Kugelhopf and other delights

I'm a huge fan of Alsace.  What intrigues me about E. France is its linked history with Germany.  The Fachwerkhaeuser, the blending of cuisine, and the allemanic dialect spoken by (mostly older) native Alsatians make this part of Europe an intriguing hodgepodge of culture.  Strasbourg, just over the river from Kehl, Germany, is one of my favorite places to visit in Alsace.  While there, I usually engage in the same few 'tried and true' activities.  They can be broken down, quite neatly, as follows:
*Strassburger Muenster
*Christian Patisserie
*tourist shops near the river that sell traditional pottery.

Instead of the usual oh-this-looks-nice-but-I-don't-think-I'll-buy-it trip, I decided to purchase a lovely and large bit of ceramic bake ware while doing the usual trek around town.  As fortune would have it, the Kugelhopf form made it through security and requisite flight back to London without much of a hitch, so that I was able to bake the below treat sans raisins with the recipe that came with the form.

Kugelhopf d'Alsace

Not content with just baking one Kugelhopf this week, the hubs and I fiddled with another recipe found online, and made this lil' beaut of a marble Kugelhopf.

Marmor Kugelhopf

Next time I'm in Strasbourg, and buoyed by my Kugelhopf baking successes, I might be tempted to schlepp back a Baeckeoffe pot and make this:

Baeckoffe, baby!

Now, if I could only get my hands on some lye, then I'd be in business to bake Brezeln!