Strasbourg - the Best of Both Worlds...and Switzerland is for Rich People

Tuesday - March 22, 2022

Since we were only in Strasbourg for one night, we woke up and had to quickly pack away the few things we took out the night before so we could set out suitcases outside to be moved to the bus for us.  This is a service that cannot be overstated - it made traveling from city to city and hotel to hotel so much easier.  I did really miss the ease of cruising though - where you unpack once and you wake in a new location each day.  Even though I had packing cubes and my suitcase was organized - there was a hectic energy in the mornings departing for a new hotel with the fear that we'd forget something important.   We also kept a backpack on each of us we left in the bus - we didn't take our backpacks off the bus, but sometimes the luggage wouldn't make it to our rooms for an hour or two after arrival, so we learned to have comfy room pants, flip flops, some snacks and beverages in our backpacks so we could wait for our luggage in comfort.  

The business people were out in full force at breakfast - it was a crowded room, nowhere near as elegant and tranquil as breakfast had been the last two mornings in Mainz in their hushed riverside restaurant.  There were windows...overlooking a kind of industrial area and the food was kept in this small dim room.  The food was fine - we were in France after all, and the croissants and pastries at breakfast were amazing - but there was less selection than at the previous Hilton, there were a ton more people, and it had a very rushed feeling.  We ate and made our way to the lobby where we all boarded our bus.  At this point I felt very meh about Strasbourg.  But once we got going...it's amazing there!

Strasbourg has bounced between being French or German numerous times in the last few centuries.  The French and German have fought over land along the Rhine for centuries (all the castle ruins along the Rhine?  The French did that), and Strasbourg was right there being fought over.  The area was an independent imperial city until Louis XIV conquered the Alsace region and the city became French. When Napolean III lost the Franco-Prussian War the city became part of Germany. After WWI the area reverted back to France, yet in 1940 the Third Reich came in and seized it for Germany again until the end of the war when the city was returned to France again. The local guide we booked with said her great grandparents were born German, became French, were German again, and finally died French without ever speaking a word of the language. The result of this struggle? A uniquely awesome region - it had the cheeses, pastries, sauces, art, beauty and architecture of the French - but the practicality, efficiency and cleanliness of the Germans. It was basically a French city with German bathrooms! It was literally the best of both worlds and I was enthralled.

Strasbourg is also still important today - it's also the formal seat of the European Parliament. While Brussels is considered the capital of the EU (though there is technically no formal capital) and houses many EU institutions due to being halfway between France and Germany, formal votes have to take place in Strasbourg.

The Russian Consulate in Strasbourg - there are police barricades put up around it

Palais du Rhin - the former residence of the Kaiser - taken from our bus 😁

St, Paul's Church - gothic revival building constructed for Lutherans

Pont Couvert - the bridges with 3 towers that lead to La Petite France - the historic quarter 

La Petite France was gorgeous - filled with half timbered buildings from the 16th and 17th centuries. Also, being that they're by the river - this used to be filled with tanneries and animal hides.

This area is not called La Petite France because they're patriotic or because it's especially French (the architecture actual seems German to me) - it's because it's an island (which is why you need to reach it using bridges) surrounded by the Ill River and where the population used to banish syphilis patients to since there was a hospice for syphilitic patients in the late 15th century. Back in ye olden days - they were just as racist as we are now! Syphilis was called The French Disease (you know, like The Spanish Flu - that was not from Spain - and how certain persons called COVID the China virus) - thus this area of Strasbourg came to be known as La Petite France. Not because it reflects the beauty and grace of France, but because it used to be full of a deadly venereal disease.

Place Gutenberg with a statue of Johannes Gutenberg. 

Neubau - or "new building" that was built on the site of the old townhall, which had taken the place of the chancery which had taken the place of the mint.  This new building was also used as a government building. 

the crown jewel: the Notre Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg.  With one tower instead of two because they realized later that the ground could not support the weight of a second tower.  

It is beautiful inside - the rose window is as impressive as her sister's in Paris is - though there's only one in Strasbourg, it's larger than the one in Paris. The stained glass depicts the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire as well as saints and various Bible stories. This Notre Dame's construction started earlier, but also ended later - and their spire is taller, so they're quite proud of that too 😂.

Also their pride and joy? Their anatomical clock. I love that it's not only indoors, but it was wasn't so high up that I could actually see it!

After our walking tour of the old town was over, we had about 3 hours of free time. There was one thing I really wanted to do: I wanted to buy a pair of comfortable sandals. I got me some old lady bunions, and they act up and are super painful sometimes - particularly when there's a lot of walking. It's just constant pain. However, I brought a pair of sneakers that weren't as comfortable as I thought they'd be, and they made my already painful bunions so much worse. I'm not a shoe person - I'm a sandals person, and I have the good fortune to live in a climate where it's acceptable to wear flip flops year round. There are really only a few days a year where we can't wear sandals and because I was expecting Europe in March to be cold and rainy, I didn't bring any except for some flip flops I wear in the hotel room. It was only day 4 (or 3 of actual touring with the group) and I was already desperate for comfortable sandals. My bunions need to be free! So I looked up shoe stores in Strasbourg and found that they had a Mephisto retail store. I've never owned a pair of Mephistos before...they always seemed kinda old lady...but now I am an old lady and this old lady needs some comfortable sandals! My parents joined me in my quest - which wasn't hard because the store was right in the middle of the shopping district. I went in with my mom, looked at the sandals, and settled on the Joy. They're not quite cute - but they're comfortable, I liked the neutral color, and my feet didn't seem too naked despite the fact I was the ONLY person wearing sandals wherever I wore them. They seemed SO EXPENSIVE when I bought them - my mom was shellshocked. When I got my credit card bill (Chase Sapphire for the win with no foreign transaction fees) I saw I had paid the princely sum of $154 USD for my sandals. This is more than I've ever spent on a pair of comfy walking sandals, but when I got home and saw that they charge $299 for them here, I had regrets. I wish I bought more pairs! Now I feel like I lost money by not spending more money 😂.

I paid for my expensive old lady sandals and we set off to look for food I had looked up some places on Google and read the reviews for them and I had picked out Au Vieux Strasbourg as a place where we could eat lunch. The reviews were good, they had outdoor dining, and they were known for their traditional Alsace cuisine. It was a hearty and really inexpensive meal and we stuffed ourselves silly and still couldn't finish it. My dad: eat the expensive stuff - leave the potatoes behind!

I ordered the flamenkueche - a traditional Alsace specialty.  I guess it was like a French pizza?  Sort of?  The dough was rolled really really thin (almost like a tortilla, except was both soft, chewy and crisp along the edges) and it was topped with cheeses and creme fraiche - and then baked with onions and bacon.  It made me so happy!  I ate this and also ate some of what my parents ordered.

I can't remember the specific dish my mom got, but it was stewed beef and pork and chicken with root vegetables.  It wasn't too salty, which made my parents happy, and they really enjoyed it because it a flavor profile that was too foreign to them.

my dad got the pork knuckle (it's gigantor!) with sauerkraut.  He doesn't like sauerkraut, but my mom wanted to try it, especially since it's said to aid in digestion.  He ate the meats and she ate the sauerkraut.  I'm not a fan of pork knuckle, but there was sausage in there that I poached.

We honestly could have done with 2 dishes, but I really wanted to try the flammekueche and my mom did not want to eat pork knuckle but she also wanted sauerkraut. Even though we felt so wasteful and ashamed as frugal Chinese people, we gave it the good college try and I'm glad we tried a variety of different foods. When and where else are we going to be eating Alsatian cuisine?

We wandered the streets and I wanted to head back to the gingerbread store we had passed when I was shoe shopping - unfortunately, they get to have 2 hour lunch breaks, and the shop was closed for lunch. 😨 Alas, no gingerbread for me. Sadness. After moseying around for awhile looking at souvenirs we head back towards the post office adjacent to Notre Dame to meet up with our tour manager and the rest of our group. It says something about me and my old lady tendencies that all the other women in our group saw my Mephisto bag and got super excited. These women were in their 60's and 70's 😂. So this tells me that I am a 68 year old woman inside. They loved my sandals and were sad they missed the store and didn't buy a bunch for themselves. I got so many comments on these sandals every time I wore them for the rest of the trip. They were so comfortable I didn't care that I was literally the only person anywhere in Europe who was wearing sandals in March.

we took some photos in front of the cathedral while waiting for our group

my new Mephisto sandals.  Yes, I put them on the second I got on the bus 😂.  Then I took a photo to send it to my friends to show them what an old lady I've become.

The drive from France to Switzerland was gorgeous - rolling green hills and idyllic landscapes passing by our windows as we drove beautiful country roads.

We made it to Switzerland a few hours later - and we stopped off at the nicest rest station I've ever seen in my life in Basel. It was all indoors, glossy and clean, multiple restaurants and shops and really, really clean restrooms. When I exited the restroom, I saw a crowd at Burger King. Seriously, of all the restaurants there what was so interesting about Burger King?

Well...

apparently in Switzerland BK is for the rich. Because it's $20 FOR A CHEESEBURGER 😮

Say what?! Yes, you heard me. Because the Swiss CHF is approximately the same as the USD. I was so appalled I needed photo of this travesty. I would throw down $20 for a cheeseburger - but it sure wouldn't come from Burger King 😂. I mean, I throw money at dumb things, but not that dumb.

After we were ushered back onto our bus with our minds still dazed by the reality of just how Switzerland was going to be, we continued on our way to Lucerne, where we were spending the next two nights.

Before checking into our hotel we stopped off to visit the Lion of Lucerne - a monument to the fallen Swiss guards who were massacred during the French Revolution. Switzerland was really poor, and their soldiers were hired out as mercenaries (if you go to The Vatican, the guards in the funny looking uniforms are Swiss guards. Actually members of the Swiss military who are armed - they're not there for show), and they were hired by the French royals to protect the Tuileries Palace. When it was stormed by the mobs - all of the Swiss guards were killed. Many of those guards came from Lucerne - and 30 years after their deaths, this monument to their sacrifice was completed.

this is so sad, but so beautiful.  It's amazing that this was carved out of the mountain.

After visiting the Lion of Lucerne, we headed to our hotel, The Grand Hotel Europe. It was not grand, but it was a hotel. It was a small boutique hotel - simple and basic. But the room was plenty large, it was clean, and it boasted an incredible view of Lake Lucerne. It was probably the most basic hotel of the trip, but Switzerland is also exorbitantly expensive. But I enjoyed it - it was an easy 10 minute walk along the lake to city center, the hotel gave us free unlimited bus passes for the duration of our stay - which meant the 10 minute trip is cut down to 2-3 minutes (it's a thing Lucerne hotels do), and I loved the view from our room.

we were across the street from the lake.  We literally crossed the street to walk lakeside.  There was a beautiful walking path and parks on the other side, tennis courts, playgrounds...and in the evening - the entire city is out there strolling, eating, chatting.  It was lovely.

I took a few - a very few pictures of our hotel: one of the windows by the elevator, and another looking towards the lobby area from the elevator. It was small, but the people were nice and they were very responsive.

Dinner was not included during our 2 nights in Lucerne. BUT - on our first day - during the meet and greet, Sue the tour manager told us if we wanted to, we could sign up for a dinner at the hotel the first night. We'd need to give them a headcount so they could buy the appropriate quantity of food though, I think it was about $40pp for dinner? Which didn't seem cheap - but Sue assured us that it was a very reasonable cost, and that for those who didn't want to have to think about where to eat upon check in, it would be a good dinner. We agreed to go the easy route instead of walking out on our first night to look for food, so we signed up for the dinner. I think everyone in our tour signed up for the dinner. After seeing how expensive the Burger King was, we felt much better about the $40pp we were paying for NOT a cheeseburger 😂.

The food was good. I remember liking it - especially the potato cake thing that went with the pork in gravy thing. I have no idea what it was we ate - but there were vegetables and pork and the potato cake. After dinner we had wanted to go for a stroll, but we were tired, so we ended up showering, unpacking for the next two nights, and watching TV. The next day we go for a walking tour of Lucerne and up Mt. Pilatus!