Strasbourg is located on the French/German border in the Alsace region of eastern France. We were super excited to visit this city. It’s a four hour train ride from Paris and since it’s so close to Germany, it has a Bavarian vibe to it. Most of the people speak German. We arrived on an unbelievably hot day so we were so happy to relax and enjoy our hour long river cruise! We only had five short hours in the city before we had to take the train back so we rushed through the sightseeing.

Gare de l’est is one of my favorite train stations in Paris. It’s smaller than it’s neighbor Gare Nord but it has a charming appeal and a turn-of-the-century vibe to it. Amelie was filmed there so of course I adore it.

We had breakfast at Starbucks and had some freeloaders came begging for our crumbs.

The train ride to Strasbourg was a long one, over four hours, however we had an awesome Club four seat which meant we could play games and spread out comfortably.

We arrived in Strasbourg a little after noon and hopped on the tram to take us into the city center.

 

The city was packed with tourists. We immediately hit the Strasbourg Cathedral of our Lady. It’s enormous, you can’t miss it. Mozart played the organ in the cathedral! The Sherlock Holmes sequel was filmed there.

The cruise was super cute, you listen on headphones to characters give the history of medieval Strasbourg. We were so grateful for the air conditioned covered bateau!

This was our first time passing through a river lock. There are parts of the river that are higher so you go inside a tunnel part of the water (this is the lock) and a door closes behind the boat, then for four minutes water floods the area and the boat rises. Then the door ahead of us opens and we continue up the river. Locks are more common in England but there are some at the canal Saint-Martin in Paris.

Those holes you see in the walls were where they placed canons. Did you know that Strasbourg is one of the capitals of the European Union?

Don’t tell anyone, I don’t like pretzels unless they are the sugary, American kind from Auntie Anne’s in the mall. The architecture of the city blew me away. It’s like walking through a fairy tale!

While we were on our cruise, we missed the Pride parade. There are more students living in Strasbourg than any other age group. During our canal tour we learned that close to 50,000 students attend the University of Strasbourg.

Since we were in a rush, I almost left without seeing the place that was my entire reason for visiting Strasbourg, this lovely river side restaurant I found on Pinterest. I didn’t know the name of the place so the only clue I had was the sign on the covered ivy. Luckily I could make out “Au Pont St. Ma—” after a Google search and asking locals, we found it. Most of the places I visit are inspired by a photo I found on Pinterest. My travel board has over 600 places I hope to visit one day.

After staring at the river for awhile, we had to call an Uber to rush back to the train station to make our train back to Paris.

We loved Strasbourg so much that we were bummed we didn’t get to spend more time exploring. Luckily we are planning a trip to Colmar which is near Strasbourg soon.

Batorama boat tour
Embarcadère : Palais Rohan
67100 Strasbourg