Archive for March, 2008



Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

Meatloaf in disguise

Now, this may be something particular to Alsace, what with it’s strongly German influenced attitude to cuisine, but I have been caught out twice by French foodstuffs in disguise.
The first case was when I purchased a ‘Tarte au Riesling’ from the butchers. A pie-like object that appeared to be something akin to a steak [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart


Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

The discovery of France

Having finally finished reading Graham Robb’s hefty tome on French domestic history (it was my on-the-loo read for about two months) I thought I should write a few words…
First of all if all you’ve ever read is anecdotal and summary histories of France, this is a good step towards the real thing, without getting too [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart


Monday, March 10th, 2008

Eaux-les-Bains: cubicle humour

I was lucky enough to catch Eaux-les-Bains at the Pont d’Eau in Ostwald on Friday night. As I have previously mentioned this is a comedy show directed by Jean-Luc Falbraird, creator and artistic director of the Kafteur comedy club in Strasbourg.
Happily for us foreigners Eaux-les-Bains is ’sans parole’; meaning it’s a wordless or, if [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart


Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

A very blustery day

The prevailing weather systems that move west-to-east across Europe can bring a variety of climatic conditions to Alsace. In the past week, we’ve had snow, rain, sleet, blazing sunshine, warm days, freezing nights and bizarrely - one or two very blustery days.
The reason a blustery day in Strasbourg is bizarre is because ‘wind’ [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart


Monday, March 3rd, 2008

How to increase buying power - step 1

First of all I will plead ignorance as to how the supermarket chains choose their locations around the country, but one thing is for sure: in Strasbourg it’s fixed.
What I mean is, the monster hypermarchés or even the large local supermarkets, all appear to enjoy precisely no local competition. This is either due to [...]

4 Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart