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Published: November 8th 2007
16th October 2007 - Strasbourg We took a walk around the city in the general direction of the Botanical Gardens, following the river Ill. Never made it to the gardens, but enjoyed the walk anyway. Had to try to get back to the main Cathedral before midday to meet Al and Melissa so we could get and see the astronomical clock do it’s stuff.
Strasbourg is a lovely city, had to laugh at the sign on the banks of the river at a café with deck chairs set out in the sun - Strasbourg Plage (Sans la Plage), the Strasbourg Beach (Without the beach).
The clock is a wonder to watch and midday and midnight are naturally the best time to view it do the business. There is a parade of figures and sounds supposedly set to remind us that time controls our lives and is slowly ticking on no matter what we try to do to stop it.
Met with Ella-Pauline during her lunch break. She was cramming in lots of study to finalise her degree as a Pharmacist and also to try and get her drivers license. She will soon be heading to a town
in Lorraine to take up a new job. It was a rushed meeting but we were happy to say “G’day” while we could.
We took a short tour on the mini train around the city. Yep, another very touristy activity but worth the few euro to get a look around. The couple sitting behind us were from the Midi Pyrénées they complimented me on my attempts to converse with them and we actually managed to exchange a fair amount of information on the sort train ride, sometimes I can surprise myself.
Missing the TGV Somehow we managed to forget the time, eating and drinking can help you do that! We suddenly realised we had to make a dash to the railway station for our TGV to Paris. We first headed in the wrong direction (who was it that insisted they knew the way?). Luckily we got pointed in the right direction before we had gone too far astray. We did a short sprint across the square to the station, with me knocking over a bicycle along the way. We were in hot pursuit of a man in a brown suit who seemed like he knew where he
was running to. I almost caught him at the bottom of the stairs to the platform. But he was running for a train to Switzerland! Unfortunately, we missed the train by about two minutes.
At the ticket desk we explained our plight to a SNCF worker who informed us that normally if you miss the train it is your bad luck and you loose your money. He decided to make an exception on our part, after we convinced him we were inept Aussies and were in need of some sympathy. So, we made sure we were on the platform well and truly in time for our new set of tickets. The TGV is such a big bonus, cutting the travel time to Paris in half. We even got fed into the bargain.
Because Jean and Beatrice took our luggage by car to Paris we had no bags to deal with making it via the metro to their apartment. Sure, we were a bit later than planned but we had made it at last.
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