July 22, 2024
Day 9: The French Connection
Neuenberg am Rhein, DE to Strasbourg, FR
Today is a ride to Strasbourg where will take the first rest day (no riding allowed). The fatigue is setting in a little bit but also I’m a day ahead of schedule anyways and should do some more stay-put sightseeing.
The city of Strasbourg believe it or not will be the biggest city I’ve been in since I left Milan, at about 220k population. To be fair I purposely avoid most cities until now.
The ride today was very flat, through the French countryside right along a tributary of the Rhine. It mostly looked like this, interspersed with small towns.
Of course I was running low on groceries so I stopped in a couple boulangeries along the way for my pastry fixes.
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I also remembered/learned I can no longer simply ask for a “kaffee” as I did in German and have to say “café allongo”. I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m getting just a black coffee when I’m in Europe instead of one of the milky drinks they’re famous for - let me tell you why.
One, I love dairy but it’s too heavy when I need to keep moving along.
Two, I’m a corporate American drone and I’m conditioned to have my cup of joe and sip on it while I pontificate on what it means to make the computer go beep boop and provide shareholder value.
I appreciated the espresso in Italy and Ticino though so will keep ordering that too though. That’s delicious.
It’s just ingrained. I think I’d rather have a kaffee, a shot of espresso, or just skip the caffeine and ride the biking endorphins. Oops.
The pastries of course I will sample everything I possibly can while I’m out here.
Now that the rant nobody asked for is over we can have more beautiful farm pictures.
Lunch was simply from my groceries bag - almost finished my Nutella I lugged around since Italy along with some fresh bread I had picked up. As we approached Strasbourg, the population started thickening and lots of cool architecture to peek at.
Finally I checked into a hotel for nights two and three (in a row!) What luxury lately I am spoiled. This should let me recover a bit for leg two of the trip.
I did a bad job of eating enough calories today as it was really just a bar, a pastry, and some bread/nutella from my bag. So I set off to find some vegetables and protein as the first order of business (after a shower of course)
Dinner was an onion tart and some saucy noodles. It was heavenly. The Alsace region is a fun blend of German and French cuisine.
Of course also some macrons for deserve - perhaps the best chocolate macaron I’ve ever had in my life.
Today's ride: 102 km (63 miles)
Total: 749 km (465 miles)
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