The last blog of our Euro-centric travel has arrived. For nearly 2 weeks we got to live as Parisians with our amazing friends, it was such a nice change of pace to the nearly constant travel. Going full-force all the time is exhausting.

I’d like to write all about each and every little detail, because we had so much fun, but its not terribly exciting. We took a lot of downtime when our friends had to work. They have a beautiful piano that I really enjoyed playing, we spent loads of time with Kitsu the kitty. Jake and I would take walks everyday to different parts of Mulhouse and would find items like pinecones and bird feathers from which we made cat toys for the little guy. Jake and Kitsu were pretty much BFF, he slept with Jake every night and enjoyed cuddling as much as he could. We watched French movies and played video games with our friends, we really loved this one game called BroForce. Each person is a “bro”, a hyper masculine action-hero who are parodies of fictional heroes like John Rambo (Rambo), John McClane (Die Hard), Chuck Norris (MrT), Ellen Ripley (Alien), Terminator, Swartzenager, Predator, Indiana Jones, Jackie Chan, etc. Its all the characters you’d expect from an Expendables movie put together in a 32-bit save-the-day type of action game. Its so silly and funny but we became addicted and found it a really fantastic way to spend with our friends.

In truth, I could break down what we did for our last weeks in Mulhouse in two categories:
1. Food
2. Colmar

Food Galore

Every day we tried to do a “family dinner” type of event with our French family. Half the time Jake and I would prepare a meal and the other half our hosts’ would. It was always a big event, taking hours to plan, shop, and then prepare our meals. It would be impossible to say what the “favorite” cuisine of those last weeks’ was, but I put a list of some of the highlights, to make your mouth-water.

The favorites that we cooked include:
1. Shrimp & Chicken Pad Thai
2. Fish Tacos & Tirimisu
3. Homemade Pizza (for Pizza Party Monday)

We also spent a lot of time making baked goods everyday. Jake is a master-baker so he perfected his croissants and baguettes that our French hosts verified were delicious (and they are tough critics) and then I made a homemade bacon chocolate cake, something they had never heard of, and was seriously indulgent.

The favorites that our hosts prepared (or their family prepared for us):
1. Raclette
2. Choucroute – Oktoberfest Alsatian cuisine (sausages, potatoes, sauerkraut) and Belgium Beer
3. Fleischnacka
4. Homemade Pizza (for Pizza Party Monday)

Raclette is a dish indigenous to Switzerland and eastern France, where a specific type of cheese is heated by a special machine and then scraped onto plates. Traditionally melting happens in front of an open fire, but we had the machine do our work. Its typically accompanied by small potatoes, gherkin pickles, onions and dried meat…and of course…wine!

A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, in which to melt slices of raclette cheese. This new way has been used since the 1950s. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. In Switzerland the electrical raclette is called “raclonette”. The device is put in the middle of the table. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, other vegetables and charcuterie.

I like to call it a French-Mongolian BBQ (Frengolian BBQ). It was ABSOLUTELY INDULGENT and ABOSLUTELY DELICIOUS!

Alsatian cuisine, somewhat based on German culinary traditions, is marked by the use of pork in various forms. It is perhaps mostly known for the region’s wines and beers. Traditional dishes we most enjoyed include flammekueche (tarte flambée with ham, onion and cheese), choucroute (think Oktoberfest sausages), fleischnacka (meat stuffing rolled in pasta) and pain d’épices (gingerbread cakes). We were lucky to have tried all of these and they are all SO TASTY, I couldn’t tell you what was a favorite.

One night we thought we would do a food-cooking challenge, to make things interesting. We called it Pizza Party Monday (since its a monday) and made it a sort of contest; Who could make the best pizza? Each couple would present their best homemade pizza (Crust included). And the winner is everyone, because we all get to eat a lot of pizza. Great idea right?

We have such a large arsenal of pizzas that we make, its our specialty ;).

Pizza party Monday was also a cooking challenge; a contest between us and our friends, who can make the best pizza? But we all win because we all get to eat and that’s what makes it fun. Jake and I have such a huge arsenal of pizzas that we cook; its really our specialty ;). We went with a buffalo chicken pizza with white sauce, but we made it way too spicy (since we didn’t have the exact ingredients we had to improvise). But it was SO TASTY. Anthony and Helene made two pizzas, one is a traditional pizza that he grew up eating which had olives and sardines and a more traditional sauce. Then he made a second pizza which was the BIG WINNER of the event, but it is hard to explain. Its a simple pizza with a beautiful combination of toppings that are like heaven on the tastebuds. The crust had a bit of thickness and traditional tomato sauce, mozzerella cheese, but then it was topped with prosciutto, cherry tomato slices, a type of ricotta cheese, arugula and a balsamic vinegar glaze.

All this talk of food is making me hungry, haha. We ate like kings and couldn’t have had more fun in the process.

Colmar

The second part of this blog is all about Colmar. Colmar is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department. the third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse). It is a city renowned for the well-preserved old town, architectural landmarks and museums. Its also situated on the Alsatian Wine Route and considers itself to be the “capital of Alsatian wine”, capitale des vins d’Alsace.

We did not plan this day too well, and got a late start, but thankfully our friend’s place is very convenient to the train station(s). We had really nice weather, too, so instead of taking the tram to the Gare (main station), we walked. Once at the station, we had to figure out how to get round-trip tickets (retour). Jake went to the counter and though the lady did not speak English, we managed to communicate what we wanted and it was so much cheaper than we thought! Only €18.

The train was SO EASY and pleasant. Our journey lasted about 30 minutes and we traveled through rolling hillscapes that were beautiful; time passed quickly. The station of our arrival greeted us with many different walking paths to follow. We took one through a large park and lots of fountains. People were walking their dogs or playing in the water. We found a park bench to enjoy a Parisian lunch (homemade baguette, ham and cheese sandwich).

Mostly spared from the destructions of the French Revolution, the cityscape of old-town Colmar is homogenous and renowned. An area that is crossed by canals of the river Lauch (which formerly served as the butcher’s, tanner’s and fishmonger’s quarter) called “little Venice” (la Petite Venise) reminded us of our time in actual Venice.

There were several beautiful churches, two of which stood out: Église Saint-Martin – 1234–1365 and Église des Dominicains – 1289–1364. Église Saint-Martin stands out very distinctly and has a HUGE spacious interior, with a most remarkable Baroque organ, many ornate statues and medieval altars.

Église des Dominicains is now disaffected as a church, displays Martin Schongauer’s masterwork La Vierge au buisson de roses “Virgin in a rose-garden” as well as 14th century stained glass windows and baroque choir stalls. The adjacent convent buildings house a section of the municipal library.. The largest church of Colmar and one of the largest in Haut-Rhin. Displays some early stained glass windows, several Gothic and Renaissance sculptures and altars, a grand Baroque organ case. The choir is surrounded by an ambulatory opening on a series of Gothic chapels, a unique feature in Alsatian churches.

Without any specific agenda, we simply enjoyed meandering through old town, stopping off at different shops, some very high-end and others more reasonable. There were loads of people out in the streets, so we would often try to find a less-crowded place to venture, sometimes into wide open green spaces and others simply less claustrophobic. I can see why this area is so popular with the tourists, it is so beautiful and engaging, so much to see and do.

After several hours, we were ready to go back home, making our way back to the Colmar station and hopping the next train outta dodge.

It is a bittersweet end of our Parisian travel and saying goodbye to our amazing hosts and really good friends who are more like family after these travels. From Climbing the Dolomites and venture through Italy to a quieter side of life in Mulhouse, we couldn’t have asked for a more amazing experience.

One last thing that I have to mention is that these two dear people are planning to be married in a few short months. And while we would LOVE to attend their wedding, we know that it would be impossible to travel back in such a short time, but we did invite them to have a honeymoon with us on our sailboat in the Bahamas. The seed has been planted, and already the roots of this brilliant idea have begun to grow…so who knows, maybe Jake and Jill are going to be up to another big sailing adventure; coming full circle in the Jake and Jill saga of travels.

Until then…