Speeding into Strasbourg

October 27

Dad:

Mom and I planned the next part of our journey east. I wanted to eventually take a scenic train ride towards Switzerland/Austria through the Alps and see some of the ski resorts and snow capped mountains from the train. We decided the next travel day would be to the town of Strasbourg on the eastern border of France/Germany. A medium size city (pop 277 270) with a gorgeous cathedral and German architecture and language influences. Since Paris is geographically central and most trains go to and from Paris our route would take us through Paris again. We had to get from one train station to another on the other side of the city. However, now we were experts at getting around Paris and this didn’t seem as intimidating as before.

Part one – drive to Orléans
So we left our AirBnB in Veigné (near Tours) to do the drive to Orléans, stopping at a few more castles along the way. We didn’t have the time to go into any of them, but we got some nice photos from outside.

Part two – train to Paris
We dropped off the rental car (Hybrid Yaris) in Orléans near the train station and got on the train to Paris. The kids loved the fact that it had private seating for 6 and now called these “Harry Potter train”. It has privacy and we can fit our 4 suitcases and 4 backpacks with no problems. After a short 1.25 hr train ride, we were in Paris again. We bought 4 zone 1 tickets and hopped on a nearly full metro with all our luggage to go across the city to the other rail station (Paris Est). No problem, we’ve got this. We got to the station, found the correct TGV (speed train) platform with lots of time to spare. Mom and Charlotte went out souvenir shopping, while Sam and I waited with all our stuff.

Part three – Train to Strasbourg
Having a Eurail pass permits us to use most regional trains but the (typically full) speed trains need reservations which has an added cost. We wanted to do one of the speed trains at some point and decided this would be a great time to do it. The TGV speed trains are a really convenient and very comfortable way to travel. Reaching top speeds of 320km/h it made the 466km journey in 1h 46m. This distance would have otherwise been a 5.5 hr drive or 7 hr on standard trains including transfers. I’m a big fan of these high speed trains; it’s really too bad there are not more of them in North America. I think they would be very popular. It would be approximately the distance between San Jose and Los Angeles or Toronto to Montreal in less than 2 hr.

Part four – Taxi to AirBnB
After arriving in Strasbourg, we took an Uber to our apartment. It was on the top floor of the building, but thankfully they had a lift (elevator), unlike many of the places we have stayed. Its location was ideal, directly across from the Notre Dame Cathedral of Strasbourg. It is the most beautiful and stunning church I have ever seen. Might even be more stunning than the famous Notre Dame in Paris. The view from the front was amazingly detailed, all lit up and we could see it all right from our room.