This trip has me going to the Alsace region of France for several days as well as the heart of the country, Paris. For the first time in a while, I convinced some people to come with me on this trip. Mostly, by lying about how much walking would be involved.

The three of us on the trip had almost 18 hours of travel to get to our starting destination of Strasbourg. A stone’s throw away from Germany, Strasbourg sits on the boarder of eastern France. Along with much of the Alsace region, the city has a heavy German influence creating a unique culture that blends France and Germany.

The main reason to head to this area is the famous Christmas Markets. While Germany is sometimes better know for these markets, Alsace has an equally rich history of Christmas Markets leading Strasbourg to be labeled as the capitol of Christmas, in France.

Once we finally ended our travels for the day, we were able to drop our bags off at our hotel and take a short walk to the old city center of Strasbourg. The whole town is decorated with six different Christmas Market areas. I’ll let the pictures do the talking from here.

My friends were pretty impressed with their first Gothic Cathedral.

At this point everyone was flagging more than a bit so we headed back to the hotel. I thought it must be at least 9PM. Nope, we only lasted until 6PM. Not too bad with a jet lagged group! More to come…