Juliacentralicious

Strasbourg

After Wittlich, Emily and I took a late weekend in Strasbourg. After getting only slightly lost on the autobahn system, we arrived, and proceeded to get slightly lost in Strasbourg-- a city of one ways and narrow cobblestone roads and dead ends (we actually had to drive over the city train tracks and over the sidewalk for a dozen yards before we could get into the parking garage!). The best part of Strasbourg, though, is the river.

Our first night, we wandered through Petit France, the old part of town, which includes a cathedral. The specialty of the region is tartes flambées-- a sort of very thin-crusted pizza, with créme fraîche and various toppings (we split a cheese and ham and mushroom as well as a vegetarian one that was covered with gobs of melted brie). Oh, wow.

The next morning, we picked up breakfast from the supermarket: bread, cheese, ham, juice, and champagne. We sat on a wall right by the river watching the tourist boats pass by. Then we did some more touristing-- hopscotch by the carousel, and looking at the astronomical clock in the cathedral. After a nap, we had some more tarte flambée, watched a movie, and walked around the city at night, checking out the bridges.

A final cool thing about Strasbourg: since it's pretty much on the border of France and Germany, it's a strange mix of the two countries. While I got to finally feel useful using my French, everybody seemed to speak German as well. The region is also famous for its cranes, and while we didn't see any nests, we did get to see one flying, which was pretty cool.

Pictures are up here.

posted by Julia @ 4:01 AM