Franco-German Fusion

You're probably familiar with the Pareto principle, more commonly known as the 80-20 rule, that says 80% of effects are obtained by only 20% of causes. I love this rule and mis- and over-apply it whenever possible regarding all manner of mundane issues. A perfect application for it struck me again during our mid-May weekend excursion to Strasbourg in France's Alsace region.

The Alsace may ring a bell as a culturally mixed French/German area, a strip perhaps 100 miles long riding the border midway between the two countries (but lies in France). Reviewing my history, it traded hands a few times over several hundred years; France ultimately kept it, but the German roots remain fixed. Steph and I were familiar with some Alsatian recipes and wine, had it on our "short list" of nearby places to visit, and jumped at the chance for a weekend rendezvous in the Alsace capital of Strasbourg with two of Steph's college roommates when proposed earlier this year.

Not surprisingly, Strasbourg is yet another gem in central Europe's embarrassment of riches. Have I mentioned that one of Switzerland's biggest advantages is being central to everything? 2.5 hours on the train and we're there, arriving almost simultaneously as college buddies M (from the couple M&M living in Germany for a year, whom we've already seen in Heidelberg, Zürich and Rome) and newly arrived T, visiting from Chicago and admirably shaking off both her trans-Atlantic jetlag and pre-flight hangover from an extended work bash (we apparently all operate the same in Chicago).

We toured through Strasbourg's lovely and huge Old Town center all weekend, mostly eating and sometimes drinking, with no real additional purpose. Here's where the Pareto part comes in: although you might expect a 50-50 split, roughly equal French and German influence, the tilt was decidedly French. But they latched on to the 20% German that provides 80% of the benefit, namely, beer, sausage, pretzels, spätzli, and some cute rural architectural elements. That's not a knock on Germany, which I greatly enjoy, but let's face it, their traditional cuisine isn't exactly stellar. German signage and menus were fairly prevalent, but the rest was happily undoubtedly French (read, pastries).

The town's historic center is actually a large "Grand Island", or Grande Île, with a maze of quaint restaurants, cafés, shops and tourist fare. Towering above as the town's prevalent feature is the world's fourth-largest church, the Strasbourg Cathedral, enormous and ornately adorned in Gothic style akin to, but not quite as jaw-droppingly amazing as, Cologne's Dom.

The region's gastronomic specialty is tarte flambée (or Flammkuchen in German), a thin pizza-like crust topped with crème fraîche (a thick sour cream), onions and bacon. It goes equally well with a locally-grown dry Riesling wine or beer, I tried them both. Most restaurants offered a dozen tarte flambée variations with various toppings, perhaps reminiscent of pizza but richer and more complex. We also ate dinner in a perfect town-center riverside patio local at a restaurant specializing in spätzli (mine came clustered around a gigantic ham hock) and stopped at a Paris-chain pâtisserie providing the absolutely most fantastic apricot pastry in my known galaxy (T ordered it, not me. Rats!).

Great weekend for all in another dynamite location and a further reminder of what a blast it is touring Europe with friends!

Map below and a few pics here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2hd8fyj.73zm66dv&x=0&y=-ailnw3&localeid=en_US