CCC is away
I’ve escaped from Knifecrime Island for a week at work in Strasbourg. Hurray! This is a city for which I have a sizeable soft spot. I also enjoy the journey, which involves 6 hours each way on the Eurostar/TGV.
French high-speed trains are my happy place on rails. Safe from the brawling world, gently rocked by efficient engineering, I can read, stitch, sip champagne, listen to albums from beginning to end, look out the window on wind turbines rising from poppy-sprinkled fields and actually feel like I’m living in a bearable present rather than some dystopian fantasy of the mid-1990s.
Cardiganizing of sweater in progress.
I will be investigating the city’s crafty possibilities once the week’s work is over, but updates may be scarce until then.
Hey Susannah,
As a Strasbourgeoise I must tell you it made me happy to read your post !
Apart from Toto Tissus (not great) and a EXTREMELY luxurious shop near a mercerie (in la petite France – dans le bain aux plantes) there’s nothing much exciting for the seamstress ! Except in case you need a new machine, in which case you can go to the street I (almost) lived on for 18 years : le Faubourg de Pierre. Things may have changed though I’ve left Strabourg 6 years ago for Lille…
I feel like I’t a bit of a “spill comment”, so I’ll stop right here, but good bye !
Kiki
Clarissa Oakes (any P O’B really), some pleasant handstiching and a train ride through the French countryside. Who could ask for anything more comforting?
Enjoy! xxx
I love trains, too. Last time I got to ride one was in England in 1978. In Canada, trains are usually the most expensive way to go. From your instructions to cabbies, I can see why you are ready for a change from London. Happy traveling.
Never done the Eurostar, but I’ve been on the train to Strasbourg from Basel and several other IC trains. I ADORE the train and think its so stupid that its such a fortune in Canada
Its even dirt cheap in Australia to take it across the whole country but its 4x a one way flight to Montreal from Calgary to take the train the same way. Stupid. Also…Strasbourg is a cool city 
Got a wicked little British 50s board game at a flea last time I was there…
Sounds like the best of trainrides! I hope I get to experience it too sometime – you certainly make it sound very enjoyable!
ack. you describe perfectly why it is that I so adore train journeys. Or any journeys that don’t involve being thrust into the stratosphere for at least 12 hours on end which is one of my current continent’s great shortcomings. If you get on a plane at BNE, you know you’ll be there for a long long long time with nothing but in flight movies and the antics of the perpetually sloshed cabin crew for company.
Sounds delicious darling, please post more (even bad pics) for those of us who must live vicariously.
Funny how things always sound better than they are. I say work it.
Lucky you! I lived in Strasbourg for a year in college, oh, 20 years ago now. Please post photos if you can.
I will if I can take any pictures on my crappy mobile cameraphone that do this utterly charming city justice.
Oh, and for all those wondering why I’m so down on London life at present, my directions to cabbies driving me home have recently changed from “You know, right across from where that huge suspicious fire destroyed all those council flats” to “You know, right next to where they set that car on fire with the murdered teenager inside.” Life in Arson Alley is wearing me out.
Have fun! I’ll actually be in London while you are away
And I feel the same way about trains! Granted there’s no champagne on Scotrail….hahehehe
No, but you can get nicely sozzled on some pretty good whiskies on the Caledonian Sleeper, so there’s that. Have fun in London! Too bad we won’t be able to meet up this time…
Bon voyage! It’s so funny how we’ll both be in France at the same time. Though I get carsick if I sew on the road, so I’m jealous you get to craft en route…
Wow, sounds bliss!