Bonjour!

Justin and I spent our 5 year anniversary in France! We originally planned for Paris, but decided to go to a city closer to us, to cut down on time and cost. We're waiting to go to Paris for when we have a whole week to spend there and less of a tight budget. Traveling in Europe is really expensive! (But worth it!)

So we went to Strasbourg. It's a city that is right on the border of Germany, but couldn't be more different than Germany. It was funny, right when we crossed the border I suddenly felt different. The buildings look similar, but they have romantic little details that you don't see in Germany much.

(Our first picture of France!)

I always notice tiny details about things, like in France a lot of people put porcelain dolls in their window. In Germany they like to put stick on flowers all over the windows. It's really cute. I think Americans should decorate their windows more.

We crossed into France on Friday. We got to our hotel early enough to settle in and then go out to explore some. I'm sad to say we didn't get many pictures on our first day. I was so excited I forgot all about bringing our camera. But we did get pictures of our first dinner. Justin kept asking me "well, what do you want to eat?" and I would say "Something French! .... What do they eat??" lol

The answer: LOTS of bread, cheese, vegetables and pastries. So our first night we had bread with melty goat cheese, herbs, and honey with a mystery white sauce. I don't know what it was, but it was good! I know that combination definitely doesn't sound good, but it was. I was surprised. Justin ordered fries (they call them chips, like the English do. lol) Poor Justin is lactose intolerant and couldn't eat a lot of the French food because there's always cheese on it.

I was really impressed with Justin's French. After a day there a lot of his French came back to him and he was a pro. I might add, it's weird hearing your husband of 5 years speak another language you can't understand. He started speaking and I wanted to ask "who are you?!?" lol He hasn't used his French in so long I forgot how much he knew. It was nice having him be able to communicate with everyone. Europeans really appreciate visitors who speak their language.

We stayed at Le Grande Hotel. It was actually really nice! They had huge pictures of Marilyn Monroe everywhere. lol I didn't get any pictures of our room, but it was tiny. But it had everything we needed and we weren't there very much anyway. They had a breakfast buffet every morning. I had to laugh at their "scrambled eggs". It was more like slightly cooked runny eggs. The French like their eggs "rare". Note to self: French food in France, excellent. American food in France, BAD.

(The breakfast room.)

The second day we got up early. We made our way to the Place de la Cathedrale. Justin got us a bit lost on the tram, and we ended up on the wrong side of Strasbourg. lol But we made it. It's one of the most important monuments dating from the Middle Ages. It's 466 ft. spire was completed in 1439. We actually had to wait around for an hour and a half for the presentation of the Astronomical Clock to start. The clock was inside of the cathedral, and it was breathtaking. It is HUGE. They showed a video of it's history, etc. and then the clock actually moved at noon. It was built by a mathematician and is still a mystery to this day. It shows the position of the planets to keep the time. It's all hand crafted and probably took over a 50 years to build at the time. We didn't get to see everything it could do, because the clock only moves at certain times per day. We saw the 12 apostles move around the clock, each stopping for a split second to be blessed by Jesus as they pass.

(Justin, navigating our way to the cathedral... unsuccessfully.)

(Waiting for the tram.)

(Unbelievably tall! It was the highest point in France for a long time. We felt like tiny ants in comparison.)

(Stained glass windows literally everywhere inside.)

(The organ, it started playing spontaneously and scared us to death. It was creepy sounding, very Phantom of the Opera.)

(The Astronomical Clock.)

(The Angel of Death.)

After the cathedral, we stopped for lunch. We just grabbed street food (which is what most French do, restaurants don't even open until later at night.) We got pizza, and it was so good! I even liked the tomatoes, which anyone who knows me will think that's a miracle. I haven't liked tomatoes EVER. The French know their Italian food!

Justin and I got a caricature of us, but it looks NOTHING like us. So I'm not even going to bother posting it. After lunch, we took a boat tour of the city on the river Ill. It was really cool. We learned the city has a pretty dark past. Lets just say I wouldn't have wanted to live here in the 1800s! One of the houses was known for being the house criminals had their last meal in before being beheaded, and they had another building that was a prison, but is now a butchery. Go figure. lol Then they had a famous bridge known for being the bridge they drowned unfaithful women from. Creepy! But they did have some pleasant things, like a huge tree musicians used to sit in and play their instruments to practice. And they have a huge theater where Mozart gave many concerts.

(My cute Justin.)

(The bridge they would drown unfaithful women from.)

After the boat tour, we were pretty beat. We walked so much. Being pregnant, I can't walk all day like I used to. So we spent the end of our second day in our hotel watching french tvand eating pastries we picked up on our way home. I have to add, I felt very unfashionable here. It's no myth that France has the best fashion. All the women look like models, I'm not even kidding. I ended up wearing Justin's big jacket because I didn't bring one warm enough. (It's spring, dangit! I don't want to dress for winter anymore!) I felt very out of place. And if you're going to buy clothes in France, you better be rich. I don't think I saw anything under 100 euro. (which is about 120 US dollars. Ouch.)

On our 3rd day, we mostly just walked around to look at shops. We stocked up on French soda (which is actually really, really good) and more pastries (we're both going to be fat at this rate. lol) and headed back home. It's only a 3.5 hour drive. Not bad to visit another country. It was so much fun, but we're happy to be home. We had a babysitter for the boys and I missed them SO much. I can't wait until they're older so we can take them on long trips with us.

(A band performing downtown, they sounded really cool!)

Definitely going to visit France again before we leave Germany. If you can visit any country in Europe, I definitely recommend France. It is just breathtakingly beautiful.

(Our boat tour, passing through Petit France.)