Monthly Archives: July 2007

July 29 –

Okay I’m sure it’s not wet all the time but I certainly wouldn’t be able to testify to the contrary! We awoke to another gray morning hoping that things would stay dry enough to get out for a bit. It doesn’t rain constantly but there are bursts in between dry spells that make wandering a challenge. It rained everyday in Paris and so far every day in Strasbourg! We slept in this morning and decided against the hotel breakfast; therefore, we wandered about the streets of the Grand Ile looking for somewhere to have breakfast. We found a patisserie serving bread, croissants, jam and coffee and were happy to do so. Here’s a traveling hint: Strasbourg isn’t very exciting on a Sunday – especially in the rain. We had hoped to take a cruise on the Rhine this morning but the showers started early so we nixed that idea.

Wandering through town after breakfast, we stumbled up on a folk dance exhibition in the Place Guttenberg. I have to say that the French equivalent of square dancing was quite entertaining. Add an occasional cloudburst to the enthusiastic performers and things get even more amusing. None of the shops besides those outside the cathedral were open and the rain ruined the boat plans so we shifted to an alternative.

We rescued the car from the hotel car park and ventured out into the countryside to visit a French castle. (There’s a Monty Python joke in there but I’ll leave it alone!) We encountered our first French traffic jam: it seems that lots of people had the same idea on how to spend a rainy Sunday! The castle Haut-Koeningsburg is about half an hour outside Strassbourg and is about half a mile up in the hills. It was fascinating to walk around for a few reasons. First, although we have seen many castles during our travels, this one was still different to any we’d seen before. It was built with red sandstone, had a great deal of wood used in to basic structure and had ornate porcelain-type stoves in many of the rooms. Second, it was actually restored in the early 20th century by Kaiser Wilhelm II so much of the decoration is due to his influence and style rather than trying to accurately capture every aspect of the castle as it was in the 12th century.

Our late start and lunchtime castle exploration meant that we didn’t even think about lunch until after we had come back down the mountain and well after 2 p.m. We found a restaurant in the village at the bottom of the hill from the castle that had lots of people sitting outside (under awnings in the intermittent rain) so we thought it would be a good place for a late lunch. Wrong! The only options we had open to us were pizzas and one of the local specialties, tarte flambe, which is like a thin crust pizza with no tomato sauce. I chose that option, Duncan and Gillian picked a pizza and Frank opted for a calzone. Here’s a note to write down: NOT ALL RESTAURANTS IN FRANCE ARE GOOD. My tarte was fine and the pizzas were just okay. Frank’s calzone, on the other hand, seemed a bit undercooked. The gloppy dough and raw egg inside (!?!) would indicate to me that there was more cooking to be done. We decided that a nice dinner would be in order to make up for this less than mediocre lunch!

Back in Strasbourg, it was still a rainy Sunday with nothing open and none of the movie theaters were showing the Simpson’s movie in English. While the dubbed French version would have been an adventure, we opted for some quiet time reading; Duncan is plowing through Harry Potter at every opportunity! Around 7 p.m. we decided more food was in order so off to Petite France to find an open restaurant. Not quite as easy as we would have liked but we found a lovely place with a set 3 course meal that we all could agree on (it had vegetables on the menu!) and enjoyed a leisurely evening meal with wine and dessert and coffee.

We’ll try for an earlier night so we can get an earlier start tomorrow. If the weather clears we’ll try one more time for the boat cruise, otherwise we’re off to the Black Forest where I can finally do some hiking that doesn’t involve concrete!

/san/

[Pedometer: 14,923 or about 7 miles up and down castle ramparts.]

July 28 –

It was a dreary rainy day in Luxembourg this morning so we ate breakfast in the hotel but only because the kids were free! Good thing too because we were not at all pleased with the buffet. It took forever to get coffee, the eggs came either runny or uncooked and needed to sit in a pot of semi-warm water for a *long* time, and they never came to clear away the plates even though we used many and they piled up on the table!

Undaunted by this inauspicious start, however, we packed up the car and programmed Helga to take us to Strasbourg – about a 2 hour drive. We encountered our first European toll road – which took credit cards – and managed to keep up with the flow of traffic proceeding at 130kmph. We pulled into the city and up to our hotel right around noon.

Cases unloaded and the car parked, we wandered into the old city to experience the market. When we asked at the desk where the market was, we were essentially told that it was all over the city. This was no exaggeration! You couldn’t turn a street corner without seeing more stalls lined up on every street. Shoes, sausages, tank tops, toys, watches, pretzels, mattresses (?!?), and just about anything else you could think of was for sale somewhere. And the people! I don’t know the population of Strasbourg but I think that half of Germany was also here today!

And we did do some shopping – of course. I bought a great sundress and Gillian got a new watch. I encountered my first truly rude French sales clerk in a small shop. I wanted to buy a 2 litre bottle of water for €2 but all I had was a €20 note. When she pointed out that the bottle only cost 2 – by holding up two fingers – and I shrugged and looked helpless – the international sign for “that’s all I have” – I got tsked at, she rolled her eyes and then turned to a colleague behind the counter and continued a previous chat! I was ready to hit her with the bottle of water but Duncan saved me from an international incident by scrounging up a coin and then she was all sweetness and light; I even got a cheery “Bon jour” on the way out the door…. go figure.

And for those familiar with my nun saga (I’m being stalked by nuns – really!), I had my first real sighting today. Asian nuns in grey habits fairly swarming the streets. As it was raining intermittently, one had decided to don a fishing hat over her habit – a sight not readily forgotten! To make up for the lack of sightings prior to this, we ran into a group of French nuns later on in the day. I suspect I will encounter them regularly now since their cover was blown….

We skipped the formal lunch and grabbed munchies in the market. Duncan and Frank enjoyed the traditional French treat of Churros (!) while Gillian and I settled for the more mundane crepe. I dedicated my crepe to my friends Christine and Julie with whom I should have shared one last year and then proceeded to devour it!

After some wandering, we went to the main attraction in Strasbourg: the cathedral. I lit a candle (that’s 6) and admired the stained glass windows. This is the first cathedrals we’ve visited with a serious decorative disparity between indoors and out. It’s incredibly ornate architecturally but very plain inside. There is a really cool astronomical clock inside as well – Duncan had to explain it to me of course.

More wandering around the city until the real rain started then we decided to get an early dinner. Later on in the evening, we ventured back to the cathedral for a really neat light show. Starting at 10:15 p.m. the cathedral puts on a light show set to music on the western facade. It was really neat! Not quite as cool as the Magic Fountains in Barcelona but definitely a sight to see.

/san/

[Pedometer: 25, 958 which is probably only about 10 miles since most of it was spent jostling impatient French market goers.]