Windy Miller Tour Blog

The Jesuit Church was only a few minutes walk from the campsite so I wandered back, we had some brekky then decided to take the ped back to Strasbourg – but on the condition that Google Maps was set to “Avoid Motorways” !!!

… and it was fine…

Strasbourg is a pretty massive city (we were informed later on the boat trip that it has the second largest student population after Paris). We passed the road sign saying we were now in Strasbourg but it was still an 18 minute drive to the centre…

So we drove in, parked up and had a wander around the tat shops then went to buy the riverboat tickets. We opted for a covered boat as the next available boat (for the trip we wanted) was 6:15pm and although it was sunny 😎 & gorgeous THEN, we weren’t taking any chances after Friday !!! ☔️

Dave said he fancied he a Knickerbocker Glory and there were loads of places serving ice-creams in cornets & tubs but he wanted something in a glass so we went on a mission and eventually found Le Petit Glacie up a little side street…

I honestly only wanted a wine 🍷 (I know – shocker 😂) but although it was on the menu, the waiter told me I couldn’t have any 😞 (I reckon word had gotten out from Nancy & the Thursday festival & we are on some black list 😂)

Anyway, I ended up ordering a strawberry creation and Dave had a chocolatey thing plus a tea & a coffee – for €30…

Mine was absolutely delicious but Dave’s was more of a milkshake but hey…

• Location: 48° 34′ 43.89″ N 7° 45′ 6.52″ E

Well, I’ve fallen off the waggon and not been to Mass for a couple of months but as one of the main attractions of Molsheim is the (Catholic !) Jesuit Church (and I felt the pull to go back), I went to 10:30am Mass yesterday morning…

All in French (obvs !) but I mumbled the English equivalents of some of the prayers (like the Our Father) and the rest of the time, I just sat back and drank in the bright, airy building (such a contrast to the dark, gothic cathedral in Strasbourg) with beautiful paintings, the huge organ, the little church choir (who even sang one hymn to the tune of “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” 👼🎄🎅 !!!) and contemplated life in general…

Nice philosophical, stress-free start to the day… 😊

I air-dropped these over to my Mac yesterday but forgot about them until just now.

They just give an overall feel for the place – architecture, etc. here you go…

• Location: 48° 35′ 0.14″ N 7° 44′ 20.31″ E

So we originally were going to go back to Strasbourg today (as the weather forecast looked sunny this afternoon and we were going to do a boat ride on the river) but the day dawned and it was raining again ☔️☔️☔️

I was happy catching up on the blog this morning and taking it easy & Dave was equally happy practising his sax 🎷 (first time this holiday). Then it brightened up so we got ready, Dave BBQ’d some sausages and we had a light brunch then trundled off on the scooter…

As you all know (still) I’m not one to say – but I DID suggest that we do the “Old City Walking Tour” of Molsheim (on our doorstep) and maybe go for a swim (as we have free access to La Piscine across the road) but as we’ve barely used the scooter (with me having motorway-phobia 😳) Dave wanted a little ride-out… 🛵

The surrounding villages didn’t have as much to offer as Molsheim so on the way back we had trip to the Auchan (supermarket) for supplies (as I realised at at tea-time yesterday evening – when I opened the Boursin and found bits of crisp and Tuc cracker in there plus the remaining BBQ crisps were no more & neither was the Snickers bar – that after we’d returned from the local festival on Thursday evening that I’d clearly had a midnight snack – and then some !!! 😂)

We dumped the supplies back at base then went into Molsheim and I was going to have a little mooch around the promising-looking clothes & gift shops – but we went to a little bar to soakup the last of the sun with a couple of Desperados… 😎

Came back, popped the music on, poured a wine (or two !!!) then made a lovely pasta dinner and am now fully caught up on the blog 🥳 (whilst His Lordship is practicing again 🎷)

Tomorrow’s looking dry so the plan is back to Strasbourg for our 29th Wedding Anniversary (yes 3rd August 1996 is when we tied the knot 💒) for the boat trip and hopefully a lovely romantic dinner (but we’ll see how it all turns out, shall we ?)🤞

• Location: 48° 32′ 31.17″ N 7° 29′ 59.63″ E

So we were trundling around Strasbourg (for much longer than I anticipated for only €9 per person) hearing various bits and pieces about buildings, when they were built, what influenced their design & when Strasbourg was part of Germany and when it became part of France when suddenly the heavens opened !!! ☔️☔️☔️☔️☔️

BIG STYLE !!!

The driver was a good guy and kept us around a corner whilst the worst of it was occurring…

So as (Dave, particularly as he was on the outside) we were both a bit on the damp side, we decided we’d call it a day and headed back to the railway station…

A 15 minute journey outbound was now a 27 minute return journey – calling at a lot more stations – I guess because it was the end of the day and commuters were going home…

Got back, got dry, had tea & cosied up with a bit of TV, chocolate & hot drinks and gave our livers a rest…

… and when I’d finally got my raincoat our of my bag and the worst of it was over !!!

• Location: 48° 35′ 2.95″ N 7° 45′ 33.32″ E

We exited the cathedral and there was a little land train offering a tour. I said “Shall we get on ?” but Dave wanted to hang out for the “Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus Tour”…

I was starving but fancied bread – not a massive steak meal so when we saw a blackboard outside an establishment promising Croque Monsieur, Frites et Salade Vert, I was sold 👍

It looked like rain ☔️ so we opted for “l’interieur” and Dave said he’d have the same as me… We were still recovering from the amount of alcohol we’d consumed the previous evening so Dave had a coffee & I typed “soda water & lime” into Google Translate & showed it to the waiter as he didn’t quite understand what I wanted, but I ended up with a still, cloudy water…

… which would have been fine if the “meal” they presented us with had been edible. Dave didn’t seem to mind his too much but I’ve experienced the best Croque Madame in Lourdes (a Croque Monsieur with a poached egg on the top 😋 ) and this had clearly been pre-prepared then deep-fried to re-heat it PLUS the ham was so poor quality I couldn’t even cut bits of it with a knife – well suffice to say that it just wasn’t good 😔

I mean HOW can you go wrong with toast and chips ??? !!!

We always tip – both in England and especially abroad but I couldn’t bring myself to this time & I wouldn’t have said anything but the waiter asked if it was good and (in French) I told him that it wasn’t and he apologised.

Anyway, Dave tapped in the “Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus Tour” destination which was still 20 minutes away so we headed off…

When we eventually got to the square promising the tour, there were only “normal” buses and “cruise” buses (taking day trippers back to their ship) – and no sign of anything else 😔

I mean, you know me – I’m not one to say – but I did say (that AI said that) there was no “Hop-On-Bleedin’-Hop-Off Bus Tour” 😂 !!!

So we turned around and headed back towards the old town, ended back up Cathedral Square where I insisted we take the land train !!!

Four covered carriages taking up to 16 peeps in each – complete with headphones in multiple languages…

What could possibly go wrong ? 😐

• Location: 48° 34′ 52.92″ N 7° 45′ 3.35″ E

So – on holidays in The Van – we tend to do the “Hop-On-Hop-Off” bus tours that are found in a lot of European cities. I’d had a Google and AI told me there were no such tours in Strasbourg – but Dave had found a website that promised such an offering so we tapped it into Google Maps and it was a 32 minute walk through the city…

It wasn’t long before we came across the Cathedral ✝️ Entry was free, it contained an astronomical clock – which I still don’t really understand & although AI said you could pay €3 for “the presentation” of it, we couldn’t see how to do that easily and didn’t pursue it – so we just took pics…

• Location: 48° 34′ 52.22″ N 7° 44′ 56.74″ E

We woke, showered , had a bit of brekky then meandered down to Molsheim Railway Station. Strasbourg was only a short train ride away so we opted for this (rather than the 25 minute journey on the scooter 🛵 as it meant going on the motorway 😳

The lady at the ticket office was very helpful, the train was on time, clean & modern and we arrived at Gare De Strasbourg (which was HUGE) 15 minutes later – and Dave looked particularly German in his outfit and pullstring bag on his back as you can see below…

• Location: 48° 32′ 14.27″ N 7° 30′ 1.02″ E

Dave had been having a play (because “My Dave’s An Engineer, My Dave Is” !!!) and then he showed me how to upload a video to the blog…

And – even though he showed me really quickly yesterday – I’ve just managed it – ALL ON MY OWN !!! 🥳 (And, let’s not forget that I was an IT Support Analyst, myself, for 12 years !!!)

So enjoy !!!