rhymes with "ants in the pants."

Nancy, France, Nancy France, ants in the pants, Nancy, France. Mike had two days off over Easter weekend, so finally made our way there, and to Strasbourg, too. We'd been wanting to go to Strasbourg, 'cause it comes highly recommended as a foodie destination and just a cool town in general, and Nancy 'cause it's an Art Nouveau Mecca for geeks like myself. Strasbourg absolutely lived up to its reputation, and thankfully, Mike is patient with my obsessing (and even has a little interest in the artsy stuff himself) so Nancy was a delight to visit. Plus, we even got to meet up with our friend Jess, who popped over from Paris for a couple of nights.

Strasbourg's Place Kleber, with the cathedral in the background.

Strasbourg cathedral! Built over 300 years, starting in 1176, and the sixth tallest church in existence, and one of the best examples of high Gothic architecture in the world. Pretty spectacular.

Gargoyles! Soooo many on this cathedral, and I did not see two that were the same.

The western facade: decorated with actual thousands of figures.

14th-century stained glass windows. Amazing.

The Pillar of Angels and the giant astronomical clock (19th C.) inside the cathedral. This thing tells the time, the day of the week, month, year, zodiac sign, phase of the moon, positions of the planets, leap years, equinoxes, eclipses, etc., etc. 

Suspended pipe organ from the 14th century.

Here's how you can tell that this particular geographical area has changed hands a few times: everything is in French and German. (And just about everyone here speaks both languages, too.)

Adorable little platz near the cathedral.

Turns out, Alsatian cheese is really good.

The Petit France area of Strasbourg. (The entire historical center is an island in the Ill River.)

Pont Couverts medieval bridge.

The old-towns in these cities in eastern France are just disgustingly charming. 

In Strasbourg we met up with one of Mike's ex-co-workers from back in his Bentley days, a nice man named Bill who married a Strasbourg native and moved to France four years ago. We had a lovely half-day getting a tour of the city center from him, and then we met up with his wife Isabelle for dinner at their local haunt Scala. Highlights of the meal: the bacon, onion, and cheese flammkuchen (Alsace's thin, smoky, crisp-crust, wood-oven-baked, pizza-like tart) that we all split, and my cordon bleu stuffed with goat cheese and tomatoes. YUMMM. Mike and I spent the next morning/afternoon roaming the city and eating delicious little biscuity cookies, then had lunch at Au Tonnelet, right on a canal in Petit France, where we split a delicious slice of quiche Lorraine (which originated in this area, naturally), a slice of an amazing onion tart, and another bacon/green onion/cheese flammkuchen. Those things are fantastic.

Then, off to Nancy to meet up with Jess and hunt down some Art Nouveau. Turns out that Nancy had its own "school" of fairly prolific Art Nouveau architects, artists, glass makers, printers, furniture makers, etc., etc., many of whose products can be seen in the amazing Ecole de Nancy museum...which we, of course, had to go see, despite its being located far, far away from everything else. But first we traipsed around for a while.

Nancy's cathedral...which adjoined our hotel, incidentally.

The biggest carnival I have ever seen. Just like American ones, only slightly less tacky and everything's in French and the fair food is on a whole different level. They serve crepes, for crying out loud.

Pigs on spits. At the fair. This is their carnival food. (There was even a stand with entire hocks of prosciutto hanging along it...)

The "biker" food booth, painted with Harleys and biker chicks and this. 

Rue Here, just off of Place Stanislas, Nancy's main square.

On Place de la Carriere: one of Nancy's three squares that comprise a Unesco World Heritage site.

Craffe Gate used to be part of the city walls (built in the 14th-15th centuries).

This is what I picture when I think "France."

Mmmm...Art Nouveau...

Villa Majorelle, built in 1901-1902 for eminent French Art Nouveau furniture maker and artist Louis Majorelle. The interior is supposed to be stunning, but it's only open by appointment. So very sad.

Big tall door. Jess is enthusiastic.

Ecole de Nancy museum: the Masson dining room, 1904. Completely, utterly, insanely, over-the-top gorgeous and ornate.

Unbelievable stained glass by Jacques Gruber.

Dawn and Twilight bed by Emile Galle.

I want this. In every place I live from now on.

The glassware in this museum is stunning. Chrysanthemum vase by the Daum brothers, 1897.

The Death of the Swan piano, Louis Majorelle, 1905.

Random pretty building near the museum.

Doesn't this just make you want to eat crepes and wear a beret and spout things like, "Bonjour! Ça va? Souhaitez-vous une baguette de pain?"*

Away from the museum: the doorway of the Biet building at 22 Rue de la Commanderie. WANT.

On a totally different subject: tile graffiti. We've seen it in Paris, too, but usually it's something Space Invader-y or Pac-man related. This one is Charlie Chaplin. 

Gargoyles on the ducal palace.

Basilique St. Epvre.

Despite the fact that we (sadly!!) did not partake of any of the pork at the carnival, we did manage to squeeze in a few good meals. Our first night we went to Les Petits Gobelins (...the little goblins!) for a snootier-than-expected, but still delightful (and comparably affordable) dinner. The standouts: amuse bouches of red pepper mouse and cauliflower soup with a little breaded bite of beef; langoustines (wee lobsters/crawfish) in a citrus ginger broth; sea bass over rutabaga and turnips; and the petit fours of house-ade marshmallows, gummy candies, and caramelized sunflower seeds. The next evening we had utterly delicious meat-and-cheese plates at this fantastic little wine bar (L'Echanson) that we had noticed the night before, due to the gigantic crowd spilling out from its doors. Our waiter was extremely friendly and recommended a restaurant for dinner (Le Comptoir St. Michel, just so I remember it for next time...!), but it was fully booked, so he managed to sneak us in at a place just around the corner--Chez Henri. The highlights: my nems (essentially, something fried in an egg roll wrapper) stuffed with lamb and goat cheese, and the richest, fluffiest couscous ever; a wee bite of zucchini stuffed with some kind of mild cheese; Mike's shrimp in beet sauce, and lamb tagine with pea/carrot quinoa; my fondant au chocolat (like chocolate lava cake, but so much richer and awesome-er); and the cafe gourmand, which both Jess and Mike got, and which turned out to be an espresso on a plate with like six tiny desserts. Seriously genius. How can you not love the French??

The next day was Easter, and we attended mass (in French, naturally) at the Cathedral de Nancy (Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle), which was a lovely experience. The priest greeted us enthusiastically and personably as soon as we walked in, and then specifically welcomed all visitors (by country!) during the service. We all know that I don't speak a lick of French, but it was neat to still be able to recognize pieces of the traditional Easter story...some things just seem to translate. Also, no matter the language, it was clearly a joyous occasion, and it made me glad to be there with Mike.

Before catching our trains back to our respective destinations, the three of us had brunch at Suzette, which was immediately off of Place Stanislas. Despite its tiny size and the sheer numbers of people roaming the streets in clear need of lunch, the place was rather uncrowded and the service fantastic. Once again, we had a delightful waiter who spoke to us in a fun mix of French and English (thankfully, Jess speaks French!), and yet more fantastic food. In several courses. We opened with incredibly fresh and fluffy croissants with jam and wee vanilla pancakes and coffee; then came a giant plate with A) a slice of bacon over a fried egg, B) a green salad with vinegar and cheese, C) a barley salad, and D) a bowl of lamb tagine with apricots and almonds (holy yum). By the end of this, none of us were really hungry enough for the dessert, but Mike got one for us to split, thank goodness: caramel-toffee-peanut panna cotta is no joke. 

All right already, I take back all the mean things I've ever said about France. My first experience there was not a pleasant one, but now that we've been back a couple of times, I like it more and more. The Parisians, not so bad; Paris itself, amazing; the Alsatians/Lorraine-ians, quite lovely...and the bits of the country that I've seen, with its charming little alleys and amazing architecture and delicious food, all stellar. I'm finding more and more that I like about living in Europe...it's just too bad that most of it involves leaving Zürich for places slightly more "real" (i.e., people stay out late! you can find food at midnight! shops are open past 6:00 PM! mass hysteria!) and more affordable (i.e., anywhere).

But anyway. What I'm reading: finished A History of the World in 6 Glasses, which was an interesting premise, but fairly dry reading...and this coming from a history major. The best part is the appendix at the end, which tells you where you can find the most true-to-their-origins versions of various drinks, and describes how different some of them are from their contemporary forms. Pretty interesting stuff. Now I've started something completely different: Let's Pretend this Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson (the Bloggess). It's a her hilarious and horrifying and filthy-languaged memoir, and I would suggest skipping it if you are offended by anything. Anything at all. I, personally, happen to love her extremely twisted (and, yes, expletive-laden) sense of humor, and I really respect the way she's completely laid bare her personal struggle with extreme depression and has started a fairly inspiring women's project.  I can't help it: I like her and I've been waiting for this book for months. There, I said it.

Next up: a quick--but productive--trip to Munich. 

*This is as close as Google Translate can get me to, "Would you like a baguette?"