Strasbourg to Mainz - Self-Guided 6-Day Cycle Tour https://ridewithgps.com/collections/2187841?privacy_code=nQlADYq65b4PeKIyPGxx3JTe9ov89j9n Thu, Sep 21 – Cycle Orientation; Cycled in Strasbourg (17.7 km) The EuroBike self guided tour info that we had received before we left home and the recent package that was waiting for us when we checked at the hotel, was contradictory. The latter one seemed to tell us that we would be given our bikes Friday morning before doing a 60 km ride. We had hoped that it would have been this afternoon or after supper, like most other self-guided tours that we have done. So, John suggested that we go to the nearby address that we had been given and see if it could be done today. As it turns out we could. Hubert did a great job providing the orientation and fitting Karen, Cam, John and I with our bikes. Then he said that we could use the bikes to cycle around Strasbourg today. What a surprise! We went back to our hotels and dressed up for cycling and brought our daily stuff and put them in the bike paniers. Hubert went over the large-scale Strasbourg map and John used it to lead us. We started cycling through the pedestrian section by our hotel, then along the canal to Place République. Our next stop was the Orangery Gardens which were absolutely beautiful. It was large and there were beautiful bridges, swans, and a gazebo provided a wonderful reflection in the water. We rode to an Italian restaurant and had a delicious thin crust pizza along with Italian beer. From there we drove by the Observatory, then by the European Parliament. We made our way home, stopping at 2 cycle shops to see if we could buy some touristy jerseys. We had no luck. We arrived to our hotels after having only done 17.7 kms and parked our bikes. We showered, met each other, and had supper not too far way in the pedestrian zone. We did this purposely because the weather prediction was heavy rain in the early evening. This way, we would not have too far to walk in the rain. Sure enough, as we were eating inside, the rain pummelled down. By the time we were finished, the rain had abated and was quite doable to walk back.