We slept well after having a pretty busy day; hard to believe the difference between Paris and the Christmas Market in Strasbourg. The only real plans we made for our stay in Strasbourg was for the apartment and the dinner we had the previous night. We just wanted to relax and enjoy ourselves.
We stepped out into a brisk, but beautiful morning. The sun reflected its orange colors off the buildings.
We decided to head on over to the Cathedral to get a better look at it. There was also one item in the Cathedral that I really wanted to see.
So we headed out; down the pedestrian only alleyways of the Grande Île.
We strolled down Rue du Dome, which ended right at Strasbourg Cathedral; the sun reflecting orange rays off the bell tower.
It was quite a stunning sight.
Like I mentioned in my previous post; Strasbourg Cathedral was once the tallest building in the world.
There are also some interesting stories about the Cathedral; one of the most interesting, you'll find a version here; is of the Devil , riding on the wind, was drawn to a sculpture in the Cathedral, showing him in the form of "a tempter". Curious, he left the wind outside and entered the Cathedral and was imprisoned in one of the pillars. To this day; the wind still awaits his return outside the Cathedral. Which is why it is always so blustery in Cathedral Square.
The Apse is quite stunning.
As are other parts of the Cathedral.
But, as I mentioned, there was one main thing I had come to see. Since our visit to Prague a few years back; I'd become rather fascinated Astronomical Clocks like the one in the Old Town Square of that city. I'd only seen one other Astronomical Clock; this one in Olomouc, so I was interested in seeing another. This one is actually the third clock. The first had been built in the 14th Century, the second in the 16th Century. This one dates back to 1843. It is also one of the largest.
Satisfied we headed back out. There's a Christmas Market in Cathedral Square. The theme of this market is a different country every year….this year it was…..well we had a chuckle.
Iceland; where we had just been the previous year! All these little connections……
I still wanted to get a decent photo of the Cathedral, so I walked down the alley of Rue Merciere. Since it was early, there wasn't much traffic, of the wheeled or two-legged kind.
So I snapped a photo. Not sure if it it's especially great; but it would be the best I would get on this trip.
Walk across the street and you are on Place Gutenberg; yes, named after that Gutenberg. Johannes Gutenberg lived in Strasbourg for around faive years or so. It is said that during this time he presented his printing press to the world in a publication called Kunst und Aventur (art and enterprise). Naturally, a statue of Gutenberg stands in the square.
From here; we decided to hit up the TI and they recommended we take a boat tour around the Grande Île. Because of the green tinted windows; my photos didn't turn out well; but here's a short video clip.
And, I got a nice shot of the row of buildings where our apartment was. You can see it was quite a nice location.
The boat ride ended in the area known as Petit France. This picturesque and historic area is where the River Ill splits into four canals.
And is known for the covered bridges in the area; you can still see the fortifications for those bridges that date back to the 13th century.
It is quite touristy, but also very charming.
Because of the river and canals; this was where the tanners and other folks lived. In an interesting twist; the name "Petit France" is not named for its architecture, but because of a 16th century hospital that treated "zum Franzosel" (the French disease), aka syphilis while still a free city in the Holy Roman Empire. Apparently, the citizens of Strasbourg believed the disease was the fault of the French. Basically, the idea was to isolate those with the disease in a structure in this district.
On a totally unrelated (to venereal disease) note. Since we were in the area; we decided to finally try some Vin Chaud; mulled wine.
Basically warm, mulled wine…….
You know, we never developed a taste for this…..gaaack…it was really sour, warm, and in most cases spiced. One of our friends wade a video of all of our faces after drinking this stuff. On a positive note; it really did warm you up….but you had to swallow of course. As you can read yourself on this post: "Vin Chaud was originally made as a means of saving wine that had gone bad—by adding sugar and spices it often made the wine drinkable again" You did get some nice souvenir cups though.
By now, we decided to head back to the apartment. But after that vin chaud we were in need of some sustenance. We stopped by the Christkindelsmärik on Place Broglie just two blocks from the apartment. This stand looked quite popular.
Seems this fellow resented not getting his share of choucroute garnie.
The Missus got the Choucroute d'Alsace; She just can't ever get enough fermented cabbage it seems. The knack was nice and snappy and the smoked sausage quite nice.
The potatoes were tender…what's not to like….since She just loved the charcroute, who am I to deny Her access to this….we'd basically have it for every meal.
I decided to try the Munster en Baguette.
Very ripe smelling Munster cheese, but very mild and milky, almost sweet in flavor; on a nice crusty baguette….the ripe tomatoes added just enough acidity to cut through the richness and salty tones. This was quite enjoyable.
Then we made a mistake of trying more vin chaud! This was better, not as puckery….but we're not sold on this……
As this fellow seemed to say to me "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice……."
It was obviously time for a nap!
Thanks for reading!
