Strasbourg

Mick and I had a good walk around Speyer today, stopping for coffee in a cafe.  I packed an overnight bag and sorted the rest of our belongings.  After Tamara finished school and we had lunch, we all piled in the car for a journey across the border to Strasbourg in France.  The border is a non-event these days with nobody at the old buildings where they used to stop cars before they crossed into France.

With many of the central streets of Strasbourg being pedestrian access only it was a bit difficult to find somewhere to park the car near the hotel. It was also difficult to ask for help! In the end we left Claudia and Tamara waiting in the car and Mick and I walked across the square past the cathedral to the hotel and they gave us directions to their allocated parking space.

We found the parking building ok but what a strange place it was. There was no lighting whatsoever and it was extremely narrow. When we reached the fifth floor the parking space itself was also really tiny. Claudia was stressed out about trying to squeeze her car into the space but the rest of us got out and offered guidance. It was very conveniently located so worth the fussing.

The hotel was in a fantastic position, just around the corner from the cathedral. We couldn't have chosen better.  It's a basic hotel but we only wanted somewhere clean to sleep.  Being valentines day there were red paper hearts strewn across the beds.  Mick is about as romantic as a brick so I knew his assurances that he had arranged them were nonsense.

Mick and I dumped our bags in our room and headed out for a walk before it got dark. Strasbourg is a very pretty city with canals through.  We checked out the cathedral which is a stunning building.  There were dozens of souvenir shops and plenty of chocolate shops and also some selling a huge array of tiny biscuits.  Very pricey.

We met Claudia and Tamara for dinner and strolled checking out menus. We ended up choosing the restaurant below our hotel. It was ok but nothing flash.  Mick was horrified at the cost of his pint of beer which cost 7 euros! Only one then.

After dinner we walked to the area called Petit France. It was lovely at night with the half timberd buildings lit by street lighting. On the walk back to the hotel Tamara couldn't resist a French crepe... her second for the day!

So tomorrow we have the markets to investigate and then a French supermarket on the way back to Speyer.