Strasbourg, France

We've been travelling a lot, and I had so many posts on Macatoo and Cape Town to put up, so things have gotten a bit out of whack.  Added to that, we had no internet in the house for a few weeks, so it was hard to blog.  Consequently, I'll be putting up a few travel blogs that happened earlier in the year - one of these is our great long weekend trip to Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace, in France to catch up with our friend David.

Catching up with David - yay!

One of the brilliant things about living where we do, is that so many other places are very close to us.  Strasbourg is less than 3 hours drive away and it's a fab destination for a long weekend.  Strasbourg is a gorgeous town, dripping with history (the Romans first pitched up in 12BC), and the entire town centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We stayed in the Sofitel Strasbourg Grand Ile, booked on booking.com and got great prices.  The Sofitel is in a great location, and is in the process of being done up, so make sure you ask for one of the new rooms when you book - you won't be disappointed.  We had a great room with opening windows (always a bonus), huge king bed, Nespresso machine, iPod dock, free wifi (yay!) and lovely amenities in the bathroom.  The hotel lobby is big and posh and there's a decent restaurant and a fun bar.  We had dinner in the restaurant on the first night, and it was okay (the wine was great!), but not amazing.  Go out and explore!

Flower arrangement in the lobby of the hotel.

We also did the Batorama Boat Tour, which was a brilliant way to see the town from a different angle.  Tickets are €9.60 for adults and €5.20 for children, and you can buy them at the dock.  The tour takes 1 hour and 20 minutes and the boats are covered by a glass roof for inclement weather.  They are also heated in winter so you can keep snuggly warm.

Strasbourg by water.

Check out the seagull!  Didn't know it was even in the frame until afterwards.

Make sure you take the boat tour.

We hadn't made any dinner reservations, but we wandered about and had great meals wherever we ate. You can pretty much cover Strasbourg in a long weekend, so go and visit if you get the chance!

Brilliant breakfast out a cafe in Strasbourg.

The Fish Market

Lemon & sugar crepe for breakfast - yummo!

Crepe and icecream - scrummy!

Strasbourg Cathedral

Artisan bakery - amazing!

Bike hire.

Hermes - bliss!

Don't forget to look up when you're walking around.
You never know what you might see!

A welcoming gentleman on a church door.

"What?  What did you say?"

"Sorry, can you call your dog?  He's biting my ankle!"

"I've got a large key, but no nose - win some, lose some."