After settling into our room in Strasbourg, we walked to Eglese St. Paul, a gorgeous church viewable from our hotel room. We couldn't get in, but we walked around it and then wandered for a bit, seeing another church and the small botanic gardens on our way. Strasbourg is very similar to Palo Alto in many ways - the weather, the general calm and seemingly small size of the city (though Strasbourg is in fact one of the larger cities in France), and the kids roller-blading or biking around...
We went to a cafe for dinner, in which the waitress did not speak English, so we had a difficult time communicating until I finally thought to ask if she spoke German (which she did). It turns out that the restaurant was technically closing, but they'd let us order anyway. Once we were able to communicate, the waitress was really sweet and talkative, so that was nice.
The next day we saw the cathedral and an unexpected parade -- on our way to Petit France we were blocked by a Carnival celebration (two weeks late by regular Carnival/Fasching standards, but oh well), so we sat by the river and watched the floats and crowds pass on the other side, leaving much confetti in their wake.
We went to three museums in the Palais Rohan as well, and archeological museum, a painting museum, and an interior tour of the palace.
That evening, as we had a 7:54 train departure the next morning, Grandma slept nervously. At 0:23, I awoke to her shaking my knee frantically, saying "We have to get up!" I informed her of the time, rolled over, and went back to sleep. An hour or so later, the same thing again, and then I woke up multiple times in the night to see her slip into the lit bathroom to check the time.
We got to the train with time to spare, but just as we were scheduled to leave, and announcement was played in French and everyone started getting back off the train. Unsure of what was going on, I leaned across to the man sitting across from me, "Parlez-vous Aleman, Espagnol, o Anglais?"
"Whichever you want."
"Do you understand what just happened? I'm confused..."
"Everyone has to leave the station while they search for a bomb."
"...Ah."
What?! Well, that's new. We filed out of the train and down from the platform, moving extremely slowly due to all the people in the corridor. Our train platform was furthest from the main station building, so we were at the back. Just as we started to see the main building, another announcement was made and everyone started returning to the trains. All was settled, apparently.
When we returned to our seats, the man across from me asked if I was English, "Yes - American," I amended, and the woman sitting across the aisle voiced her surprise. I repressed the urge to apologize for my nationality, and in a bit we were on our way, just under an hour behind schedule.
Around the midway-stop of Nancy, a woman got on and displaced the nice old man (who'd explained the announcement to me) to a seat across the aisle, just before taking up all my foot room and talking on her cell phone for the duration of the trip (sighing loudly and exaggeratedly at the delay when she was not occupied with the phone). It's nice to be reminded that other countries pump out their share of inconsiderate travelers too, but must they be in my immediate vicinity? Oh well; c'est la vie.
On the second train, from Paris to La Rochelle, we were in a crowded compartment of 8 seats, four of us had filled most of the overhead storage space, and then 2 more people came in, both with very large suitcases. The other three immediately jumped up to move stuff around, often relocating their own luggage to the space under the seats in order to provide space to the newcomers. This was a shocking difference from the behavior Jay and I encountered in Italy, where a group of 4 had filled the overhead storage with small bags and made not the slightest move to accommodate our large backpack (which we then had to struggle to affix to the rack in the aisle, which, though perfectly suited to the handbags of the other 4, was far too narrow to comfortably hold the backpack.
And people complain that the French are unfriendly?
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