Paris 2011: Adventures in Strasbourg

Let's see, where did we last leave off...?

Oh yes, that's right, a morning train to Strasbourg! We left the apartment on Tuesday morning around 9 for our 10 o'clock train (one of the many benefits of train transportation vs. air transportation) and made it with plenty of time. 2ish hours later, and we had arrived in Strasbourg, the capital of the Alsace region, as well as the seat of European government. Here in photos are some highlights of that first day:

Place Kleber
Place Kleber, one of many squares in town.

Cathedral Garden: Strasbourg
A small garden near the cathedral.

Canal 2: Strasbourg
One of the lovely canals found throughout Strasbourg.

We also took a tram and a regular old city bus to the town of Kehl in Germany. Andy needed to arrange train transportation for the next leg of his journey, and of course buy a bottle of his beloved Mezzo Mix soda.

Germany!
I tried some. It's not so bad, actually.

We passed our afternoon on a lovely boat tour of the canals/tributaries of the River Ill that is itself an offshoot of the Rhin. After a dinner of extremely traditional German fare (think sauerkraut, lots of sauerkraut), we headed to the Academie de la Biere for some excellent beer. It was an excellent day.

Strasbourg, Day 2

We got off to an early start and began by climbing all of the steps (I lost count, sorry Mom) to the top of the Cathedral of Strasbourg:

Cathedral 1: Strasbourg
See that flat bit next to the spire? That's where the stairs end up. LOTS of stairs.

It was worth it though; check out the view:

Cathedral View 1: Strasbourg
Nice, right?

We also took an audio-guided walking tour of the old town and Petit France, visited the Musee Historique de Strasbourg and enjoyed some lovely Doner Kabob for lunch. Before our trains that afternoon, we ventured out to the edges of town, near the European government buildings. They have a lovely park out there, called the Orangerie:

Trellis: Orangerie in Strasbourg
It goes on like this for quite some time. There's even a small zoo.

All in all, I think we had a wonderful time in Strasbourg. It is a really beautiful city, and much less to take in than Paris. I highly recommend it. After the park, it was time to head back to Strasbourg Gare Centrale to catch our respective trains. I headed back to Paris for the long trip back to Minneapolis the next day, and Andy started his 2nd leg of the trip, 3 trains to Hamburg.

I had an amazing time in France as always, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. More photos as always on my flickr page. As for me, I think I really need some sleep as it is approximately 3:00am Paris time as I type.

Comments

Anonymous said…
It was four trains to Hamburg, actually.