Strasbourg

I recently received this wee message from Andrew who poses a number of not uncommon questions about Strasbourg.  Seeing as there'll be a vast influx of new students to the city very shortly - I thought an open reply might prove useful to other new readers of EiS? I am soon to be moving to Strasbourg for a year, and I am trying to find a place to live. I don't really speak much French at all (though I'm going to do an intensive course in the next few weeks). There are two apartments that I am considering at the moment, and I wonder if you might be able to give me an idea of what the areas are like. The first one is in Robertsau, and the second in Koenigshoffen East. From what I've read, Koenigshoffen can be a wee bit dodgy. Is that accurate? I can't really find any opinions on Robertsau though. It looks slightly more salubrious from the pictures and so on that I've seen, though it's less conveniently located for me. Hi Andrew, Interestingly [...]

One major disadvantage of having kids abroad is having to trade in your time previously allotted to 'holidays' for visits back 'home' - to ensure your offspring get some quality time with their extended family. While in theory these visits need not be stressful nor expensive they are inevitably usually both - as well as downright exhausting.  It seems every time we return to Strasbourg after a lengthy sojourn in the UK we promise ourselves "Never again"; only to do it all again a few months later. There are three obvious alternatives to this annual / bi-annual / trimestrial pilgrimage: ignore the family and go and enjoy oneself elsewhere PROS: you get to go somewhere different every year and have as much of a real holiday as is possible with children in tow CONS: snubbing the family is likely to result in ex-communication, no more birthday presents and being written out of various wills; hate mail is also a strong possibility ensure the entire family make regular visits to see you PROS: no need to go anywhere; regular free [...]

The town I grew up in, in the west of England, was blessed with but one miserable little theatre, and although it regularly hosted some very entertaining shows, it was on rare occasions that all 200 or so seats were filled. For I, like the majority of fellow town-folk, considered an evening out at the theatre as a somewhat eccentric activity, coming in way down on the list of possibilities: Discover the beers on tap at a new pub Appreciate the beers on tap at a favourite pub Stay in and watch TV Go to the town's one and only cinema Go to the town's one and only night-club Study and go to bed early Go to the town's one and only theatre Here in Strasbourg however, there are so many theatres that it is hard to justify doing much else when you find yourself free of an evening (unless of course you don't understand a word of French). Indeed, as bizarre as it may seem, the majority of my French friends are more likely to go and see [...]

It was our intention to head up to Champ de Feu, the nearest ski station to Strasbourg, to go sledging on Boxing/St. Stephen's Day this year, however this plan seemed hard to justify when 40 cm of snow settled in the City itself on Christmas morning; and given the fact too that the council had failed to grit any roads that night, taking a Peugeot 107 up a twisting icy mountain route to 1100m was likely to have been a regretful episode. Despite my own disappointment, the tiny wee slope on the south side of Parc du Contades proved to be a worthy substitute for our nippers, who both being under five years probably wouldn't have appreciated the high octane delights of the 300m+ luge piste in the Vosges anyway. There are however a few minor niggles with the slope that is formed once the luges come out: the local kids opt to form the slope on the steepest side of the hill, which thus results in the shortest slide; (and as much as I keep pointing out to [...]

Rarely am I struck by such euphoria when opening letters from the RSI, the Régime Sociale des Indépendants - otherwise known as my health assurance providers, however today was such a day - for today I recieved my new Carte Vitale! Whoohoo! If you've no idea what a Carte Vitale is - let's just say that when you get one it's like getting free flights to New Zealand for the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final - a rare, and often once in a lifetime experience.* The reason for this euphoria is partly because I have had to endure seven months of bureaucracy and incompetence by the local agency Mutuelle de l'Est, since Stephen Godfrey's details spontaneously appeared on my old card in place of mine, and partly because my wife has yet to receive her new Carte Vitale having lost it almost two years ago. (She blames our then 18 month old son for the episode, but only a fool would hand over their Carte Vitale to anyone but a doctor or health assurance professional - so she only [...]

You would be forgiven for thinking that this little phrase in France - travail au noir - refers to what the French are forced to do whenever the power generation workers go on strike, but it is in fact the vernacular for - Travail dissimulé - or 'dissimulated work'. Which basically means working illegally, usually for cash and paying no taxes. Of course no one in France would admit to doing as much, but my personal experience is that just about everyone who can do it - does. Cleaners, handymen, teachers, painters, drivers, hairdressers - you name it, if you hand over cash they'll give you an extra big smile - because the likelihood that they're going to give any of it to the state, as they should, is a million to one. There have been efforts made to eradicate the cash practices which are estimated to cost the country some 14 € bn in lost revenue.  For example, being able to offset 50% of all childcare related expenditure against tax is intended as a way to get families [...]