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Published: January 14th 2007
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A Brief Foray into France
After our one great skiing day and our second day with some skiing and some relaxing, it was time to leave Zermatt and the Matterhorn area. While we loved being in the mountains, we both looked forward to some lower altitudes and easier breathing. Mike hadn’t slept all that well cause when he laid down he had trouble catching a breath. Thus, onward and in this case, downward. (haha)
Driving to Strasbourg After breakfast we trucked our packs down to the train station for the 20 min train ride to our car parked in Tasch (next town over, Zermatt’s car free). We were on our way. Tom Tom gave us an estimate of 4.5 hours drive if we were to go the “expected” speed all the way. What we knew and Tom Tom didn’t is that slow is the only doable speed on the Swiss mountain switchback roads in the winter. Thus, we knew a long day of driving was in our future.
We were lucky to get a nice day for driving and lots of interesting views along the way. It always amazes us that in a couple
of hours of driving, the landscape and architecture can change dramatically. We drove by mountain cabins, churches on hilltops and even farms in the valleys, lush with green grass and inhabited by hardy cows and sheep. The Swiss countryside is beautiful and extremely varied.
Wow, what a snazzy rest stop! With about 2 hours left in the drive, we realized that we needed to stop for lunch. This is usually flagged by Mike getting sleepy and me getting snarly and/or restless. Women are not meant to be hungry - it’s a bad experience for all involved.
We stopped in Basel, the last stop in Switzerland before we moved into France. The rest stop was essentially a mall on the side of the road with anything a driver could need. It had 2 floors, the 1st with basic snacks and things and the 2nd with a full mall experience. There was a drugstore, wine and cigar humidor, and both a café and restaurant. We had lunch in the restaurant which sported modern classy décor and freshly made food on demand. They were making fresh curry, pasta dishes and even steaks and sausages on the grill. Marry
that with the farmstand fresh fruit, vegetables and salad bar and it was quite impressive. Our lunch was more expensive than a quick stop at the Golden Arches, but so much tastier and enjoyable to relax.
The place was busy, showing that there is a market for a nicely designed and maintained rest stop facility. I would love to see these in the US - many a road trip has contained nasty bathrooms and a quick burger & fries on the way for me. McD’s has a place in the picture, but having a better alternative is awesome. Urban planners, get on it!
Even Tom Tom doesn’t really understand the French We made it to Strasbourg, a French city in the Alsace region, in the late afternoon after some circular driving. Tom Tom got quite kerflummoxed by the French roads and had us circling the hotel a couple of times before we quite got it. But we made it and it’s lovely!
Strasbourg as a city is very close to the German border and the influence is evident everywhere. Throughout history, it has changed hands back and forth many times so it is both
uniquely French and German. Both languages show up on many road signs and menus, the architecture has the brown/white look so prevalent in German villages and the old town has Germanic elements.
We explored a bit that afternoon before dinner, checking out the Cathedral of Notre Dame (the “other” one) from afar and poking into some shops. Much like the US, they’re in the throes of after-Christmas sales so people are on the hunt for a good deal.
It doesn’t seem like flambé, but it is delicious! While walking earlier we saw a French brasserie (what Can Can on Cary Street in Richmond wants to be) that looked delicious about ¾ mile away from the hotel, so off we trekked to have dinner. The specialty of the house was “tarte flambé” so we ordered it as a starter. We had literally no idea what it was, but it had goat cheese in it and that sounded good, so we hoped for the best. It ended up to be essentially a flat bread pizza with ham, onion, white sauce and slices of goat cheese on it, all baked. It was super delicious! Apparently it was quite
the thing to have as we subsequently watched every other table around us get one too. We totally understood why!
Dinner was classic roast chicken and steak with pommes frites. Tasty and simple after a long day - we both enjoyed immensely. After dinner, we took our time wandering back home and then tucked into bed happily.
A quick note about bed: this is the first time we’ve actually gotten to share one since Marbella, Spain. A “double” bed in Germany/Austria/Switzerland is 2 beds with a wooden divider between them, each with their own blanket. They don’t believe in a topsheet, so we’ve both been in our individual sleep sacks. Quite comfy all around, but since we are married and do rather like each other, it was nice to get to snuggle up under a blanket again. The little things do bring us joy in new ways as we travel.
Our day to explore Strasbourg Tomorrow we drive to Frankfurt, Germany to return our car and get ready for our flight to Dubai the next day. We only have today for Strasbourg, so we’d better see it all! Luckily, it doesn’t take long.
We spent most of today walking around the old town of Strasbourg. It looks a lot like Amsterdam with its canals and tall homes bumping up against the river walls. Strasbourg is actually on the Rhine and water flows around and through it, intersecting the city and providing great views and lovely pedestrian bridges.
We slept in late (the one bed thing made for great sleeping) and therefore missed breakfast altogether. We stopped in a pizza/pasta place for lunch instead. The menu was completely in French, but with some context clues and my fuzzy memories of French class at college, we did just fine. There was a young family next to us with 2 children under 5 yrs old and they were very cutely French. They toasted each other with wine (parents) and apple juice (kids) multiple times during lunch - I guess that’s how you learn to be French. Salut!
We also went into the Cathedral, which took 300 years in the Middle Ages to construct. It manages to be both Gothic and decently light as well, which was a huge improvement on some of the oppressively dark ones we saw in Spain. I took a moment
to light a candle and pray for our friends who have little ones on the way, for health and readiness as a family-to-be.
We’re relaxing in our hotel right now before dinner and enjoying it immensely. I got a “Hot Deal” on our hotel (Sofitel Strasbourg) so we got a better place within budget. Our favorite entertainment has become BBC Prime, the non-news station of the BBC. If a hotel has it, it is the only English station with shows that we’ve found in Europe. We’ve gotten into a couple of British sitcoms - one with Judi Dench that’s quite good - but some of their comedy shows still befuddle us. Humor really is a cultural thing, it’s interesting! Thus, kicking back on the bed and watching the Brits on TV is the order of the hour.
Happy Saturday, one and all! Enjoy your weekend and play hard!
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Beth
non-member comment
nice!
Wow, Strasbourg looks very nice. Have fun!