Strasbourg: waste of money, time and effort; Love it!

It's true, Strasbourg is one of the few times the Rabid, mouth-frothing Euro-sceptics are right. It is a gargantuan waste of money, it's carbon footprint is huge and everyone hates going there but because of a clause in a treaty it stays and Frnace has a veto over getting rid of it. Madness. Add to that the five hour train journey at 7AM on Monday morning to get there and you hate it. Right?

Wrong.

It was great, the city is fantastic and the work was for me great too but we get ahead of ourselves, back to the journey from hell...

I get up at half 5 feeling like the living dead, leaving the house at six. I've left so early as I'm not sure if I will need to walk to the station or if I can get the metro, the metro is open... shit thats 20 minutes in bed I'm not getting back! The Metro is surprisingly full considering its ten past six in the morning, either half of Brussels is going on my train or they do this every day!!! Madness. No job is worth leaving the comfort of bed before 6 every morning...

Get to the platform expecting to see an ultra-modern trans-continental train, at least something like an old Inter-city. No it's a sodding local commuter train from the 1970s, something not even CENTRAL SODDING TRAINS, the WORST bloody Train company in Britain use anymore!!! So much for public transport in Europe being better! Oh and fantastic, there'S no Buffet car. What! No Buffet car!!! NOBODY ON THIS TRAIN HAS HAD BREAKFAST!!! Have I boarded a train to Strasbourg or some sort of masacist-holiday torture train?!?!?

After some pleasant scenery, anouncements in three languages every stop (I swear, I won't be surprised if in twenty years Belgium just speaks English!) and a bizarre ten minute stop in Luxembourg (where the Belgian crew was replaced by a French one, and those who were desperate enough ran off to get food and drink!) we eventually arrived in Strasbourg at 1257. After checking in to my Hotel, I went to McDonalds (I know but I was desperate) and then jumped on the Tram. Okay, the train may of been shit but Public Transport is still so much better over the channel. The Trams were all uber-modern super-slick and pretty fast and for a single journey it was 1€30!

Getting to the Parliament was like beeing back on day 1. Not really knowing where I was and beeing a bit wide-eyed-stupid about it all. The Parliament in Strasbourg is on two sides of a canal (with only one bridge between the two parts), and from the road entrances I think it is ugly. Only from the canalside does the building look good (which is of course where all the pictures are taken). The layout (on both banks of a canal for God's sake! Bloody stupid!) means you also spend about 2 hours a day walking... It is ridiculous! Still the work was really interesting all week. Because Chris the main assistant wasn't there it meant I was doing alot of his job too, which meant attending all the committee's and group meetings (always funny, President of the Socialists is a bald German who gets angry alot... hilarious!) and other stuff too.

Strasbourg itself is great too, a really chilled out city with a good nightlife (although I'm told this is significantly worse when the Parliament is not there). An example of how chilled out it is was on the first night there. We had been planning on going to a restaurant in town, but after settling in at a Peristroika's Bar (what a fucking cool name!) me and Mario (a cheecky Spaniard who works for another MEP) had decided to blow it off and just get a Kebab later on. Anyway as we're sat there the President of the European Parliament (equal to the Speaker of the House of Commons or maybe the Lord Chancellor) just strolls by, no security, no worries, just out for a stroll and a beer! Later on in the week I was witness to him cracking on to a pretty female assistant in the lift, spot on!

On Wednesday the President of India was in town to sign a cooperation deal and make a speech to the full Parliament Plenary session. I've said it before but its true, this place is important. Does anybody really think that the leader of the biggest democracy in the world would make a speech to 800 MEPs if they didn't matter? Thursday morning then saw Segolene Royal arrive and do a event with the Socialist group. Unfortunately I couldn't go as I was finishing off in the office before knocking off at lunchtime to explore the city. The old city is on an island in the river (not sure which one but its a tributary to the Rhine) and is a great place to wander round... that is if your not in a work suit sweating in 30 oC heat! After some sight seeing it was back on the train from hell for the encore performance...

Still despite all that I'd go again!