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Strasbourg’s annual wine extravaganza! Part five

After lunch, parking the car, and a short rest in the hotel room, we were ready to head to the Wine Expo. Because he knew we were going to be tasting a lot of wines, Bill decided we’d take a taxi to the convention hall where the expo took place. We had gotten tickets to the event– six euros, which includes a wine glass for tasting– was the official price. However, I don’t think we paid for the tickets, since once you go and buy wine, the vinters send them out. Someone gifted Bill with them and he printed them off at work.

So we got the cab, and I made sure Bill took the cabbie’s card, because I sure as hell had no plans to hoof it from the exposition. We walked into the huge convention hall, after my purse was given a cursory once over by security. We picked up a couple of wine glasses for tasting wines… and off we went. As I mentioned before, this event is attended by winemakers from all over France. It was PACKED with hundreds of labels from Alsace to Corsica and everywhere in between. Okay, so I didn’t see any wines from any of the overseas departments like Reunion Island or St. Barts… but mainland France was very well represented.

We stopped at one booth featuring wines from the Loire Valley. I wanted to try some, since I visited the Loire Valley in 1997 with my sister. I have yet to get there with Bill, but I have fond memories of the time I spent there years ago with Becky. We bought two cases there… probably too much in retrospect, given how many people were there. What can I say? The salesman was charming.

Then we stopped at a booth with wines from the southwest, not too far from Basque Country in Spain. The guy at that booth was even more charming, and we bought eight more bottles from him. Since we had no personal trolley nor our car with us, we arranged to pick up the wines the next day.

Then we walked to the other side of the expo, visited the restrooms, which were free of charge (a rare sight in Germany, but the French must realize that when you gotta go, you gotta go). We bought some Chateauneuf du Pape– a small enough order to carry with us, a bottle of cognac, a few bottles of Gigondas, and some Pommard from Beaune. Finally, we stopped at a booth with wine from Languedoc, which is one of Bill’s favorite wine regions anywhere. We arranged to get the Languedoc wines the next day, too. The lady who sold them to us spoke no English, and our French is non-existent– but wine is an international language. As we walked through the convention, I took a picture of the places where we stopped to try wine. It made it easier to find them on Sunday.

  • Walk around the corner and come on in…
  • Stop in and get your wine glass.
  • A sea of people!
  • You can also buy gourmet delights, like sausage and cheese!
  • Lifesaver.

Word to the wise. Hilton Strasbourg is located right next to the convention center. I considered booking there, too. If we go back for the wine expo, maybe I will book there. It’s not even a five minute walk away. We did duck in there when we were finished shopping and a kind staffer called a cab for us. We were able to carry about ten bottles with us and arranged to get the rest on Sunday, when we would be bringing the car.

One thing to know for other years… if you intend to buy a lot of wine, it may be worth it to bring your own dolly and bungie cords. You can use the “trollies” at the convention, but you’ll have to wait in line to get them. There are “chariots” for sale there, but they’re not very big and they’re a bit flimsy. We ended up buying one on Sunday and making two trips to the car with our modest haul of about 44 bottles. There is a coat check in the hall, too, but I would recommend dressing lightly. There are a lot of bodies in there and it’s pretty warm.

After a couple of hours at the expo, we were tired and overwhelmed, and Bill was fretting over how much we spent. It turned out we didn’t spend as much as he thought, and he put most of it on his debit card, anyway. Still, by early evening, we were wiped out and ready to head back to the hotel. We were still full from lunch and not interested in going back to the city for dinner. So we went back to the hotel and settled in…

A couple of hours later, Bill used an app to order Lebanese food which was brought by Deliveroo, a delivery service. One other thing I noticed in Strasbourg is that it’s one of six French cities that has Yea! Citiz, a rental car service that allows you to order a car like you’d order a bike. You stay within a certain perimeter and park the car in certain areas. I noticed one of their cars as we were milling around the city. I watched a cheesy 80s era movie starring Kristy McNichol and fell asleep early, with visions of wine bottles dancing in my head.

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Strasbourg’s annual wine extravaganza! Part six

Sunday morning, we had breakfast and headed back to the wine expo to pick up our wines. I was a little nervous about how we were going to pull it off, since the venue had few parking spaces locally. Bill found a parking garage a short distance from the convention center… short distance, that is, if you’re not carrying a lot of stuff.

There was a guy selling little wheeled “chariots” made in China. We bought a blue one, which helped us a little. The guy warned Bill about not putting his wallet down, since pickpockets abound. I laughed at that and the guy said he was being serious. I didn’t explain that back in December, we were victims of a tire slashing scam at a French rest stop. So unfortunately, we are all too aware that there are crooks in France, although fortunately no one managed to steal from us after vandalizing our tire.

Our “chariot”. It says Paris on it, but it’s really from China. You can take the pouch off and it will take five boxes. With the pouch on, it will take three.

Saturday night, Bill managed to break one of our souvenir wine glasses, so we only had one with us yesterday. We stopped by the Loire Valley guy’s booth, got our two boxes, which took up most of the room in small wheeled chariot we bought. Bill decided to take the Loire wines and the wines from the Languedoc to the car while I waited. When he came back, we were going to go pick up the wines from southwestern France and get out of there. It wasn’t quite as crowded as it was Saturday, but I wasn’t sure how long I could take the crowds.

We hadn’t really intended to buy more wine, but I spotted another booth that was offering Pommard wines from Burgundy. We discovered Pommard a few months ago, when we went to Beaune on our way to Nimes for Christmas. Although it’s not a cheap wine to purchase, the flavors are wonderful… spicy, complex, tasty reds are my favorite. So although it was a splurge, we ended up buying another box of six wines. Then we bought three more from Corsica… all of which fit nicely in our new chariot. We took it all back to the car at the distant parking garage, marveling at the huge hauls some other people had. One lady in the wine group I run said she bought 131 bottles!

I busied myself taking pictures while waiting for Bill to come back from the car.
Decanters!
This was a successful stop!
I loved their Pommard…
And I loved their Volnay even more… We bought three of each.
Then I washed out the glass…
And enjoyed the loo.
I wanted to try Corsican wines.
This guy only had whites and a rose left, so we tried and enjoyed them all. We bought three.
Not so impressive, but hey, there are only two of us. I predict this will hold us for a couple of months.

All in all, I enjoyed our visit to the wine expo. If we’re still here next year and don’t have somewhere else we want to see even more, maybe we’ll go next year. We did have a good time, and I really enjoyed Strasbourg! I can see why people make day trips from Stuttgart, though. If you stay the weekend, you can wind up with a huge haul. One other useful but of information– the wine expo is dog friendly. I saw at least two people with their four legged friends with them. I’m not sure I’d want to bring Arran to such a chaotic place, but if you are inclined to bring your dog with you, apparently it’s alright to do so.

After our wine expo adventure, we went back into Strasbourg for lunch. I was thinking maybe we’d go to a restaurant outside of town, but Bill parked at the museum near Petite France, a charming area of Strasbourg where all the tourists hang out. We parked and walked toward the area, catching the aroma of garlic outside a Venetian restaurant called Marco Polo. Once again, according to reviews, it’s a mediocre place. We managed to have a good time, anyway.

A slender woman invited us to sit down and we ordered a couple of large draft beers. The menu consisted mostly of pizzas and pasta dishes. I thought I’d order grilled fish, but I would up with tagliatelle con salmone. Bill had basil pesto risotto with grilled shrimp. I had read that the service in this place is mediocre, but we didn’t have that experience. And the food, while nothing earth shattering, tasted fine. I’d go back, although I think next time we go to Strasbourg, we’ll make an effort to make reservations at some of the notable restaurants.

He’s praying for good food.
This wasn’t what I expected. In fact, I had tried to stay away from it, but it was surprisingly good.
Bill enjoyed his risotto, too.
They weren’t out of profiteroles, so I had them again… Bill had panna cotta with red fruit coulis.
Not a bad place.
This is their terrace. They could have opened it yesterday. It was that nice outside!

We took a brief walk around Petite France to burn off lunch. It really is a cute part of town. In some ways, it reminded me a little bit of Tuebingen in Baden-Wuertemberg, Germany, although I didn’t see any punters.

After a little more walking around, we went back to the hotel and I guess I was more tired than I realized, because I was soon sound asleep. I took a nice long nap while Bill did some reading. Then, we ordered room service from the hotel and I watched yet another crappy 80s era movie on YouTube starring Kristy McNichol, and her brother, Jimmy. I guess we’re getting old.

Something else I noticed in French parking garages besides toilets…
They also sometimes have mood lighting and music. This one did, anyway.

Our drive home was pretty uneventful. After we checked out, we headed back to Germany in the rain. The border was maybe ten minutes from our hotel, and we were back home well before lunchtime. I think we’re going to have to visit Strasbourg again, even if it’s just for a few hours. It really is a very charming city and it has a different vibe than Germany does, even though it’s so close.

As for the expo… we learned a few things about that, too. I think if we go back, we’ll bring a nice heavy duty dolly and several bungee cords with us. Maybe even one that folds up. I don’t see us buying 100 bottles or more at a time, but I could have done with a few more stops on the wine tasting trail. I also think I might plan well in advance and maybe even stay at the Hilton, even though where we stayed this time was very charming and service oriented. For serious wine buying, you can’t beat the convenience of the Hilton! Besides, we’re HHonors members and could use some points.

And finally, I think it might be time to look for another wine rack for our house… I guess I’ll do that while Bill enjoys his latest TDY!

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Strasbourg’s annual wine extravaganza! Part one

Well, we finally did it. After a total of 7.5 years of living in Germany, Bill and I finally visited Strasbourg, France, for more than a couple of hours. And we finally went to the annual wine expo I’ve been hearing about for years, now. Although I run a local food and wine group on Facebook and I’ve never made a secret of my love for wine and beer, Bill and I have somehow always missed Strasbourg’s big wine convention, which takes place every February. This yearly event, which has been going on since 1994, brings together hundreds of vintners from all over France. And since we never know when our time in Europe might end, Bill and I decided this year we’d attend.

We weren’t sure we were going to make the expo until the last minute. Bill has to go away this week and will be leaving in a few hours, after he picks up Arran from the Birkenhof Tierpension, which has become our go-to dog hotel since we moved to Wiesbaden. Then I was concerned about where we were going to stay, since I wasn’t at all familiar with Strasbourg and I worried that hotels would be full. But it all came together nicely and I am happy to say we had a great weekend, complete with extraordinarily warm, sunny weather. I had originally given some thought to staying on a house boat in Strasbourg, but I figured the weather wouldn’t be good. As we were leaving this morning, I told Bill that we could have had a great time on the boat. We had sunny skies and balmy temperatures in the 60s! I didn’t even need to wear a sweater!

The first thing we did to prepare for our trip to Strasbourg was order a sticker for the car. France, like Germany, now requires stickers for cars traveling in certain cities. Strasbourg is one such city that requires the sticker. It costs 7 euros, and comes in the mail, but since our trip was coming up so soon, we had a printout of our proof of purchase on the dashboard of the car.

Bill took Friday, Valentine’s Day, off from work, dropped off Arran at the Hunde Hotel, where he was left in capable hands and the promise of hanging out with a beagle girlfriend he’s had since we lost Zane. I was glad to hear she’d be staying at the pension, too, since they make good roommates. Then we loaded up the Volvo and got on our way. Strasbourg is only about 2.5 hours from Wiesbaden, which makes it a super easy place to get away to for a weekend break. We were actually closer to Strasbourg when we lived near Stuttgart, but always wound up being lured by Alsatian wine country. Now that I’ve spent a weekend in Strasbourg, I think it’ll be hard to choose between the two areas when we need to get out of Germany but don’t want to travel too far.

Our trip to France mostly took place in Germany. We made just one stop, at a truck stop that was a lot closer to France than we were expecting. In retrospect, we probably should have just continued to France and had ourselves some Alsatian goodies. But we did stop, and I took a few photos…

  • What culinary wonders await us here?
  • Thanks for the extra space… but no thanks for being out of service.
  • This was a typical rest stop…
  • Had all kinds of snacks, beverages, and the like…
  • But you can’t bring your own food and dine inside.
  • I had a “chicken schnitzel”. Bill had a turkey filet. It wasn’t bad. I’ve had better, though.
  • You have to pay to pee at most German rest stops. But when you pay 70 cents to pee (it used to be 50 cents), they give you a voucher for 50 cents back so you can buy coffee… which will also make you pee. And yes, I usually throw them away.
  • Swiss vignette has gone up a euro!
  • Just a few minutes later…

Our lodging…

I booked Hotel des XV for our three night stay, a four star establishment on the east side of town. I booked the hotel because it got really excellent reviews on Trip Advisor and Booking.com, but it also had more of what I was looking for than other places I researched. Since Bill and I not getting any younger, we like to stay in nice hotels with good service. We don’t mind paying a bit more for better quality.

Hotel des XV is located in a quiet residential area, very close to the Orangerie Park and several consulates. It’s not in the thick of town, and there aren’t any restaurants closeby, although there is at least one grocery store within reasonable walking distance and, in fact, it’s possible to walk into town in about 30 minutes or so. There’s also a bus stop right outside the hotel’s gate, although the bus stops running at 9:00pm.

Hotel des XV has just ten rooms. There’s a free parking lot next to the hotel, although I think it’s for the neighborhood, and not just for guests. I read that the hotel also offers a private garage where one can purchase the right to park, but we never needed to use it.

Breakfast costs 19 euros per adult and includes a buffet with the usual fruits, cereals, breads, cold cuts, and cheeses. They will also make bacon and eggs, if you like. Breakfast for children is 9,5 euros. It’s served in a lovely front room that also serves as a fully stocked bar, which also offers small plates and room service.

Two classes of rooms are available, superior and deluxe. I booked us a deluxe room, and we were in #3. It was not a big room, but it was nicely appointed with a king sized bed, desk, free WiFi, and a flat screen TV. The bathroom had a good sized glass enclosed shower with a wide head. We were very comfortable there for three nights.

From the moment of our arrival at about 3:00pm on Valentine’s Day until our departure at about 8:30am on President’s Day, we got mostly friendly, attentive service from the staff at Hotel des XV. I was even greeted in a welcome card, written in German. I guess they thought I was German because we booked from Germany. All of the staff members spoke excellent English, though, so kudos to them for that!

The only hiccup in service was when we came back late on Friday night and couldn’t get into the hotel. They had changed the code to the lock since we’d checked in that afternoon. Consequently, the door wouldn’t open and we had to call reception at about 10:30pm… it made a racket and took the guy several minutes to respond. Edited to add: I see now that they sent me an email about the new code, but it went to my spam folder.

I was already pissed because Bill made me walk back from town, so I was a bit irritated about having to wait outside for the door to be opened. More on that in a later post. For now, here are some pictures of the property!

  • How nice! A greeting in German!
  • Good bed with comfortable pillows and sheets.
  • Nice bathroom.
  • The shower was very good and didn’t spray water everywhere.
  • Small desk.
  • Parking lot. It’s kind of awkward, but serves its purpose. It’s free to park there.
  • Front of the hotel. It’s in a nice neighborhood.
  • Small plates— smoked salmon for me and cheese for Bill.
  • Fresh bread and a nice red…
  • I’d drink this one again!
  • An example of breakfast. I loved the brownies, which they didn’t have this morning. I also had eggs all three days, although this morning’s boiled egg was too underdone.

For three nights with breakfasts each morning and room service last night– a bottle of wine and two small plates– we paid about 630 euros. Not cheap, but it was cheaper than the houseboat would have been, and a very comfortable stay. I’d definitely book there again. This hotel, by the way, is also pet friendly, although pets don’t stay free of charge. Fair enough… and maybe someday Arran can come with us to Strasbourg, which is as dog friendly as the rest of France is.

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