Day Trip To Strasbourg

We woke up to a strange sound at 7:00 a.m. yesterday morning. Strange for a Saturday at least - the clock radio playing Bob Seger's "Roll Me Away" (gotta remember to change that CD one of these years!). Normally, the Saturday wake up call is King poking my nose in the neighborhood of 8:30 or so because he wants to be fed. I tell him to F-OFF, and then I squeeze in an extra hour. However, this morning was different. We had to get up to get ready to catch the 9:17 a.m. train to Strasbourg.
For whatever reason, we had decided earlier in the week to do a day trip to Strasbourg which would involve walking around the home of the European Parliament in the dead of winter, freezing our derrieres off. Maybe we were going through travel withdrawl. Who knows? Afterall, it had been over a month since we'd returned from Vienna, and I guess we were looking for something to liven up the winter doldrums.
This was my third time in Strasbourg and Mrs. TBF's second time. She hadn't actually been there since November, 2000. We've only been there during the cold months, and we really do need to check it out sometime when it's warmer outside. I'm sure it's nice during the summer when it's full of flowers and the restaurants have tables set up outdoors. It's actually even very nice during the winter, but...it's COLD!!!! We froze!!! Maybe it has something to do with us both having lost a lot of weight, or maybe it has something to do with us getting older, but...we just can't handle the cold like we used to. For gosh sake - I have 100% Finnish blood, I was born in Canada, I grew up in Chicago, and I can no longer handle temperatures too far below freezing. I'm a wimp!

We arrived at the train station, started walking toward the cathedral, and fifteen minutes later were inside a coffee shop trying to warm up. We eventually made it to the cathedral (which is really impressive on the outside), went inside to warm up a bit (I don't think it's really heated), listened to the organist playing the massive pipe organ for a few minutes, and then we walked out at 11:45 a.m.
I had made a reservation at a restaurant called La Cloche a Fromage earlier in the week. I found it on a Strasbourg website, and it looked good (any excuse to consume mass quantities of French cheese is fine with us). Our reservation was for noon, we arrived at the restaurant at 11:55 a.m., we were greeted at the door by one of the waiters, and he said that we'd have to COME BACK IN FIVE MINUTES! He wasn't mean about it, it was just kind of a rules are rules type of thing (maybe he was Swiss!). So, we went back out into the cold, walked around for five minutes, and then returned to the restaurant.


Fortunately for us, we were seated at a table right next to a radiator, and we sat holding our hands and feet about an inch away so that we could warm up. We continued the dethawing process with some onion soup which warmed us up enough so that we could enjoy the rest of our cheesy meal washed down with a little Alsatian Tokay Pinot Gris. I had a plate with several different cheeses. Mrs. TBF had a baked Vacherin Mont d'Or. As usual, I liked what she ordered better than what I had ordered. And also as usual, I couldn't keep my greedy mitts off of her food!






The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around with frozen feet enjoying the wintery scenery, doing a bit of shopping, and stopping in a cafe for the occasional warm up.
We took the 4:55 p.m. train back to Basel (it only takes about 1 hour 15 minutes) armed with some stinky French cheese from the restaurant's store, some sweets, and a bag full of lingerie that Mrs. TBF bought at Body One (whooo-hooo!).
Like I said, I'd like to go back someday soon. But, the next time we go back has to be when it's warm outside.