Strasbourg

Hey guys. I realized I forgot to tell everyone about our trip to strasbourg last Saturday. I went with six other people, including my friend from California Kelleen, and it was tons of fun.

Strasbourg is about an hour away from here by car, in France. It is a pretty city with gorgeous buildings... I can't wait to go back there (if your reading this Dad and Bev, I would like to take you guys there when you are here) when it is warmer. We went to see the Weihnachtsmarkt (christmas market) there, which was pretty, though we didn't see too much of it. Our problem was that it was too cold. Usually it feels like Minnesota in the early spring time, when it is just a little chilly. Last Saturday though, it felt like Minnesota in December, the wind was pretty cold. We'd look around the Weihnachtsmarkt for 10 or 15 minutes, then would pop back inside the big Cathedral or the Tourist Office for few minutes, then go back outside, etc. So, we didn't see too much of the Weihnachtsmarkt.

Around 6 we had all had enough of the masses of people that were there and the colder weather, so we decided to go eat. We went to a nice restaurant (though a little expensive. it seems france is expensive. at least in Strasbourg), and had a nice dinner. I had Chicken Cordon Bleu, which was delicious.

We got back to the train station at about 9:10 that night, only to find out that a bus driving us to Saarguemines (a french village that is connected to Saarbruecken by a street train)was leaving in 7 minutes. It took most of the 7 minutes just to learn from people where the bus is. We took off running towards where we were told to go, only to find out that it wasn't our bus. So, we missed it because we couldn't find it. We went back inside to see when the next train was, only to learn that there was no train or bus leaving for Saarguemines that night. Now, you have to understand, this is odd, because in Germany trains run until about 1 or 2 in the morning... particularly in big cities. And Strassbourg is a big city. At least bigger than Saarbruecken, and we have lots of trains running late into the night. So, then we thought about just sleeping in the train station until the next morning. Nope, train station was closed from 1 am to 5 am (also a rare, unnormal occurance). So, then we asked about Youth Hostels (cheap places to stay for students) or hotels.. nope, every single room in the city was booked. So... then we asked how much a taxi would cost. The driver said 100 Euro. No more than 130 tops. Okay, split that between seven people, and it isn't so horrible. Better than roaming the streets (or hanging out in a bar all night, which was also suggested, and I was completely against. no thank you.) so we went home. Except when we got there the meter said 210 Euros. ack. my friend Kelleen (who speaks French fluently) argued a bit with him... and we got it down to 160 Euros (but accidently paid 170).... so that sucked. THen we missed our street train, and had to wait another hour before we could get home.

SO, I finally got home... which was nice. Strasbourg was pretty and I want to go back and see the city more, but now I know that either I should stay overnight there when I go, or that I should go during the week. Crazy train schedules...