30 Days in Europe with Evan and Jim

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30 Days in Europe with Evan

July 6, 2013 - France

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More than halfway through the trip now. Bid the Martin Jund clan au revoir after breakfast and hauled our backpacks to the rental car in the public parking lot. Still there. Still no dents or scratches. They tend to put tourist flyers and "invitations" to things like wine tastings under your windshield wipers. You can tell how long you've parked there by how many there are. Evan collected our "junk mail" as he called it and we piled in. Maps at the ready, we made our way out of Colmar by following the signs to Strasbourg. Listened to some French and German radio stations on the hour drive to Strasbourg. Evan thought the German radio personalities sounded like they were making up what they were saying, like the sound effects guy on Garrison Keilor's Prairie Home Companion radio show. We found our way into the center of Strasbourg and parked at the EuropCar rental office to ask how we return the car. Park on the 6th or 5th floor of the huge parking building by the train station and put the key into the EuropCar drop box in the train station. Today was our day to play our first disc golf course in Europe, Parc du Muhlbach. Rated at 2.5 out of 5 by discgolfcoursereview.com, we made it there after a tragic wrong turn, a trip up a highway and a slow crawl through a huge construction zone. (my fault. oopsie -Evan) The course turned out to to be the worst course we've ever played. It was in a pretty park with nice open fields of mowed grass, but there were targets with no tee pads or signage. We had no idea where to tee off, where to start or what sequence in which to do the holes. It was a real letdown, especially for Evan after waiting over 2 weeks to play this course. You really need structure to a disc golf course to make playing it meaningful and fun. Alas. We did play for a while. People passing through the park looked at us like they'd never seen disc golf before. My guess is that no one really plays here, despite a note in the course description saying that only clubs were allowed to play the course on Sundays. (I have quite a few things to say about this. First of all, the "course" itself consisted of 6 randomly placed pins around a tiny, tiny park, with no explanation. this alone was enough to make me question French people. However, when I looked back over the course review to try to figure out what the hell was going on, I discovered that not only had it gotten a 2.5 rating, which my beloved fredricksons has [or close to it] but at least one person had wishlisted it! im beginning to think these Frenchis are out of there minds... -Evan)

Sign for the course in Strasbourg.

Our rental car parked in the park parking lot.

Nice park. Where are the tees?

We had to invent the course since there were no tees or signs.

Leaving our rental car at the parking structure.

Flags at the Strasbourg train station.

By then it was nearing 2:00, the check in time for Le Petit Trianon, our modest hotel near the train station. We drove up into the parking garage. Getting to the 6th floor was an adventure, but the view off the top floor was pretty good. I took photos of all sides of the car in case a claim is made against us. We found the armored drop box for the key in the train station after asking 2 people, then walked to the hotel. Super nice woman at the desk checked us in. Spartan, but it seemed clean and had a private bath, a fan (it's hot now) and a window facing a courtyard. What do you expect for 57 euros a night?

A special word about our hotel, Le Petit Trianon
Our room had fleas. I thought I saw a black, speck shaped like a flea on the bed at one point and it disappeared before my eyes, much as fleas do when they jump. The thought crossed my mind that it could be a flea, but I forgot about it. The morning after, my shoulder itched. It really itched. As the days progressed, red welts appeared on my shoulder and I was kept up at nights due to the intense itching. It became clear to me that my shoulder had been bitten many times that night by fleas. On July 12th I finally bought Calomine lotion, which helped. As I write this now on August 9th, my shoulder still itches at times. On the 12th, I emailed Le Petit Trianon this message:

My son and I stayed in your hotel recently, and while I was there I thought I saw a flea on my bed sheet. I now have flea bites all over my right shoulder and I am unable to sleep because of the itching. You should get rid of your fleas. I wish I never stayed at your hotel.

They replied on the 18th with this:

Hello,

We have received your email regarding your complaint. Thank you for your comment which will allow us to improve. We are being refurbished and all our beds are changed.

With apologies for the inconvenience

La Direction : Vincent FALLER

If I ever revisit Strasbourg, I will absolutely NOT stay at Le Petit Trianon.

Our room at Le Petit Trianon.

With our tourist map and Rick Steves guide we walked the town. Lunch first at a snack bar place where we got sandwiches. This neighborhood is a tad "gritty", which makes watching passerby's interesting as you eat lunch. Entered the old town section and started out in Petit France, the pedestrian-only zone with half-timbered buildings. Nothing really matches the towns we saw yesterday for cuteness, but it is quaint as all hell here. Tons of other tourists. Lots of canals with tour boats packed with people. Many souvenir shops, people hawking junk, and beggars at crowded squares. The big attraction is the Strasbourg Cathedral. I'd say it's one of Europe's great ones. Gigantic. Beautiful red stone. Lacy, Gothic construction. Amazing detail in carvings. Killer stained glass. Really awe inspiring. You can't effectively photograph it it's so big. They started building it in the 1100s. Free to enter and big enough to swallow hoards of tourists. Evan was tired, and he headed back to the hotel while I walked longer. Part of me feels like much of Europe has turned into a big tourist attraction with the formulaic combination of souvenir shops, little trains hauling fat/lazy tourists around, and eating places made for travelers. It's great to see and all, but I suppose I should expect this given the places I've chosen for us to visit.

Sex toy in a Strasbourg shop window.

An open tour boat on a Strasbourg canal.

Strasbourg street scene.

Murky canals.

Strasbourg street scene, the cathedral in the background.

Strasbourg cathedral. So big it's hard to photograph.

Strasbourg cathedral.

Strasbourg cathedral facade.

Strasbourg cathedral.

Strasbourg cathedral interior.

Strasbourg cathedral pipe organ.

Strasbourg cathedral interior.

For dinner, we found a nice little weinstube with a few outdoor tables. No Americans there. They had steak tartare for only 11 euros, with fries and salad. I hadn't had it since I was a kid with my Dad in New York. The really nice waitress helped me figure out how to mix the garlic, capers, chives, egg, wocester sauce and tabasco juice with the ground up steak in a bowl, and then move it back to my plate. It was delicious. Had a nice walk back to the hotel, by the cathedral where there was going to be a piano/trumpet concert at 10:30. Seemed a late starting time for us so we skipped it. Glad we had a fan in our room that night. It was hot.

Steak tartare for me.

Not sure what Evan got.

Cathedral in the evening.

Evening in Strasbourg.

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