Proud to Be A Mélange

As most of us all know, it's that wonderful day of excessive drinking, mounds of mashed potatoes, and cooked cabbage: Saint Patrick's Day. Back home in the US, it's huge, especially around the Philly area, where a ton of Irish descendants live to this day. I'm not sure if I can recreate the atmosphere here in France. It seems almost nonexistent, well asides from us English teaching assistants hyping it up. Let's face it, we all pretend to be Irish whether we are or aren't. But what this holiday really means for me is family history. Where did your family come from? Do you know?

I still have the impression that other countries find our sense of family pride presumptuous. Yes, America was born from a collection of other countries, other histories, other languages. Yes, we are one of the younger countries in the world. Yes, we hang flags on our front porches, we have neighborhoods that are primarily Italian, Irish, Mexican, etc, and of course, we have Saint Patty's Day parades.  But that doesn't mean we think we're better than anyone else. We are proud; but don't hate. We are proud of where we come from and that place might just be your homeland.

So you ask, what will I miss today being in France? My brother playing the bagpipe while my sister and I try to dance, my step-mom's mashed potatoes, making Irish potato candies in school, and being able to say, Yeah my family is Irish. One side comes from Cork, the other side comes from Limerick, without getting the stink eye from the people around me in a bar. And of course, the overwhelming amount of green seen on any street. If any French stereotype is true, it's that they (or at least the Lyonnais) lack in the color department.


Moving backwards in time, this past weekend I traveled to the Alsace region in France. Some of my German and French ancestors come from this area and since the Christmas Markets are over, it seemed to be the perfect time to go. On Friday, I went to Colmar to check out the sights.  Here we saw a ton of the typical Alsatian houses, a restaurant decorated with all sorts of silly looking heads, and the Auguste Bartholdi museum (the famous Frenchman who, you know, gave us our beloved Statue of Liberty in 1886.)

Pretty houses

Amelie's Dad's traveling gnome! Or so I'll tell myself :)

At the Head Restaurant & Inn

St. Martin's Church- A fine example of an unkempt Gothic Church

This would definitely creep me out at night if I looked out my window to see him staring at me!

Saturday morning we opted for Obernai, an even smaller village in the area. The two castles in the area were nixed because we needed a car to get there. After a nice afternoon in the middle of nowhere, we headed back to Strasbourg to see the chocolate museum, Marquise de Sévigné.

Obernai's old fortifications

So old it makes my imagination run wild! 15th century

I want these shutters!

Oh La France: A Merry Go-Round in every town.

I had another first this weekend: Couchsurfing. My travel partner, Amber, told me about it a while back. We stayed at Miryam and Rick's place (a French and an Australian). We stayed up until 1 AM talking with them and their friend Jasper (from New Zealand) about languages (duh), life, jobs, traveling, and food. What was so spectacular about it all was how we were all strangers, but SNAP, just like that, we ate together and shared personal stories like we had known each other forever. The next morning we checked out the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg. Another amazing handmade example of architecture conquering time. We walked in during mass (whoops) and were surprised that the priest alternated between German and French. From there we discovered La Petite France, a few other churches, and a brewery (Au Brasseur) to catch lunch before our 5 hour train ride back to Lyon. The tarte flambée (the regional food) was delicious and the beer was especially hoppy.

La Petite France= It's almost just like Glenside :)

Mozart played this on October 26th, 1778.

Looking out on our way up to the Cathedral's spiraling bell tower.

Looking down. The roofs are so slanted!

Beauty

I couldn't fit it all into the picture that's how high up it goes!

Overall, it was a relaxing weekend getaway that really got me thinking about my family. I missed my hometown a lot seeing similarities in the architecture as well as seeing people that looked a lot more German than French ( who could possibly be cousins of cousins or something like that; it is a small world!). I thought to myself: What was my family like? How did my German great grandfather meet my Irish great grandmother? Were their families disgraced or were they okay with mixing nationalities? Furthermore, what was it like to live on land that was continuously fought over by two different countries? Do you ever think about your family roots like this? Or am I the only one who still cares about this sort of history?

Oh how my literature professors taught me well by ending a discussion with food for thought. Eat up!
And don't forget to wash it down with some Jameson and a kiss :)