Words cannot express how absolutely wonderful it was to see a familiar face, a face from home. Miss Sarah Zimmerman has spent the last several weeks in Germany, helping to organize and run one of Cairn University's European Campuses located near the Black Forest in Kandern, Germany.
It may seem weird, but meeting in France was the perfect "half-way point" for Sarah & I. We met early and spent the day exploring Strasbourg, France - a charming town FULL of character & adorable half-timber house, bridges, cafes & cannels. Before meeting in France, I had not seen Sarah for close to two years. Too long . . . far too long. Sarah has been a family friend for a least a decade. Such a wonderful, talented (seriously, a very talented photographer! . . . just to name one area!) easy to talk to, woman of God.
Our day was absolutely wonderful. Enjoyable, encouraging & easy - all adjectives to describe our time together. Truly a joy. Since neither of us owned cell phone that had service in France, we planed ahead for where to meet. We met outside the Cathedrale de Notre-Dame, chatted for a few then decided to climb the 332 steps to the top of the narthex the cathedral tower - one of the tallest cathedrals in Europe. AND, I should also mention that it was almost 100 degrees outside. Go ahead, be impressed.
15th Century Astronomical Clock . . . we joined in on the group of onlookers for the ho-hum performance 15 minutes past the hour. a. k. a. the little angel, top left moves across the top section of the clock. We were informed that the performance is slightly more entertaining half past the hour, but we didn't stick around to find out. Little "on the house" travel tip: even if you don't know what's going on, trust that if there is a group of tourists standing around, something is about to go down. . . . Even if it didn't exactly pan out this time, it's usually pretty foolproof.
Making our way away from the town center, we came across "La Cure Gourmande" and we HAD to go in. The smell lofting from the shelves and shelves of handmade treats was enough to pull anyone inside. After sampling some of the sweet treats, we marked the location so we could return on our way back to our cars to purchases some goodness to take home.
After pulling ourselves away from the shop, we made our way to La Petite France.
We couldn't get enough of these half-timbered houses lining every street & corner in La Petite France.
. . . as charming & picture worthy as this area was, it was time to put some food in our bellies. Lucky for us, the streets are lined with café after café. The only problem we had was choosing just one. Since Sarah had never eaten flammkuchen, we narrowed our search down to cafes that had flammkuchen on their menus. Turns out it was some of the best I have had. Now I'm confused, is flammkuchen German or French?
More strolling lead us to our favorite row of houses. Perfect, right?
Standing at the top of Barrage Vauban offered a great view of the town.
After enjoying some prime real estate by the water while we ate our gelato, we walked back to the parking garage together, hugged & said our goodbyes. I drove home feeling very encouraged. Anyone who has spent time away from home can probably relate to the feeling, but seeing someone you know, who knows you in a place you don't know, or are still learning makes everything better. Everything more comfortable, and somehow more familiar. Thanks for making the time to see me & for sharing your day. You, Sarah Zim are a gem.
