Our tour bus crossed from the border of Germany into France yesterday and I woke up in my bunk with the sounds of birds chirping.
Spring has definitely arrived in France…and the colorful blooms are all over the quaint city of Strasbourg. We spent our day off yesterday soaking up every drop of this city and celebrating the actual date of Carsten’s birthday. The city was a maze of antique buildings with colorful shutters and old-fashioned street lamps. There were little twists and turns all along the cobblestone streets ending in the center square and the Cathedral of Strasbourg.
I ducked into a little shop of handmade clay pottery hearts of good luck that are traditionally hung over door entrances. There I met Clarise – who reminded me of a French version of my Grandma Helen. She was a sweet old woman who runs her store with her husband in the center of town. Not knowing much French – I find myself communicating more with my eyes, smiling and using sign language. We were able to introduce ourselves and talk a little through Ewa who knows much more French than I do. After we left the shop, she called out my name, ran after me and gave me a little souvenir of pictures of Strasbourg and gave me a big hug. She was so kind and sweet – it’s amazing how connected you can find yourself with other people although we speak different languages from each other.

We ended up celebrating Carsten’s birthday in an old Irish pub – where we played Truth or Dare into the wee hours of the morning and I got the whole bar to sing Happy Birthday to him. Then we stumbled back home under a beautiful moon and grabbed blankets from the bus to sit out under the stars in front of a art mural of cows.
It is almost 6am….sleep is calling….