EKM

OK, so we didn’t go to the Czech Republic just yet. Owing to a massive screw up at Europcar where we were led to believe that the car would be happily insured for driving in Czech Republic and Poland – because you know, that’s the option I selected on the website when I booked back in January – we are now on a train to Stuttgart. Frankly, we just wanted to get out of France, because the anti-English feeling is in full effect. Maybe it’s a Strasbourg thing, but the single place outside of the Hotel where we didn’t feel like complete twits for not speaking fluent French was the hole in the wall where got Kebabs*, and the train station.

Don’t get me wrong, my French is quite terrible, but I did make a concerted effort not to act like an American and just yell louder till I got what I want. Part of the fun of travelling is making a go of it, despite the fact that you’re lost in the foreign country. I just wish that the locals in Strasbourg weren’t so… angry.

* I have no idea if this is a Strasbourg or France thing, but kebabs are really popular here. More so than Wellington. Almost as many as bakeries.

Strasbourg reminds me a lot of Hamilton. It’s a functioning city, but apart from the Cathedral, which is impressive – there’s not a lot going on.

It’s also incredibly cold, leaving me to believe that there’s probably a fully happening social scene happening inside one of the square looming concrete slabs that pass for buildings here. That’s not to say there isn’t an appreciation for design and architecture, but with the exception of the cathedral and various churches dotted around, all effort at the visual aesthetic is saved for the inside.

On that note, I have yet to see this fashion sense the French are apparently so famous for. Everyone seems to be decked out in an endless series of black leather jackets, baggy jeans and black boots. Fashionable perhaps, but lacking in variety.

Tomorrow, we drive to the Czech Republic!