Strasbourg, France: Beautiful with bizarre hazing ritual

Next stop: Strasbourg, France! Left my mom in Zurich, made a connection in Basel (easily the weirdest station I visited in Europe), and then met up with Hugh Allison, my book editor for Bamboo Forest Publishing. He’s a Brit, and is an… interesting guy, as you can see.

Strasbourg is right on the border of France and Germany, and has changed hands between the two many times over the years. This is reflected in the general “feel” of the town, which is slightly schizophrenic. There’s actually a historic section of town called “Petite France”, where the architecture is completely different than in the rest of the city, and where they have Epcot-esque Friendship Boat rides.

We also toured the Notre Dame Cathedral, which is said to be one of the most beautiful in Europe. I certainly thought it was the most impressive man-made thing I saw during my entire trip.

After visiting the cathedral, Hugh went on a carousel ride in the Central Square. Then we saw a bunch of teenagers performing some bizarre hazing ritual which involved wrapping screaming people in saran wrap and dumping bags of flour over their heads…. Can anyone explain this?!

Finally, after weeks without any hoppy beer, I finally found a beer bar called Les BerThoM that served IPAs! The bar was very Disney-esque, since it was made to look like you were outdoors at night, complete with a fake tree “growing” inside.

We ended the day with a tarte flambee, which is the big local specialty, and which is served at pretty much every restaurant in town. They’re basically pizzas, except with creme fraiche sauce. They were okay, but nothing too amazing. I’ll take NYC pizza any day of the week.