Weekend in Strasbourg

For our first weekend in France, all seven of us decided to take a trip to Strasbourg, a city east of Nancy.  We took the train early in the morning from Nancy Gare (Nancy Station) and got to Strasbourg an hour and a half later.  Thanks to my rail pass, the trip by train was completely free.

Strasbourg is located in the Alsace province of France.  This region has many German influences due to it's proximity to Germany and because until the end of the first World War, this region belonged to Germany.  Presently, it is a very important location as it is the hub of the European Union.  The European Union Parliament as well as the European Court of Human Rights are located here.

We arrived at early in the morning and checked into our hostel.  We then set out to explore the old part of the city.  We had planned to visit some museums but apparently they were closed so instead, we wandered the streets for the day. To be honest, I much preferred wandering the streets as it really gave a better sense of the city and the people.  The old part of the city is pretty much an island.  It's surrounded on all sides by canals and the only way to get there is across on of countless bridges.  We saw the Strasbourg Cathedral. It was massive! Unbelievably so! Anyways, after wandering around for the day, we were quite hungry so we decided to try out a specialty of Alsace, Choucroute.  It's probably 

better known as sauerkraut  in the States.  Of course, it's not eaten alone, typically it comes with some sort of meat be it sausage or pork (ours came with both!) and is best paired with a glass of beer (Kronenbourg is the local favourite).  The meal was probably the best meal I've had in a long time, the choucroute was better than any I've had.  To finish it off, I ordered a bowl of chocolate mousse which was to die for.  Like any proper french meal, this one lasted far into the night and by the time we left the restaurant, it was quite late.

The next day, the weather had taken a turn for the worse 

and it started to drizzle.  We ended up taking a walk to the European Parliament and then to Petit France, but because of the terrible weather, we ended up leaving early in the afternoon to return to Nancy.  Tomorrow, start my actual lab work (my project changed and I'll actually be working alone now - more on this later) and I'm really excited.

But for now, a bientôt!