Arrondissement de Château-Salins

After posting my 1st blog, I got into bed and checked on the Utd score just as it had gone to VAR in the 89th minute. Casemiro’s headed goal stood. Remarkably I was able to watch the remainder of the game on the BBC Sport App & probably could have watched the whole match.

The next thing I remember (almost certainly helped by last night’s bottle of red) is waking up around 5.30am to Grumpy snoring like a warthog. Luckily it was so loud he woke himself up, then went back to sleep silently. I couldn’t get back to sleep, so at 6.45am I got up & stumbled around the room in the dark trying to pack up my gear that was spread out all over the solitary table, chairs & floor.

After showering, I snuck out of the room for the (all you can eat) breakfast buffet. The breakfast room was busy with people of all ages, Nationalities & apparent walks of life. I shared a table of four with myself and dined on bread rolls I had stuffed with ham and cheese, followed by honey, then cake. My head had a caffeine rush after the 4th coffee. Not bad considering that it was included in the price of my stay for just €35 per night. Four coffees in the town would probably have cost more than that alone!

My Youth Hostel Luxembourg stay was certainly not an unpleasant experience. Everyone, including my 3 roommates, were very courteous and respectful. Hopefully it will be the same at the hostels I’m staying at in Switzerland.

After breakfast, I walked down to the Alzette River for a few photographs of the Steichen Bridge, the Neimenster and the other historic buildings in the locality, including their National Natural History Museum. There was a thick mist hanging over Luxembourg City, which gave an eerie feel to the place.

At 9.30am, I returned to the Youth Hostel to pack up the rest of my gear, then 15 minutes later I checked out. I changed the settings on my SatNav to ‘Winding Route’ instead of ‘Fastest Route’, then entered my hotel address in Strasbourg as the destination. It showed my route to be just 125 miles, but estimated to take just over 4 hours.

It was a lovely 4 hour ride through rolling farmland with long sweeping bends, alongside rivers, passing lakes and through quaint little villages and the odd small town. I really don’t know what route I took, but after leaving Luxembourg, I rode into France, then took a sojourn into Germany, before returning to France. I only got off the bike twice, once to fill up with Luxembourg fuel at €1.57 a litre and then just to take a photo of a rather lovely gothic church in a village called Munster. I felt like a real ‘motorcycle man’.

I arrived at my hotel, the imaginatively named Hotel Strasbourg not long after 2.00pm & was gratefully allowed to check in to my double room that I didn’t have to share with anyone else. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to enjoy the room, because I had sightseeing to do.

It was a mile long walk along the foot & cycle path of the River L’Ill to my 1st stop, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. The building was a modern box and nothing to write home about……..oh bugger I just have!! The biggest thing of note was outside the entrance there were numerous groups of African males, who appeared to be illegal immigrants. To be fair to them they weren’t disturbing passers-by, but a couple of arguments broke out amongst themselves and I could easily see it kicking off.

I didn’t hang around and moved on to the very picturesque old town. I started in Petite France, mainly a collection of old buildings on islands surrounded by the River L’Ill. It was then onto Grande-ile de Strasbourg, which is the large island upon which the old town sits. In and around the area, I visited the Alsatian Museum (nothing to do with that horrible dog breed!), the History Museum, Palais Rohan, Notre Dame Cathedral, Kleber Square and St Pierre Le Jeune Church. When I say I visited them, I looked at them from the outside and took a photo of them. I particularly object to paying to enter churches & Cathedrals. The very impressive (from the outside) Notre Dame Cathedral wanted €8 entry fee. I did however sit in Kleber Square and eat a €5.90 Big Mac, which doubled up as my lunch and dinner.

Time was pushing on, so I headed to La Laiterie, the venue for the evening’s gig. The tour bus was outside & I could hear the sound check taking place. There were a few French youngsters outside the open venue door drinking beer, but I chose not to join them. Instead I returned to my hotel room for a lie down after my 5.5 mile walk.

Less than 90 minutes later, I was heading back out on the 10 minute walk to La Laiterie. I arrived dead on 7.30pm to discover a huge queue, but it went down rapidly. In the venue, I bagged myself a bargain, I bought the Unbroken Tour t-shirt for €25, not the £25 they were charging on the 1st night of the tour in Northampton. I also endeared myself to the lady selling the merch because I was able to give her the correct money including 2 x €10 notes. I also bought myself 1 unimpressive beer for €7. Sadly I didn’t hear or notice anyone speaking English, so I found myself an elevated position next to the mixing desk, where I stayed for the rest of the evening.

At 8.00pm sharp, the support band, Divine Shade, came out to play their 35 minute set. They were fantastic and definitely one of the best support bands I have seen in many a year. The band are from Lyon and supported Gary Numan on his tour in 2022. Their music is described as Neo Industrial / Dark Wave, I personally would describe them as somewhere between Killing Joke and The Sisters of Mercy.

At 9.01pm, New Model Army took to the stage and did their thing, another superb passionate performance. There is no point in me trying to describe the performance, but of note Dean & Justin did an acoustic version of Snelsmore Wood as the first encore song. A great result for me, because Snelsmore Wood is one of my favourite songs. The band also played Where I Am. These were not listed on the set list.

At the conclusion of the performance, I tried to see if there was a spare set list available. There wasn’t. I photographed one that someone had managed to get hold of. It didn’t have the amendments.

As I was leaving I heard a group of 3 talking in English, but it felt too late to say hello & then as I got outside I saw the NMA stalwart Steve ‘Red’ Clarke sat on the floor with his chunky necklace around his neck. A woman was fussing over him & I heard him say “I’m alright, I need to pace myself”. It looked like he was in good hands, so despite the fact that he is also on the magic bus, I decided to leave them to it & I hot footed it back to my hotel for a well earned rest.

Song of the Day - Motorcycle Man by The Damned.
NMA Song of the Day - Snelsmore Wood by New Model Army.

I had intended to upload a couple of videos I took of the gig, but they were too long to upload to Penguin. Next time.Read more