France day, 8 Griffith

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Friday, May 29. Today was the day of finding out what Strasberg, France was all about and what it had to offer. My morning began at 7:30am not waking up in Engleberg hotel but in a chateu in Strasberg. This morning when I went to eat breakfast I was hopeing to have scrammbled eggs like in our other hotel but I was sadly disappointed. Anywho after breakfast it was already time to take the bus to Strasberg. When we arrived the first thing on the agenda was to take a tour about the history of Strasberg on a boat. I'd have to say that the boat we were on was one the neatest things I've ever seen. It was kind of rectanlgular sahpped that had no celling and it probably held at least 60 people. When the tour began we had to wear headphones and it was funny because there's a nob that you turn to put whatever language you know. Well, I had to turn my about ten times to finally find english. During the ride we got see absolutley beautiful senary and surprisingly enough when we were on the boat many people waveD. I thought that was very unusal because I figure the French did not like tourist and espacially American ones at that. When we were done with the tour we had about a hour and forty-five minute break to do whatever we chose. Our little group decided to grab lunch and take it back to the cathdrel steps. I had some great cheese pizza with a water. The price shocked me because in Englberg all of meals were not under 13 Swiss franks and here in Strasberg I only paid 6 Euros. Anyways while I was eating my pizza on the cathdrel steps I heard a lady who I could distintly tell she was from America. So I asked her where she was from and what she was doing in France. She told me that she was from Georgia and that she was on a highschool field trip with the kids she taught french. I thought it was really cool because when her students first began taking french class, she paired her American students with french students. When the time came to visit France her students had places to stay, with there pen pals. I thought it was a great way to learn. Also, while we were sitting there at least three beggers came up to us asking for money. She told me to ignore them because the France government takes really good care of the needy. I call them "beggers" because they literally are not homeless because homes, medicad and other things of that natue are provided for these people who don't work and make a living by the government. After lunch when the group got back together we headed to this little bakery, ice cream and chocolate speacialty store called Christian. It was a delightful experience. The food they had was absolutley to die for. When we got there the women who worked there told us to go to the third floor and there we could find the chef (not sure that's what you call people who make chocolate). So we get up there and he starts telling us that each floor has a specific job. Like, the third floor if for chocolate and ice cream. One of the second floor was for the baked goods. This guy was so awsome, his personality was just so hilarious because somehow someone asked him about women and he responded he only needed chocolate and that's why he is deviroced. His wife told him to choose between his job and her and he said the decsion was to easy and just the way he said it you knew he was dead serious that it was so funny. So he let us try some of his chocolate and the very first thing we tasted was an actualy coco bean. Then we tasted dark chocolate from Africa, the india ocean and somewhere else but I'm drawing a blank. After that he had about 6 or 7 different kinds of chocolate bites. They were all amazing. The goodtimes were not over because then he let us try his speciality ise cream. I asked him which one he recommended and so he gave me some kind of lemon/mint and I cound't get enough that I asked for more. The only one that I tryed and didn't like was the red pepper flavor, it just wasn't for me. I asked him what was different from his ice cream and others. He told me that he does not put milk or cream in his ice cream but purely fresh fruits and other spices. He was telling us about an ice cream he makes with avocotes and he made it sound wonderful but he didn't have any because they weren't in season. After leaving there we had some spare time and got to walk around Starsberg. Overall it was a great day besides my feet killing me. By the end of everyday my feet are on fire but let me tell you all the walking is worth it.

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