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Published: September 22nd 2012
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Bonjour from Strasbourg,
This is our second visit to Strasbourg. We were here in 2010 for the Christmas Festival; Strasbourg’s Christmas Festival is one of the oldest in Europe and the first one to open. When we were here last it was snowing and raining ice and so cold that in the cathedral – Notre Dame – Our Lady, we could see ourselves breathe. We found Strasbourg to be charming on 2010 and we have not been disappointed this visit.
As Strasbourg is a small regional town, it is a little more relaxed than Paris. One of the sad things about Paris was the warnings we received from the hotel staff about the beggars; we found ourselves to be very much more wary than we would like to be in a city as beautiful as Paris. Here is Strasbourg, we find ourselves to be much more relaxed which is pleasant.
Strasbourg sits in the province, Alsace Lorraine, from which Quiche Lorraine and Alsatian dogs come. The food here is quite different from Paris with a significant German influence. Historically this area has spent as much time being French as it has German.
Strasbourg is also home to
an historic village called “Petit France” – little France – which we were not able to explore fully last time we were here, we were not here long enough. For this trip we were determined to spend some more time in Strasbourg seeing as much as we could.
Strasbourg sits on the river L’ILL and this river or its canal dominates the old town and the major shopping district. Tourist boats leave their little port very frequently all day and a lot of the evening; their route takes the tourists through Petit France and an historic water lock and around the perimeter of Strasbourg. Strasbourg is now also home to some of the administrative functions of the European Union. Historically, Strasbourg was a city that was home to many cultures and religions, Protestants and Jews lived side by side with the Catholics which is unusual anywhere in Europe. The presence of the European Union fits with the history of the city.
Our first day here we headed into Petit France. Petit France is charming and its lack of modern uniformity is delightful. On our way to Petit France, we saw a German shepherd dog swimming in the canal
and dragging a huge tree branch to the bank – (see Brendon’s photos titled “Le tough puppy”!) Brendon was able to stitch together 5 of his great photos of a view of the canal lock and surrounding houses on the canal taken from the bridge that swings around to make way for the tourist boats. The paths or roads are all cobbled and narrow and for the most part free of cars and trucks except for delivery trucks. Bicycles and motorbikes are a very common form of transport here, considering the crowds and the cobbles – a significant amount skill and bravery is required to ride any kind of bike here. We visited a protestant church just before lunch – St Peter the Elder or Old that was very clearly Protestant as it lacked the detailed art usually found in catholic churches. St Peter was still very beautiful.
There is a Christmas store in Petit France that is open year round that sells the most amazing Christmas decorations – we could not resist a few and wish we could transport more home. We also found a retail art gallery where we purchased some beautiful abstract forms and of course
some glass art for me. There was much more art we wished we could buy however transporting them home would be very difficult and the cost of shipping is often higher than the cost of the item itself.
On Day 2 here we set off in the opposite direction to Petit France following the path alongside the canal. We found a beautiful church with no name constructed of local stone that was being extensively renovated inside. It was Friday, so the market with all the local produce was doing brisk trade. We were surprised by the variety of fruit and vegetables produced locally. We also found the best patisserie in Europe from last visit in 2010 and this visit so far. The cakes are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Strasbourg is very beautiful at night, this season and at Christmas so we took our cameras out in the evening to get some night views of the city. Sunrise here at the moment is about 0700 and sunset is about 8.00pm at night.
Yesterday, we also visited the cathedral here that dominates the old city – she is called – Notre Dame Strasbourg. Last time we were here, she was undergoing extensive
internal restoration which was partially funded by local businesses which we think is unusual in France and possibly anywhere. This visit the internal restorations has been completed and the exterior of the cathedral is now being restored, the local stone of which Our Lady is constructed has a lovely soft pink warmth, she will be stunning when fully restored.
Today, we have left our cameras behind and done a little shopping. I bought some shoes and we bought some more art. The shops are not open on Sunday’s so we are anxious to make sure we made our purchases before we leave tomorrow. The crowds here today have been huge, apart from the tourists following tour guides; we think most of the crowd are locals. We have had some lovely sunny days while we have been here and we think that everyone is soaking up as much sun as possible before the winter cold starts.
We have solved the problems we had with uploading my photos to the blog so the photos you see on the blog are a mix of both of our photos. As we are travelling to Lyon tomorrow, I will cherry pick the best
of my photos from Paris and upload them over the weekend.
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Sofie
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You 2 should really consider doing some freelance work for "Lonely Planet"...... loving the photos !!! Enjoy :-)