WOW! We had such a fantastic time this weekend. The only way it could have been better is if Jamie could have been with me :(

Yasu had reserved a car so we were able to drive to our hotel and check in. It was early in the evening but already very dark and all the shops were closed. We wandered around for quite a while then settled on a small German restaraunt (all of the food seemed much more German than French.) The food was alright, nothing very exciting, but the place was very charming and the owner was very friendly. When Mike didn't finish his soup, the owner came up behind him and force fed the rest to him!! After dessert, Yaso had not finished his so the owner went and got a straw and tried to force feed him that too!! It was a memorable experience. We had sucha a wonderful time looking around and I was so excited to see it all in the daytime!

The next day we did all the required tourist in Strasbourg stuff like shopping (I bought a scarf, a necklace and a birthday gift for Gen.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEN!) We climbed to the top of the cathedral and saw the astronomical clock do its thing. I had a cheese crepe.. yummy and then we had lunch. I don't know how else to describe the lunch than to say it was probably one of the worst meals we had ever had (we all agreed on this) The service was terrible, took forever and the food was just plain BAD. On top of all that, it was very overpriced! I had ordered a steak with mushroom sauce. What I got was steak with some slimy mushrooms on it. The steak itself didn't taste awful but it had a strange taste to it. Mike tried it and agreed, then he ate one of the mushrooms and said it tasted like fish!! So Marcio and Yasu tried the mushrooms too and agreed, Yasu said it tasted like sardines!!! Nasty! Mike and Yasu had ordered sausages and what they got was to Oscar Meyer hot dogs and some frend fries. Marcio had ordered turkey and he got deep fried chicken. The whole meal cost us about $100!!! When the waitress came we told her about the fishy mushrooms and said she shoudl tell the cook, she said she didn't know. (Marcio knows both French and German and he even explained to her and she just kept saying she didn't know.) We asked her if she had tried the food adn she gave us a funny look and said " I don't eat here!" So after that we decided not to eat in Strasbourg any more.

So that night we drove to Baden-Baden, Germany!!!! Can you imagine driving to Germany just for dinner! We even were on the autobahn! Baden-Baden was absolutely beautiful. All the shops were closed (which was propbably good!!) But looking in the windows, you could tell it was a very upper class area. It seemed like the Beverly Hills of Germany. We found a pub type place and I had sausages, sourkraut, mashed potatoes and german beer called Bitteburger. Everything was excellant! Probably one of the best meals I have had since moving here! The we had dessert... ice cream with a hot raspberry sauce and an order of sliced apples that were deep fried and served with cream poured over them.... oh wow.... heavenly. I would definately like to go back there sometime (during the day of course)

The next day we drove to Colmar (still in France) It is known as one of the best preserved towns in this part of Europe. Alot of the buildings are from the 1500's and it is the town where the guy who designed the Statue of Liberty was born. I guess the Germans never bombed it because it was too close to Germany and no one else did because it wasn't in Germany. Anyway it was beautiful. We were fortunate enough to be there during the Christmas Markets so it was pretty much decorated like a European Christmas Disneyland. I had a lovely eclaire and a tarte flambee... it was just wonderful all around and I couldn't wipe the smile from my face!!

The last place was Haut - Koenigsbourg Castle This was a very nice castle and very interesting too.

So that was my first official trip!!! I hope all the rest will be just as good.

I found out on Friday that I will be going to Vevey today! I am going to learn a program called LoadRunner. This should be good as it will be very nice to be responsible for something. I will be the only person here that will know the program (they assume since I was the last person to get here, I will be here longer than most people!!) So I am looking forward to it and to my first trip to Vevey!

Only 26 more days til I fly home!