Paris to Alsace

We had one last morning in Paris - Steve visited another boulangerie that was on the list - Mamiche - which delighted us all with its chocolate babka and viennoise. (We must have passed four boulangeries on the walk to this particular one, and then we had to wait in line! But it was famous/recommended, and it was indeed tasty.)

Liesl wanted to visit the Pont des Arts, because that particular bridge was a central feature of a Paris-based cartoon she watches (Miraculous Ladybug). It seemed like a good destination for our final adventure. We hopped on the trusty/convenient Velib bikes and pedaled our way back to the Seine. The Velibs are both amazing -- easy to rent, easy to return, stations and bikes everywhere -- and also frustrating, because sometimes no bikes are available, or the few bikes remaining are broken, or a bike turns out to be squeaky or rattly. But we really enjoyed exploring Paris by bike, especially given the many protected bike lanes connecting the city in all quarters. Liesl had never really biked on city streets before and did an amazing job navigating streetlights, other bikes, buses, cars, and delivery trucks.

We packed up and walked to Gare de la Est, the train station, for a 12:52 high speed train to Strasbourg. Unfortunately, it was running 40 minutes late; fortunately, we took turns going out to explore the local neighborhood and pick up lunch. Steve and I found a sweet alley with wonderful food options, and were quite happy with our delay.

TGV train! So comfy and fast. The man next to me was reading "How to make friends and influence people", but when a couple asked him to switch seats so that they could sit in facing seats, and he could sit alone, he said no; he sat facing the man and the woman moved away. Both Steve and I overheard and were then highly amused at the irony of his reading material.

After that, things got a little less fun for a while. We got into Strasbourg later than expected; renting a car took longer than we expected; there was traffic on our drive south to Kaysersberg. We didn't arrive at our new place until 5:30 - a 2-bedroom apartment in this very picturesque small town. We had rented bikes from 4-7, and even though we were very late, we decided to have the adventure anyway -- but then we couldn't get one of the bikes unlocked, and the chain had fallen off, etc. Things were feeling very frustrating. But then, finally success! And off we sailed onto these gorgeous back roads, surrounded by terraced hills and vineyards. It was pretty amazing.

It was all of our first time on e-bikes, and the boost was a whole lot of fun. We sailed up hills, we rocketed down; everyone was grinning the whole time.

After that exhilarating experience, more petty frustrations: all the restaurants were closing at 9 and wouldn't seat us at 8:20; in one place, a man was smoking inside; places that claimed to be open were not. We finally found an informal place and got some Alsatian tarte flambe (pizzas, but with French cheese and onions and cured pork), and were able to laugh about near disasters.