On Tour with an Orchestra - Prelude (Strasbourg)

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We landed at Strasbourg and I was waved through with only a cursory glance at my passport. My first challenge was to get to my accommodation for the night. To do this I would need to take a taxi - the first time I'd ever taken a taxi in a country which didn't speak English.

I eventually found the way out of the airport and outside was a rank with a solitary taxi. In very broken French I asked to be taken to the hotel in Ostwald. There were two results of this request... Firstly I was very gratified to find that I was understood and I got that little thrill every traveller gets at overcoming their first linguistic barrier. Secondly, the driver had no idea where the hotel was. That didn't deter him though and he put my bags in the boot of the car and we set off. I was nervous as we set off without any clear idea where we were going; the driver didn't seem phased though. He got on the radio to his controller and they had a conversation for a few minutes and then started fiddling with the sat-nav. Eventually he found somewhere and seemed happy about the destination. We drove in silence; I didn't have enough French to converse and if he had any English at all he wasn't letting me into that secret.

As we pulled into an industrial estate, the charms of which were not enhanced by the gorgeous red light cast by the setting sun, I was not convinced we had got the right destination. I was even less convinced when I saw a couple sitting around a brazier outside a DIY store, it suddenly seemed like a very rough area.

At the end of the road I spotted a sign for 'Mister Bed', which was reassuring - I had been told that the hotel was opposite Mister Bed. Then I saw signs for not one but two Ibis Hotels. The driver asked me which I wanted and I had no idea. He dropped me outside one of them and I took my best guess. There was an automated system for getting into the rooms but I didn't have any of the information needed to use it so I just sat down on the wiry grass and sand outside the hotel. I had to wait for Lindsey to arrive with the orchestra who were playing a concert, so completely out of contact. I waited patiently for an hour and a half, starting to worry I was outside the wrong Ibis. The intermittent rumble of heavy goods trains didn't help the general impression I was forming of this location.

Eventually Lindsey arrived and was very surprised that I hadn't gone up to our room. It turned out that the message she had sent me with all of the details to get in would only be delivered two days later. It didn't matter though, after a long day we had both made it to our rendezvous and we were relieved to be reunited.

I was now with the orchestra and tomorrow I would meet them for the first time.

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Photos

Mister Bed
The Mister Bed Hotel with locals cooking outside.

Ibis Budget Hotel, Ostwald
Our accommodation for the night.