Thursday May 19 - Strasbourg
Firstly, I have to make a public apology to Anne for not getting in touch so we could meet up. It’s my fault entirely and I’m sorry. Anne, you live in a wonderful city and I hope I am lucky enough for you to show me your Strasbourg one day.
As if there wasn’t enough to see in Paris, I decided a day trip would be in order and Strasbourg was the destination. While I bought my tickets well in advance to take advantage of cheap fares, my planning for Strasbourg was non-existent. Could I, the over-planner actually survive and have a good time winging it? Yes, I could!
After a late night the night before, the alarm woke me up at some horrid hour in the morning. With a lot of moaning and grumbling, I made my way to the station for a 6.54am train – yes. I don’t think I will ever forget that time! Apart from the garbage collectors, joggers and homeless people sleeping there seemed to be no one else on the streets of Paris.
I bought my first breakfast at the station (croissant and coffee) to eat on the train. Do those trains go fast or what??? A couple of times my ears started to block from the pressure. In a couple of hours we had arrived.
I headed straight to the tourist office where for the princely sum of €1 you are given a map and a small guide book. I found a place in the station to have coffee and pain au chocolat (breakfast number 2) while studying the map and guide because I truly had no idea what I was going to do.
I starting off just walking around and looking at some of the more touristy places – Petit France, the waterways, the Cathedral. The city was just in the process of waking so not man places were open yet.
The Cathedral is striking and the cool interior offered welcome respite on a very hot day.
Once outside, I went around the corner and paid my money to climb the tower before I could talk myself out of it.
I began the task of walking up the 330-odd steps and while I slowed towards the top, I did not stop. Some young whipper-snapper was on my heels as I was nearing the top. When I arrived I turned around and saw it was one of the tower workers with some lunch he had just bought. I console myself that if I was doing his job I would also be able to do the climb with little effort.
The views were lovely and once I managed to tamp down my fear I could enjoy them.
Back on terra firma and resisting the urge to kneel and kiss the ground, I decided to find a place for lunch. My aims today were to try flammekueche and choucroute - not during the same meal though.
I was in a touristy part and probably paid for the privilege but I had a table that was ideal for people viewing, a friendly waiter and my flammekueche. It was tasty but not the ideal meal on a hot day. The beer was good so it all got washed down well enough.
Whiling away the time I saw the Strasbourg equivalent of the Eiffel Tower souvenir sales people.
This man had a bit of everything - hats, sunglasses, postcards, leather goods - a one man shop.
After lunch, I walked a little more and made my way to the Musée des Beaux-Arts. It's housed in a beautiful Baroque building . While not large, the collection has enough variety to make for an interesting visit.
While walking around, I popped in to many shops. Strasbourg has a great collection of shops. Some are the same as in Paris but the advantage is lack of crowds. By the end of the day, I did head back to Paris with several shopping bags.
I liked this shop sign.
Strasbourg also has some talent in the pattiserie stakes.
It was still light but many attractions were closing for the day. I decided to join one of the many tourist cruises. There was still a half hour wait but drinks at a nearby cafe helped passed the time.
I do like tourist cruises. The chance to sit and let the sights go by is attractive - especially on the water.
The cruise was a good length and it made me see that I'd only scratched the surface of what there was to see. We were all starting to worry while on the cruise as there were some ominous grey clouds coming our way. I must say it took some of the enjoyment away as there was no shelter on the boat and I had no umbrella.
While it did not rain during the cruise, it did soon after. At least I could then take shelter.
My last task was to find dinner. I was not hungry but wanted to try the choucroute. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. Many restaurants were closed or still in the process of opening. The few restaurants that were open were not serving choucroute. Foiled!
I ended up making my way back to the train station where dinner ended up being a filled baguette I ate on the ride to Paris. That was not how I imagined my last meal in Strasbourg. Still, at least it gives me a reason to go back.
I had a great time. You can see a lot in one day but of course a stay overnight would be better.