So I woke up early, got ready, ate breakfast then hoped in the car with Anne Marie and Christian. They dropped me off at the station like a half hour early, so I walked around the fountains outside the station listening to my Ipod for a bit. I also went to the little Tabac (cigarette and news stand kinda place). I looked at the French magazines, lots of naked ladies on the covers (very French, and not American). Then I got on my train and ate a banana as I headed for Strasbourg.
Once arrive I got off the train with my green fedora on my head (so that Rita could easily spot me). I found Rita and we headed out of the station. Rita is a friend of Anne Marie and Christian's. She lives in Strasbourg and goes to University there. She was born in Iraq, but her parents were Egyptian, so she grew up in Egypt. Until they took a family trip to France, and didn't go back. So she's lived in France since. English was her first speaking language, but she also speaks Arabic and French. Her English was a bit rusty but we got along brilliantly. She had just recently done training in England so she had some recent practice in English and enjoyed practicing with me.
We left the station and headed for the Modern Art museum. We had a bit of trouble finding it, but no worries we just talked as we walked around till we found it. Then after it opened we went inside and looked around. It was okay. They had some big sculptures and some cool pieces. I'm not a huge modern art person, but it was okay. Rita and I both found some of the stuff very strange. The sculptures were impressive though because they were huge.
After the museum we headed toward the center of town. We planned on taking the Tram, but it was shut down for some repairs. So we walked and chatted and headed toward the Cathedral. Now I have seen many French churches by now, so I was expecting just a Cathedral. How wrong I was! We turned the corner and there was this massive Cathedral that was nothing less than stunning. Every inch of it was beautifully carved and it reached higher into the sky than any other building around it. It was like a heavenly skyscraper. I was in awe as we walked toward it. So stunning, so amazing!!!! Rita said that at night they light it up all different colors. I wish I could have seen that. I took some pictures and stood in awe a bit longer, then we went up the steps to go inside. But, unfortunately it was closed for lunch. So we decided to come back after lunch.
We went to lunch at this sneaky little restaurant (I say sneaky because you have to go down a path, then a hall, then downstairs, and there is the restaurant). It has a cool atmosphere since it is in a basement. Rita took me there because they have very traditional food of Alsace. (Get ready I'm gonna talk about food again) We decided to do a "meal" aka starter, main course and dessert, because it was pretty cheep and looked really yummy. We ate very French. We had a drink to start, I had Kir made with Champagne. Then for a starter I had a piece of onion tart (very traditional of the area), then for the main course we both had chicken in a creamy wine sauce with homemade noodles. We had white wine made in Alsace to go with it. And some fresh rolls, because there has to be bread. It was so super good, but so much food!!! :p Then we had a fruit tart for dessert which wasn't so good, so we just ate the fruit off the top.
Once we were so full we that we didn't want to eat for days we paid the bill (courtesy of the grandparents, they're so sweet) and headed back to the church. Luckily the restaurant was very close by. We went in the Cathedral and it was pretty, but not as pretty as the outside. Really cool though!!! They had this fancy lite sculpture that was pretty intense. They also had this really awsome clock that had three faces one for the time as determined by the stars, one by the moon, and then the normal time. It was pretty impressive, and my knowledge of Astronomy came in handy (guess that wasn't a total waste of time).
After the cathedral we went to go on a boat tour, the line was really long, but we decided to anyway. We stood line to get the ticket, then stood in line to get on the boat, then waited on the boat for the tour to start. They had headphones so you could hear the tour in the language of your choice. (I chose English, surprise!) The tour was pretty cool. We saw alot of the city, and got the history along with it. Famous buildings and bridges, cool architecture. Very good, other than the way to mellow music (we had just eaten a big lunch, it was warm, and the boat rocking was soothing, the calm music definitely didn't help the sleepy factor). Thus, we both fell asleep at several points on the tour. Not for long, just dosed of now and then. We were awake to see the huge building that's the center for the European Union (Strasbourg is the capitol of the EU).
After the boat ride/ nap we went to a museum of classic art. Very pretty, very classic. We wandered around there and looked at the pretty paintings for a bit as we planned our next move. Once we decided to go to Rita's apartment we headed out.
We took the train and got to the apartment. We stopped at the McDonalds next door to her apartment (first one I had been in, in France). She wanted to get some ice cream, so we got some. Rita needed to change shoes so she did that and we chilled in her tiny flat for a bit.
After that we went back to the center of town to meet her friend and go to a bar. She also spoke English very well, which was nice. We went to the bar and all had a drink. Then we headed to the train station. We checked the time and had a bit to wait. So we went on the lawn in front of the station to chill on the grass for a bit. It was funny because Rita apparently almost never drinks, so she was a bit silly.
Then we headed back in the station, and found my platform. I said my goodbyes and got on the train. I was behind the originally planned schedule, so when I arrived in Colmar I didn't have to take the bus. Anne Marie and Christian picked me up and we went back to the house.
We ate practically no dinner because we were all so full from eating big meals in the middle of the day. Then we had another chill night. I was a bit worried because I was waiting for a message from Sylvia (my friend in Germany who I was leaving to stay with on Friday). It was Wednesday night and I hadn't heard from her. I was very worried because I didn't want to buy my ticket till I knew she would be able to pick me up at the station. It was a bit of a problem, so I emailed her again and went to bed. I just hoped she would respond by the morning so I could go get my ticket.
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