Strasbourg, France

We arrived in Karlsruhe on Saturday, and spent a very long day meeting people, seeing the campus, and attending the KSC soccer game. (More on that later, I promise!) We finally had a free day on Sunday, and Julian Hocker, a German student who studied as a foreign exchange student at my school, offered to take a group of us to Strasbourg for the day.

Karlsruhe is very close to the France border, so it was only a short train ride over to Strasbourg. And hey, who wouldn't want to add another country to their travel list?! I was on board, although unfortunately my host Felicitas wasn't able to come. She did take me feed me breakfast and get me to the train station on time. 

Me, Kelly, and Fer waiting for the train to Strasbourg. 

There were three of us US students, and our tour guide Julian that made the adventure to France. And it was a fun group because it was so small. Unfortunately, I left my camera sitting on Felicitas' bed. So I was totally at the mercy of my friends to take some pictures of me and for me. Thankfully, Julian is an amateur photographer. His pictures came out amazing! So in keeping with tradition, I will highlight my trip for you below! 

The train station was really cool from the outside. It was a giant glass dome, so we wander outside to be wowed by the the buildings, but turned around to be surprised by the modern architecture we just walked out of! 

The main square of the city. We often joked that Strasbourg was more like a German city in France. The buildings all reminded me of a small German village, and you could definitely see that in the main square. There was also a totally random carousel in the middle of a busy round about. It was pretty cool. 

Notre Dame of Strasbourg - I'm sure you remember my post on Paris, and how much I loved Notre Dame! Well I didn't realize that there are a couple of Notre Dames, and one of them is crunched up against the buildings in Strasbourg. It was like a smaller version of the one in Paris, and it was pretty incredible.

  

Climbing to the top of the church - for just a few euros you can climb to the top of the church and get a fabulous view of the city! I'll admit, this trek just about killed me. I felt like a old lady, but it was totally worth the view at the top. You can even sign a book, which of course, I did. So next time you're there, flip back to May 2013 and you'll find me. ;)

View from the top!

This is right before Julian kicked his lens cap and it fell outside the railing and down to the ground.

Modern with the old - One of the coolest things about Europe is finding modern art or architecture in the middle of these old buildings. We found this really cool fountain while we were wandering around. 

The Rhine in Strasbourg runs right between some buildings. We got some great pictures of the buildings and the river. 

The food. We indulged in plenty of French pastries, but everyone told us we need to have Flammkuchen. I was told that this is a typical dish of Strasbourgh...though this is the German word for it. In french it's something like flambee and it's very much like a super thin pizza.

Strasbourg was my first sight-seeing day, and it was a lot of fun. I was itching to try out my French, but honestly more people spoke German. All in all I think Strasbourg can be described as a little German town in France. And hopefully that doesn't offend anyone! :)