The -Bourgs of Middle France

We left Munich later than intended and drove as quickly as we could to Steinbourg, France for our next AirBnB reservation. It turned out that it went pretty quickly, as we had the privilege of driving on the Autobahn. Well, Jay drove on the Autobahn and I slept (having had a rough night with Lanna and her incoming teeth), which was probably for the best since I couldn't see how fast he was driving. And thanks to our Peugeot, I couldn't feel or hear how fast he was driving either. Rumor has it that the speedometer reached 200 km/hr- not as fast as the high speed line, but the fastest we've pushed the car so far. The boys really appreciated the Autobahn as well and like to call it the Autobot and Autobomb. We're not sure if they're kidding or we just have poor enunciation, but we think both names are appropriate!

We arrived in Steinbourg around 8 PM and were kindly showed in by our host. We had trouble finding a place to stay in this area (at the French-German border), so we wound up with a highly rated apartment but with all sleeping in one bedroom. It worked out a little better this time, since we'd just done it rather unsuccessfully in Munich. We settled in quickly, got everyone in bed, and planned for the next day.

Our day started out relatively easy. A quick drive to the local boulangerie for a baguette and some pastries. Then a relaxed morning playing on all the toys in our hosts' backyard. Our hosts were incredibly kind and generous, even letting us into their house to do laundry. Other than our rough AirBnB experience in Barcelona, it's all been great!

We finally motivated to get out of the house and go to Strasbourg in the early afternoon. Strasbourg is the primary city of the Alsace region between France and Germany, as well as the seat of the European Parliament. Its center city is entirely a UNESCO world heritage site!

The drive was a bit stressful in the end due to some road closures (and our GPS insisting that we make a U turn) but we found parking and walked over a quaint bridge to the center of town. 

Alas (or maybe luckily?), as we left the bridge we saw a large playground. What could we do? It was a gorgeous afternoon so the kids all ran around and played to their hearts' content. They had a slide integrated into a hill, so Sammy went down that about 1000 times. They had a wooden structure to climb on, a trampoline, and a big swing. A great time was had by all!

We finally dragged them out of there, stopped by a local hotel to use the facilities (and we saw this old ice-making works that was driven by water power right next to the bathroom- very cool!). We then had time for a short walk through the Petit France region, with its timberframe houses surrounded by water before we had to feed our starving children and then embark upon the drive home. Strasbourg is absolutely gorgeous. Wish we had more time to walk around. We completely missed the famous cathedral and astronomical clock, but you can see them here.

http://www.cathedrale-strasbourg.fr/galerie.aspx