The Trip That Keeps Growing: Strasbourg – The “toilet seat” city

Strasbourg – The “toilet seat” city

We left Basel about 4:30 in the evening for our sail to Strasbourg. Almost immediately we went through the first of 32 locks we will enter on this trip. We went through 5-6 this evening alone. One of the locks took us 5 hours to go through as there were 6 boats ahead of us. However, the Captain made very good time and we arrived in Strasbourg only 15 minutes late.

What a beautiful city Strasbourg is. Located on the Rhine River near the German border it includes the area of Alsace, one of France’s most famous wine regions. Our first activity (after breakfast of course) was a walking tour of the Old Town led by a local guide who referred to the city as a “toilet seat.” Hence the title above. He gave the city this name because of its tumultuous past which saw the city changing hands many times. Below is a very simplistic outline of its history:

Strasbourg’s history dates back to 12^th century BC when the Celts established an outpost in this location. In 12 BC the Romans appeared and established a military outpost here. In 357 AD the Alemanni, a confederation of Germanic tribes on the upper Rhine River, first attacked the Romans but were defeated. In the fifth century Strasbourg was occupied successively by Alemanni, Huns, and Franks. Then in 923, the city fell under the Roman Empire where it remained for about 300 years.

The early history of Strasbourg also consisted of a long conflict between its bishop and its citizens. The citizens emerged victorious in 1262, when King Philip of Swabia granted the city the status of an Imperial Free City.

In 1661, King Louis XIV of France came knocking on the gates of the city with his regime of 30,000 troops demanding the city become part of France. The citizens of Strasbourg (who numbered only about 15,000) looked at the odds, gave King Louis the keys to the gate, and announced “We are French.” In 1881, Germany entered the picture and Strasbourg became part of the German Empire. In 1918, after WWI, this region was again returned to France, only to be brought under German control again in 1940 when Adolph Hitler annexed this area back to Germany. Following WWII, Strasbourg was again returned to France where it remains today. Our local guide calls it the “toilet seat city” because it was always occupied. I prefer to think of the city as a basketball – always changing hands!

Just after we got off the tram on our way to the Old Town, our guide gave us a little talk on the church we saw across the street from the tram stop – St. Peters the Old Church. Built in 1130, this was probably the first church built in Strasbourg, although there are some vestiges of a much older church from sometime between the 4^th and 8^th centuries. The church we see today was built in 1382 and has the distinction of being both a Catholic and Protestant Church. From 1382 to 1529 it belonged to the Catholic Church, but after the Protestant Reformation, it became a Lutheran Church. In 1638 it became the first double-religion church. In 1867, the Catholics added an extension that was perpendicular to the original building, with a new façade and a bell tower. As you look at the church, you can see the plain right side of the building that is the Lutheran Church and the taller left side building that houses the Catholic Church.

Our first stop on the walking tour was La Petite France, an area on the Grand Ile (island) that takes you back to Medieval Strasbourg. It is also called the Venice of the North because of its narrow streets and canals. The cobblestone streets that we were walking on were made from stones deposited by the Rhine River. In the Middle Ages the beautiful half-timbered houses were the homes of fishermen, millers and Tanners and indeed many of the streets bear the names of the crafts carried out here: Millers Street, Tanners Ditch and Lace Street, for example. The houses have the traditional tiered sloping roofs and tanner hung their hides up to dry on the topmost rafters. Most of these homes also have small windows up on the top level near the roof. According to our guide, at one time the Rhine was a much larger river and this area was a marshland. It was impossible to store food in the basement of the homes, so they stored them in the attic and the little windows provided air with which to dry the food.

In the late 15th century a hospice was built on the island for small-pox victims and later for French soldiers suffering from syphilis – which the German’s called the “French Disease” to stop the local girls sleeping with the soldiers! – Just an aside: at the same epoch the French called it the “Italian Disease”. The area became known as “Little France”, more out of derision than patriotism. The name stuck and today it is one of the most expensive areas of the city. The homes are still authentic and beautiful. I still cannot get over the beautiful flowers still growing in the window boxes.

Our last stop was the magnificent Cathedral Notre-Dame. Until 1874 it was the tallest church in the world; today it is the 6th tallest and its tower dominates the Strasbourg skyline. The church is so large that it was impossible to take a picture that encompassed the entire church. The ground on which this magnificent edifice stands has been used for religious purposes for over 3000 years: in 12 BC a Roman sanctuary was built here with shrines to at least three of their gods; when Christianity arrived in the region a temple to the Virgin Mary was built over the ruins of the sanctuary.

The 1st cathedral was built in the 7th century and was replaced by a larger one in the 8th century. This in turn was replaced in 1025 by a Romanesque-style building with wooden naves, which burned down in 1176. The current Cathedral is of Gothic architecture, representing a transition from the Romanesque. Construction began in 1176. (Only the crypt dates back to 1015 and it has been expanded over the centuries.) The pyramidal tower in rose-colored stone was completed in 1439; at 462’, it’s the tallest one from medieval times.

The astronomical clock was built between 1547 and 1574. According to Britta, our trip leader, legend has it that the church leaders wanted to have the best and most original clock in the world. They hired a designer to build the clock that not only told time, but also the zodiac and movements of the sun and moon. After it was built, they were afraid that the designer would build another clock in another city. One of the city leaders said, not to worry – he would take care of it. That night he visited the builder and stabbed him in his eyes and blinded him. The builder, confused and blinded, went to the church the next morning and destroyed the clock mechanism. As with most legends, it cannot be verified. We do know that from 1838 to 1842, the mechanism was replaced. Each day at 12:30pm, crowds gather to see its show of allegorical figures. On Sunday, Apollo drives his sun horses; on Thursday, you see Jupiter and his eagle. The body of the clock has a planetarium based on the theories of Copernicus. The clock is located toward the back of the Cathedral. Unfortunately we needed to be back on the ship by 12 to get ready for our optional tour to the Alsatian region of France.

After lunch, we left on our tour. It was a beautiful ride through the countryside in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains dotted with many vineyards. We drove through several quaint little villages. One in particular was unique in that on the roofs of some of the houses were either a heart or a wine bottle. That signified that there was either a woman (heart) or a man (wine bottle) that was unwed and that the parents very much wanted to make a match for them and get them out of the house.

Our first stop was to the Stork Park, a haven for this once-endangered animal. In 1900, the bird was so plentiful that it was considered the symbol of Alsace and was often mentioned in children’s stories. But by the 1980's their local population had been reduced to fewer than ten. Their numbers are again increasing and the Stork Park offers a safe refuge for this long-legged bird. From the park we had a wonderful view of the fortified Church of Hunawihr which is located among the vineyards of this region.

Our last stop was to the small village of Kaysersberg where we had about an hour to walk along the cobblestoned streets admiring the quaint homes and stores. We visited a little café and sample a glass of their Pinot Gris wine. It was sweeter and fruitier than Pinot Grigio. I also stopped in the workshop of a glassblower and watched as he was blowing and shaping a small round object with a pointed top. It was quite interesting. He could only do a few seconds of work before he had to reheat the glass bulb.