Au Revoir France

‘Today we were docked in Germany. We crossed a bridge and were in France on the other side of the river in Strasbourg. We passed by the European Court of Human Rights. If you win a case here, all of Europe must change the law to conform to your win. We also passed by the European Union headquarters. They have meetings in Brussels, then have to travel to Strasbourg to vote.
The city is a mixture of new and old, very Germanic presence. The province of Alsace, of which Strasbourg is the capitol, was mostly under German Rule. It was passed back and forth according to who won the war, France or Germany. The province of Lorraine is the same.

There are many old style buildings. We drove by one of the richest neighborhoods in the city with huge, beautiful homes. We were dropped off on a street with the Leisure group. Then another leisure group joined us and suddenly there were 40 people in the group. We decided to drop out and tried to get directions on where to meet. We couldn’t get a straight answer. We had an area to meet but couldn’t find it on the map! So we just started walking towards the cathedral. We came up behind it and walked through part of the Christmas Market. The vendors were very busy replenishing supplies for the day. We walked around to the front through more markets, not yet open. So we found a coffee shop and went inside. I had a limonade and everyone else had coffee. Rudy was first to use the restrooms in the basement. He came back with pictures; the men’s room had a stick figure of a man crossing his legs to hold it in. The word Blah was under the drawing. The women’s had a woman crossing her legs with the words Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah about 20 times. The third door had a drawing of a baby with Wah, wah, wah. Very creative.
‘When we came out the market was open. All I wanted was a wine mug. I went to one place and asked, in French, for an empty cup. All they had was plastic. He wouldn’t sell it to me, so we walked on. Then we came to a crepe stand that had a pretty red ceramic mug. I got a sugar and butter crepe and my mug. Betty got a mug too. After she tasted my crepe, she wanted one but we had to go find our meeting point. First we asked a Viking guide where to meet. He pointed us to a square a block away. There we found another guide who pointed us in the right direction. The buses weren’t allowed into the city center. The entire area around the cathedral was blocked off to traffic with police manning the barricades.

We finally found the area where we needed to be. There were several vans lined up to take the groups to the buses. I asked a man in the van about the ride. He thought I was trying to hire him and said it was reserved. Then I told him we were with Viking and he got us to the right man. Then he drove us to the bus loading area. There were 5 Viking ships in Strasbourg today. That combined with it being a Sunday and the regular market crowds, it was very, very crowded by noon. They told us to watch out for pickpockets, so we were very careful to keep our things close.
‘We took the bus back to the ship and got there just in time for lunch. Just what I needed was more food, Burt of course I ate part of it with Black Forest cake for dessert.

Tomorrow is disembarkation day. Bags out by 7:00, out of the room by 8:00 and we have a city tour of Basel, Switzerland, then on to Zurich. The fun just keeps going on.

Photos. The top photo is of a tram in the city. Others are of the cathedral, decorations on the market booths, and one shot of the mob in the street. I took a picture of the lady who was making my crepe. It was delicious. There is a picture of my collection of mugs, the pyramid at the entrance to the market and a little cart selling roasted chestnuts. Strasbourg has the oldest Christmas market in Europe. There is also a picture of us entering a lock on the river. We’ve gone through several and gone up 20 or more feet each time.
‘Dinner tonight was a ribeye steak with mashed potatoes, vegetables and plum tart for dessert. I could only eat half the steak. Rudy finished it off for me.
‘We played one round of Five Crowns and called it a night. Another 5000+ steps today and I’m tired.

The next part of the adventure begins tomorrow!