Inter Hotel Le Forum Strasbourg

... so the combined train fare wasn't so astonishing.

I arrived in Strasbourg a few minutes before my brother's train so I went there to meet him. He was already there, looking around lost and confused. He spotted me and came over excitedly, and then spotted Lincoln. He made such a big scene over seeing my dog that some girls nearby laughed. He told me he had really hoped I would bring Lincoln. Of course Lincoln comes everywhere with me now!

We ...

... that had sustained a lot of damage during the war. Sometimes traveling is all about last minute decisions that turn out to be can’t-miss surprises, and that’s exactly what Strasbourg became.

Though there aren’t many first class sights in Strasbourg – unless you count the Kronenbourg Brewery that can only be seen with reservations we didn’t have and the EU Parliament which is really just a bunch of politicians ...

... tarte flambée contains only bacon and onions. We decided to take it to the next level where they also add cheese as a topping. It was delicious! We completed our meal with French beer, Kronenbourg, which is everywhere here (though I have drank it in Canada as well). After lunch we started our second audio tour but were tired of walking long before it was completed. We had visited many important buildings outside of the ...

... sound at 12:30. We hurry in with lots of others only to realize there are lots of others already in there! There are so many people here not everyone can get into see the presentation and the clock! A couple more screens would make sense so all can see how it was made and how it works and the meanings of each part. It is a work of art and incredible feat for the year it was made and the year it was remade. When 12:30 came ...

We caught the wrong train and wound up in Gengenbach. While we were waiting for a train back we met a lady who told us the town had a beautiful old-town section. So we went discovering again. After a good look around we stopped at a pub while we were waiting for the next train and got talking to the owner. Turns out he'd been to Australia on holiday, so we had a good time talking to him until it was time to go.

... Ah well, it was almost as amusing to watch the tourists jockey for position with their camcorders. In the afternoon we took a boat ride around the city. The views were lovely, but the recorded English commentary was something else...´On your right is a park where the people of Strasbourg like to walk´...´On the left is the church of St. Whatever. The people of Strasbourg beat the carpenter after its construction because they did not like the steeple.´ Last night was ...

... blockade
-all the tolls (~30E one way)
epic excursion to the Zenith (highway, pointy fence, cow ****)
Queens of the Stone Age at the Zenith
-missed 2/3 of their 1.5 hour set
-small venue
tucked in by 12 (sneaking in through the window of the hotel due to max 2 per room)

... this option. It's use, however, is limited in that (a) most of the time I am in the middle of nowhere and there are no shops, and (b) when there are shops, (i cant describe my excitement yesterday at discovering a Gallerie Lafayette next to my hotel) I only have 2 small panniers to store the shopping booty. Tip3. Sing a song. This only works well when I am in the middle of nowhere and alone as my singing ...

New Year's Day-As you can imagine, I felt sick the next day! Because I didn't sleep well the following night, I was still tired so I slept in till about noon. Also since I had drunk too much the night before, I was dredfully hung over. I had a throbbing head ache, and I had a horrible stomach ache. I was so sick that I actually threw up. Luckily I had a bathroom in my room, so that wasn't so bad. To help wake myself up and also to just help ...

So, the nightlife here is weird b/c we hardly see anyone out at all and these bars wouldnt have hardly any people in them, unless they were in an alley and not in the main square. We had wine with our dinner at the conference but still went out for a beer after and it was hard to find anything. One person here thinks that Euros dont go out until really late, so that may explain it. Tom called Liz at 1 am to talk and she let me know that UT ...