<![CDATA[

Strasbourg, France

Our new room with the loft bed is decorated with birds and bird houses so it kind of gives the feeling of a tree house up high. It was still 30 degrees according to the park mercury thermometer last night at 7 pm and at bed time it was still sheet only temperature. We enjoyed having the doors and shutters open on our balcony to get some cool night air and there was a tall stand up fan that we turned on as well to get some air flow which was appreciated. At around 2am we woke to a terrific thunder and lightening storm which was fun to view from our tree top bed, which is also on the 2nd floor.

We had our enjoyable breakfast in the downstairs communal dining room overlooking the park, chatting with interesting and happy other travellers which had become our new temporary roomies. Yesterday we said farewell a mature couple from Melbourne also on a long trip, and today the Danes were moving on. New in were are a delightful couple from the USA; Dave and Pamela who we felt a quick affinity with.

Our plans today took us to Strasbourg, a quick 40 minute trip by train in the opposite direction we went yesterday. When we were planning our trip we struggled to choose between staying there or in Colmar, both receiving plenty of pros and cons and yet difficult to find any clear definition on the difference. Both are in the Alsace region, Strasbourg being the main city and both have picturesque old town with small waterways. Now that we have visited both, we are very pleased to have chosen Colmar as its more intimate and has a nicer vibe for us being more town like than city. Also it allows for quicker access to other points of interest and I think the old houses are nicer.

Having done that quick comparison, Strasbourg is a very nice city; the train station is an old building that they have built a huge modern glass atrium over at the entry. Apparently at night it is very spectacular all lit up. When we were walking through there were several armed force personal in camo gear (army?) with loaded assault rifles walking around. Not sure what that was about or if it is normal. We haven’t seen armed personal in a train station since Spain where they were common. Made me want to get outside quickly anyway.

Outside the train station we walked out to a small domed clean grassed park, with people sunning themselves and then crossed a bridge over the river that encircles the older city centre. It has lochs and weirs and we would have liked to have taken the cruise around on the tourist boat but it was booked out for a couple of hours when we went to get tickets and we didn’t want to wait that long.

We headed in the direction of “little France” which is the oldest section of the city with a few canals off the river. This part was more scenic in some respects than Colmar having more complex and larger waterways. It was very busy being a Sunday afternoon and tourist season and we did the usual scan the plates of diners to pick where we would eat. The first place we would have liked to had a 30min minimum wait time and an already long line so we headed away from the water and crowds and found a fantastic locals focused cafe.

The coffee by the way is very good in the Alsace, like Spain hot and with enough caffeine kick to satisfy. Our lunch pictured was just delicious with perfect pastry again and tasty fillings. The quiche we ordered was courgette and goats cheese which we thought meant in the filling, as you can see the cheese came on top! The “meat pie” was typical style and kind of like a brawn or English pork pie but more tasty. All up it was only €20 which was cheap for the quality, portion size and Europe so far.

Another site of interest is the main Strasbourg Cathedral. You see its tall decorative gothic spire towering above other buildings from various viewpoints in the city, this however does not prepare you for the sheer size of it when you come round a corner and see it. Wow, quite foreboding at first look but as you take time to look at the detail it is very intricate almost like the Sagrada in Spain ( but nowhere as big as that was). There was an ordination going on inside but the nice doorman said we could enter at the back. This was a treat to hear a bit of singing with lovely acoustics and full of worshipers. It has a lovely vibe in it and I could not see any relics and you know what – it was quite simple inside compared to the outside. We both enjoyed the building inside and out and the extended musical bells ringing echoing through the city square and streets.

We headed home around 4pm as Vern had a date with Phillipe to fix the gate. I forgot to mention yesterday but when we came home from Mulhouse we were met at the front gate by a hot and flustered Phillipe who had the task of fixing the very tricky and sticky 100 year old German steel gate that Lesley is very fond of. This is the gate to the street that guests are asked to lock each time its used as part of general security. It was a bit of a mission due to technical reasons beyond my understanding but easily fixed with Vernon’s!

Anyhow Phillipe made a comment that he was sick of the heat and tired of the stupid gate. Vern joked in his wry kiwi way and said so are we. Phillipe looked horror stricken and asked “excuse me?” I clarified that Vernon was joking, and laughing Vern asked if he could help as it looked as though perhaps Phillipe was not as mechanically inclined as he. After insistence on our part he gratefully accepted and yesterday they did stage one diagnostics with Phillipe being a trades assistant and fetching tools etc. Vern had then made a date for stage 2 today to hopefully do a fuller dismantle and make a spare part.

I had a cup of tea in the dining room whilst the three stooges as Leslie put it, the Kiwi, the American-French, and the French German set to work clanging and banging whilst Leslie translated technically between Vernon and Phillipe, who actually does speak very good basic English himself. They were not able to fix it completely as with many things when you have it open you see that it needs a little more than initially expected, but it certainly improved a lot and Leslie and Phillipe now have a clear understanding (and instructions) of what they need to fix it which is a little part to be engineered.

We insisted it was totally unnecessary and our pleasure, but Leslie kindly presented us with a small gift of a local hand printed large tea towel which is so pretty I would not use it for dishes, but will treasure it as a fond memento of a warm wonderful stay in the beautiful and tasty Alsace.
We dined again at the same restaurant we did last night as the pate place was closed :-(( and ate more moderately sharing an entree of pate which was a pie version and tasty, then we shared their plate of charcroute, and finished off with a dessert each (swapped halfway) which was a very tasty hot apricot tartin which had a caramel and I am sure Cointreau sauce and a “floating island” which was excellent and I think must be regional dish here too?

Strolling home at 10 pm with contented bellies so full they were tight, it was still balmy warm and only just dark. Taking in the scenery of the beautiful history rich town and luscious private gardens I said to Vern gosh it’s a pinch me moment again, how lucky are we to be here, now, doing this?

]]>