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!

A Jolly Holiday with Mary!

Today was wonderful! It was just amazing seeing Mary again and being able to pick up like we hadn't not seen each other since last May! We started out the day by almost missing breakfast at the hostel, but a nice guy let us in even though we had technically already checked out and didn't have our keys as proof that we were guests there.

Then we walked over to the island that is the olde towne of Strasbourg and saw the cathedral. We stopped by the tourism office first to grab maps and see if anything cool was going on in the city and then we hiked up to the top of the cathedral (not the very top, because it's being redone, but we were very high up there. It was good weather for that again, so it was great for picture taking and general viewing. Mary and I were able to leave our own special mark in the guestbook of the cathedral tower.

We were able to go and see the astronomical clock for free since it was Sunday but it was only sort of working (the lights went off for a while randomly). It was cool to hear the announcements in French and German.

Then, the plan was for us to go on the riverboat tour, but it was closed for high water, which somehow turned into "haeut Haeuser." Whoops. A small reversal of syllables and combining French and German makes for funny sounding words. Another indecisive lunch followed, but pizza baguettes turned out to be quite delicious.

Also, today was the main filming day for an up-and-coming new feature series on Animal Planet... okay, not really, but Ducks In Action will be a huge success. Especially the special editions.

The afternoon instead of going on the boat tour was spent at the Strasbourg city museum where it was heartily emphasized that Strasbourg has always considered itself an independent city and that the people from Strasbourg are the best ever. Made me laugh.

We then ended up going to Flan's for dinner, which is apparently the place to go for flamenkuche(the sort of creme-based pizza tart) where our neighbors left a few pieces of their dessert banana-chocolate one and since the tables were so close, we were able to sneak a piece.

Then back to the hostel to pick up Mary's bag and check back in for Julie and I (we ended up in the same room as before!) and we went to the Bahnhof together to say goodbye. After much picture-taking, the night train left with Mary safely ensconced in her compartment like in Harry Potter.

Spring Break in Strasbourg

This morning started out bright and early doing last-minute packing before catching the 8h34 train to Strasbourg. Unfortunately I didn't have an assigned seat, so when we got to Angers and lots of people boarded, I was kicked out of my seat only to find one next to a very kind older French woman. Then a little boy that got on the TGV in Le Mans bumped me out of that seat and I ended up sitting in the jumper seats by the toilets for two hours until Julie came and got me to sit by her.

Before, when I was still buddy-buddy with the toilets, we had to pull into the CDG TGV station because somehow the radio transmitter on our train fell off or was swiped off by a vengeful tree we went by.

Well, we got into Strasbourg around 2pm and met Mary! It was so great to see her and we had such a good time catching up! She had been in the city since 7 that morning, so she was able to show us the way to our hostel pretty quickly. After checking in and dropping off all our stuff, we just went out and walked around. The weather was lovely and sunny the entire afternoon. We found a cool old covered bridge that spans the River Ill (yes, as in sick) that used to house syphillus patients. (I think the pun is quite funny.) Then we saw the old part of the city with all of the half-timbered houses, called "Petite France," and eventually found ourselves wandering closer and closer to the suburbs. A strangely difficult period of trying to figure out what to eat followed, but we compromised and found a lovely place that wasn't too expensive but still offered traditional Alsacian food. We got something called "rognons" covered in a mustard sauce with fries on the side and a pizza sort of tart. The rognons looked like either solidified pate or funny little sliced mushrooms. Turns out rognons = kidneys, but we didn't find that out until a few days later. Even if the taste was questionable at times, it's good to be adventurous and try new food!