First of all. We just found out our landline will begin to work onSeptember 2nd theoretically. Sorry for the pre-emptive message as I have heard from several people that the number doesn't work yet.
Secondly, I realized after I sent the first message that it might have sounded like we were stressed. In reality, we spent our first day wandering the streets of downtown Strasbourg filled with enthusiasm. Yes, we might have been tired and hungry as we couldn't find all of the health food stores I had carefully researched in Vancouver for some celiac-friendly cuisine and we had just moved across the county with two baskets full of provence spices, new sheets and towels from Ikea and clean laundry (which we will never take for granted again…more on that later), but Ax and I both have tendencies of nomadic life so thefirst real day in Strasbourg was really awesome.
We realized that the apartment that Axel's mom, Catherine, had discovered for us is so well-located. We are a few hundred metres from the tram that takes Axel to school (although I think he will be taking his bike more than taking the tram), a few steps from the nearest bakery, co-operative (sells local products like produce and wine AND honey), and the little grocery store (this is something I have to take a picture for the Filipinos on this list. It's called a Sari Sari store!!! We haven't gone in yet so I am wondering if it is owned by Filipinos! To those not Filipino, Sari Sari stores are all over the Philippines are your local corner store that has a little bit of everything). There's a pharmacy about 50 metres away. Called the pharmacie of the virgins. Hee hee. We also just discovered that the famous Choucruterie(sauerkraut factory) is 3 doors from us! It is now only a restaurant and theatre for small plays with sauerkraut topics so Axel and I will have to go there at some point and give you guys the goods on how good the chocrut really is. Last night we took a tour by boat of the city and found out that sauerkraut is really from China! I wonder how it became the dish of Germany and this region.
The main reason for discovering all of these nearby bonuses was for the dreaded laundry run. We don't have a washing machine in our place nor in our building and the old "laverie" just closed down last year which used to be across the street. Our building manager told us that the closest one was still pretty far so we prepared ourselves for the trek. We got ourselves another old lady rolling cart so we each had one filled with laundry and set off. We needed to get a document sent by the bank to us signed by the nearest Post Office to confirm that we live where we live, so we decided to go there first. It was only open until noon (we got there at 3) so we had to abandon that piece of administration for another day. The post office is about 500 meters away but in the direction of Petite France, the most picturesque part of Strasbourg filled with tourists from all over, german pubs and lots of cute little squares commemorating various important people ofStrasbourg. I thought it was weird that one of the most german part of Strasbourg was called Petite France, but then from the boat tour we found out that the reason for the ironic name is because there was a venereal disease epidemic and the Alsatians assumed it was the French's fault, hence the isolation to Petite France…. Anyway, back to laundry. We decided to cross over to the Laundromat via Petite France so we rolled our dirty clothes through the crowds of tourists and realized it probably wasn't the best timing, considering that this weekend is the last for the holidays before school starts and all areas of picturesque Strasbourg was filled with people milking their freedom from school and work as enthusiastically as possible. We were told later that the craziness dies down in October so we might stilluse this path to get our clothes clean since it was really pretty. Anyway, after wandering around the "Grand Rue" which is more like thesize of a Gastown Alley over Granville Street, we found the Laundromat/laverie behind construction. Coincidentally, the bank was also behind construction so it took us a while to find that too.
When we got there, there were only 3 machines that didn't have a sign saying out of order. There were actually 6 machines that didn't have a sign, but 3 of them were obviously out of order (one had no door, and two looked like they were dropped from the 5th floor). And then we realized we had no change. We needed 2 x 2 euro coins for each washer and 1 euro for 10 minutes of drying. And they only took single coins so all of my 10 cent coins were useless. So while Axel went to find a place for change, I separated and loaded the clothes into 2 machines. Axel came back with a drink which he needed to purchase to get change, 2 x 2 euros and left to get more. So I did one load and got the other one ready. He came back and we loaded the other machine, added soap, and realized that it was broken. So Axel, whom we all know as a diligent problem solver, tried to get the machine working, since we only brought enough soap for two loads. And all our soap was in the machine that was broken. Axel figured that all he needed was a wrench so he left for home to get a wrench and more soap. Meanwhile, the other machine was taken by a local Strasbourgeoisee who we ended up befriending later. Twenty minutes later, Ax returned with a wrench and more soap, but by then, three more people came in to use the machines. So we put our first load in the dryer and Axel attempted to fix the washer….which stayed broken. So we waited until the loads ahead of us were done before we did ours. I decided to try and find a health food store on the street that I had on my list as existing (it does not exist anymore), but ended up finding another Laundromat about 6 blocks away. So we have an alternative location. It was really busy though and it's in a student area so I have a feeling it's worse than ours. When I returned, Axel and the woman who was doing laundry started talking and she ended up being a great source of info. It turns out, she comes from quite a ways to do laundry, so we should consider ourselves lucky being walking distance. And school is starting so come EARLY in the morning. AND she told us the best healthfood store is in the other university district and is huge and everyone goes there. It was on my list but I figured it was too far and wasn't on our grocery route but I will have to check it out after talking to her. In the end, we learned a few things: 1) Bring change. And keep the change you have. Because we also got stuck with no change getting on the tram which doesn't take bills so we had to just get on it and hoped no one checked on us. 2) Get there early. 3) Bring extra soap. 4) It's not as far as we thought it would be, so doing one load at a time will not be so bad. 5) Bring a good book or music otherwise you'll end up playing a coin version of bocce with Axel and lose all of our money under the soap machine.
Yesterday we also hit the marché (street market) so got lots of vegetables and fruit (and local cheese…yum), the monoprix for a broom, and did a boat tour in the evening topped off with the lighting of the cathedral (totally totally cool. Too bad the cathedral lighting stops at the end of summer!). Catherine wanted us to make sure we did some touristy things before real life began, so we had to make sure we did the boat tour. It was so good that both of us decided we would have to go a couple of times to get all of the info down. It was made even more exciting when a screaming match broke out between a group of young people having a good time and talking it up and laughing loudly and a few irate tourists who couldn't hear their headsets from the noise. It was pretty funny.
Today is Sunday and Axel has gotten our bikes put together. So I am assuming that you all know what Axel is doing today. He woke up and opened up all of the maps to find the closest mountain.
For those who haven't heard from me personally, I apologize. Thanks to Jean-Marie, I found out I can get free wi-fi at the McDonald's, butI just haven't gotten myself to the point where I can buy anything from that place just yet. One of the best sources of croissants is just next door so given the choice, I ended up just using my iPOD touch to download some emails and respond to any that were urgent. I'm going to the internet café today so I will make sure to respond to everyone!!
A la prochaine! Rani
PS. If anyone is interested in a really great book on French societyand culture, pick up "60 million French can't be wrong". Written bytwo Canadians Barlow and Benoit, and given to us by Catherine, itreally helps understand the nuances of French culture. I'm halfwaythrough.
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