Mount St. Odile and Chateau Landsberg

Well, on the last open weekend a lot of students went places but a few of us wanted to see a local religious attraction called Mount St. Odile. It is a monestary at the top of one of the mountains of the Voges. It is part of the pilgrimage trail to Santiago de Compostola.

There is a wall that was built by ancient Celts - 1000's of years ago 5 meters tall.

St. Odile was cured of blindness by drinking from a spring at the site.

We wanted a good hike so we kept on exploring and we came across the Chateau Landsberg, an obviously old castle 'a ways' down the hill from the monestary. We enjoyed wandering around the ruins and exploring what was left of the old structure.

I thought that the negative space between these rocks was really quite interesting. We saw as we ventured down the hill into the forest at the beginning of our adventure. We saw it again at the end of our hike as we went to the warm up in the Monestary with a hot chocolate. There were two chapels full of mosaics that were gorgeous that we went through before we had our snack!!!

One of the most interesting parts of the monestary were the Stations of the Cross done in ceramic set in the rocks below the monestary on the trail down to the miraculous spring.

It was a great day of hiking in a truly beautiful part of the Alsace. : )

Thanksgiving and the EU

It has been a couple weeks but Thanksgiving was wonderful! Everyone here was AMAZING! We had a field trip to the European Union in the afternoon and then everyone got dressed up and we had a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving dinner cooked by French chefs. Before dinner we ate appetizers and drank a champagne toast to the holiday. Everyone shared something they were thankful for and eventually we sat down to eat. We started with a pumpkin soup that was divine, then on to the turkey, green beans, potatoes and sweet potatoes layered in cream, and lots of other delicious items. To top it off we had the BEST pumpkin pie I have ever eaten; it was a creamy tart with actual chunks of pumpkin in it.

the Festive Lights of Strasbourg

I have NEVER seen better Holiday lights and festivities than in Strasbourg France.
Most of the towns here in Europe have Christmas markets that are incredible! They have some of the same crap that you see everywhere but they also have some wonderful homemade crafts.



In Strasbourg they have full fledge crystal chandaliers hanging on one street to light the path from one market to the next and to put you into the holiday mood! WOW!
Nativity scene.

The Cathedral with angel lights leading the way.

What is really unique is that every "gateway" to the city has different lights and each area in town has a different "theme."




All in all, if you are lacking in Holiday spirit and or cheer, come to Strasbourg and have some Vin Chaud or Gluwein. I am going to make one last trip to the market tomorrow when the crowds from the weekend have gone home. : )
Happy Holidays!