I came down from the cathedral and went off to meet up with Claus, my friend from Stuttgart. I had thought that it might be difficult trying to find him in a city that I certainly didn’t know well and that he had visited only fairly sporadically but we only missed each other by one bridge!

I am trying to type this on a French keyboard which is very frustrating! In addition, the computer here in the lobby of the Ibis in Strasbourg keeps logging me off every 10 minutes. Arghhh!!!

Coffee, wander, lunch, wander, coffee, wander was the order for the day. It was good to see him again; we shared the pains of a year of teacher training about ten years ago so much of our chat was reminiscing but we also our current lives and his case loves; tonight he has a date with a border-line schizophrenic who he has been chasing (he gave me permission to write this!) since he split up from his wife….

We went our separate ways an hour or so ago, me feeling far more positive towards the city of Strasbourg – the area known as Petite France is picture-postcard pretty; Germanic with a twist of French – and also border-line schizophrenics from Stuttgart…

I have now lost all patience with an AZERTY keyboard and am off to plan and consider options for the next couple of days as I head towards Switzerland; I am eager to get back on the road!