Strasbourg!!!

Guten tag everybody! After our day in Geneva, we got up early to take the train to Strasbourg. The scenery riding through Switzerland was really pretty; we saw the stereotypical rolling green fields with cute little chalets and the Swiss Alps in the background. I was so moved, I almost started yodeling right there on the train.

We actually had to take two trains to get to Strasbourg. First, we took one from Geneva to Basel. Geneva is in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, but Basel is in German-speaking territory, and the announcements and message boards on the train actually changed languages halfway through our journey! The train station at Basel is gigantic, like airport-size, and everything was in German! Crazy! Luckily, we managed to run through and make it to our train to Strasbourg without getting too lost. Christophe did insist we take a detour to look through a store that sold only beer. (So German! And Strasbourg is literally right on the border with Germany, so everything there was pretty German too!)

When we arrived in Strasbourg, we got hella lost on our way to find our hotel.¹ Despite glowing online reviews, it ended up being in kind of a sketch area. Like, we had to walk through an abandoned lot and squeeze through a hole in the chain link fence to get to the tram stop. We were further discomforted by the 20ish security camera feeds at the front desk. But, you know, the room was fine. And luckily, the tram was pretty easy to use.²


By the time we finally found our hotel and got lunch, it was late afternoon. We decided to go check out Petite France, which is a little island in the middle of downtown Strasbourg (because the Ill River³ runs through downtown) with cool/cute medieval houses and some restaurants with decks on the river. Very pittoresque.⁴

We also saw the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg! Of all the billions of European cathedrals I’ve seen here, this one was one of my favorites. I really loved the brick-color of all the stones and how they were all slightly different shades. There are like hundreds of statues and carvings on the outside, and tons of little spires, all very intricate and detailed. Also, the lighting inside was really dramatic⁵ and there was a really cool colorful organ. Unfortunately, it was getting dark, so we didn’t really get the full effect of the stained glass, but we decided to go back the next day. 

For dinner, we tried to eat local and have some Alsacien food. We both ended up ordering some kind of potato and cheese dish. It had some long German name that started with a B. It was pretty good, but nothing could match how delicious the appetizer pretzels they gave us were! The Germans truly are the master of the pretzel! (And the pretzels were free! Free appetizers in Europe?? Je ne comprends pas!)

Our first stop the next morning was the European Parliament buildings,⁶ continuing our theme of international cooperation after visiting the UN in Geneva. The buildings were all really sleek and modern, which was a big contrast with the quaint, medieval buildings in Petite France. We sort of made up for missing out on the flag walk in Geneva by walking down the all the European flags lined up in front of the main building. I felt very international.

Next, we headed back to the cathedral, but it was closed! I think it closes in the middle of the day to get you to buy the tour of the belltower instead of visiting for free. Pshhh. So instead, we headed to some random wine cave Christophe had found on the internet. He did not however, look up specific instructions, despite reading that it was hard to find.⁷ So we wandered around this huge medical complex for a quite a while, then figured out the vague directions on the map we had were wrong, and eventually found it. Surprise! It was also closed for a very long lunch break.

Well what to do when everything is closed but hop over to Germany?! Since Strasbourg is literally right on the border with Germany, there is a pedestrian bridge over the Rhine, and on one side, you’re in Strasbourg, France, and on the other you’re in Kehl, Germany! So cool! The bridge itself is really cool and sort of twists and curves. And obviously, it was pretty chouette to be just casually walking over international borders.⁸ Anyways, this is getting long (how shocking), so I'll put Kehl in a different post.

After our brief venture into Deutschland, we headed back to that wine cave Christophe wanted to see. It was smaller than I had expected, and there was no real visit or tour, you kind of just walked around this dank basement and looked at big wooden barrels. We did see the (supposedly) oldest wine in the world though, from 1472!!! Sadly, there were no tastings...

Then, we headed back one more time to the cathedral. And there was a movie being filmed inside!! :O Luckily, the production was only using one side of the cathedral, so we could visit the rest of the inside. It was pretty cool because they had all their professional lighting set up, which made everything look really cool and dramatic. And we got to watch them film a couple scenes! Couldn't really tell what was going on though except a lot of pacing and yelling...

Awesome organ

We grabbed some crepes for dinner and headed back to the hotel exhausted! The next morning, we were off to Paris!

À bientôt!

1. Eventually we took the road that I originally wanted to take but that Christophe had insisted was not a real road. Didn’t someone work for a prominent mapping company for several summers??

2. The stop announcements were awesome because they used different music and a different person’s voice every time!

3.  River, why you illin'?????? Hahahahahahahaha I had to say it
4. I literally forgot how to spell that in English haha

5. Ohh, foreshadowing!

6.  Strasbourg is the seat of the European Parliament.

7. I roll my eyes.

8. Yay Schengen zone!