Of Belgian Beer and Strasbourg

This will be the longest post ever. Ok? Go!

Friday: 2 Castles and a train ride
So Friday we went on an IES field trip to Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vincomte which are two castles to the south of Paris. Fontainebleau was first and it was the prior residence to a few kings, generally around hunting season in October and in the summer months, and then more notably Napoleon I lived there. It was pretty cool...that kind of touristy thing isn't really my bag but it's fun to see all the paintings and decorations inside as well as the architecture of the chateau itself...so it was neat all in all. The best part about Fontainebleau was the lunch...we had an awesome salad with some sort of horseradish dressing plus the best salmon I've ever had and then profiteroles and coffee. I wanted to eat all day...but alas we had to forge on to the next castle. The second castle wasn't as vast or pretty inside, but the gardens and grounds were just sprawling and beautiful. It's the largest privately owned chateau in all of France, and yes the owners live on the grounds in the old servants' quarters which is pretty cool. The chateau was originally meant for this guy named Nicolas Fouquet who was then imprisoned by Louis XIV because the king was basically jealous. Go royalty. So we left Vaux-le-Vincomte around 4pm, got back to paris, grabbed some dinner (baguette, camembert, and apples) and hopped on a train to Strasbourg! It was my first train ride ever so it was pretty fun...we rode the TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse...aka very fast train) and it only took us 2.5 hours to get there instead of around 5. We got in around 9:45, found the hostel, settled in, got a bottle of Alsacien Pinot Gris and called it a night.

Saturday in Strasbourg
The next day we woke up pretty early, grabbed breakfast at the hostel cause it was included in the price, and started just walking around. We went to a flea market where I found Rachel's present from my sejour in France...hopefully she will like it. I think I picked well :-D. We saw a really beautiful cathedral and saw this crazy old cookoo clock thing inside. It was kinda lame to be honest but the fact that the clock is hundreds of years old and still works is pretty impressive! We then walked over to an area of town called "Petite France" which is the most touristy part of the city but it's just adorable. All of the German architecture of houses and buildings is super cute and it almost felt like being in a recreation of a European town--except people actually live there. There is a canal that surrounds the city which makes for some really beautiful pictures and views and the town is just very pleasant. It's not small by any means, but it had that small town feeling which was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of Paris. Lunch was fantastic. German style potato pancakes with melted munster cheese and a blonde belgian beer. Num. After that we went to this renaissance art museum which was kinda boring but not stressful which is nice when travelling with a small group, and then we needed to be refueled with caffeine. SO we got dessert and coffee and decided to scrap going to any more museums for the day. We headed back to the hostel doing a bit of window shopping on the way and when we got back, I fell asleep for a bit...afterwards we foraged on! We went on a boat tour of the city after doing a little shopping which was actually really nice because it showed us how much of the city we hadn't seen and gave us an idea of some thigns to do the next day which was really nice! We then set out for this bar we had seen earlier called L'Academie de la Biere (AWESOME). We just kinda walked around Strasbourg and got a little lost in the process, but eventually we found it. So this place was awesome. It was really nice and cozy on the inside and there were over a hundred different types of beer to choose from--sweet. They also had a deal for students that was buy 2 get 1 free. So we did. I tried St. Feuillien, Karmelit, Grimbergen, and Fischer Ambree (all on tap and from Belgium--the Karmelit I just tried a sip of), got a Dame-Blanche (vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream), and had a bit of the girls' pizza (which was also really freakin good). So the night was all in all a success. The beer was phenomenal...pretty sweet and light in flavor and the St. Feuillien was definitely the darkest and most carmely tasting but they were all very very good. And I know it sounds like a lot for me to drink, but the glasses were only 15cl which looked to me to be about 10 ounces or so...so it was really just kind of a sampler platter. Tasty. Then we went home and pretty much passed out from being full and exhausted from a full day of walking.

Day 3: Germany adventure
So we woke up and ate breakfast, headed to the train station, rented bikes, and biked to Germany. Awesome. On the way we stopped and picked up food for a picnic, baguette, munster cheese (amazing), strawberries, apricots, and a bottle of wine. When we crossed the bridge to Germany we sat under this weird spaceship thing in the park and partook in our food and afterwards we went biking around this little town called Kehl, Germany. It was pretty quaint and there wasn't much to do cause it was a Sunday, but it was still fun to have biked to Germany. We biked around, took pictures, grabbed coffee, and then basically biked back to Strasbourg so we could catch our train. Back in Strasbourg we grabbed some Gelatto and biked around the area of town we hadn't really seen the day before. I bought some Alsacien wine to bring back with me because they are a big wine region in France, but I guess...which region isn't, right? Then we returned our bikes, and hopped on the train back to Paris. All in all, the trip was really nice. It was just three of us girls (me, and my two friends Jessica and Jessica) and I think it was a really good mixture. For not knowing eachother very well or for very long we travelled really well together, there was no drama or bickering, and when things annoyed us we just were able to let them go. Very nice and refreshing considering most girls aren't that easy to be with for 72 hours straight. I think our next trip we're planning to go on all together is to Cassis which is in the south of France on the Riviera and will be absolutely beautiful, not that Strasbourg wasn't. Strasbourg is absolutely beautiful and if you have the chance, go. I had a great time and will post pictures ASAP. A toute a l'heure!

Ann