Pinot gris et tarte flambée

At La Maison du Pain d'épices
in Gertwiller

Bonjour m'sieurs-dames!

I admit it, I know nothing about France. I've been to Dunquerque for Carnival and twice to Paris. The first time I hated it, the second I loved it. Clearly, I have been having mixed feelings about the whole country and its people, so proud, so patriotic, so snob, so French (?!)... 

But then we went to Alsace for a weekend...and loved it! All of a sudden France was a beautiful place and the French were friendly, smiling and fun. I swear I'm not saying this under the effect of several glasses of Alsacian wine, though wines, tartes flambées, and a gentle green landscape might all have contributed to make Alsace a very appealing place to us.
Strasbourg and Colmar are generally the most known places in the region, though the Route du Vin between the two cities, passing through small towns and villages is just as pretty and enjoyable. After this trip we certainly want to explore more of France and will probably keep using our Belgian accent just for the fun of it...Allez, hein!

Carnaval de Dunkerque

Déguisements & costumes, marching and typical parapluies de Dunkerque

There on the north coast of France, very close to Belgium, lies the unpretentious city of Dunkerque. Its past might tell stories of dunes and churches as its name suggests (dune+kerke), but its present is definitely about its Carnaval. Listed even by wikipedia as one of the city's tourists attractions, le Carnaval de Dunkerque is a local pride. As it is common in other carnavals of northern Europe, everyone participates....children and grannies alike!

Following a tacit costume code, men use (and like) to dress as women, others recicle old stuff from aunts and grannies and almost everyone soaks his/her face in make up! The party starts weeks before the final carnaval days, and everyone gets ready for the adrenalinic rigodon final, an experience that inevitably remains impressed in everyone's mind...or chest. M, so what is this final rigodon? Is it marching? is it dancing or more like pogoing? Well, it is the moment music gets to a central podium around which all participanting carnevaleux start to squash one another, they are literally compressed! I was incidentally taken away by a group of rigodon-fans and I could barely breath, squeezed as I was among them! All in all, Dunkerque's carnaval seemed to be a survival experience! :P