Diplomatic Travels

Today Julie and I tried to make the most of our last day in Strasbourg. First, we went to the cathedral again because we both wanted to see the astronomical clock with the movie (it was 1 euro to go again), so we bought tickets early and then kind of walked around for a bit stopping into various papeteries to see if she could find a cool fountain pen for her boyfriend. Unfortunately, many papeteries later, our search was still going.

We then went back and saw the movie again at noon, after which, we headed back to the hostel to rent bikes for the afternoon. We then rode over to the EU sector of Strasbourg and saw all the EU buildings (the human rights building was particularly cool). We also found out you can't get tours unless you're with a group of 25 or more. Booo. I did feel very French riding around on my bike that afternoon though. Yay!

Then we tried to find the Orangerie, but the signs kept leading us in circles and when we looked at the map, we should have passed it numerous times, but it wasn't there. Only later did we find out we were about a block away the whole time! So instead, taking our impeccable map-reading skills, we realized we had 2 hours left on our rentals and had done everything we wanted, so why don't we see if we can bike across the Rhine into Germany? And indeed, we did! The ride was a little dubious at the end with all the industrial parks around and us sneaking by the customs booth on the highway, but we made it, took lots of pictures, and then it started to rain. By the time we made it back to the hostel, both of us were significantly less dry and wind-chafed than before we left. But it was worth it; we biked to Germany!