A couple weeks ago, I went to Strasbourg with Abby and Alexa via overnight train. The ride there wasn't so bad; I think I got between 4-5 hours of sleep amid stopping, and lights flicking on and off, and noisy passengers getting on and off the train. We left Marseille at about 11 pm and got to Strasbourg at about 8:30 am.
The weather was perfect; apparently we were able to experience the warmest weather in Strasbourg so far this year: a clear 67-69 degrees. We spent our time walking around admiring the architecture, which was so quaintly German half-timber that you couldn't help but like it, and in the Office of Tourism getting directions to the various places we wanted to visit.
On the first day, we spent most of the day eating, walking around getting our bearings, and getting situated in the hotel. That evening, we went to a wine cellar in the basement of the hospital. We saw huge barrels of Reisling and Gewurztraminer wine that are aged in the cellar--pretty cool!
We ended up meeting up with Erika (a girl I know from IPFW) who is studying abroad in Strasbourg, and she showed us her school and the main university campus in Strasbourg. All I have to say is that those Strasbourgeois kids are lucky! It was a beautiful building that had marble columns and beautiful woodwork--and there was NO graffiti! Aix needs to get its act together because I feel like Strasbourg sets the standard way above Aix's schools.
Anyway! The rest of the weekend was spent exploring the city--it's absolutely beautiful. The city is built on the Rhine and various other tributaries, which give the city a natural feel; the rivers are a central part of Strasbourg, and each river bank is lined with grass and trees, neither of which we see very much in Aix.
Then this past weekend, I went with six of my friends to Istanbul, Turkey. We took a flight out of Marseille that left at 1:55 am and arrived at about 6 am Istanbul time, which is an hour ahead of Aix. So we got almost no sleep that night. I'm feeling pretty lazy at the moment, so I'm going to make the description of the city pretty short (and therefore inaccurate). We spent most of our time eating and getting lost. Istanbul happens to be a huge city (population: 13 million), and it is very spread out. We saw several mosques, which were cool, but I still definitely prefer my Catholic churches :) Food-wise, we ate a lot of kebabs, which are a very traditional Turkish food. They're basically gyros, but Turkish. I also got a lot of Turkish Delights, of Narnia fame. They're delicious, but you have to watch how many you eat because they can get to be a little rich.
I posted the pictures from both trips, so look at the links on the side. I'm leaving for Paris tomorrow, coming back Monday night, and then leaving for London again on Thursday. Busy schedule!
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