CHAPTER 20
Our Irish exit from Annecy left us with a small gap in our itinerary back to Paris. A quick look through the guide book, backed-up with some good reviews on some choice websites left us pointing our bow towards Strasbourg. An historic town on the Republic side of the French-German border, its changed hands a few times over the centuries, which has only added to the charm of the architecture and charisma of the people. It is known for its canals, its impressive Gothic cathedral, the amazing Astronomical Clock inside said cathedral, and among other things, happens to be the seat of the European Parliament, something we were wholly, and embarrassingly, unaware of. To get there, we had a nice drive back north through Switzerland, then on to the German Autobahn, and finally across the River Rhine- pulling up to what we used as our go-to hotel chain throughout France, whenever we weren’t staying at an airBnB: the Hotel Ibis. This one was just as good as the others we had tried, very reasonably priced, newly renovated, and perfectly situated on the edge of the old town.
We spent our first day in Strasbourg touring the city on rented bikes, riding out to the European Quarter where the EU’s legislative magic happens, back along the shaded paths that hug the Ill River, making it to the Cathedral just in time for the once daily running of the famous Astronomical Clock, a huge cuckoo contraption which has been ticking dependably since 1843, but is actually the third such astronomical clock to be situated in this spot since the 1350’s. After being mesmerized by the ancient but still functioning automata, we turned in our rented wheels, stumbled upon a pretty neat street beautification project, Hadley bought his first and only fidget spinner (a craze that had somehow swept the world in the short time since we had left on this crazy trip), and we picked up a bag of Rocky Mountain Marshmallows, touted as “made in the USA” and a “true American tradition”. Being not only from America but from the Rocky’s specifically, I found it odd that I had never heard of them before?
Day two was spent circumnavigating the city on a river boat cruise and feeding the ducks with our impostor marshmallows.
P.S. Sorry for the photo bomb below- I intended to split the last few posts up a bit to spread out the photos, but I only have one day left till all hell breaks loose, so I need to get these pictures of our trip to France posted pronto!
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