Tour de Strasbourg

I woke up after a perfect night of sleep on a much better bed then I have had for 2 months!  Breakfast at the Hotel Europe is quite good, and the coffee amazing.  Russians don’t drink coffee so all that is available here is instant, and while I am not a big coffee drinker it is nice to have every once and a while.  With that we set out for a solid day of walking, touring, picture taking, catching up with mom and enjoying the beauty of this city.  Oh, and my one rule for the day was, no museums!  (I love museums and have been to many incredible ones all over Europe and the US, but there is only so many I can take and it was time for a break.)

Our first stop of the day was the city’s incredible cathedral in the center of the “Grande Île”. (The old city center of the city where our hotel and the oldest buildings where located.  It is also a UNESCO world heritage site and has some of the prettiest city blocks I have seen.)  As we walked past the amazing wooden framed houses and medieval looking streets, we did not need a map to find the cathedral, whose spire towers over the entire city.

After looking around and taking some amazing pictures of gothic splendor we went to the banks of the Ill River to try and take a river tour of the city.  However something was wrong with the tides and we would be unable to do so, oh well if this is the worse problem we have on the whole trip I will be a happy man.

Not today.....

Undaunted we set our sights on the European quarter of the city.  While Strasbourg is an amazing and historic city on its own, it also has the distinction of being the host city for several very important international organizations.  The European Council, European Parliament, European Court of Human Rights and 17 other international institutions are headquartered in this city.  Interestingly, Strasbourg is one of only three cities to host major international institutions without being a national capital, the others with New York and Geneva.

On our way there after crossing beautiful bridges and seeing many amazing buildings, we came upon the consulate row of the city.  Since it is home to so many institutions, many European and other countries have consulates to house their diplomatic activities in the city.  The first one we encountered made me stop in my tracks.  We rounded the corner and there was….

Russian Consulate

Now I am quite used to seeing that flag, seal and Russian writing all over the place, IN RUSSIA.  But sing it in Strasbourg just made me laugh; I guess I will never be able to get away from Russian or Russia no matter how hard I try.  We then proceeded to tour the European district and to take pictures of and explore the buildings there.  There have been some very important decisions made here, and much of the continuing integration of Europe is exemplified and has been drafted in by people in these very buildings.  I found this all very cool and can only really compare it to my visit to the United Nations Building in New York during our Junior Year EHSMUN trip.  Perhaps someday I will return to that part of town, in a more official capacity of course…

European Parliament

European Court of Human Rights

After fulfilling all of my Model United Nations fantasies, for the time being at least, we consulted our map to find a next destination.  I knew before traveling to Strasbourg that it was very close to Germany, just not that it was so close.  We decided to go to the shore of the Rhine River and have a look at another country.  While it would have been cool to actually walk to there (there is a bridge you can cross) it was too far from us to be practical.  So instead we had a walk through the non-tourist port section of the city and onto a bluff to have a look into Germany!

Germany!

After that we wondered though a lovely landscaped park with a free public zoo and duck pond (not as good as a Russian palace park like Peterhof, of course).

 

We then decided to return to the cathedral, this time to go inside and see its equally amazing interior.  I have seen literally dozens of huge cathedrals here in Russia and some of the largest cathedrals in Europe as well in the course of my travels, so it is hard to impress me now.  And this impressed me!  Of special note is their amazing astronomical clock which tracks the date, sun, moon time, catholic holidays, and also still has moving figures and sounds.

Astronomical clock

We rounded out the day with a full lap around the old city, where we encountered some of the most French things possible!

- Crêpes? Of course.      - Men in berets carrying baguettes down the street? Oui!

And then the protestors.  France was (and as of the time this was written still is) in the midst of national strikes about the national retirement age.  In an effort to head off budget problems the French government has decided to move the retirement age from 60 to 62.  In response to this “tragedy” the national transit unions called a protest for that day and where marching all through the city in a loud but orderly and honestly quite fun looking fashion.

PROTEST!!!

Also of note are the old city defenses of Strasbourg.  As a major port city on the Rhine River, which has often changed hands between the Germans and French, the city had an extensive system of medieval era fortifications.  In fact I recently found out that Strasbourg is a textbook example of how the best and most important medieval cities would be defended.

One of many Towers around the City

Gates IN the River

By this time we were exhausted, had seen all major districts of the city and accomplished our stated tasks for the day.  I would like to commend my mom for keeping up with me the whole day of walking, I have been in Europe walking everywhere and every day for 2 months so am used to it by now, but she never complained!

Very modern,  but oddly not out of place light rail system.

So we returned to the hotel to rest up and prepare for another amazing French dinner.  And our dinner was in fact amazing!  All that is left to do is prepare for the train ride to Paris tomorrow.   Strasbourg is now at or near the very top of my ever growing list of cities I need to return to someday.  That is of course as soon as I finish off my must see for the first time list!