France - Thursday, July 7th, 2011

What a fantastic day!  Becky and Travis were gracious enough to allow us to use Travis' car.  We dropped Travis off at work at 6:15am and headed to Strasbourg, France.  We arrived in Strasbourg as the city was waking up.  Parked downtown and started walking.  Strasbourg has a river running through the city and a huge cathedral as the focal point.  As we walked, everywhere we looked  people were riding their bicycles to work: older women in dresses, young women in dresses, men in suits... very charming... very foux da fa, fa, fa, fa.  We stopped at a small cafe for a pastry and coffee.  All of the locals knew each other and it felt like we were truly on holiday.  We walked to the cathedral and paid to walk the 66meter spiral staircase up the cathedral tower.  Well worth the money.  We then walked through the cathedral which was huge, beautiful and free.  I appreciate that they didn't charge and, in addition to no charge, they had encouraging words throughout the cathedral about God and Jesus.  The cathedral was started in the 1100's and wasn't completed until the 1400's.  Amazingly intricate detail on the pulpit and there was a beautiful, huge sculpture of the Mount of Olives scene.  After the cathedral we walked around Petite France and then decided to drive out into the country to small French towns.  We took back roads and it was magical.  It felt like we were in a movie.  The roads had gentle curves.  We could see for miles all around us.  The sun was shining.  The music was up loud.  The windows and skylight were all open and Christopher was driving at a fast clip.  The fields were golden and various shades of green with trees mixed in between all surrounded by mountains in the distance.  We first went to Saverne, France, walked the streets and had lunch at a streetside cafe.  I had pate meatballs and thoroughly enjoyed them.  We then got back into the car and headed to Bouxville, France.  As we drove we went through several small villages that were completely charming.  Very old.  Very French.  Bouxville was a sweet, small town.  We walked off of the main street and saw an old, French woman leaning out her first floor window that had flowers in a flower box and shutters on the side.  She was just observing the world as it passed by.  Loved the day!