Strasbourg and start of bike trip

We awoke to rain this morning. It is Sunday morning so the streets are very quiet in contrast to all the traffic and activity of yesterday when we arrived. I like Sunday mornings in a city. You get to really see the buildings without having to make your way through crowds of people and it gives the city a peaceful feel. We run into Philipp in the lobby and we visit a bit and he shows us pictures of Carlota's third birthday. After a very nice breakfast in our hotel, we walk to the boat dock to take a scenic 1 ¼ hour ride on the Rhine and L'Ill rivers. It goes by some of the historic buildings in Strasbourg and into Le Petit France area of Srasbourg. This is the oldest part of town and has canals and many half-timbered houses. Very picturesque. The ride also goes by the complex of European Union buildings which are in stark contrast to the old buildings in Le Petit France with their ultra modern design with lots of glass. It pours rain at one point in the ride so we are glad we are in one of the covered boats. This is a good thing to do on a rainy morning. 

Afterwards, we walk around Le Petit France and make our way back to the hotel where we meet up with Kim and Billy. We walk back to Le Petit France where we have lunch outside at one of the many restaurants in this area. We are sure that our waitress is the same one from the restaurant last night! Sure enough, when we ask her, she says this is her first day at this restaurant. It is still drizzling but I kind of enjoy the rain since we have seen so little of it in California. 

We meet at 2:00 with our group for brief introductions and a brief safety talk. I sure like this way of doing the safety talk instead of taking time on the first morning of riding to do it. We have assigned times to get our bikes and then do a very brief ride, 3 km or so, to try out our bikes. There are many cobblestone streets here plus they are wet from the rain so Joan has marked just a brief route for us.

We meet at 6:00 for a glass of wine and the route rap for tomorrow. Then we all,walk to dinner together to a restaurant serving Alsatian specialties called Le Tire Bochon. We have our own room. First course is a very nice salad with tomatoes, cheese, onion and a little lettuce. Main course is pig's cheeks which have been cooked in the oven for 8 hours (kind of like roast beef) with mashed potatoes. Dessert is chocolate mousse with salted caramel sauce. We serve ourselves which I like. I can take as much or as little as I want. Some stay afterwards to see the light show on the cathedral. 

The picture of Dave holding a toy cow, which he named Gwendolyn, and which we purchased here in Strasbourg is to take the place of Sylvester the chicken which Dave forgot to bring. We will use the cow to take pictures for Kai at different locations on the trip.

             Le Petit France area of Strassbourg

                         It was raining!