Strasbourg

I have been so lucky this summer and have been able to travel around, visiting family and friends! My supervisor at university had said, ‘This is your last summer of freedom,’ meaning that next summer it would be imperative for me to do an internship or work experience throughout the majority of my summer. In other words, my holidays of the future would no longer be the empty care-free holidays I knew in my childhood or even this year. This summer I really put the time to good use! We visited great-aunts in the south of Germany and Berlin, family in Bonn and friends in Strasbourg.

The first place my parents and I visited was Strasbourg. We visited family friends who lived there: a student and his parents. I could talk much more about it, but I want to keep this condensed! If your curiosity exceeds this post, call me and I’ll gladly sit and chat in more detail about it. However, to not lose your attention and interest, this will be my shortest summary of the city:

At the border of Germany and France in Alsace, sits this city.  It has more layers and intrigue than upon initial glance. From the tasteful and artisanal shops, the no-waste grocery shop, the bikers and the bikes—things seemed simple and stripped down there, but still energising. It is a growing city with a lot of young people. It is a university town. The last photo in this post is from a trendy pub that I went to with the student of the family we were visiting. The pub (of which I sadly forget the name) had creative and good quality food and drink, with several groups of young people. We both ordered a sort of orange beer, which I unfortunately also can’t remember the name of now. I just remember it was worth the money—definitely something special and unique. Everything in Strasbourg seemed like it was something special. However, importantly, it was special in an understated way, that allowed the pure essence of the town to shine through. Its history was certainly unique, which made its present unique, too. There was new and old and both cooperated well together from what I saw. There were water foundations, a river, a 300 year-old tree, tasteful shops, tasteful restaurants. Tasteful people. I don’t know if this fantastic impression I got was from the lovely family I was with, or the culture, or the town, or my experience of it as a whole. Nevertheless, regardless the reason, I was a massive fan of Strasbourg. I thought it was a city that positively contributes to its people, its region and the world.