BrandonoBrien.com

Brandon O'Brien

Travel and Adventure Journal

I wanted a place to journal all my travels and adventures around the world. I always enjoy going back and reflecting on my past travels and getting to relive them through my words and photos.

You're reading posts I wrote on August 31 throughout the years. Return home.
Strolling around Strasbourg

Strolling around Strasbourg

Wednesday, August 31, 2022 @ 8:39 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 7

The rain last night really helped cool the Airbnb down at night. We woke up a few times to feed Dakotah but otherwise had a pretty decent night sleep. Once we had some coffee at our room, we set off to find some breakfast. I found a patisserie around the corner so we headed over there. I had an eclair with a coffee cream filling and Sam had a quiche. Both were good but I think the quiche was the better choice (more fill and not just straight sugar). We ate under a tree on some benches and then set off to see some of the sights around town.

First on the list was La Petite France. This is the area with the most old half-timbered buildings, small canals and winding narrow roads. The buildings were really interesting and the way all of them are crooked and the streets are really winding make the area fun to get lost in. We aimlessly walked around and then made it to one of the bridges at the end of the island where they had some ramparts and a big covered bridge. We walked along the river around the city until we made it to the north side of the old town and then cut down to Place Kléber where there was a clothing market going on.

From there, we cut over to the east side of the old town, up toward the opera and through a big farmers market at Place Broglie. By now it was around 11:30 and we were getting tired of walking around so we went down to Au Brasseur, a local brewery and restaurant, to eat. They opened at 11 and we were almost the first ones there (people don't eat early here). Sam and I shared a brown ale, salad and tarte flambee (the Alsace version of pizza).

We came back to the Airbnb so Sam could take a nap and we could get off our feet for a little while. I took the opportunity to go run and get groceries for dinner. I got a bunch of veggies and a premade couscous salad to mix together, then went to a boulangerie to pick up a baguette, then a wine shop to get a bottle of local wine, a beer store we saw earlier to get some Cantillon (extremely rare to find in the states but was super cheap, relatively, here) and a Trappist beer.

The last stop on the journey was to a cheese shop to get some cheese to go with the bread. I didn't know what any of the cheeses were and the woman working there didn't speak English so I just picked a random cheese. Turns out it was a pretty mild goat cheese (not bad, but still has the goat milk flavor). The cheese shop was tucked away in a really cool alley with a bunch of other wine shops and bakeries. There were a couple restaurants that might be fun to go back to and sit and eat outside.

Back at the Airbnb I did a little work while Sam napped and then got a little nap myself. Unfortunately the windows in our Airbnb face south and it was getting really hot in here so napping wasn't the easiest. After a while the sun shifted and we could open the blackout curtains which helped get it to cool down more. I opened the wine and we had our cheese and bread with a little olive oil mix I made with salt, pepper and herbs d' provance.

I chopped the veggies I bought (mushrooms, carrot, zucchini, and red bell pepper) and sauteed those with the same spices as the dipping oil. When they were done I added the premade couscous salad and mixed it all together. It was a pretty good dinner and one filled with veggies (which we've been sorely lacking the last few days).

After our food settled and it cooled down some more we went out and got some gelato from the shop just outside our Airbnb. Sam got a scoop with caramel gelato and I got a scoop of chocolate chip. We ate them and walked back near the Cathedral then looped back over to La Petite France via the paths along the river surrounding the city. It was a great temperature outside and we enjoyed the walk.

Back at the Airbnb we've just been trying to wind Dakotah down for bed and I started some laundry. We're planning on going to Colmar tomorrow to see a different city with similar old half-timbered buildings. Trains run down there every 30 minutes and it only takes about 30 minutes, so we're not really in a rush to get moving. I bought some yogurt, granola and bananas so we can have breakfast here without needing to eat something out.

Teaser photos:

La Petite France in the morning
La Petite France in the morning
Dakotah by a fountain
Dakotah by a fountain
Gelato for dessert
Gelato for dessert
La Petite France in the evening
La Petite France in the evening

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Tags: france, strasbourg, half timber

Posted from: France

Relaxing on the Beach

Relaxing on the Beach

Saturday, August 31, 2013 @ 9:42 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 66

Since I've spent the last 2 days basically working all day, I decided to head to the beach and enjoy the great weather. First, I went to ASDA and picked up some more apples, oranges and crisps for the rest of the week, then found an empty spot along the beach to lay down.

The beaches here in Brighton don't have sand, but instead are all smoothed rocks. I made a mound out of them and used it as a backrest so I could comfortably read. After reading for a while and eating lunch I was starting to warm up so I went into the water to cool down.

The water was pretty chilly so I only went in until my waist for a few minutes. When I got out I was sufficiently cooled down and stayed on the beach for another hour or so to dry off. Back at the hostel I showered then went to pick up some more soup for dinner and another loaf of bread to make sandwiches for next week's lunches.

This morning I also decided to book another week here in Brighton because it's as good a place as any to spend the rest of my time in the UK. On September 9th I'll check out of the hostel here then head to Belgium! That will leave me with 102 days to spend in mainland Europe. A week of that will be in Morocco and there are a few other countries I want to visit that don't count toward the Schengen Zone 90 day visa so that will work perfectly.

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Tags: daily journal, england, brighton

Posted from: England

Frottstadt to Munich to Venice - Day 8 - Eurotrip 2008

Frottstadt to Munich to Venice - Day 8 - Eurotrip 2008

Sunday, August 31, 2008 @ 11:00 PM in 2008 Europe Wedding

A recurring theme with our planning of this trip was being overly ambitious in regards to seeing as many sights as we could. That being said, we spent today mostly on trains traveling from Frottstadt to Venice, via Munich.

We said goodbye to all of our friends in the morning as everyone was going their separate ways. Patrick and Chrissy were heading off to spend some time with Tobias while Scott and Stefanie were going to their honeymoon in the Greek islands.

We left Frottstadt around 1:30pm and after several connections got to Munich around 6:40pm. We had a couple hours to kill before we had to catch our overnight train to Venice which left a little after 9pm. We walked around the main square area of Munich and had dinner while waiting for our train.

The train wasn't too bad. We were in a room with 6 beds that were stacked hostel style. I remember waking up quite a bit, but that's to be expected on sleeper trains.

Note: This post was written about 13 years after I went on this trip. Unfortunately I didn't keep a journal so this is pieced together from our itinerary and photos.

Teaser photos:

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Tags: germany, frottstadt, munich, venice, train

Posted from: Germany