Strasbourg – Part 2: A boat ride and “the most beautiful cathedral in Europe”

Footprint: 59.6 kg of CO2

I’ve talked a lot about I’ve done almost no research anytime I’ve gone to a new place since starting TAPIF, but this time, I had heard a little about Strasbourg before going. Namely that the cathedral is probably the prettiest in Europe.

We started out our day in Strasbourg with the best pain au chocolat I’ve had (and I’ve had many) while walking in the sun among majestic old buildings. We started out by taking a boat tour of Strasbourg:

We then walked around and got to see the cathedral looming over the city from all different angles:

We then went inside and yeah, it was beautiful:

We then explored La Petite France, which has a lot of buildings that used to be tanneries:

We then climbed up a walkway across some canals to get a view of the city from above:

It’s probably my last big trip before my contract’s up, and I’m so glad I made it to another part of France and had such gracious hosts. While looking at a map, I realized that even though I’ve been able to travel a lot over the past few months, there is still so so much of France left to see!

FOOTPRINT

Travel to Strasbourg:  Mode: Blablacar from Lille to Strasbourg Distance travelled: 525 km Time taken: 4 hours, 47 minutes Cost: 34 euros CO2 emitted: 112 kg / 2 = 56 kg

Travel from Strasbourg: Mode: Train from Strasbourg to Bethune Time taken: 4 hours, 30 minutes Cost: 68 euros (with Carte Jeune) CO2 emitted: 3.6 kg

Lessons learned: So I knew that trains were better than cars, but I hadn’t realized just how dramatic the difference was between the two! Unfortunately, even with the Carte Jeune, the train was the most expensive ticket that I’ve bought the entire time I’ve been here, but the difference in emissions is definitely something I’d take into account in the future. This did drive home though that carpooling can reduce individual emissions greatly, though I wonder about the net impact of this service; does the benefit of the option to avoid higher emissions travel (like planes) outweigh the drawback of the option to travel cheaply without taking modes of transport with lower emissions (like trains)?