Tuesday we spent the day making our way to Strasbourg, a city we’ve wanted to visit for quite awhile, but could never quite fit into an itinerary. We made it work for this trip, but it wasn’t an easy fit. We left our hotel in Malaga in the early morning to catch our flight to Stuttgart and that worked well. Once in Stuttgart, we needed to find an alternate route into the city due to a problem on the U-Bahn tram track. Had it not been for a thoughtful tram operator who informed us of the problem, we might had missed our train. The tram operator advised us to switch to the S-Bahn (subway), and that got us to the train station. Rainy weather and train delay made for a long day, but we arrived in Strasbourg safe but weary.
It was a short walk to the apartment through a gritty part of the city. We were somewhat discouraged when we arrived at the main door. We followed the detailed instructions left by the hosts and finally gained access to the building. From there, we schlepped up 3 flights of steep stairs to our apartment.
Once inside we found a bright space, a refrigerator filled with breakfast items, a bottle of local sparkling wine, chocolates, a massive array of snacks, and an impressive fruit bowl! We still have not met the hosts but their kindness made up for the graffiti on the entry door, the steep steps and all.
The apartment is comfortable, light-filled, and has everything we might need. It’s seems like a classic French home. The kitchen is so well-equipped that we’ve made a couple of simple meals here. Street cars run by on the street below, so it can be noisy.
The view from our apartment on a rainy night looks like a scene from a 1940’s noir film.
The city is beautiful and we are learning our way around town.
We feel like we left summer behind in Malaga and now it’s early spring again, as the temps are cool and it’s been on and off rainy.
The Alsatian food is hearty and delicious…a salad with honey drizzled goat cheese toasts and a Tart Flambée (baked in a wood-fired oven) make for a delicious lunch. The food is hearty and we hope we are walking enough to burn the extra calories.
We are impressed by the spiffy trams that travel around the city. We bought a day pass and took several trips today.
We took the tram to the headquarters of the European Union based here in Strasbourg.
Security is strict and we needed our passports for entry. The guards kindly told us that neither a paper copy of our passport nor our U.S. drivers license was enough. So we made our way back to the apartment and returned with actual passports in hand. The EU buildings are impressive and the tour is well-organized.
The plenary chambers are shown below.
We are happy here! We have met many kind people who have made this trip special.
