Strasbourg 26 November 2019
After cruising from Breisach, we arrived in Strasbourg, France’s second largest city (after Paris) and the capital of the Alsace region. Like Colmar it has ping-ponged back and forth between France and Germany. Today it plays a major role in the European Union as the site of the European Parliament which meets once a month for about a week, the Council of Europe, and the European Court for Human Rights.
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| Strasbourg Cathedral |
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| Strasbourg Cathedral |
Its skyline is dominated by the majestic Gothic Cathedrale de Notre-Dame (or Strasbourg Cathedral). When it was built in the late 12th century, it was the tallest church in the world (at 466’). Today it is the sixth tallest church. The site upon which it is located has been used for religious purposes for over 3,000 years. In 12 BC a Roman sanctuary was built here with shrines to at least three of their gods. With the arrival of Christianity, a temple dedicated to the Virgin Mary was constructed over the site of the sanctuary. In the 7th century, the first cathedral was built, but was quickly replaced in the 8th century by a larger one. Then in 1015, a Romanesque building with wooden naves was built, but in 1176 it burned down. Construction on the current cathedral began in 1176 and was completed in 1439.
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| Astronomical Clock |
One of the fascinating features of this cathedral is the astronomical clock (the third one on this spot), dating from 1681. It is located inside the front of the church, in the right transept, and features automations, a perpetual calendar, a display of the positions of the planets as well as a real-time display of the position of the sun and the moon. Every day at 12:30 it has a show of allegorical figures – i.e., on Sunday, Apollo drives his sun horses, on Thursday you can see Jupiter and his eagle.
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| St. Paul''s Church |
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| Old House Along a Canal |
Following a short walk to the tram station, we traveled to the center of the city to the square dominated by the Cathedral. The walk from the tram to the center square was filled with beautiful old homes, canals, and the majestic St. Paul’s Church. In the square we had about 15 minutes to walk around admiring the cathedral. Then we walked to one of the canals that intersect with the Ill River that runs through the city for a 1 ½ hour canal boat ride to view the beauty of the various architecture found here. From the half-timbered houses in Petite France on Grand Ile to the very modern, glass structures of the European Union, Strasbourg blends its old-style German and French roots with its cosmopolitan flair of today.
Petite France has been called the Venice of the North because of the narrow streets and canals that wind their way through this area. During the Middle Ages, these half-timbered homes belonged to fishermen, millers, and tanners. Many homes still have open vents on the top floor which allowed the tanners to dry the hides for making leather. As you walk through this area, you find many of the streets are named for the crafts of its citizens – Tanners Ditch, Lace Street, Millers Street. The boat stopped for a few minutes in front of the Barrage Vauban, a bridge, dam, and part of the 17th century defensive structures of the old city. Across the water from this bridge are two towers (on either side of a small concrete bridge) that were also once part of the defensive system of Strasbourg.
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| Half-timbered Home in Petite France |
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| Barrage Vauban |
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| Towers and Bridge |
Following our boat ride, we had time to wander through some of the 11 Christmas Markets located in Strasbourg. As in Colmar, most of the shops in the old part of town were all decked out in their Christmas decorations. We again found the booth that was selling Glühwein in ceramic mugs so, of course, we had to purchase it. It is really good – hot wine (red or white) laced with a spicy orange flavor. You could buy the mugs with either hot chocolate or without any beverage, but what would be the fun of that. We also saw vendors selling stuffed animals, snow globes, ornaments – anything and everything Christmas.
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| Half-timbered Home |
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| Store's Christmas Decorations |
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| All Decked our for Christmas |
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| Canals in Strasbourg |
After lunch on the ship, we took advantage of a free afternoon to get caught up on picture downloading, laundry, and hair shampooing. Not the most exciting of afternoons, but a necessity. We had already been to Strasbourg two years ago and had seen most of the city.
Before dinner, we had a speaker come and talk to us about Brexit – from both the English and European points of view. The conclusion – it is a very complicated issue, with no real end in sight that will please all the parties. Obviously, the EU does not want to see England leave and are making it as difficult as possible (if it were easy, the EU fears more countries would try and leave). And the English still do not know what to do with the border between the two Irelands and also fear that Scotland may leave the Commonwealth to join the EU. Perhaps the English election in December will provide some guidance, but we were sitting with a woman from England who did not see much hope in that. She just shook her head and said it gives her “big headaches.” She obviously does not think much of Boris Johnson. At lease we could joke with her that we have the same problems with our leader. Then it was time for a delicious dinner to take our minds off politics – after all we are on vacation! Dinner tonight was a choice of honey-glazed roast duck leg or Alaskan Palock filet with apple crumble for dessert.
After dinner the three Trip Directors entertained us with a slideshow and talk about their childhoods, career paths, and where they are now. It was interesting to see how their careers evolved over the years. Our trip director, Stefan, started out as a math and computer science major (which he said he failed) to a degree in social work, to working as a training instructor for BMW, to finally finding his current job as a tour guide. He has been with Grand Circle for six years now and loves it. He is from Antwerp, Belgium, is married to his husband, and they both love to travel. One of the other trip directors went from being a model to hotel management to finally guiding. All three are very passionate about their jobs, and so far, have all been excellent directors.
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