that anything over 10km was considered "a long time".

We were pleasantly surprised to discover we arrived on the first weekend of Colmar's Christmas market as the smaller villages usually start their markets later in December. The town was so charming decorated for the holiday season.

I've had my camera for years and never tried out the "magic" feature.  Turns out it is pretty cool.  Picture on the left is the original and picture on the right is with "magic".

For anyone that has spent any time in France, you know the French have a very "unique" perception of themselves and their importance in the world.  We went into three different restaurants to have lunch and were told by all three "nous sommes complets" which politely translates to "we are booked".  But the three different people we encountered all had a sense of disdain for us and shooed us away.  Eventually we did find a spot that welcomed us and was very tasty...goat cheese burger was fabulous!

The sign for Europe just made me laugh as it is typical French

Next stop for the day was the medieval town of  Riquewihr.  We knew something was going on when more than a mile from the town cars were parked all along the road.  As it turns out, they too had opened their Christmas market...and there were about 15 tour buses we later discovered parked as we were leaving town.

The Alsace region is noted for it's Riesling wines...Riquewihr in particular.
Peraphs the next Riesling I drink will be from these vines.

Another fabulous day of vacation with even more fabulous company!  Looking forward to tomorrow's adventures in  Luzern.

Raclette, Chocolate & Gluhwein --- Welcome to Switzerland

What a fabulous first day of my holiday! Julie made her way in from Basel and my dear friends, Carlos and Katia Korb, met us at the Zurich Airport for a personal escort to our hotel.  After a quick costume change and freshening up, we were off to explore Zurich!

The Zurich Marriott is in a terric spot for touring the city.  We are about 4 blocks from the train station, Bahnhofstrasse (Zurich's main downtown street) and old town.  

For lunch, we had a traditional Swiss dish...Raclette.  A semi-hard cow's cheese, Raclette is served heated and then scrapped onto potatoes, meats and vegetables.

When you think about it, the Swiss are a smart people when it comes to cuisine. We paid for food that WE cooked!  Oh and don't forget...fondue.  You have to cook that dish too!

Later we saw a Christmas Market vendor selling Raclette on potatoes.  The cheese is heated to almost bubbling and then scrapped onto the potatoes.  You can sprinkle a little nutmeg or paprika on it for a little extra flavor.

The Grossmunster is a Protestant Church designed in the Romanesque style.  Once inside, the church is smaller than the outside would lead one to believe. The true beauty inside is the stained glass windows. They were absolutely magnificant but unfortunately photography was not allowed.

One of the must sees on my list for Zurich were the Marc Chagall windows at the Fraumunster.  The church itself was built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women.  Again another lovely church and sadly photography was not allowed here either...at least I have my memories of the windows.  The windows were amazing and each tells a specific story in Christianity.  

It wouldn't be Christmas without a singing Christmas tree and we stumbled upon one next to as fate would have it a Gluhwein stand.  Gluhwein is a warm mulled wine and each Christmas market typically has a signature mug for a few extra Euro or Francs.  My Zurich mug will be a nice addition to my German Christmas market mug collection.

Not sure who thought it would be a good idea to put a Christmas market inside a very busy train station but alas there is one inside Zurich Hauptbahnhof. It was absolutely crazy but there was a moment of calm while looking at the Swarovski Christmas tree.

While we were visiting Grossmunster today, we noticed they were hosting Handel's Messiah tonight at 7:30 so after a short respite at the hotel, Julie and I hopped in an Uber and headed back over to the church.  Unfortunately there was a lot of traffic and we were 10 minutes late.  Apparently the Swiss take timing seriously (hence their reputation of being masters of time pieces) and we were not allowed into the performance.  So another Uber back to the hotel followed by a stop in the executive lounge for a night cap and off to bed...while I got 5 hours of sleep on the flight (gotta love the lay flat seats), I was a bit tired.  Time for some rest in preparation for tomorrow's adventures.

Turndown Service Swiss Style

Next Stop...Zurich

It's been a long, crazy year and I'm in great need of this holiday.  The original plan was for my friend, Julie, and I to meet up at JFK for the flight to Zurich. However, a week before our trip, she found out she had to go to Basel, Switzerland to meet with a client a few days before our vacation so our transatlantic flights were solo.  After a 5.5 hour layover at JFK, I'm Zurich Bound.  There are some benefits to all the travel I do for work and I was fortunate enough to have the miles to fly first class.

Over the next two weeks, we'll spend time in Zurich, Venice, Milan and Monaco.  Another advantage to all the work travel both Julie and I do is we'll only be paying for three nights...the rest is all on points! 

Biltmore Estate at Christmas

My parents and I spent the day at Biltmore Estates (aka our mountain home) to see it decorated for Christmas.  In early September, my dad turned 70 and completed 9 weeks of radiation therapy for cancer and this is how he wanted to celebrate.  Here's a few pictures from our day...