July 27, 2011 – Strasbourg France – A chance encounter

Most of you know we love meeting people and treasure the conversations we have with strangers no matter where we travel. In this case we would likely not be Strasbourg had it not been for a chance conversation early this winter in a café in Idyllwild, California.

We were in Idyllwild for our annual weekend in the nearby mountains and were enjoying breakfast at Café Aroma. We came armed with books and it happened mine was ‘France 2011’. The folks at a nearby table noticed the book and started a conversation wanting to share their recent experience in France. It was this couple who told us we had to go to the Alsace Lorraine in the east of France. They could not recommend the area highly enough and after doing our own research we agreed it was something we would like to do.

Aleur….after having a good night’s rest and being packed in advance we had a very relaxed morning. Of course we had to walk down the street for a Café and finally broke down to order the 4 petit pastry assortment for the road. I had been eyeing these for ten days or more and finally gave myself permission to enjoy. These were Silver Dollar size Cream Puffs and tarts and looked so wonderful. I can report we nibbled these tiny treats on our drive and they were amazing.

Our drive today was 308 miles and took us about six hours on the motorway. Of course we were slowed by traffic out of Paris and into Strasbourg. A quick commentary about traveling on the French motorways. Noticeably they are very well maintained. They are well groomed with no weeds on the side of the road nor have we seen one bit of roadside liter. The motorways offer frequent roadside rests and they are not only well kept but large and inviting green spaces. The left lane is used for higher speeds or passing only, we have driven close to 1000 miles in France now and never had a ‘left lane camper’ experience. They use the left lane for the purpose it is intended. Drivers also use their signals nearly 100% of the time. With that said, we paid about 40E for the privilege of driving these 300 miles. We wonder if this may make sense in the USA, for those who use the roads most to pay the tariff based on volume of their use. It is an interesting question.

We decided to use our Hilton points for our visit to Strasbourg. Why not? Although it is a more ‘Americanized’ experience, it is very comfortable and the obvious is it is free and the reason we save our points like dollars. The hotel is very comfortable although of course it does not measure to the Hiltons we have enjoyed in Munich, Budapest, Vienna, Rome and some in the US. Nevertheless, it is very nice and John couldn’t wait to see what Brandy he could find offered gratis in the Executive Lounge!

Once settled in we booked reservations for a nice dinner in the old city. We chose a place based on a Frommer review which our hotel confirmed was a very good choice. Our hotel is not in the old city, rather it is on the campus of the University so we had not seen any of the city when we arrived. Our cab ride only wetted our appetite for seeing the city in more detail. The ride to dinner reminded me a little of Salzburg though not as busy. The city sits on the Ill River with beautiful and quaint bridges, small winding cobblestone streets and a beautiful Cathedral as the anchor. The streets were too narrow for our cab to deliver us directly to the restaurant we had chosen, Chez Yvonne. Oh my, let me just say there were no disappointments here. As I write I am as full as I have been in a long time!
When we left for France I was looking forward to Foie Gras from different areas and was also dedicated to tasting Escargot and Frog Legs. This areas claims to be the birth place of Foie Gras so we had to begin with that and Escargot. A one half order of Foie Gras and six Escargot was more than enough for us to share and amazing. Delicious! Our entrée was Coq au Vin, Hen cooked in wine sauce. For me this was a non-event and I thought rather tough but the sauce was superb one John hopes to replicate. Our side was one of my favorites from this area, Spaetzle. It seems no matter how many times John tries spaetzle it just isn’t his favorite but no worries I ate his share and there was lots left over.

Our drive home after dark seeing through the old city was magical. We ended the night excitedly anticipating and wondering if we will stay in the city tomorrow and dig into its history or take the 60 mile drive in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains on the La Route Du Vin, road of wine?

Our intent is to have both experiences during our time here so we can decide in the morning what we would prefer.

As we sign off this evening on the eastern most portion of France, within minutes of the border to Germany, we continue to be excited and absolutely filled by the experience of it all.

Au revoir

John & Carol