Settling in Part 2 - First Weekend

With the paperwork onslaught mostly behind me I feel like I can finally start exploring around town and having some fun. Alsace a special region in France  because originally it was in an independent territory and it has flip-flopped between being controlled by the Germans and the French for the last several hundred years. Everything from their food to their architecture is a mix of one or the other. So far I’ve gone on three “field trips” to Germany! Strasbourg has this city really close to it called Kehl which is analogous to Moncton being beside Riverview. Kelh has lots of cool attractions including cheaper groceries and tasty German restaurants. One thing that I really hate to say is that French is that although individual people can be friendly for sure and helpful once you ask, the stereotype of the French being a little bit snotty when you first meet isn’t unfounded. Another true stereotype is that France stinks especially in the cities (but maybe that has to do with everyone smoking cigarettes like they’re going out of fashion - which they don’t appear to be by the way.)

FRIDAY

We finished all the paperwork that Christine could help us with. The five of us canadiennes then proceeded to get a little bit drunk at our local park. Backstory though, one the girls boyfriend dumped her when she first got here so wine was needed and we were done most of our work so more wine was needed. We went to our local discount grocery store and paid €1.56 for bottle of wine!!! On our way to the park that we thought we could find, we noticed that we might've bought wine with the cork in it and here we were each with a bottle of wine and no corkscrew! I looked at my bottle and it had this little wire twist ties around the cork which I thought was pretty strange but didn't give a second thought to. I twisted the twist tie and all the sudden pop goes the cord and it flies across the intersection of the road we were walking beside! Champagne was fizzing all over down my arm and my hand onto the sidewalk. I’ve only opened one bottle of champagne my life before and it didn't really occur to me that I was about to open my second. The five of us were yelling and laughing all the way to the park, while I carried and drank out of my open champagne bottle. Nobody gave us a second look! Well a few did, but mostly nobody cared about my wine.  

Once we get to the park the entrance we were going to use was  was closed so we went up to the gate to examine the map and see how else to get in. Some guy from the street came up to us and offered to point us in the right direction.  We said sur. So this guy abandons his friend who he was about to get into the car with and walks about 40 feet ahead of us along the sidewalk all the way until the next entrance into the park. We thought it was pretty weird to go out of your way to show us here and then walk but strangely far distance from the group that you just offered to show where to go. Anyways, we said thanks to the guy and on a whim I asked him if he knew any good night clubs in the area. He told us that basically all of the French kids and go over to Kehl to party at their nightclubs which he described as being super fun. I've heard before about how crazy German clubs are so I was super excited when he said that Tyga and Chris Brown had just been to the club he mentioned called Kiss Club. None of us could understand this guy’s English so I asked if he could write it down and I gave my phone with the notepad open and he wrote down Kiss Club who is his phone number and said to give me a text if we had any trouble getting there, score one for les canadiennes lol!

We ended up spending a nice quiet afternoon getting buzzed in the park we all hung out in the evening and tried our to best to find a decent student bar. Long story short we didn’t find one. The five of us wanted around downtown Strasbourg until about three in the morning and then went home since we had to be up early to catch a train the next morning

SATURDAY 

Going up the steps of the old casino

The tourist train!

On Saturday we got up early to catch the train to Baden-Baden which took us about an hour and a half to get to. We went with our professor Christina and her adorable Romanian mother. In Baden-Baden we saw so many things. We ate lunch at this place in town and just people watch the whole time we were there and it was so fun. One thing I didn’t know is that Baden Baden is a resort town if ever there was one. Us and our bookbags might have been a shade out of place between the Porsche is the Mercedes S class cars, the women with their little dogs in their purses, and the new rich Chinese who seem to be buying furniture and watches that could put us through school. While people watching I had spaetzle with mushroom sauce for lunch and it was both the worst spaetzle I have ever had (boiled and then panfried, uhm no thanks) and the most delicious mushroom sauce that I think could exist - it was full of nice chunky mushrooms. I could have easily easily skipped the thermal pools and swim in the mushroom sauce instead.

Streets and people of Baden Baden

After lunch we found our way to the thermal spring spas that are supposedly super mineral rich and will cure you of any ailments and have healing magic powers. We were all game for some healing magic powers so we spent €16 to spend the afternoon going from warm to cold to hot to bubbly pools of fancy water. After that it gets a little interesting.

This spa had a sauna which I am all over, as anyone who knows how much I like the heat could probably guess. However, over across the pond here or at the very least at the spot we went, going into the sauna is a thing that should be done without clothes. Ahaha! Who knew!! I’m not particularly uncomfortable in the nude, given the opportunity I think I'd go to a nude beach for sure, but I was a little thrown off by the tall muscular and handsome German staff asking me exactly why I was still wearing a bathing suit. I told him I wanted to go to the sauna and had no idea what the protocol was for a sauna there. So nice handsome fully clothed guy that he was, he walked me to the ladies change room and told me that I could take myself and my towel right in. Honestly I thought it was a really liberating and nice and positive experience. I only saw one other lady when I was there, but generally speaking nobody gives a crap what you look like and once it's kind of OK and people are really respectful of your body and your space and I thought that saunaing in the nude it was a pretty nice time because honestly who wants damp sticky bathing suits?

Entrance to the thermal spa

After our time is up at the spa we took her to the nearest mountain. You're so high up and we get to watch the paragliders taking off it was absolutely gorgeous up there.A group of wedding guests behind this was popping champagne, and after our traumatic champagne experience on Friday afternoon we all definitely have champagne popping PTSD and couldn't stop jumping every time a new bottle was opened up behind us.

Supposed to be a picture of a ruined castle on the mountain - having some technical difficulties seeing the whole frame but here are the trees instead :p

Watching the paragliders

We took our time getting back to the train station, met up with Christina and her mom and had a very sleepy train ride back to Strasburg. We've been planning on going out and partying but we were all so so way that we just went to bed instead. I spent all day Sunday in bed and it was glorious. Sunday at around 5 o'clock when it was time to get out of bed Claire and I went into the Starbucks here and paid gasp - six euros for a pumpkin spice latte! Probably not worth it or the best way to spend my money but I had a good time and we got cute seats by the window so all in all I would call it a good end to the first weekend in Strasbourg.

Panorama of the mountain top!!!!!!