Around The World – Strasbourg, France
My goal on this leg of the trip is to visit Strasbourg, a beautiful ancient city, and home to my long-time Thailand friend Beatrice Horn and my south-Thailand-short-holiday-friend Annabel Da Silva.
I had a leisurely morning alone in the house in Luxembourg, as everyone has gone to work or school. I’m planning on getting the 2:30 PM train, so I jump on the local train into the city and then right onto the French national carrier SNCF to Strasbourg. It’s a cheap and cheerful 2nd-class-only inter-city train and we pass through beautiful eastern French countryside, along canals and through tunnels, past a giant nuclear power plant and hilltops loaded with wind turbines. I saw a couple of the famous TGV ultra-high-speed trains and I definitely want to take a trip in one of them. As we pull into each station, I see French flags flying at half staff due to the attacks in Paris a few days ago. After some of my marathon trips, this was a doddle in 3 hours.
I got off the train and walked into the pedestrian shopping streets. Needing to get a French SIM card for my phone, I found a telecom shop but the lady said she couldn’t help me, keep walking that way. I went to the next one, same thing but she said go to SHA that way. I kept walking and spotted an Orange store, and an SFR store. OK, I clearly didn’t understand her accent! Another country, another SIM card. Got an Orange deal, 1GB for 2 weeks, that should be enough.
Stopped at a cafe and had a feta and pesto rustic country pizza and a hot chocolate since it’s freezing cold again. Who knew winter in central Europe would be cold? I kept walking until I found a giant tram center and bought a ticket out to my Airbnb location. I went the 6 stops and got off, guided by Google down the street to #24. The Airbnb host had said “From the tram Is three minute walk to the house thanks.” I come to Google’s #24 and I’m surrounded by a dozen high-rise apartment buildings, not a house to be seen. I wander down the row of apartment buildings and see #20, then #22 and then #24. There are an array of names and buttons to get in the door, I press his button. The door buzzes and I walk into the lobby. I don’t know what his flat number is or floor, so I start walking up the stairs with my suitcase checking each door. Guess what, he’s on the 8th and top floor. Ugh. It would have been so much easier to have all of this accurate information in his Airbnb profile. We talked about the confusion with the booking and although he’s been on Airbnb for over a year, I sense he doesn’t understand the whole blocking-off-the-calendar and what-Instant-Book-means things. I smell a not-so-great review coming. In the end, I’m in my room, connected to the Wifi and looking at the pillows with giant rabbit faces on them wondering how I’ll get to sleep tonight…
In the morning I went on Airbnb and found an Instant Book in the eastern part of the center of Paris for my next leg. The host has very good reviews and within minutes responded that she was jealous of my big trip and was looking forward to seeing me. She gave me her address and said when I have my train locked in, to send me which station I’m arriving at and she’ll give me tram and bus directions to her place. Now, this is the kind of Airbnb host I like!
I pinged Annabel saying I was in town, but she is hosting a big event for work tonight with 200 people, so I’ll have to catch her on another trip.
I took the tram into town, it’s bright and sunny and right around freezing. I went to the train station and locked in my reservation on the TGV tomorrow at 11:42 into Paris Est station. The reservation fee is only 9 euros, worth it to lock in a seat on a TGV. I sent the train info to the Airbnb host, and she replied back with the exact tram and bus directions to get to her place. Bam!
I walked down to the boat tour that circles the island of the old city and bought a ticket, the boat leaves in 50 minutes. I walked back a couple of blocks to a restaurant and had spaghetti pesto and an amazingly good beer called Fischer Ambre, wow yummy. I had to pay and run as it took a while for my food to come. I was the last one on the boat and we pulled away. We saw many old and new buildings and the audio described the history from Roman times through the occupation by various kings and countries through the years. During WWII, the Germans set up the city as a jewel of German culture, they renamed all of the streets and built many new buildings and expanded the city further out.
I walked all through the city for hours, in the freezing cold, stopping in for hot chocolate several times. The Christmas Markets were just being built so nothing to look at there yet.
Strasbourg definitely lived up to Beatrice’s descriptions and I’m very happy I got to visit here.
Tomorrow I’m off to Paris. Despite the recent (again) terrorist attacks, I just have the urge to go and see this city and not let evil people dictate how I live my life. Take that, evil people!
