R&R on the Rhine - Viking Bestla
R&R on the Rhine - Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Kinderdijk
R&R on the Rhine - Cologne
R&R on the Rhine - Marksburg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Upper Rhine Valley
R&R on the Rhine - Rüdesheim
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg and Speyer
R&R on the Rhine - Strasbourg
R&R on the Rhine - Black Forest
R&R on the Rhine - Colmar
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 1
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 2
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich to Memphis
If it's Tuesday it must be Strasbourg. Or something like that, right?
One of the cool things about the European Union is the free transit between the countries within it, much like going between states here in the US. So on this morning our ship docked in Germany and we boarded motorcoaches, drove across the bridge and voilà! we were in France.
Strasbourg is located in the Alsace region and is its principal city. It has roughly 750,000 inhabitants in the French portion of its metropolitan area. Historically the language spoke here was Alemannic, a dialect of German, and we saw some street signs in both French and Alemannic. As we drove toward the city center, we passed the European Parliament and the Council of Europe.
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| Street sign in both French and Alemannic |
The quiet tree-lined streets on our drive were quite scenic. And then we saw a number of trees that looked like they'd simply been flat-topped but we learned that was for a very good reason. Each year quite a large number of storks make their way to the region and the need these areas for their very large nests. We saw several nesting pairs as we drove along. Later we saw several stork-related items in the souvenir shops.
We exited the motor coach and made our way to the city's historic city center, Grande Île, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site - the first city center to be designated as such. As the name suggests, the city center is an island and thus there are channels all around it for the river to flow. It made for some pretty photos, I thought. We'd hoped to take an afternoon cruise in one of the glass-topped boats, but the line was too long and we couldn't risk missing our ship!
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| The houses facing the canal tended to be sure their façades were kept pretty. |
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| Canal Tour passing through the drawbridge |
The crown jewel is, no surprise, the cathedral which is known as Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg. It's a massive Gothic structure and was the world's tallest building from 1647-1874. Today it's the sixth tallest and is still the tallest structure built entirely in the middle ages. This version of the cathedral began construction in 1176, replacing one that burned to the ground. Construction was finally completed in 1439 and it is amazing to me how this huge building (and others like it) were constructed without the modern equipment we have today. The façade on the west side contains thousands of stone-carved figures is considered a masterpiece of the Gothic era. Some consider that the design of this cathedral (along with the one in Cologne) must be some of the first uses of architectural drawing.
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| Cathedral Notre-Dame - another building too big for a single camera shot! |
Inside the cathedral is the world's largest astronomical clock. It stands 18 meters high and is highly intricate. This clock was completed in 1843 and can calculate leap years, equinoxes, the date of Easter each year, the official time, solar time, the day of the week, the month, the year, the sign of the zodiac, the phase of the moon and the position of several planets. For the time-keeping portion, it has figurines parading through each hour, from a small child to an old man, representing a life span, all parading in front of Death. It's very impressive. From 1858-1989 the same family business took care of the clock and since that time it has been cared for by a man who formerly worked for that business, and his son.
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| Astronomical Clock |
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| Man passing in front of Death |
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