Let's walk to Germany

Back in December, two friends from my program and I booked a three day trip to Strasbourg for our mid-winter break because it crazy cheap (22€ for a 5.5hr high speed train ride each way) and we found an equally cheap hotel in town that didn't look sketchy. It seems like such a long time ago that these plans were put in place, and all the sudden last week it pops up on us that we’re leaving Tuesday morning and we were in a mad dash to figure out what we were doing, who had the tickets, who paid for what, etc. So we arrived Tuesday afternoon, found out hotel, dropped off our things, and then took the tram back into the city center to wander a bit. Strasbourg is really cool because the region it’s in has been passed back and forth between and fought over by the French and Germans for a long time…but now it’s France. And Germany is just across the river. So it looks a lot like Germany architecture wise, but everyone is speaking French. It’s actually really confusing.

The next day, the 1^st part of our schedule consisted of a walk to Germany. I Googled it before I left (look how much I’m learning!) and saw that the satellite photos made the 30 minute walking route look like it was going through an industrial park. Upon careful inspection, I saw that there were indeed sidewalks, so it was still entirely possible. Google Maps did not lie to me…we essentially walked through an industrial park. We saw a hooker. It was far from the prettiest walk I’ve ever been on, and if I hadn’t been doing it to walk to a different country just because I could, there’s no way I would ever do something like that again. But eventually we made it to the park that flanks both sides of the river separating France from Germany that had a pedestrian bridge connecting both halves. It was super cool to be able to do something like that. And because of a European Agreement that both France and Germany, among others, are a part of, you don’t need a passport to cross between the two. There are no border controls. It’s strange to think about, but extremely convenient.

So we then headed into the little town called Kehl on the other side of the river, found the town center, and stopped at a café. I took two years of German in high school and enjoyed it, but did not have any time in college to continue it…so whatever I have left is pretty broken. But I could still order a coffee politely, and get the jist of the menu. My two partners in travel wanted to have a beer since we were in Germany and asked the waitress for a recommendation. First off, she didn’t speak English…but appeared to understand it, clearly. She responds, “ich trinke kein bier, aber….” Which means “I don’t drink beer, but…” and she recommended something that people normally order. What kind of German doesn’t drink beer? Has everything I’ve been taught been a lie? Also…I’ve heard some statistic that 70% of Germans can speak English well enough. So the fact that the one German we interacted with didn’t drink beer or speak English was quite astonishing. I’m not saying that everyone should speak English…not at all. Just going off of what I’ve come to understand from my time abroad had led me to be a little more hopeful that odds were we wouldn’t be totally shit out of luck wandering into Germany essentially speaking no German. I’ve yet to see statistics of beer drinking Germans vs non beer drinking Germans though…so I’ll have to give her the benefit of the doubt on that one and attempt to ignore the stereotypes I’ve learned over the years. Regardless, it was a lovely hour that I spent in Germany.

After a walk back to France/Strasbourg, we moved onto our next activity. Due to the history/geographical location of Strasbourg, it made it a popular and especially symbolic location for European unification efforts post WWII. The city is home to the Parliament of the European Union, as well as the headquarters of the Council of Europe and their famous European Court of Human Rights. The latter being an organization that was started one year before the start of what would eventually become the European Union. The Council of Europe has 47 member states (unlike the 27 of the EU), and not all of them are especially “European” in the traditional sense. For example, Russia, Turkey, and a bunch of far eastern European countries are members of the C. of Europe but would never ever be allowed to join the EU. Also the C. of Europe doesn’t pass any legally binding stuff like the EU does; they mainly just start initiatives and try to put everyone in a better European spirit. Their claim to fame is getting all of their members do away with the death penalty, making Europe the 1^st entire continent to abolish the practice A while back I contacted the visitors offices at the EU’s Parliament and the C. of Europe’s headquarters asking if my friends and I could hop on a tour group coming through. The EU said no, but thankfully the Council of Europe said yes. So we got a tour of their building in English with a bunch of Japanese students. It wasn’t as cool as the European Parliament could have been, but I was still super glad to be able to join this random group, see their building, and learn a bit more about their organization.

The next day, upon the recommendation of a friend of a friend, we headed to a neighborhood called “la petite France”. I understand places like NYC having “little Italy” or “Chinatown”, but I remain perplexed as to why a town in France has a neighborhood called little France. Regardless, it’s the especially cute and especially touristy old looking part of town. We found a restaurant that served the regional specialty of tarte flambée (like a super thin crust pizza with cream cheese, onions, and bacon) and wandered a bit. Soon enough, it was time to get back on a five hour train home.

It was a lovely short little trip, and it was really nice to see another country/another side of France. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to see the Maginot Line. For those of you not familiar, after WWI, the French decided to build this big fancy wall all along their border with Germany, because they feared they would attack again. It’s not a great wall in the Chinese sense, but more of a really long fort equipped with what at the time was super sophisticated military technology. The French figured that this wall would stop the Germans, and they could just focus more on an invasion through Belgium from the north. Well, Hitler did go into Belgium but attacked the French army in some way/angle they weren’t anticipating, defeated the army, and then swiftly took over the rest of France…thus rendering their especially expensive/advanced defense system completely useless. So since for obvious reasons, it’s not a super popular tourist destination, it only opens up during more popular tourist seasons when the foreigners come…because the French don’t want to see it. And alas, I was there at the wrong time of the year and the museum at Fort Failure was closed. Perhaps in the future…

On the bridge. France on the left, Germany on the right.
Little France