Grocery Shopping at the Gas Station -- Who'da Thunk It?

Before I dive into today's post, I forgot to mention an unexpected sight on our Strasbourg adventure. As we were driving into Colmar, France, we came upon the main roundabout in town, and there -- smack in the middle -- was the Statue of Liberty. Turns out that Colmar is the birthplace of the fellow who designed and sculpted the statue. Pretty neat find.

So back to gas station shopping. Let me first preface this by saying that it is virtually impossible to do all your shopping at one store. No two stores carry the same thing, and availability is always in question.

For example, Amelia has been begging for blueberries for weeks now. I've searched everywhere but haven't found them. Then I randomly went to the corner produce market on Sunday, and found 3 lonely containers. Success! Of course, each little package (think small, flat box -- maybe one and a half handfulls of berries) was 4 euros ($5.50). Price starts to become little object when you're desperate (and no, there's no frozen blueberries).

And Monday, T.J. came down with the flu (or something) again, so Jack and I stopped by the gas station on our way to pick up Amelia. I needed gas anyway, and I was curious about the store inside, as it seemed pretty comprehensive (they actually had carts outside). So we go in, and walk immediately into a miniature produce aisle. Every bit of produce you might want -- including BLUEBERRIES! (Now, ask yourselves why a major grocery store can't carry blueberries, but the gas station minimart can...) They also had chocolate chip cookie dough, meat, wine in juice-box-sized containers -- the whole gamut. AND, they're open on Sundays. Hooray. What a wonderful find...


Shopping in the International Section
Went to Carrefour this morning for shopping, and they've added a new "International" aisle. This used to be just Old El Paso products and some Chinese food. Now they have Golden Griddle pancake syrup (there are only 3 stores that I've seen syrup in). A regular-sized grocery store bottle for 10 euros (14 bucks!). I will clearly be bringing syrup back with me on all my visits.

And now they have Oreos -- and chocolate covered oreos -- no-name brand Fritos and stuffing mix. Just a few little goodies from home, which is nice to see.

Lantern Parade
Amelia's school is having a St. Martins Lantern Parade tomorrow night. See here for a bit of the story: http://www.funsocialstudies.learninghaven.com/articles/stmartins.htm. They made paper lanterns on Monday, and they'll put candles in them for the parade, and we'll march around in the cold and the rain, and then the kids will eat cookies and cakes, and won't go to bed until late.

It really seems like a neat idea, weather permitting. We had gone to the African Museum on Sunday (mostly because it was actually open), and when we were leaving, we saw many families arriving with their lanterns. Apparently a German church was sponsoring a parade on the grounds of the museum (also the former summer home of the king).

The Sweet Taste of Starbucks
A few weeks ago, T.J. had a meeting in the Netherlands, not far from Aachen, Germany (the location of the nearest Starbucks!). The sweet man drove to Aachen after the meeting and got me two tasty drinks and brought them home to me. The best early Christmas present ever!!