Still Tuesday, March 30 – Arrived in Strasbourg around 8 pm. We walked and ate at the first restaurant we could find, Indian food! I had the chicken curry – nummy! Walked back to the hotel, showered, finished the delicious Belgium chocolate we had left over! What a day!
We walked across the river and into La Petite France – the old part of Strasbourg. It was beautiful! It had a unique combination of French and German influence. The houses all looked like the traditional German style houses, flower boxes everywhere, little cobblestone roads, and cute little bridges over the river – it was like living in a postcard! We found the Cathedral Notre Dame de Strasbourg (right) – it was all iron/steel, reminded me of the church that we saw in Freiburg when we went to Germany a few years ago. The inside was different than most churches that we’ve been in, it had a whole diorama scene from the bible, a “tower of angles,” and an astronomical clock.
Some of my friends did a boat cruise on the river, which sounded awesome! They learned all about the history of the town and interesting facts about each bridge (apparently they all have some meaning or historical story). I loved Strasbourg (especially Petite France); although there is not a lot to see, it is a very quaint and picturesque town!
Wednesday, March 31 - Strasbourg. Had another delicious French breakfast and then took the tram to the Council of Europe. Outside the building they had flags from the 47 countries that are in the Council of Europe – very cool to see (as you may have noticed, I have developed a liking for flags, weird I know). But the building was ugly! It looked like I was walking into a 1970s library at a subpar university in the states. We went into the debating chamber of the Parliamentary Assembly, then into a room painted in sorts of lovely shades of ‘70s green and listened to a really long and boring lecture about the Council of Europe – but I got some good daydreaming in. :) We went back to the hotel to change out of our nice clothes (gross, who wants to wear that all day?) and set off to explore the city!
We walked across the river and into La Petite France – the old part of Strasbourg. It was beautiful! It had a unique combination of French and German influence. The houses all looked like the traditional German style houses, flower boxes everywhere, little cobblestone roads, and cute little bridges over the river – it was like living in a postcard! We found the Cathedral Notre Dame de Strasbourg (right) – it was all iron/steel, reminded me of the church that we saw in Freiburg when we went to Germany a few years ago. The inside was different than most churches that we’ve been in, it had a whole diorama scene from the bible, a “tower of angles,” and an astronomical clock. 
Then we walked down by the river (saw a giant “litter box” for dogs, haha!) and to a big square. It was such a nice day, so we just sat there for a while…then we noticed it looked kind of weird. There were a ton of people around and there were army guys there walking around the square and setting up speakers and blasting music – it just had a really different feeling. I thought for sure a flash-mob was going to break out right then a there (for those of you who don’t know, it’s when music starts playing and people start doing the choreographed dance to it, then more and more people join in doing the dance; it seems spontaneous to outsiders, but it is all planned) unfortunately nothing happened, so we left. We walked through a flea market and to another square/park area with flowers and blooming trees; it was gorgeous! Then, time for dinner at the Academy of Beer in Petite France. 3 of us split a salad, flambé torte, and au gratin potatoes!! SO good!! It’s the first time I’ve ever had real au gratin potatoes, not the nasty kind from the box with the yellow/orange “cheese.” And an apple tart for dessert! It was an awesome end to a perfect day!
Some of my friends did a boat cruise on the river, which sounded awesome! They learned all about the history of the town and interesting facts about each bridge (apparently they all have some meaning or historical story). I loved Strasbourg (especially Petite France); although there is not a lot to see, it is a very quaint and picturesque town!
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