36 Hours in Strasbourg, France
Have you been naughty or nice? A self-proclaimed “Christmas Capital” — thanks to one of the oldest and largest Christmas markets in Europe — Strasbourg welcomes the virtuous and vice-loving alike to its December citywide extravaganza of gift bazaars, concerts, lights and mulled wine. But the city is hardly a holiday novelty. Nestled along France’s border with Germany, Strasbourg has been fawned over and fought over for centuries by the two nations, ping-ponging back and forth before returning to France at the end of World War II. The result is a fetching Franco-Teutonic core of cobbled traffic-free lanes, canals, half-timbered houses and spires where you can fill both your belly (with copious rustic Alsatian dishes) and your brain (with impressive art museums). Toss in the seat of the European Parliament, a lively bar scene and some winningly repurposed historical buildings — now elegant hotels and gastronomic havens — and you have an international city with year-round appeal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/travel/things-to-do-in-36-hours-in-strasbourg-france.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0
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it was 2002 and my German friend brought a pile of old francs to exchange at the bank for euros. Being a desert rat, I had no concept of rain so I ended up buying a silly umbrella in a touristy gift shop as we were a long way from the car where I had left the last one I had bought on that 4 day trip.
I was also so disappointed to cross the border and not be able to get my passport stamped.