Strasbourg Christmas Scenes

For some free Christmas cheer, some Strasbourg scenes. Visit the Noël à Strasbourg website (it has English & German language options). This year there's even a little streaming Christmas market-cam. If you're feeling a bit low, this will cheer you up. Don't worry about the countdown & how many days are left until Christmas. GG's editor figures getting the tree up, doing a little dusting is most important. (Giulia helps with this by sliding across the wooden floor. It really works.)

There are 12 days of Christmas, so don't worry about getting everything (whatever that means) done for one day. It seems silly. Breathe!

ciao-om-meow/GG Holiday Central

(photographs via Noël à Strasbourg & the Alsace Tourist Board)

Strasbourg Swan

Have a lovely evening. We thought our readers might like to see a pretty photograph of Strasbourg, where GG's editor went to school. (by somebody2131 via deviantArt)

GG's La Rentreé Delay

Dearest Friends,

Upon looking at last year's entry on la rentreé, we realized that this state of affairs is not new. GG's editor is quite busy with an investigation as to why she is under-the-weather & how to come out from under it. Giulia, as we all know, hides her secret opposable thumbs & is of no help. She maintains that she is a publisher-muse, not a suffering writer. What cat suffers willingly? Or does anything uncomfortable?

Therefore, for the next week or so, we will run some popular posts from the archives that have been tweaked somewhat for timeliness, better photographs, & so forth. GG's editor's bricolage blog is up & running but at half-speed. We welcome your input on either blog. (You can make comments on GG on Facebook). There are excellent links on both pages. It's been a rather difficult summer here in Washington, DC & so we beg your indulgence.

ciao-meow/GG's editor

[This lovely photograph by thexmunichxromance reminds us of university days in Strasbourg, France. Via deviantArt]

La Capitale de Noël, Strasbourg

Two night-time photographs of Strasbourg, France in Christmas light splendor. Strasbourg has perhaps the most famous (& best!) Christmas market in Europe. Walking around la place de la Cathedrale & the adjacent marché de Noël (also known as Christkindelsmärik) makes you part of a 431 year-old tradition. Surrounding villages & towns in Alsace also have lovely markets. Still, a visit to Strasbourg (& a gingerbread bakery) should be high on your list if you visit France at Christmastime. (Strasbourg & Alsace is beautiful anytime, though!) [photographs via Lost in France]

ciao-bisou-meow/GG's travel agent

Flowery window in Strasbourg - Week's End

We're sure we'd feel so much better here at GG Central if we had our empty flower box filled with these geraniums (or coral ones, perhaps). Busy working on D-Day material, so we'll see you Saturday. Of course, Strasbourg was right in the thick of it during the battle to liberate France, as the Allies moved eastward. GG's editor lived but a few hundred meters from Nazi bunkers; her bedroom, & indeed the entire building, had been occupied by the Germans 30 years before. We swear there were ghosts. France is much on our mind this week, this summer. [photograph used by permission from the lovely & talented Pipernille in Helsinki, see here for her photograph sets.]

ciao-bonjour-meow/GG/mgmt

Ah, the geraniums of Strasbourg, part 2

[original post 3 September 2009; somewhat altered though we've no time to search for better geranium images; we've learned a lot in a year but we cannot use that knowledge today. See here for The Clever Pup's gift geranium for GG's first-year birthday, it's so pretty & inventive. Also The Clever Pup has many images of her paintings on her site. Do visit, you won't be disappointed.]

Many posts coming up about automne en Alsace, le vendange, la Route du Vin, the museums, the université, & food, food, food (and drink!), flowers, le vélo de GG's editor....we are homesick for France!

bisou, baci, xoxo
GG Central

Strolling in Strasbourg, redux

[original post 31 July 2008]

A summer 'stay-cation' en France...Giulia has only recently learned that her editor lived in France! GG had no idea. So some memories of lovely Strasbourg--maybe not as glamorous in reputation as Provence or Paris...but people just don't know what they're missing. So a new project: Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine, the River Ill , mirabelle plums, la petite France, the Vosges...much more to come. Here is a classic travel photo--but it really does look like this...

GG is now wondering what else her editor has kept to herself...GG, a curious cat (of course!) is beginning an investigation. She fancies herself a feline Harriet the Spy.

December Evening in Strasbourg

Oof. What a day. Missing Strasbourg & the largest (& best) Christmas market in France. The lovely Place Kléber, a nearby side street market, & a wish to be in a favorite café with un vin chaud. GG would be more than welcome in any French café. However, no vin chaud for her, no matter what she meows (she prefers French for some reason...not that she listens any better in one language or another). Much more on Strasbourg during the season...

Bonsoir & bisou,
GG's editor

photograph by the mysterious Jonathan M. No other info available.
CC license.

Happy Birthday, Bon Anniversaire, Trina!

GG's editor wishes her very dear friend Trina, in Germany, a wonderful day & year. They were university students together in Strasbourg (let's not say how long ago) & share a birthday week. Above are Trina's darling pups, Rocky & Termi. We hear storiesa about their hijinks--quite a handful. GG would fit right in. A French-Italian redheaded cat with (real) German dachsunds? No problem. We are all friends, now.

xoxo, GG Central

Scarf Chic, la première partie

A little fashion relief for a messy world.

GG's editor is just sick at the nastiness she's hearing from the non-illustrious Rudi G. on a podium tonight. Take it from GG Central: don't listen to hate. Hate makes people into complete idiots.

The scarf at top is from Paris & was a gift to GG's editor from a friend's great aunt; she bought it herself in Paris in the late 1940s. GG's editor wore it several times a week with her jeans & one of about three sweaters when she was a student in Strasbourg. (Everyone wore jeans, mostly.) Sometimes, she wore it atop her head as she pedalled home near the Rhine--past flocks of really angry geese. Flying on her vélo, sometimes one or both ballerinas (shoes, not dancers:) also went flying. (It was Strasbourg, so she didn't blame those geese a bit for their peevishness, perhaps knowing their gruesome fate.)

Bonne nuit, bisou, baci, xoxo, GG

PS: Dreams of Hermes....pourquoi pas? Just one?!

Ah, the Geraniums of Strasbourg...

Many posts coming up about automne en Alsace, le vendange, la Route du Vin, the museums, the université, & food, food, food (and drink!), flowers, le vélo de GG's editor....we are homesick for France!

bisou, baci, xoxo
GG Central

Strasbourg has canals, too...

Strasbourg has lots & lots of flower boxes along the canals & the River Ill. This area is called Les Ponts Couverts (the Covered Bridges), because in the Middle Ages they had covers made of wood with tiled roofs. Le Barrage Vauban is in the background here; it was a fortification after Strasbourg became French in 1681. Under the arches are floodgates that could be closed to flood the southern part of the city, and thus, to keep it safe from invaders.

GG's editor used to ride her bicyclette down this very path--while eating a slice of tarte flambé or tarte aux framboises...or ice cream or you-name-it. Somehow, she maintained a slender figure, in fact she become skinnier during this time. Must've been the cycling...because almost everything was washed down with local vin or the great equalizer, a Kronenbourg. Oh a flood of memories coming in...the tour of Kronenbourg...um, OK, this reverie must be cut short. Must look up cultural highlights, of which there are so many...not to mention the international organizations sitting in Strasbourg...the UNESCO designation...

Off for a day to take a break. In addition to writing on Darfur (real world intrusions, ugh), GG & editor must begin gathering ingredients to bake a tarte or make some confitures for our Sunday visit to Hermione the Cat in new abode. Rumor has it that her jardin overfloweth with herbs & she is feeling her usual generous self.

Strolling in Strasbourg

A summer 'stay-cation' en France...Giulia has only recently learned that her editor lived in France! GG had no idea. So some memories of lovely Strasbourg soon--maybe not as glamorous in reputation as Provence or Paris...but people just don't know what they're missing. Here is a classic travel photo--but it really does look like this...

GG is now wondering what else her editor has kept to herself. GG's a curious cat (of course!) & is beginning an investigation. She fancies herself a feline Harriet the Spy.