The Travelling DesRosiers: Strasbourg

Shifted our base of operations NNE 500Km to Strasbourg, capital of Alsace and now home to the European Parliament. After clearing the light Sunday morning traffic in Lyon we struck off to Villefranches sur Saone into the Beaujolais region, past the well known (to us) town of Belleville. Then into Burgundy, through Macon to Chalon sur Saone, Beaune and Nuit St. Georges (the town). It began to rain torrentially as we neared Dijon of mustard fame, so we gave it a miss and continued on through Besancon to Baum-les-Dames for lunch.

Unknown to the world, this pretty little village was the scene of a traumatic week for the DesRosiers in 1956 when we broke a spring on Dad's 1949 Studebaker and had to wait here for one to be sent from Paris. Because of that misfortune, we were forced to shorten our trip to Italy, so I didn't get to see Rome until Reg and I returned in 2010, fifty-four years later. The grey, gloomy image of the post-war village printed on my disappointed, pre-teen brain bore no resemblance to the charming place that it is today. Found a "Sandwicherie" 5 minutes before it closed for the day and snagged a lovely little roadside lunch.

After a brief exploration of the village, it was back on to the highway. We passed Belfort where the TGV trains are built and plunged into Alsace near the city of Mulhouse. On into the Plains of Alsace, a fertile area where it is possible to see 6-7 villages (or rather their church steeples) at once from the highway. The Fall colours are beginning to show, but the corn is still in the fields and still green.

Got to our hotel-apartment in downtown Strasbourg in time to find a grocery store and lay in a few supplies for tomorrow.

Breakfast (bun, coffee, OJ) in the hotel yesterday was E20 for two people. Our "Quick Lunch" was also E20 for two. Pizza at Dominos for two was E7. Anyone else see why fast food is going to win?