Day 10 - Hesse to Sarrebourg to Strasbourg to Paris to New York

We all got up by 8:30, had breakfast and then finished packing.  We ate or threw out the little bit of remaining bits of food and then stripped the beds.  The lady in the base office was nice enough to print out our boarding passes (which was quite a lengthy process) and then we had a taxi bring us to the train station in Sarrebourg.  There, we got an 11am train to Strasbourg. 

All packed up and ready to go

We arrived in Strasbourg and took some seats in the sunny glassed in area of the station because our train to Paris wasn't until 3:10 pm.  David wandered around Strasbourg for a while.  Outside, there was some kind of protest march happening, but we decided to stay in!  At one point, while on line in the ladies room, I started chatting with a Muslim woman.  She was from North Africa.  She asked where I was from and I told her New York (I have to add, you can't imagine how many people don't realize that NY is a state, and not just a city!!).  She was so excited by NYC!  She told me how she'd saved for many years to visit there.  Then she said she saw a naked man in Times Square!  I said, "That must be the Naked Cowboy!" and we both laughed about it.  She'd also visited Washington DC, and was hoping to get back to the US again some time.  She was a teacher and hoped to bring her daughter who was completing a degree in English.

Outside the Strasbourg train station

Hard to see, but protest march in the background

For lunch, there were several snack bars in the station, but they only sold sandwiches made of mystery meat, and we were craving chicken, so I went to Burger King and got us both chicken sandwiches.  It was nice to know exactly what we were getting when we ordered!!  
One thing we'd noticed throughout all our days in Strasbourg were heavily armed soldiers patrolling in groups of four or five.  I found it very disconcerting.

Armed soldiers taken through the window of our train.

Scenery taken through the train window (this and next picture)

On the train to Paris

The train to Paris took about two hours, and we got through security quickly, although they pulled both David and I out for "additional screening" for no discernible reasons.  The flight home was over 8 hours - we all watched a lot of movies and were quite achy by the time we reached JFK.
We got our car and drove home, arriving about midnight.  Another great trip is done!