Lots of Alsatians and not a dog in sight

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I tell you something… the TVG moves like shit off a shovel! I know that’s not the most polite of statements but at an average 250 km per hour, it only took an hour and 10 minutes to get from Stuttgart to Strasbourg…not bad for going to another country. Strasbourg is the ideal city for a day visit. High tech, gorgeous train station with a clear road leading from it to the city centre. I love the fact that Strasbourg is in the region of Alsace and the people are called Alsatians!!!The river forms a circle round the old town and this is the heat of the city so that’s where I headed for. Beautiful old buildings and grand squares show that we have moved into a French inspired area. Finally the Cathedral Notre Dame is in sight and what a building….utterly breath-taking scale, particularly as you approach it up a small street until you are right in front of the main façade. The quaint streets leading down to the river from there are packed with restaurants and shops bordering narrow alleyways…lots of photo opportunities to feel like you are back in Tudor times (even though the Tudors were nothing to do with this part of the world I know). I queued for ages to get on the boat tour…honestly if I have discovered one thing about my long trip round Europe it’s how much I hate other tourists. Why do they always invade your personal space… particularly when queuing? Do you think that poking me in the back with your camera or bag is going to get you on the boat/bus/plane quicker? The boat was a fantastic way to see the city as it did a full loop of the river and also went out of the man belt to the Eurozone to see the European parliament buildings and the European court of human rights which were very interesting. The good thing about the boat was the commentary which gave you a history and description of everything you were seeing. Afterwards I walked half the route again, sometimes taking backstreets and seeing more closely things I had seen from the boat. The place where I spent most of my time and took most photos was the area called petite France… so beautiful and charming and picturesque. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Strasbourg and it seemed to revive me after flagging energies n Stuttgart.

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