Category: Strasbourg 2025

So we managed 22 of the 27 attractions then caved just after 4pm and went for a well-earned sit-down….

We were in the Alsace region so had to try some local wine and went for a Muscat – which was very palatable…

Dave also ordered a beer (or three) 😂

And we had a couple of Tarte Flambées – one with chicken and one with ham – and they were delicious 😋

And – as ever – we put the world to rights over the next 2 and a half hours or so…

• Location: 48° 4′ 33.53″ N 7° 21′ 32.01″ E

We’ve previously experienced walking tours with guides, hop-on-hop-off bus tours with audio, land trains and boat trips both with audio but we’d never done a self-guided tour (which – as you travel at your own pace – I thought sounded great !!! 😊 )

I had pre-Googled & selected what appeared to be the best – the Colmar City Tour with Touring Bee at €7 per person. But even with our (supposed) plethora of IT knowledge 😐, it still took us a little while to actually get everything downloaded and ready to go…

AND Dave had to use the ear wax headphones again 😂 !!!

I thought it said it had 13 stops and took an hour and a half – which sounded about right – especially in the heat 🥵

It was about 1:45pm when we finally got going and I was intending to do a selfie of us in front of each point of interest but it started getting really hot and after attraction 13, I actually checked and there were TWENTY SEVEN sights to visit… 🫢

Here’s a few of them…

• Location: 48° 4′ 32.46″ N 7° 21′ 10.44″ E

When we arrived on-site at Molsheim last Thursday, there was a lovely Polish man, Jarek, pitched next to us and whilst we were chatting (he had excellent English so once I’d used up my half a dozen or so Polish phrases, we could still chat !!!) and it was he who mentioned Colmar, describing it as beautiful with lots of waterways “like a little Venice”… He said it even had gondolas !!!

I was sold ❤️

So we managed to blag an extra night at the campsite 🏕️ (even though they said they were “complet” (full) and decided we’d have an easy morning and we’d catch the train just before midday.

Clearly we took it too easily and ended up running for the train 🚆, which we did manage to catch 😅 but we didn’t have time to go and see the lovely lady in the office to purchase tickets… 🎟️ Dave tried to buy them online once we were on the train but struggled…

There was no conductor on the train to Strasbourg (where we changed) then we boarded the connecting train to Colmar. A lady conductor asked to see our tickets and I said (in French !!!) we’d had to run to catch the train so could we please have two return tickets from Molsheim to Colmar but she said she couldn’t do returns and charged us €40 just to get to Colmar. And it even wasn’t a ticket – it was just a receipt – it felt like a fine 😐

I started twittering saying it was a ridiculous amount of money but (as Molsheim to Strasbourg return was €20 return for both of us) looking at the map below, it’s a fair old distance and was probably about right…

We made it back safely and historically (as it’s always been warm & lovely plus we didn’t use to have such good mobile wifi) we would always sit outside The Van putting the world to rights – with alcohol…

So when My Dave – on our 29th Anniversary – asked me if I would sit outside with him for a final drink – how could I refuse ? (but I did go inside first for lights, beanie hat, coat & blanket !!!)

• Location: 48° 32′ 31.28″ N 7° 29′ 59.44″ E

So it was gone 7:30pm and we knew we had the scooter ride home 😳 to go plus a big day the next day (in COLMAR – MY-NOW-FAVOURITE-PLACE-ON-THIS-TRIP) and I just said, “I can’t be bothered to Google reviews of good restaurants – can we just get a BK ? They never let me down” so we bombed off on the scooter to the BK at Gare De Strasbourg & parked up.

Dave commented that it was busy – which was good – as everything should have been cooked fresh – so we ordered and this huge order arrived with FIVE burgers 🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔 TBH when it was €30, it should have red-flagged but I just bibbed my phone as usual…

I took the tray back to the counter and said “Je pense que trop de burger” 😂 (I think there’s too much burger) and showed her my receipt where she pointed out that we had actually ordered “Baby Burgers x 3” 😐

I mean – there’s just no hope for us – we’ve both been in IT for ALL of our lives and we weren’t even remotely under the influence of alcohol (which I appreciate is rare 😂 ). Dave said it must have been in the basket from the previous person…

Yeah right…

And all of that would have been fine – if the bleedin’ food would have been HOT – or at least WARM – but it wasn’t 😔 I always go BK over McD as they’re just better but the Frenchies have managed to destroy my image of BK – I’m not sure I’ll ever eat one ever again…

And – as the main burgers were smaller than the UK ones normally – we both ate one of the baby burgers – which we really shouldn’t have…

Then I was worried I might be a bit chilly on the ride home and Dave said the “wets” were in the scooter – but they although there were two pairs of trousers, the pair I had to wear – clearly weren’t mine (see below) 😂

• Location: 48° 35′ 3.72″ N 7° 44′ 2.62″ E

So one of Dave’s new toys is a 360 degree camera and (bless him) he’s worked hard so that even if you are only viewing this on a phone, if you bob your finger on the video & move it around, you will get a 360 degree of the surroundings – go on – it’s only short – give it a whirl !!!

We chatted for a bit then wandered across (one of the many) bridges and squeezed in a cheeky little vin rosé in the sunshine 😎 before making our way to the boat trip…

I’d pre-Googled & selected that particular trip as most of them are only in French 😔 whereas this one promised 14 different languages so we boarded and took a seat. As you will hear on the next post (“Ear Wax” video that Dave posted) – although we picked up two pairs of headphones in plastic bags, there was ear wax on both of them 🤮

Anyway I was alright as I had my own but Dave sadly had to use one of the ear-wax versions 😂

It lasted just less that one and quarter hours and was really informative ✅

And I now know what a lock actually IS as I’ve now experienced two – a very old one (which took ages) and a much newer (efficient) one. As Mr Google says, a lock is:-

an enclosure or basin located in the course of a canal or a river (or in the vicinity of a dock) with gates at each end, within which the water level may be varied to raise or lower boats

But basically for any confused.com peeps out there, if the river has two levels, just before it goes up or down, you come to a (front) gate and stop, then some back gates close behind you and the water level rises or drops to the same as on the other side of the front gates – and the front gates open and you sail through… !!!

So we saw a lot of buildings – and heard about when how the Germans took over, they wanted Strasbourg to be THE most impressive base for them and thus built loads of prestigious buildings – which I am now happy to say – that the French are now enjoying…

As I said there are bridges every few hundred yards or so and one of the stories we heard was about “Pont Pierre” where in medieval times, they would execute peeps by popping them in a cage and lowering the cage off that bridge into the water – and the whole city would come to view it – nice 😐

The Jesuit Church was only a few minutes walk from the campsite so I wandered back, we had some brekky then decided to take the ped back to Strasbourg – but on the condition that Google Maps was set to “Avoid Motorways” !!!

… and it was fine…

Strasbourg is a pretty massive city (we were informed later on the boat trip that it has the second largest student population after Paris). We passed the road sign saying we were now in Strasbourg but it was still an 18 minute drive to the centre…

So we drove in, parked up and had a wander around the tat shops then went to buy the riverboat tickets. We opted for a covered boat as the next available boat (for the trip we wanted) was 6:15pm and although it was sunny 😎 & gorgeous THEN, we weren’t taking any chances after Friday !!! ☔️

Dave said he fancied he a Knickerbocker Glory and there were loads of places serving ice-creams in cornets & tubs but he wanted something in a glass so we went on a mission and eventually found Le Petit Glacie up a little side street…

I honestly only wanted a wine 🍷 (I know – shocker 😂) but although it was on the menu, the waiter told me I couldn’t have any 😞 (I reckon word had gotten out from Nancy & the Thursday festival & we are on some black list 😂)

Anyway, I ended up ordering a strawberry creation and Dave had a chocolatey thing plus a tea & a coffee – for €30…

Mine was absolutely delicious but Dave’s was more of a milkshake but hey…

• Location: 48° 34′ 43.89″ N 7° 45′ 6.52″ E

Well, I’ve fallen off the waggon and not been to Mass for a couple of months but as one of the main attractions of Molsheim is the (Catholic !) Jesuit Church (and I felt the pull to go back), I went to 10:30am Mass yesterday morning…

All in French (obvs !) but I mumbled the English equivalents of some of the prayers (like the Our Father) and the rest of the time, I just sat back and drank in the bright, airy building (such a contrast to the dark, gothic cathedral in Strasbourg) with beautiful paintings, the huge organ, the little church choir (who even sang one hymn to the tune of “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” 👼🎄🎅 !!!) and contemplated life in general…

Nice philosophical, stress-free start to the day… 😊

I air-dropped these over to my Mac yesterday but forgot about them until just now.

They just give an overall feel for the place – architecture, etc. here you go…

• Location: 48° 35′ 0.14″ N 7° 44′ 20.31″ E