Ahhh, The French

Writing today from an internet cafe in Strasbourg, France. A few days ago we left Zurich for Basel, a town in northern Switzerland, and spent that afternoon in Bern, the capital. Both were really nifty, smaller and a bit more welcoming than Zurich was. Then yesterday, we hopped a train to Strasbourg where we met up with our friend Melanie who has been studying here and will be with me for the rest of my travels. Strasbourg is another big European city full of beautiful and imposing architecture. The cathedral here is gigantic and quite well known, I think. They have France's oldest Christmas market which draws a lot of tourists at this time of year and gives everything a very festive atmosphere. Today we'll be bumming around the city with Mel as she prepares to leave and then heading to Paris by train tomorrow. I was hoping that it would be warmer here than in Switzerland, but no such luck. It was actually snowing a bit earlier this morning. With the Christmas lights and the cold weather, it definately feels like Christmas is quickly approaching and Europe has certainly decked herself out for the occasion.