Tuesday In Strasbourg

We ate breakfast in the room, then were out the door about 8:30.

B had to work. My mission: get info regarding a day trip to nearby Colmar tomorrow.

I walked along the canal then branched off when I saw the tall spire of the cathedral; B told me the tourist information office was near the cathedral.  Sure enough. I went inside and got info on how to get to Colmar---by train, as no bus serves it from Strasbourg---and bought a pack of 10 tickets for the Strasbourg city bus and tram system. I won't use all of these but B will use them up in subsequent visits...

Public transportation works differently in different cities. In Strasbourg, tickets are good for an hour after they're punched. You get on the tram or bus, punch your ticket, and you can get on and off, transfer to other lines, etc. but if you're still riding around after an hour you need a new ticket. In Vienna, a ticket is good for a direction of uninterrupted travel only, assuming reasonable transfer times. For example, you can get on the bus, transfer to the subway, then transfer to a tram, then another bus, IF it's in the same direction of travel and IF your non-travelling time is reasonable waiting time for the next connection....you can't, for instance, take the bus, jump off and eat lunch and go shopping, then continue on your way using the same ticket.

A building along the canal.

You got your soul meat, and your soul-less meat.
Sign in front of a steakhouse, Strasbourg.

Another view along the canal.

People have pedalled past these buildings since bicycles were invented.

Or maybe I should say velocopedes.

One of the entrances to the Strasbourg Cathedral.

So, with my new tickets I jumped on the 10 bus and took it to the main train station to find out about a train to Colmar. They have machines you can buy tickets from. I punched all the info in and the machine told me it'd be 22 Euro round trip. So then I found the ticket office and asked an actual human being what the trip would cost----sometimes it's less if you buy from the machine or online, or more if you want to leave on any train and come back on any train, instead of leaving and returning on trains that depart and return at specific times.

But, it was 22 Euro from the ticket agent, too, and he said the tickets are usuable from today for a period of two months, and I can take any departing train and come back on any returning train. I like the flexibility of traveling that way...

I got on the 10 and went the opposite direction,  getting off at the Cafe Brant. Standing at the bus stop afterwards studying the map and schedule, a woman walked over and started doing the same. Then she asked me a question in French.

"Sorry, do you speak English?" I asked her.

She did, and I noticed she spoke English with what sounded like a German accent. So in German I asked her if she was from Germany. "No, Austria," she answered back in German.

This began a very pleasant little conversation entirely in German. Maybe she was just friendly and maybe she warmed up to me because I could speak her native language a little bit, or because she was a kind person and could see I was trying my best despite my linguistic limitations.  I managed to ask her where she was from, how she was enjoying Strasbourg, etc. and tell her I am married to an Austrian woman who works as an interpreter, and I'm trying to immigrate to Austria, that I'm from Oklahoma which is north of Texas and something of a Third-World land, and I had to take a language proficiency test as one of the immigration requirements. It kind of startled me that I was able to hold a conversation with the lady for about ten minutes entirely in German.

You have to have little victories every day.

I walked back to the Orangerie park, took a lot of pictures, then met B and her colleague Angela for lunch at a nice restaurant in the park.

A boat passing beneath one of the bridges along the canal.

Uh..building. Canal. Strasbourg.
I think you're starting to get the idea.

These swans were dunking their heads under water, but coming up empty.

Angela is British, and has been living in Strasbourg for years. She spent part of her early years in Baghdad, where her father was an English teacher and she attended French schools. It's startling to remember that Saddam wasn't always in charge of Iraq, and in fact it was a fairly liberal, open, international city back in the day. "Imagine: I attended a school run by French nuns in the middle of Baghdad," Angela said.

 Imagine, indeed.

No stand-up comedian would walk this street on a dark, rainy night.

Official buildingry in Strasbourg.

Stork's nest on a chimney.

Catching some late September morning sun in the park.

One of the tree-lined lanes in the park.

French is hard to figure out. Any ideas from you French majors out there?

A restaurant in the park.
The building dates from 1607.

Catching up on her reading as a swan swims by.
French literature, no doubt.

We're meeting B's colleague N for supper later; N is the young interpreter B has been mentoring for a few years. I last saw her at lunch in Vienna some weeks ago, so it'll be good to catch up with her tonight.

It's been perfect weather here----sunny and warm. I watch the French riding their bikes, or strolling by with their kids, or sitting in the park, and it has a real charm to it, this place.