Day 12 - Paris to Strasbourg to Switzerland
Trip Start
Aug 05, 2011
1
18
42
Trip End
Sep 01, 2011
What I did
Strasbourg, Alsace, France
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
It's the scenic route, alight, but it does go on. At some point the town is fairly big, and the British GPS guides us through two roundabouts. I spot a McDonald's and we stop. I walk in and find the restroom door, but it's locked, so I sit back and wait. A grandmother and her 4 or 5 year old grandson are sitting nearby. The grandmother says, "Should we help him?", and the grandson walks up to the door, pushes 4 number buttons on a keypad by the door and opens the door for me. "You have to use the code" he tells me politely. I thank him. When I come out I try to buy some coffee with my credit card using the kiosk, but it gets rejected.
When Anne and Katie go in, I tell them about the credit problem and the code. It turns out you get a code on your receipt, which they got by paying cash and ordering via the humans.
It takes some doing to get back to highway. We continue driving and we end up going right through the heart of very small, somewhat small, and medium size towns. As we get closer to Strasbourg we can see the A4 highway off to our left. The cars and trucks are flying by while we wait at stop signs or for someone to cross the street.
We enter Strasbourg by crossing the river, and then the streets get very small and European. We are totally dependent on the GPS as it guides us through old Strasbourg among the many pedestrians and cyclists. It takes us to the entrance of a small alley that is closed off to cars by 3 concrete pylons about 2 feet high. "You have arrived at your destination," the GPS says.
But we have been forewarned. One of the reviews of our hotel, the Cour du Corbeau, mentioned how to get in. Sure enough I see a small intercom box to the left of the barriers. I walk up to it and buzz in. "Bonsoir" says a voice from the box. "We have a reservation for the hotel," I say. The center pylon drops down into the ground, leaving just enough room for our car to get through. At the end of the alley, 4 men in black shirts and black pants rush out of the hotel and stand waiting for us. They take our bags in and drive our car away to park it. "Wow!" says Grant.
The Cour du Corbeau is a beautiful old hotel. It's definitely a splurge. We have two separate rooms. Katie and Anne get the larger junior suite, and we take all of our bags there. After making a plan for the night, Grant and I take our bags down the hall to our room. When we get there none of our lights work. We're in the dark. Only when Anne and Katie join us do they tell us that we need to put our card key in a slot by the door to make the lights work. This way you can't leave the room with any lights on. Smart. Every hotel we stayed at afterward did the same thing.
We walked over to Strasbourg center and it couldn't have been more European. Being on the border of France and Germany, it had strong features of both countries. The main event of course was the Strasbourg Cathedral. It is huge. It is ornate. It is 46 stories tall.
The hotel had recommended a restaurant, but none of us were hungry enough to justify taking up a cafe table for the entire night. So we decided to walk back to the hotel for a dinner of bread, cheese and snacks from the Monoprix. On the way back we saw a sign that said every night at 20:10 there was a light show at the cathedral.
After a surprisingly well put together dinner in the junior suite, we walked back for the light show. It was done very well. They used the lights to highlight all the different elements of the ornate cathedral - the three doorways, statues of saints above the doorway, more statues 20 stories higher, the large round stained glass window lit from the inside. Set to classical music, it was like watching the cathedral being instantly created in front of you.
After the show we had gelato on the square. We were told in French that first you pay for your size, then you move down the line and ask for your flavor. We got a "banc vide" right in front of the shop. Anne voted these the best gelato of the trip and she never took that designation away.
We went back to the hotel and had a late night family party in the junior suite. Katie took a bubble bath and came out with an impressive bubble beard.
Woke up at 9:30. Grant and I in the small room, Anne and Katie stayed in the junior suite. I tried to call their room using the phone, but I wasn't exactly sure what their room number was, and I wasn't exactly sure if it was a recording or a sleepy man telling me "Ne Quittez Pas", so I hung up and decided to walk. Grant was more confident in the room number, ("It's definitely 115, Dad") and he knew how to walk to it, so he led the way.
Without a breakfast, we walked back to the square and took a table in a cafe by the cathedral to get an early lunch. The sun was hot. Some more people in the cathedral square touring.Some more vendors, yes, but nothing like Paris. Musicians played in the square to those of us in the cafes.
A young man sits in the table next to us. He is dining alone. He applauds the small violin/accordian duo and offers them some encouragement. He is so familiar with them that I wonder if he knows them. He calls over a friend of his who is walking by and now they talk. They both seem to be college students, but the one at the table seems to be better dressed and probably more well off, seeing as he is eating at this somewhat overpriced cafe. Also, he never asked his friend to sit down and join him. When his friend says goodbye, the young man calls over the waiter and has an extensive discussion about the special, asking whether the pork chop is "le flame" or baked. He overhears our english and talks to us. He knows a little more english than we know french.
The young man tells us he is from a small town in France, is in Strasbourg for 3 days looking for a job. Strasborg is a beautiful city. Anne and I struggle with our very meager French. I get out that I work with computers, "L'Ordinateurs", and he seems impressed. He struggle s to get out the phrase.
"I think... (points to head)...your job. Ahhh, I think..... your job."
"En Francais?" I ask him, thinking maybe I can understand what he wants to say in French. But it's no use. His food comes and we say, "Bon Appettite".
When our meal is over, he says that perhaps we will meet again in the cathedral. Then he tries to say something else, "We treet, we treat" he struggles, but he never finds the word.
Later we discuss him. "If he needed a job, why was he sitting in that overpriced cafe?" I ask, "And if he just got to town, how does he know that friend of his?"
"That wasn't a friend of his at all," Anne tells me, "he just pulled him over and spoke to him just like he spoke to us. "
The cathedral is very nice inside, but nothing like the exterior. Inside is a giant clock metal clock that comes alive with a lot of "cuckoo clock" activity on the hour - saints coming out of doors and such things - but they only let that happen at 1pm and we've missed it.
The other thing to see in Strasbourg is Petite France. We walk through town to see it, and come across a very impressive streetcar system. Basically a tour bus on a track powered by wires overhead.
It's very hot in the 1pm sun, and I'm anxious to start our drive to Gruyere. We are down by the river, and there is some confusion about how to get to Petit France. I show Anne some old buildings in the distance and conjecture "That's it right there I suppose. No need to walk all the way." So we settle on seeing Petite France from a distance, if indeed I was right about those buildings.
We get our car back from the hotel, and set out. It's a madcap drive trying to get out of Strasbourg. I want to go one way, Anne's got another way on the map, and the GPS is trying something else entirely. I know I ran one red light, but Anne says I ran two. We finally get across the river and exit France. I stop at the first gas station in Germany to calm down and get gas. While I gas up, Katie and Grant go in to the store. My american credit has been spotty since we've gotten here, so because I have a 50 Euro note in my pocket, I stop the pump at 47 Euros.
Katie and Grant come out with snacks, but they are disappointed that they didn't have enough money to by a can of Pringles. When I go in I see the can and add it to my gas bill, so I get a few coins back in change. I'm not sure what language flies here, so I fall back on my French. When the transaction is over, I get a very friendly, but very loud, "Auf Widersehen!" from the older woman behind the counter. Katie and Grant said she did the same thing to them.
The landscape changes in Germany. Either because we are in a new country, or we are taking the highway.
Stopped at the border of Switzerland where we have to buy a 40 Euro pass to drive the Swiss highways. The border patrol man who sells me the pass has something between a british and new york accent. "Do I put it on the right side of the windshield?" I ask. He give me a stern look. "On the left", he say, "it's written on the sticker." So it is "Thanks", I say.
The mountains of switzerland begin immediately.We are driving through long swiss tunnels right away. The british GPS system in our Mercedes gets me through it all. "Keep left and follow the E24" she says. At one point Anne tried to do her job and point out signs for me, but the British lady does it so much better.
