I was feeling really run-down after the castle tour, and on Tuesday morning I woke up with a really nasty cold. I went home early that afternoon to hopefully sleep off whatever it was that I had, but it wasn't going anywhere without a fight. Two days later was so sick I found a doctor, who told me that my "cold" was, in fact, bronchitis and a sinus infection. He prescribed a metric poop-tonne of medication, and now I'm feeling more human.
I pretty much slept all week. I really have nothing interesting to report, except that I FINALLY got the first care package that my Mommy sent me (on Feb 7ish)!!! 6 weeks isn't that bad. Apparently at the post office, when she sent it, they told her that it could take up to 12 weeks to arrive.
Clockwise from the far left: Canada pencils (for the Scouts), orange-flavoured craisins, card that made me cry, cinnamon Valentine's hearts, floss, Kashi bars (yum), and a luggage strap to replace the one that broke on the way here. My mom's the greatest. But I digress. On to the weekend!
I got myself together early Saturday morning and hopped on a train. I had an hour layover in Besançon, and Frédéric told me it was beautiful, so I decided to find out for myself.
Yep, this city is gorgeous. From the flowerbeds...
... to the romantic old ramparts...
... to the river (the Seine) and fountain. Shortly after this picture was taken, I swallowed a bug. Not my idea, but not even that could spoil this city for me.
I don't know what a "Flunch" is, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.
I took another quick train ride to Strasbourg, and the adventuring began.
All along the stream by the hostel were these little garden huts. They weren't all this nice, but they were charming.
Breanne in her sweet glasses, in a pose that we made many times this weekend. Thank goodness for awesome maps.
Kir for two. Breanne gave me the most excellent hug at the train station! I've only had one other hug the entire time I've been here. I'm getting used to the cheek-kissing thing, but I miss hugs.
The first (and only) Hummer I've seen since I got here. I was shocked to see this monster at the market! The flowers suggest wedding rental. Breanne tells me she's seen a couple pickup trucks, but I sure haven't.
Yep, Neufeld Street. There's also Neufeld School and Neufeld Square. I was pretty pumped.
Springtime in this city is fantastic. We got crud all over our pants from playing in this tree, but it was worth it!
I seriously doubt that a person would want to eat anything he caught in this river, but it's an excellent way to pass an afternoon.
Scary bunnies! These were in somebody's garden.
Ok, scenery time. The buildings here were a mix of stone, brick, and timber. The metals on the roofs age in very interesting ways!
A canal runs through the city, and there are a lot of houses and restaurants that hang out over the water.
I love this house!
Breanne creeping on mannequins. The censor bar is there for a reason!
Choucroute, or sauerkraut with potatoes and 5 different kinds of pork. It wasn't really that pink. There were heat lamps on the patio that made it look funny. But it tasted fantastic!
A drizzly Sunday morning. The streets were deserted, which made for some excellent tourism.
Another fabulous waterfront house. Note the kayak on the right!
This house is its own island.
I've noticed that people have serious issues when it comes to picking up after their dogs. The Strasbourg solution? Designated areas where dogs can do their business and owners can just leave it there. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work like that.
Sketchy-looking club.
A momma duck keeping her babies warm! You can just see them under her tail. We almost walked right past them, but we heard the babies peeping and had to take a closer look.
A canal-side view of the city. So pretty!
This is Saint Paul's protestant church. It's an excellent example of how pollution builds up over time. The pillar on the right has been cleaned, while the one on the left hasn't.
This chestnut vendor made me think of my Dad, and the stories he used to tell me about when he was in Europe. He says that when it was cold, he'd buy a couple bags of roasted chestnuts and keep them in his pockets to warm his hands. It wasn't cold enough to need to do that this weekend, but it's a neat story.
Eek! Palm shark! This is in the courtyard of an art school.
The Strasbourg train station. It makes me think of a giant jellyfish.
This is right next to the train station. All the flags welcoming travellers and tourists from all over the world.
Another one for Dad. 2 wheels in front, one in back. Bad-ass all over.
And one for Jason. There was an enormous games store, but it was closed. They sold all kinds of games, cards, minis, etc. I really wanted to check it out.
This is Johannes Gutenburg, the inventor of the printing press. He was born here, and has his own square in the middle of the city.
One of the gorgeous churches at night. The windows to the right were all blue and creepy.
Strasbourg is in Alsace, a region that has been both German and French. I love that some of the signs are in French, German, and English.
This was dinner Sunday night. Breanne had gone back to Lyon, and I had just finished watching a movie. It was getting late, and I didn't want to be out too much later, so I found an excellent sushi place and got take-out to eat at the hospice. Yum.
This is the hospice. Cute, right? We roomed with a really nice older lady from Paris. Apparently she rents out her apartment (for cheap!), and she gave me her info. Good to know...
Strasbourg has one of the top 5 most beautiful cathedrals in France. This was my first glimpse of its tower, over some rooftops.
Intensely excellent gargoyles. A lot of the statues were made of different materials, and the green really stands out against the red/grey of the building.
This place is so enormous, I couldn't get the entire building into a single picture.
Inside was beautiful too. Tourists can donate a Euro or two to the church to light a prayer candle. I wonder what all these people are praying for. With everything going on in the world right now, it's refreshing to know that there are people out there that still have faith.
The gilded doors to the pulpit. So pretty.
This is the astrological clock inside the church. I have no idea how it works, but it's fascinating.
In a church? Wow. But it really makes sense. I was wandering around for quite some time, looking at everything and not paying any attention to my purse. Nothing was stolen, thank goodness.
The beautiful, ornate organ. Click on it to see a bigger picture.
I really did try to get far enough away from the cathedral to get most of it to fit into the frame. It's huge.
Another charming keyhole. What a neat shape for a key!
We lucked out and got to take a boat tour through the city. The pictures aren't great because there's a lot of glare, but it was an excellent way to spend an hour.
The Alsacien Museum has a ton of stuff to see! I was very impressed. Outside, it's just three houses all squished together. Inside, it's full of tools, furniture, and clothing that tell excellent stories about the people who lived in this area hundreds of years ago.
This little guy is a chocolate mould. Appropriate, with Easter coming and all. There were hundreds of different moulds for cookies, cakes, chocolates, and even butter!
These creepy guys were used to separate chaff from wheat. The idea was that you would put the wheat in a basket and shake it around, and the chaff would separate and fly out the mouth of whatever creature you used. A lot of the faces are evil and scary, because if the wheat wasn't properly separated (and sometimes even if it was), people would contract a fungus that grew in the brain and caused terrifying hallucinations. It was believed that using a scary face to clean the grain would drive out the evil spirits that made people sick.
Many different grades and thicknesses of hemp cord. The machines that they used to process hemp are so crude, it's amazing that such fine products were achieved!
An adorable ornament on a downspout. Miss you, Jason.
BEER!!! This room blew me away. It was full of kegs of all different sizes. Some were for beer, others for wine. All looked excellent.
Decidedly less pretty, but still neat.
Some very ornate kegs. Not very big, but made for special occasions. The ones on the left could hold up to 5 different drinks in their chambers!
Those are all the photos that the blog will let me post for now. I still need to condense the castle pictures before I can add more. I took close to 500 pictures this weekend! I really need to slow down, but everything is so incredible. This week I'll be playing catch-up on all the school I missed last week, but at the end of it I'm going to Paris with Breanne! So I need to get oodles of sleep so I'm not sick any more, and I need to be on top of my homework so I don't have to take any with me. I'll do my best.
À bientôt!
