60 Days in Europe…#37 Strasbourg…

There was a slightly iffy moment when getting on the metro at Ménilmontant to get to Gare d’Est.The train did that thing where it sat there for five minutes with various announcements and of course me not having a scooby what was happening.Plenty of sighs from the locals,a few getting off but the majority staying.I figured possession is nine tenths of the law and stayed put having had this plenty of times on the tube…sure enough the lights flickered a couple of times,the doors slammed shut & open three times and we were off.Things like this on public transport is why I always give myself plenty of time…I don’t know,first full day of a Labour government and the metro trains are defective…

Anyway had my usual two coffees at the friendly cafe/hotel.Turns out all those dodgy blokes on mobiles in ill fitting suits are taxi drivers! Haha who knew? Not me obviously…the boss asked where I was going and when I said Strasbourg one fella said “Petite Allemagne”So clearly the Parisians don’t hold it in great regard.I’d best steer clear of such topics whilst there…

Six days in Paris is probably just about enough.I know it gets a lot of stick from people,as does France itself but I love them both and I will be back and will definitely be staying in the District 20 area of Ménilmontant.Besides i still have about six tickets left on my Paris oyster(not oyster) card and I don’t want to waste those.It’s called a Navigo card by the way…looking at the Strasbourg app it appears they have a similar thing going so I might get one.Whereas some have a collection of credit cards I will have a collection of transport cards all with about €1-39 on them…

Safely on the train,a nice double decker and I presume a pretty nifty one at that,it’s about 500km ( 310 miles) and takes 1 hour 46 mins so I expect us to be going full blast for a fair bit of that,think it’s straight through too…at Gare du L’est they also give you plenty of time to get on the train and sort yourself out,about 20/25 minutes.Perfect for someone like me who hates being rushed…

My last time in Strasbourg I found the hotel no problem but it was sunny & lovely.This time it’s pissing down and I had to find the hotel via several drying out stops in bars on the way.Eventually got there looking like a drowned rat and the young receptionist looked at me like I was,well,a drowned rat…all good though.It’s a wonderful hotel.Think it’s originally a 14th century building in Petite France.Ye olde worlde part of the city.My weather app assures me after today things will become summery again.Not doing this for the weather but it helps when it’s good…

The transport app won’t recognise my email (I think this may have happened last year) so it’s gonna be a case of going old school and buying an actual daily ticket.There’s tram stops at the top of the street with ticket machines so nice and easy.Think I’ll be staying local tonight anyway.S’pose I’d better check out the football situation for later and I also have a hankering for a curry at some point too…

Anyway the journey was great.Over 300 miles in about 1 hour 40 mins.Incredible…this made up for the shitty day I had a week ago without doubt.Actually think we might of pulled in a bit early too…

The curry never happened but i ended up in a bar watching the games with an American brother & sister and a woman who I later found out was French Algerian but supported England.Apparently she lived for ten years in Bristol and the English left a bit of an impression on her…

In a while crocodile…