Using our parking ticket / tram pass we took the train into town and disembarked at the central Grand Rue stop – less than a ten minute journey from the hotel.
We needed a snack, so our first order of business was a Croque Monsieur sandwich from Au Pain De Mon Grand-père. After that we caught our first glimpse of the massive Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg just around the corner.
It was next to impossible to get the whole church in one shot. Here is Leandra’s best attempt from a nine-shot composite and some Photoshop skewing…
We ambled across the river and found ice cream (caramel + chocolate for Leandra) and sorbet (passion fruit + raspberry for me) at the Glacier Strasbourg Gelati Factory, bought some traditional cookies, then turned our attention toward Little Venice.
It started to pour, so we frantically looked up a suitable wine bar and sheltered inside for the rest of the storm with an old fashioned radio and a glass of Riesling (me) and a funky organic Sylvaner (L) at Terres a Vin.
Dinner @ Chez Yvonne. We were seated upstairs (due to no reservation) with a bunch of other Americans. Leandra had the tartare with a glass of François Bléger Rouge (St-Hippolyte) 2012 and Eric had the Coq au Riesling with spaëtzle and a house white. Dinner was solid but pricey compared to other places we had eaten on the trip.
Went back to the room for an hour to recharge our feet and phones, then moved the car to get another parking ticket + tram combo (cheaper than buying individual tickets for each of us) before heading back into the city center for the lightshow at the Cathedral. We were expecting a projection show on the cathedral itself but it turned out to be just a light show on a large canvas and you had to lay flat on the ground underneath to watch it. Fine, but a little cheesy and probably not worth the effort we put into coming back into town.
Trams A + D departed regularly from Rotunde
The next morning we packed up and stopped at the Parc de L’Orangerie on our way back to Luxembourg. As promised, there were storks everywhere and the manicured gardens made for a nice stroll before we made the several hour drive to Luxembourg.
