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London to Kyrenia by Train and Bus
Saturday 4th August (Strasbourg)
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Gutenberg, the father of printing |
Strasbourg Cathedral |
Strasbourg is quite a small city. It's probably every
Brit's idea of a French provincial city. Because of the European
parliament, it has been undergoing a great deal of expansion. The
station is now one of the biggest in France. The enlargement is
interesting. The original station facade has remained, but they have
added a large curved glass extension out from the front, at a stroke
increasing the size of the station concourse. They are now digging under
the new concourse and adjacent park to make a tram and bus station and
car park.
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Gutenberg Square |
Finally got to bed, but had a disturbed night. I
think the couple in the next room were having an argument. It must have
been serious, as I could hear the lady moaning and groaning for most of
the night. Funny thing is, they seemed quite friendly over breakfast.
It must be something to do with the French cobble
stones, but the wheel has come off my new holdall, so I have now moved
on to case number 3. I'm beginning to feel like the song by the New
Christie Minstrels "Three wheels on my wagon".
I have nothing pre-booked in Strasbourg, but am just
exploring for a couple of days. Most of the buildings appear to be quite
old, but a lot of them were damaged during the war and rebuilt in the
original style.
I made up for last night's McD by having escargots for
my meal tonight. (Well you have to in France, don't you?) As you'd
expect they were cooked in garlic butter. I think the nations emergency
supply of garlic was in my meal. I pity anybody that has to sit downwind
of my breath for the next week or so!
Sunday 5th August (Strasbourg)
My train doesn't leave for Vienna till late tonight,
so I spent the day exploring. I did a fair share of walking yesterday,
so to-day it's relaxing on a boat trip. To be honest, it's too hot to do
much else. It's probably the hottest day of my journey so far.
Strasbourg is surrounded by water. The old city is
built on an "island". Really it's a large loop of the river Ill which
centuries ago was joined up. This links by various tributaries and
canals to the Rhine.
Got to the station in good time for
my train. It's still officially called the Orient Express, but these
days with the opening of the TGV to Strasbourg, it only runs on the
Strasbourg/Vienna route. The bed in my sleeper was already made up,
but as it was only 10.20, I decided to fold it up and relax with a
book. Take a tip from me. Don't try and adjust things you don't
understand! As it folded up, it locked and I couldn't get it down
again. I had to go rather sheepishly to the attendant (who reminded
me of the Russian lady baddie in the James Bond film). That sorted,
I settled down for the night and on to Austria.
Strasbourg is, of course, one of the
centres of European administration, and home of the European Court
of Human Rights. These buildings are a total contrast in design to
those of the old city and are quite futuristic in style. I
understand the ECHR building was designed by the Richard Rogers
Partnership.
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