Bilious Blog…around Europe in 80 days#5

The TVG train between Paris & Strasbourg is something else.Less than two hours for close to 250 miles…admittedly there’s only one stop but even so.Incidentally there seems to be a lot more countryside in France than in Britain.When you get a train in the UK every 20 mins or so you’re either going through a built up area or stopping at one.I didn’t see any urban areas at all on this stretch.Even the place we stopped at was tiny.Maybe the driver just stopped for a smoke break…Gare De L’Est seems surrounded by a lot less dodginess than Gare Du Nord.All in all a far more pleasant station.

Once I got to Strasbourg I knew which tram I had to get and obviously went to buy a ticket.Was going to get a 3 day one ( once again you needed a local Oyster type card to buy from the app) after getting help from two locals in using the machine both my debit & credit cards were declined.That was a sobering moment.I have plenty of funds & have set up all the “going abroad” protocols etc so there shouldn’t be a problem…luckily I had some small change and just got a single ticket.Will have to try to use my card at an ATM today to see if it’s their machines or a fuck up by Nat West…this is the first minor issue on the trip but I always knew it wouldn’t be without some sort of snags.At the moment I am quite calm about it,I have cash & all the hotels & travel are paid for…

The part of Strasbourg I’m in is called Petit France and looks like medieval Germany,a sort of hybrid of Grimm & Disney…Grimmsney if you will.Infact despite travelling extensively around Germany this the most cliched fairytale,cuckoo clock,lederhosen & Dirndl German looking place I have ever been to…it’s been a disputed area for aeons between the two countries and I can see why the Germans were loath to give it up…

Spent the night bending the ear of the barmaid in a place called Pacific Princess,which is decked out like an ocean liner(sort of) I was the only customer for hours and you could say she was a captive audience but she did keep coming outside to talk so maybe I wasn’t boring her too much…

After Thursday‘s curry debacle I thought I’d give the French version of curry another go and this was much better.Was going to go to a Tamil place but turns out there’s a Madras restaurant just down from Pacific Princess.In truth it still wasn’t great but I am beginning to think my taste buds for Indian food have been conditioned by the British culture of going for a curry after a night on the piss.This doesn’t seem to happen here.Both the Madras & Tamil restaurants closed by midnight on Friday night…going to leave the curries for a while anyway.They ain’t cheap in the rest of Europe…

Today looks nice & sunny so going to explore the city and see what’s beyond the Hansel & Gretel theme park…

Laters Y’all…