Ending Up Anywhere

We've spent a week of mooching - that's the best way to describe it - around Strasbourg. We didn't have any agenda; we just let the city take control of our actions. Most days we walked into the centre with its quaint old town and vibrant new shopping streets. We looked in shops, bought groceries, and meandered along the canals. On three days we ate lunch at Le Grand Shanghai where an all-you-can-eat buffet was just €12.95. It goes without saying I'd recommend the place with three visits in a week. It really is a bargain price for one of the best Chinese buffets I've ever eaten. On two evenings we returned to Les BerThoM where a dozen real ales on tap were half price during happy hour. It's a beautiful pub with great atmosphere. It's table service, so you just sit, pick from the menu card and order with one of the waiting staff. Complimentary bowls of nuts are regularly replenished. There's a great mix of light and dark ales ranging

We slept until 10am and were soon back on the road heading south east towards Strasbourg. We stopped for fuel and coffee, and then again to buy food and alcohol, and timed our arrival at Camping Indigo perfectly for the 2pm check-in. We set off on an exploratory walk into the centre of Strasbourg around 3.30pm. It took less than 30 minutes to walk into town. I was immediately smitten. We spent most of our brief first glimpse in the old town, Little France, among the half-timbered houses alongside the river. We only scratched the surface, and I'm so glad we're here for a week, but I loved everything I saw. Each time we came to the end of the street and had to decide in which direction to continue it was the hardest choice. I kept having to remind myself I didn't have to see it all today! When we decided we needed a pub we were just two minutes from Les Berthom, a pub I'd found online by researching the best spots to enjoy real ale. We popped in

Strasbourg is in France. I've never given it much consideration but I think I had a vague idea in the back of my mind it was in Belgium. It seems I'm not alone in having no real idea of where the city I'm heading for right now actually is. Almost everyone who has asked where I'm going this holiday thought Strasbourg was in Germany/ Switzerland/ Austria. Anywhere but France. Weird. Anyway, we picked Strasbourg for our October holiday because it has an Indigo campsite (the small campsite chain we like a lot), and seems as good of a destination as any for an autumn break. I'm writing this from the M20 as we approach the Felixstowe Channel Tunnel terminal. A great thing we've learned during our first year of channel hopping is to book a Friday night crossing for between 8 and 9pm to allow for delays getting out of work or bad traffic. Then, once we've set off and there are no reports of traffic problems, the passenger can log in and amend the b