The French Journal

Following Alsace's Route du Vin (with a Baeckoffe note)

For a traveler from The Daily Mail, one of the chief delights of his trip to Alsace is that he and his family see no other British citizens. Moving beyond this circumstance, his drive along the beautiful Route du Vin has many other pleasures and points of interest. There's a unique mix of German heritage and lovely vineyards. There's the stunning village of "Riquewihr, where almost all the houses date from the 16th and 17th Centuries." There's Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, painstakingly restored by Kaiser Wilheim II in the nineteenth century, a rendering of feudal life. Near Obernai, there are remains of camps where many thousands met their deaths during World War II. And since this is the "Route du Vin," there are several opportunities to taste the latest vintages of the local Rieslings, Gewürztraminers, and Sylvaners.

Colmar is cited as a great place to sample Alsatian cuisine; praised is a local dish I'd never heard of, Baeckoffe, a rich stew of pork, lamb, and beef with layers of potato. From Yahoo: "The Baeckoffe was the traditional Monday lunch: it is a casserole of three different marinated meats and potatoes that women would drop off at the baker's in the morning on washing days so it would cook in the oven for at least three hours; they would pick it up on their way home for lunch." Here's a recipe for Baeckoffe.

A friend has suggested to me that this is one of the richest regions in the country to visit, and every time I read an article like this, I can't wait to follow his recommendation.

A chef's tour of Alsace

A dedicated Francophile and chef, Chris Galvin, found the pretext for visiting Alsace for the first time when a colleague went there for training and was able to offer advice on the best ways to gorge oneself while traveling across the region. It's a dream trip (taken from The Independent UK), done in winter, with villages that -- in Galvin's words -- lack only a light snow to make them seem like film sets. Stops include:

• Uberach, where they tour a micro-brewery and taste a local beer,
• Niedermorschwihr, a place to sample the local specialities like piles of sauerkraut with pork bellies, sausage, and potatoes,
• Eguisheim, home of 30 wine producers, (and yes, I know these towns sound German, but I assure you that this is France),
• Orbey, where Munster, the region's special cheese, is king,
• Illhaeuserm, and a tasting menu at a Michelin three-star restaurant, Auberge de l'Ill, and
• Colmar, in time for the Christmas market, which sells mostly trinkets, but there's a "very good charcuterie stall with an array of different cured meats, terrines and pâtés. That's what I love about France: you can more or less buy a Michelin-starred meal to reheat or slice at home."

So I've given you a Monday morning escape, even though it's a holiday in the U.S., an occurrence that I may take advantage of myself to be a layabout. We'll see...

All about Noël

In my imagination I see French students all over the world given assignments to write about holiday traditions in France. So, to help all of those dutiful éleves, I'll direct them to a great resource on Christmas in France: the one compiled by FranceGuide, which is the official tourism site of France. In it you will find articles about how the holidays are celebrated in Burgundy, the Franche-Comté, Normandy, Alsace, and elsewhere. Another page is devoted to the best-known Christmas markets, such as Montélimar, Montbéliard, Chartres, and seven others.

There's a bit more.  The wife of the French ambassador to Trinidad talks to a local newspaper (Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday) about how she and her family recognized the holiday in Provence. It includes this local precept: "Christmas is for family, New Year is for friends.”

For the rest of us, the non-éleves, we get to enjoy the articles without having to regurgitate any of them.

A grinch goes to Strasbourg

The bad news is that Anthony Peregrine of The Times (London) thinks that the Strasbourg Christmas Market, which attracts 1.6-million visitors annually and is the biggest in France, is mostly about worthless trinkets and undrinkable mulled wine. The good news is that Peregrine loves Strasbourg and believes that it has plenty of seasonal charm. Taking a lead from a competing newspaper, he offers ten reasons for visiting the city, each of which he gives a colorful header like "adulteresses" but which I'll paraphrase.

• Cozy architecture, meant for winter cocooning
• Good, Alsatian cuisine
• A university ambiance
• The cathedral
• The old town
• The bateau mouche tour
• The Alsace museum
• The German heritage
• The Saxe mausoleum (a "delirious" monument in a Protestant church)
• The Christmas markets (Counter to his opening complaints, he grudgingly admits the lights, concerts, and general atmosphere are genial.)

I'm going to try and find as many articles as I can on holiday traditions in different regions of France. In the meantime, if that's your interest, be sure to check out this post from last year in French Virtual Cafe.

From Boston, a taste of Champagne (and then to Colmar)

Greetings from Boston, home of the World Champion Red Sox baseball team! It's appropriate on this celebratory morning to start off with Champagne, and thanks to the Deseret Morning News and the AP, we can indulge ourselves with some of the best, like Tattinger and Veuve Cliquot. The article tells about new high speed trains which can whisk you from Paris to Reims in under an hour, and then onto the charming town of Colmar (three hours from Paris, down from five).

Reims, one of the Champagne centers of France, has a mix of the carnal and the divine, as you can tour the cellars, recycled from chalk mines, where the bubbly is stored, and then go above ground to view the glories of its cathedral. (Damaged in World War I, the church windows were repaired by artist Marc Chagall, whose "hallmark dreamy, curling figures never looked so ethereal as in this holy site.") Then, typically Alsatian, Colmar is a "picture-perfect" combo of France and Germany, with old town squares and a canal that evokes thoughts of Venice. The favored brew there is beer, no doubt, or maybe a good Riesling. So raise a glass, if you will, with the solemn toast, "Go Sox!"

As for me, I have to get in line now to buy a red tee shirt with "World Champions" written on it. It's an illness that arises in times like these.

Trucs from the IHT/NYT: Sarkozy, oysters, hideaway, and Rue89

Here's a mash of small things from the New York Times/International Herald Tribune combo (regstration may be required):

• At last week's conference of the European Union, Sarkozy proved himself comfortable handling matters of diplomacy, particularly in a matter with the bizarre twins who lead Poland.
• Minimalist Mark Bittmann goes ga-ga in Paris at the Huîtrerie Régis -- an oyster bar - in Paris, where he is seduced away from belons by pousse en clairs.
• Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, you can stay at the "sleek" Hotel K, in Baeranthal, outside of Strasbourg; that way, you won't have to travel after you eat at the three star restaurant L'Arnsbourg, which, along with the hotel, is owned by chef Jean-Georges Klein and his wife Nicole.
• Another piece tells of Rue89, a French website that covers Sarko news which may be avoided by the mainstream outlets due to the friendships between the new president and various media barons.

One more comin' up tomorrow.

Three for the TGV: Reims, Metz, Strasbourg

Metz

Anthony Peregrine, The U.K. Telegraph's sly ex-pat, explores the possibilities for excursions that have opened up thanks to the TGV's new high speed trains. In the kind of travel article about France that I love (because it goes somewhere other than the usual spots), Peregrine offers his advice on three cities:

• Reims, which was damaged considerably in WWI, but which still has its dazzling cathedral and links to the champagne trade.
• Metz, in Lorraine, proudly retaining its German heritage and managing to use mirabelle plums in a million different ways.
• Strasbourg, much more than the seat of the EU, with a "formidable identity born not only of suffering but also of medieval democracy and independence, trading wealth from the Rhine, humanism, Reform, beer, wine and pickled cabbage. "

Any town that inspires using "humanism" and "pickled cabbage" in the same sentence is okay by me.

The Alsace Wine Route

Someone whose opinion I respect advised that Alsace is one of the best places in France to visit. For instance, with the Alsace wine route, you get in a car, poke around wonderful villages, sipping distinctive beverages along the way. The cuisine isn't too shabby, either is exceptional. Adding to the pleasure is the region's complex heritage, as it has had times as part of Germany, and the influence still lingers.

An article from The London Times details James Preston's travels along part of the fabled wine route, hitting places like Obernai ("like walking through a folk tale"), the grand chateau of Haut Koenigsbourg (fr), and Colmar. And Barr. And Mittelbergheim. And  Ribeauvillé.  And more. As Preston says, "That’s the thing about these wine route towns and villages. Each is prettier than the one before and few are entirely innocent of tourism. But they’ve got a life of their own..."

The NYT visits Strasbourg

Photo: Copyright Office of Tourism, Strasbourg, by AIRDIASOL-ROTHAN

Having written this blog for awhile, the travel items that most intrigue me are those that go off the beaten track. (I mean, I truly LOVE Paris, but France is a big country, after all.) So this article about Strasbourg in The New York Times Travel section was a treat. The history of the city, located in Alsace, includes many eras as part of Germany, and that influence is clear; now Strasbourg is gaining importance as an administrative and government center for the European Union. The article indicates that it hasn't lost an almost quaint feel, yet a more lively period may be on the horizon. Its attractions include the medieval art of the Musée de l'Oeuvre Notre-Dame, the gothic splendor of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, and the ambiance of the Place de la République. The Times has a slide show; you may need to complete free registration to view it.

Wine Truc: A paean to Alsatian Rieslings

It's axiomatic that Alsatian wines are underappreciated; those long, thin bottles evoke unfashionable sweetness. This impression of the wine is false, and wine writers never tire in their efforts to disabuse the masses of their incorrect notions. The latest attempt is from France Magazine, and it extols the virtues of Alsatian rieslings: "... no other grape varietal is so versatile, ages so well or is as capable of conveying the particular character of its place of origin. Riesling can excel as a bone-dry wine, an unctuous dessert wine and at every level of sweetness in between."

As I'm writing this on Friday afternoon, unwind time, it doesn't take much to convince me. You can go read the article, however, I'm off to find a bottle of Trimbach.