We're on our way!

And they’re off and traveling!! Am blogging after a truly incredible, perfect, French sort of day in La Wantzenau, just outside of Strasbourg, France. But first …

Left home on Sunday morning for Southern California, hoping to avoid the Labor Day traffic – and we did! Stopped briefly at Art & Anne Vaughan’s house in Sierra Madre, and then landed on Jay & Tommy Stramat’s doorstep in Northridge around 5 p.m. SOOOOOO good to see them again, as we haven’t been together since March, when we were at Indian Wells for tennis, and they were able to come out for an afternoon! Jay made a TREMENDOUS dinner – Ina Garten’s Boeuf Bourgignon, which was TERRIFIC – and possibly Ina’s cupcakes as well, for dessert – rich, white coconut cupcakes with an AMAZING frosting!! Would it surprise anyone to here that one even evaporated during the night?? Somebody must have gotten hungry…

Monday, Labor Day, was very casual, but included some really good Thai food in the evening. VERY early to bed, as our plane left LAX at 6 a.m….Out the door a little before 3:30 a.m., half an hour to LAX. Left the car at a long-term lot and were shuttled to the terminal. Through security (not that many people awake at that hour!) and to the gate in probably less than 15 minutes!! Our plane was right on time, and we had a nice ride to Chicago. For once, we didn’t have to change terminals at O’Hare – just stroll a few gates down the corridor! Got hot dogs – Chicago style (that AWFUL day-glo green relish!) and lots of poppy seeds to stick between your teeth – but it’ll most likely be the last hot dog for a while! Plane to Frankfurt actually left the gate a few minutes early, and we were SO happy with our seating! Picked row 21, which is something like the 5th row in their premier economy section – but as it happens, the first 4 rows on that side of the plane are reserved for flight attendants to get rest – and there is something like 3 feet between row 20 and us!! YEA!! SO much leg room; SO comfortable! Good flight – actually even some good movies! I watched Angels and Demons probably 2 times total; (LOVE the views of Rome!); also saw The Proposal, (called “La Proposition” in French!) which was fine; predictable – and last but not least, The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past … let me only say that if you’re absolutely DESPERATE, I STILL probably wouldn’t pick that one!! Also, R got me “My Life in France” by Julia Child, and I’m working my way through that! Just LOVE it, and would recommend it highly to anyone who likes to read – the cooking passages are terrific!!

Again, landed a bit early – off the plane in record time, and thanks to carrying on everything we brought, we were through immigration and customs in record time! In fact, we were so early that Avis, our car rental company, wasn’t even open yet!! Had to wait about 10 minutes before we could get our car. It’s a BRAND NEW Fiat Punto – small but really comfortable – and when we drove it out of the airport, it had all of 299 km on it! Will let you know at the end how many it has…
Onto the autobahn, heading towards France. Did stop along the way at a rest area and had croissants with raspberry jam – excellent, even though we weren’t yet in France! In fact – KATY!! – the very FIRST thing I saw when we walked into the café were MAGNUM CLASSICS – but it was only 7:45 a.m. … now I’ll probably never see them again…

Arrived in La Wantzenau at Le Moulin (the Mill) about 9 a.m. – VERY early, but they did have a room ready for us!! – YEA!! We’re in room 7, second floor (Europe)/third floor (U.S.) which has a lovely two-sided view of the river with beautiful trees along it. We’ve been to Le Moulin several times in the past, and really love it here – talk about peaceful! Just the sound of the water rushing through the mill race, flower boxes everywhere, huge oak and weeping willow trees; WOW!
Got upstairs and I collapsed – R says he did too, but you’d never know it from my point of view! As I don’t sleep on airplanes, I was more than a little tired …
Oh! Question I’d like to ask: Does anyone else besides me feel that travel, since the TSA instituted their liquid restrictions, is all in a series of PLASTIC BAGS? We’ve got one for Robert to carry; we’ve got one for me to carry; we’ve got pills in one; we’ve got my Netipot in another – Talk about a BAG lady!! Whatever happened to the gentile days when one carried a small, train case which matched one’s luggage? Gone forever, I am sure…oh well!!

So…four hours later, awoke, showered, and we were out the door by about 2:30 p.m. Truly, an absolutely picture-perfect day! Mid-70’s, nice breeze – GREAT place to stay!

Headed toward Strasbourg, via Hoenheim, where we stopped for a quick bite – me a sandwich; R a salad. While we were driving, I said to Robert: “It’d be neat if we could find the end of one of the tram lines; that way we could take the tram into Strasbourg and not have to drive in!” And really, about 2 minutes later, there we were – driving across tram tracks – the Hoenheim Gare was the end of the B line into the city!! GREAT! So, dropped the car and caught the tram in – very smooth – took about 15 minutes; lovely day.

Strasbourg is a truly beautiful place. Robert fell in love with it on sight the first time we were here, and I don’t blame him! Lots of canals cut through the heart of the city – lined by old but beautifully kept up “black and white” houses (think English cottages; Shakespeare) – lots of huge exterior beams, then painted light, subtle pastel colors; beautiful! Our shopping included 1) ATM machine; 2) a new Michelin atlas of France for R – we didn’t want to drag the old one because of 1) the weight and bulk, and 2) R said it was all of 4 years old, so OBVIOUSLY out of date!! Then we wandered, through Petit France; more canals, small islands in the center. Stopped for a glass of dry white wine, then hit one of my very favorite Christmas shops … couldn’t resist … which means we’ll probably be shipping a box home full of ornaments, or we’ll have to check luggage!! Oh well!!
Made it back to the tram line, a couple stops to Homme de Fer (the center plaza in town) and finally the B tram back to Hoenheim. Lovely afternoon! Drove back through La Wantzenau to see where we wanted to go for dinner…No place really caught our eye, so we decided to come back to Le Moulin. This place is famous for its food, and their chef is one of a group of “Jeune Restauranteurs d’Europe” – young restauranteurs of Europe. Know it will be pricy, but the food will be outstanding – hopefully we’ll remember to take the camera! – and we won’t have far to stumble to get home tonight! Always a good idea on your first night in town!

So … will close now, as need to change for dinner … which means going from shorts and t-shirt to jeans and shirt…oh well, the fun of traveling light!!
Take care; more later!

Love,
m

PS - Crashing now -- and some problem pasting in the photos -- so will try again in the morning!