Day 8 - Strasbourg (France) - Ride the Rhine

September 16, 2024

Day 8 - Strasbourg (France)

Rest Day and Touring the City

We decided to take a rest day today, avoid the rains predicted for the afternoon if we would have continued north of town and take in a bit of the beautiful city of Strasbourg.

We started with a walking tour of city in the morning. We visited the tourist information center in town and paid for the audio walking tour. So they gave us maps and audio devices to describe the various landmarks we visited.

Then later in the afternoon as the rain really came down, we ran some errands. We had been looking for a pedal wrench ever since we started our trip and the airport security folks at Dulles had confiscated the one we brought because it was too long. We must have stopped in more than 10 bike shops along our ride and while everyone had their own pedal wrenches, no one was selling any. We needed our own to remove our pedals when we eventually got back to Frankfurt and had to pack our bikes in boxes for the return flight in. So we were fortunate to finally find a pedal wrench at a large "Decathlon" Sports store at a mall.

We also picked up some zip ties. I got a haircut (fuzz removal) and Ellen finally got some crepes that she'd been craving ever since we arrived in France the previous day.

Packing up this morning in our previous night's place in Strasbourg. We had rented the room on Sunday night for $77 (which included breakfast). But when we decided to stay in Strasbourg for the night and went to extend our reservation for another night they were gonna charge us $220.So we decided to look at other options and found an Airbnb place with some perks... (a Les Paul and cat)

All our bags were able to fit in a locker for the day.

Walking tour of Strasbourg - me checking out the courtyard at Rohan Palace

Ellen relaxing during our walking tour of Strasbourg

Me on the walking tour by the canal lock

Typically beautiful houses along one of the reflective canals in Strasbourg

Me on the walking tour near Pont Tournant

Ellen on the walking tour of Strasbourg in another beautiful public square

Another typically beautiful square on the walking tour today

We kept seeing pockets of camo clad soldiers walking the streets with huge automatic weapons and fingers at the ready by the trigger. We later learned these patrols were a result of terror threats a couple years back.

Ellen on the West facing side of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg. This is only a tiny sliver of a view of this massive structure.

Inside the Notre Dame Cathedral during the walking tour

Ellen in the stairwell of the Notre Dame Cathedral. We climbed 320 steps of a super tight spiral staircase to the top. It was literally more dizzying than tiring.

Trying to snatch some good luck coins left on top of one of the kings' crowns

Lunch at a restaurant in Benjamin Zix Place. Ellen had to order some escargot and wine (Pinot Noir) from Alsace. Bonus - we ate next to and struck up a conversation with a woman who turned out to be a former Minister of Justice for Finland (sort of the rough equivalent of Merrick Garland) and was currently serving as a parliamentary representative for Finland at the EU gatherings happening in Strasbourg this week. She told us that the Hungarians had been making the parliament's business more complicated as of late.

Finnish EU Parliament member who ate next to us - Anna-Maja Henriksson

Ellen at Kleber Place next to a statue of Jean-Baptiste Kleber (famous French military leader from Strasbourg) which has been erected over top his remains (all except his heart which is in Paris for some reason)

As it got a little more rainy this afternoon we decided to run some errands including a weekly fuzz removal at a local barber shop for me. I had forgotten how relaxing it is to have someone else cut your hair.

Ellen had to have some crepes. This picture should have been of her.

Our Airbnb hosts for the night had a Les Paul AND a cat! Good Times!!

Another shot of me enjoying the cat at our Airbnb tonight

Dinner at a really nice Lebanese place tonight

We stopped by our previous night's hotel to check out the music act for the night and it was a DJ

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