So, today we got up early. We had breakfast with some people we met on the trip. There's Lisa and Kevin McQuade from Suffolk County NY, and Brenda and Steve from Ontario. We also met another couple from Paramus, NJ, named Jerry and Brenda Westheim. Also met a couple from Ellicott City - Bob and... forgot her name. There are people here from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Very international group.
So about our trip...
This morning and evening were very French. Strasbourg is in France on the south, or maybe west, bank of the Rhine. We disembarked and got on a tour bus. Very comfortable and not completely full. The bus took us to another smaller tourist boat - my name for it. It was like a long tube, the top of it being glass or plastic so we could get a good view all around. That boat took us along the Ill river through Strasbourg. We saw the seat of the European Council and a number of other very new and modern buildings along the river. At some point we crossed into the old city. A very marked difference in architecture. During the history of the city it went from being a Roman outpost in the BC era, through the Middle Ages, part of the Hapsburg Dynasty, Catholic, Protestant and a lot more history behind it.
The boat dropped us off near the Notre Dame du Strasbourg Cathedral. Very impressive. Pic below.
Back to the boat for lunch. After a short while we took another bus into Germany to the Black Forest. It was a beautiful drive to an open air museum. It was actually a little village with some buildings dating back to the 1400's. I have to admit my first step onto German soil left an impression on me. I couldn't help but think about Hitler and Nazis and the Holocaust. It left me feeling a deep satisfaction. The Third Reich is no more, and here I am a Jew, vacationing in the country that would have seen my people into extinction. I know it wasn't the whole country, but the feeling was there. I found the Germans we met to be very friendly. I guess one of the reasons people travel is to see things for yourself - to overcome your own ignorances and prejudices. It's a hard thing to do. We stopped at a gift shop that specializes in koo-koo clocks. Herr Herr was the proprietor. His family has had the shop for 6 generations. Nice old gentleman who asked if I hunted. He hunts in the Black Forest for deer, elk and boar. He keeps some and sells some to local restaurants. I liked him.
Back to the boat and dinner. There was entertainment tonight. An accordion player and a singer. Very French and very entertaining.
Tomorrow Speyer and Heidelberg.
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