The Stras was so good! Ashton met me at the train station and we made our way back to her place in the rain. Thanks again for the rain jacket Dad, it is finally getting some use! Her host parents live in a beautiful big house outside of the city a little ways and they were so nice and generous. They welcomed me with chocolate chip cookies that Ashton had made for them earlier and we sat down in the kitchen and chatted for awhile. They really enjoyed speaking English with me since Ashton was so good at French they've had no reason to. I followed the half-English half-French conversation pretty well for awhile, but soon my tired brain was shutting down and I was having difficulty even recognizing when the language was switching back and forth. I had my very own room to sleep in, a simply wonderful kids room that even had a Little Prince poster. So cute!

My plaid covered paradise!

I slept very well as I'm still getting over my cold but luckily got up before 11 when Ashton and I were suppose to cook an American-style brunch for our wonderful hosts. We cobbled together a quite good meal of pancakes, eggs and bacon, even with real Maple syrup! I really enjoyed talking with the two of them, Ashton had said they felt like grandparents and she's totally right. They seemed to treat us like their own grandchildren the way they took care of us. After talking about Alaska and my travels for awhile, I was offered an espresso which I heartily accepted. They didn't seem to believe me when I said I liked my coffee strong and said later that I was the first American they've met that enjoyed the super strong espressos of France. Guess it's just the Homer in me. :)

Ashton and I took off to town at this point to see the sights. It was chilly out, but we both enjoyed walking around the city, poking our heads in the cathedral and checking out the menus of the many restaurants lining the canals in the Old Town. We shared a bag of roasted chestnuts from a street vendor, a snack I've seen all over but never actually tried. Mmm, they were much better than the ones we attempted to make at home one Christmas. I suppose remembering to cut those notches in them to prevent them from exploding would have helped though.

Walking along a canal that seemed an awful lot like Venice

Dinner was tarte flambée, heavily suggested by Ashton. We went to a place where we could get all you can eat, which probably wasn't a good idea in retrospect. After two of them each we were quite stuffed and a little late in getting to the train station where we were supposed to meet up with Ashton's host mom. Of course the ticket machine wouldn't take my credit card and the ticket office was closed, so we ran up to the platform and asked if I could get a ticket on the train. Thank goodness I could, so really with five whole minutes to get on the train, I wasn't that late. I do feel bad about making Ashton run around with my backpack though, especially after that huge dinner! I am so glad I accepted her offer of a visit though because I had a great time and of course got to accept the overwhelming hospitality of even more wonderful human beings.

I am literally flying across France now. This train is going so fast that it will only take me two hours and twenty minutes to get from Strasbourg to Paris. It's probably good that it is dark outside because the countryside must be absolutely blurring by. Oh yep, just hit a lighted part of a highway, this is crazy fast!