Berlin to Strasbourg (11 Apr)

We packed our suitcases and headed off on our 5 min walk to Berlin Hbf. Bought some breaky at the station in readiness for our train ride, found our platform (which had changed from the night before) and awaited the train.

We were a bit worried about our pre-printed ticket as it didn't appear to be a ticket at all. We boarded our train in readiness for our 7hr journey and guess who popped up with his ticket - cheeky little sod:

After about 4hrs, the ticket guy appeared to check our tickets. Thankfully he spoke really good English as it quickly became apparent we didn't have tickets at all - only reserved seats. We explained our concerns and he explained that in Germany (& if you had the money), you could reserve all the seats on the train, but that didn't mean you'd actually bought a ticket!!

Anyway, to cut long story short, he spent about 10 mins with us helping Sue book & pay for the train trip. He also said he was supposed to fine us, but was too lazy to do the paperwork - phew. In the end he walked off whilst Sue was still waiting for the payment to go through and never came back to check our tickets!! Hilarious & slightly stressing.

He did however suggest we get off at Frankfurt (instead of our original Mannheim) and told us which platform to go to. So we disembarked about an hour later and headed for the platform as we only had 10 mins to find it.

And our incorrect platform issues continued!! The train on our supposed platform was going to Brussels!! We then frantically checked all the boards but couldn't find our train to Strasbourg. After some mild panic attacks, I noticed another board that listed our train on the platform next to the original - which we then made a beeline for. No stress - made it with 3 mins to spare 👏

After that minor debacle, the rest of the train trip was a 'a piece of cake'.

Having arrived in Strasbourg, I was confident of finding our Hotel for one night as it was within spitting distance of the train station. The night before, I spent time looking up where we needed to go and wrote it down in readiness for a smooth transition from train to Hotel.

Train A, 4 stops, 10 mins - how hard could it be!! After a few rounds of confusion, I discovered Train A was actually not a train at all but a Tram. We found the 'Tram ticket' machine, purchased our ticket & tottled off with suitcases in toe, to the tram station near the train station. 

Nope, that Tram was a 'C' tram, we needed the 'A' tram 😕. After viewing the maps available again, we discovered the A Tram was a 6 min walk away - so off we trotted. 6 mins was probably closer to 15 mins, but upon arrival we finally found our A tram & knew we were closing in on our Hotel. After a minor disagreement of which 'side' of the tram tracks to board, we jumped on the correct side (finally I got my directions right - trust me, its a running joke. I blame my left handedness!!) in readiness for our 4 stops.

After just 2 stops, I'd realised we'd reached our destination, so we eagerly jumped out of the tram and headed up the escalators only to discover we'd arrived back at the Strasburg train station we arrived at 💩💩💩💩.

Here's a shot of Gare De Strasbourg - puts some of our train stations to shame:

It was then that it hit me. I didn't notate the address of our Hotel because it was literally across the road from the Station. Sooooo, I looked across the road, and yep there she was Le Grand Hotel Strasburg!!!

I just looked at Sue & said 'well that was a nice walk' - which didn't go down too well (understandably).

Upon arrival at our 2nd & last Hotel for our trip we were greeted with the BIGGEST toilet flushing button on earth. Check it out - hilarious.

On a brighter note, the weather continues to be fantastic (not a hint of rain yet) and this was the view from our room - which was rather lovely:

After our 'Tour of the lost' and a well earned break 😉, we headed off to see the Strasbourg Cathedral. 

The construction of this Romanesque cathedral (of which only the crypt and the footprint remain), began in 1015. The spire of the current building, in a Gothic style, was completed in 1439. It's facade contains a large number of ornamental features and has a 142m spire. Up until the 19th century, the cathedral was the highest building in the whole of the Christian world.

Here's some shots both during the day and at night:

Having explored a bit of Strasbourg we were booked in for a 20 Centuries of History - Rhine River Cruise at 8.30pm. As we headed towards the Cruise meeting point, we stopped off at a lovely restaurant to have pizza and limoncello. Definitely hit the spot and filled us both up - the limoncello certainly packed a punch!!🍹 

The 70 min cruise allowed us to admire the buildings of the French-German television channel Arte, the European Parliament and the European Court of Human Rights. We floated along their canals which took us to the heart of the following 3 symbolic districts of Strasbourg:

• Grand Ile - classified as World Heritage by UNESCO, at the foot of the Palais Rohan, we floated along the canal and old coolers. We also went through 2 locks and discovered the Covered Bridges and the Vauban dam (the city's fortifications under Louis XIV)
• Neustadt - built in the historicist style between 1871 and 1918, the Palace of the Rhine, the opera and the University Palace are all witnesses to the Imperial German town planning of the time
• the European Quarter - after the Second World War, in spirit of European reconciliation, Strasbourg was chosen in 1949 to serve as the headquarters of the Council of Europe.

Here are some shots of the cruise: the 1st one shows the Vauban dam and the 2nd one is of Petite France:

Our cruise finished around 9.45pm and we headed back to our Hotel after an adventurous day!!

Tomorrow we jump back on the train again to travel to Epinal for the day to visit the place where Sue's Dad's great, great, grandmother lived.

Keep smiling :)