Thursday, July 5, 2012

Field Trip 2: Strasbourg, France and the European Parliament

For our second field trip we were given to options. You could either visit a concentration camp (Struthof) and the European Parliament in Strasbourg OR spend 5 hours of free time in Strasbourg then go to the European Parliament. We chose the second option: free time!

Kate and I spent a fantastic day together exploring Strasbourg! We arrived and wandered around trying to decide what to do first. We opted for the hour and fifteen minute boat cruise all around Strasbourg! There are 27 bridges in Strasbourg connecting the island in the middle to the "mainland". It was a really cute tour and a great way to get to learn about Strasbourg while seeing the whole thing!

the boat we rode around Strasbourg

Then we were really hungry and wanted to try tarte flambee -- a pizza of sorts that we'd learned about in a cheese tasting we went to for our GTL class. We found a great restaurant on the river where we shared a tarte flambee (it was good!) and each had a delicious salad! It was such a beautiful and relaxing lunch.

The restaurant we went to is on the far left!

our tarte flambee

 Then we wandered around an area called Petite France and had gelato while shopping/meandering. We bought 2 euro American flags to help us celebrate the 4th!

View of Petite France. The wooden thing is a boat lift! water pours in and raises the boat 1 meter in less than 5 minutes!

Then we went back to the bus where they took us to the European Parliament. We had a Q&A with a representative and her assistant (who helped translate) and got to watch a bit while they were in session. It was interesting watching them while in session. The Q&A wasn't my favorite seeing as she walked in and said "do you speak french?" and we all chimed in unison "NOOOO" and so then she started talking in French. Doesn't really make sense to me?

We were treated to some McDonald's on the way home courtesy of GTL -- nothing says America like some McDonald's!

Celebrating the 4th with our flags! 

I hope everyone's 4th of July was wonderful and patriotic! I know I sure miss the US -- especially the ice, free refills, and air conditioning! :)

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