Strasbourg, France

So the Fest last night was awesome! There were tons of people and the music was great. We got there just a little after ten pm, and the place was already packed. The Parkplatz Fest, as it was called, was held in this little field, with the stage at one end, the beer stand at the other, and the sides lined with booths to buy food and drinks at. The band was great, I really enjoyed their mix of brass instruments, keyboard, and electric guitars, and they played for at least two hours straight, it was pretty crazy. After two weeks I decided to finally give in, and when everyone went to get a beer, I went with them. I got a half-liter mug of Rothaus, a Hochschwarzwald beer. It was disgusting. Melissa (the other RISE intern) assured me that it was way better than anything we had in the states, but still I thought it was gross. It was actually fine until I tried to swallow it, and then the aftertaste killed me. Of the half-liter, I think I drank about four sips. The rest got divided up amongst the friends who were with me. I kept the mug though, so it wasn't a total loss.

Strasbourg today was great. I didn't get home last night until after midnight, and so I completely slept through my alarm. I woke up about an hour late at eight am, our train leaving at nine am. The train station is a good forty minute hike and so I left the apartment at about 8:15 sans shower and with only a hand-full of grapes for breakfast. I ran half of the way there, arrived at 8:40 (the time we said we were to meet) only to find that the other two people (Chris and Melissa) weren't there yet. By 8:50 they had both arrived and so we went to find our train. And after all of that, we ended up missing it. And this wasn't because we were late, or because we couldn't find it, oh no. We missed the train because we were standing on the platform staring at a train for almost ten minutes, and only then as it started to roll away, did we realize that it was OUR train we were staring at. This was bound to happen at some point, and thankfully it happened when we didn't need to be anywhere (i.e. to catch a flight or something), and our tickets were good for the entire day. So we walked around for two hours and found a place to grab some breakfast before finally arriving in Strasbourg at 12:30 am, two hours later than we were planning.

Strasbourg was great, I uploaded all of the photos for you to see. We saw the cathedral and then just walked around for most of the day. We had lunch and made it back to the train station at about six pm or so. We still had about an hour before our train left, so I bought something from a transit lounge cafe while the other two hiked off to find a grocery store. The next thing I knew, I was waking up to the sight of a French police dog staring at me and his keeper gesturing at me and talking very quickly to the cafe worker. From what I gathered, the cafe employee was trying to explain to the officer that I had just purchased something and had merely fallen asleep in my chair. Apparently the officer accepted this story because after one last glare at me he wandered off with his dog and a very sour expression. And that's how I almost got arrested / searched in France. And that's why you don't fall asleep in public areas.

After that, the ride home was completely uneventful. We were all pretty tired and I certainly can't wait to get to bed. I really enjoyed Strasbourg though, and I definitely plan on going back at some point and spending a bit more time in the town. The one thing that we didn't get to see was any of the European Union government buildings. They were on the opposite side of town, and will have to wait for next time.

So with that, "Was that our train?".