Strasbourg the beautiful
Strasbourg was one of those happy delightful accidents, when the path that life takes you on turns out to be even more wonderful than the plan that you would have chosen for yourself. We were still trying to find ways to visit the Black Forest without actually staying there, unfortunately our budget just would not allow it during peak season. So we left La Bresse in France and headed a few hours north to another French location just west of the Black Forest. If possible, I would have chosen to stay in the north part of the Black Forest. Less driving and it was the place that I wanted to see. But if I'd had my wish, I never would have discovered a city that has become one of my very favourite in the world, it made the top 5 list of our trip!
* Skyler's top 5 cities in Europe from the crazy Gilbert trip *
2. Strasbourg, France.
3, 4 & 5....Coming Soon!
I had never even heard of Strasbourg before. It sits right in the North Eastern corner of France in the Alsace region and it beautifully combines French and German architecture and influences. To me, it was pure magic!
Of course, in typical Gilbert fashion, actually getting there was anything but magical. We had the usual stress and general chaotic nightmare that seems to accompany us whenever we move location. Too much stuff. That is my conclusion in hindsight. But as complete novices to the whole 'lets pack up our life and travel the world with all our kids' thing, we were just fumbling through.
In leaving a place, it was always extremely difficult to;
1. clean up.
2. Attempt to keep the kids involved in the process so that we didn't feel like their slaves while they just bummed around watching the work happen.
3. Appease squawking baby.
4. Feed the mob.
5. Squeeze all of our belongings into our too tiny vehicle.
6. Get out on time.
You get the idea - exhausting! But worth it of course. Well, we finally arrived in Strasbourg, miraculously found a car park, and then managed to haul all of our crap up 2 flights of stairs and into our little apartment. Major achievement.
Then, we walked. And the magic began...
It was a warm sunny afternoon, and as we made our way across beautiful bridges and looked around at the gorgeous medieval architecture and quaint houses on the riverbank, the world seemed calm, happy and quite simply, wonderful.
