Strasbourg, France, is the largest city along the border between France and Germany. During WWII, the Reich worked to make it a "showcase" city, which meant building beautiful government buildings, parks, and plazas. Many of the buildings now house various organizations in line with Strasbourg's role as the seat of the Council of Europe. The German architecture, plus the destruction of much of the older parts of the city during WWII, lends a strong German influence to Strasbourg - in terms of architecture, culture, and even language.
We drove down from Frankfurt for a day trip, and enjoyed wandering about - though it was surprising how little business activity there was even on a Saturday afternoon (most shops are also closed all day Sunday). The drive took about 2 hours in no traffic, and pleasantly required paying no tolls. We just needed passports at the border crossing. Parking was tricky, but we found space at the Opera-Broglie parking garage, and at EUR1,70/hr, a decent deal.
Our goal was to simply see the two key sites we'd read about via googling: Notre Dame Cathedral, and Petit France, the French neighborhood, before returning home. We also had imposed a requirement to come home with some French pastries for our Sunday breakfast.
The first stop though, was for flammkuchen / tarte flambee, at La Stub. Though in the midst of the tourist and shopping area, the cozy restaurant had a large menu of tarte flambees, and an even larger dessert menu! The pizzas were good and served fast, allowing us to move to our first goal. We headed over to the Notre Dame, navigated past the many tourists with cameras, and went inside to see the church. Building it began in 1066, and I asked myself the same question I always ask when I get inside a very old European church: why did they build such dark, drafty houses for worship? It is still an active church today, and when there is no service, there are several prayer and meditation rooms available. The main hall is full of sculptures, organs, and other informative displays explaining the story of Jesus in French, German, and English. I found it very interesting, and was impressed by the incredible detail of the stained glass windows decorating the church. Important note: entry is free!
Upon leaving the cathedral, we walked over to the Tourist Office for EUR1,00 walking maps. Honestly, our Googling + Google map served about the same purpose, so we tucked them away for scrapbooking and headed around to scout the Palais Rohan, which was once a palace and now houses 3 museums. Not in a museum mood, we kept walking, this time along the river to Petit France. About 20 minutes later, we found ourselves on an archipelago just southwest of Strasbourg, where the roads were all made of cobblestone, and the restaurants (all closed, sadly), serve traditional Alsatian cuisine. Fun fact: this neighborhood was named after a hospice built on this island to cure syphilis, which was called the "French disease" in German! History can be so amusing sometimes... We continued to wander until we found an open bakery (hooray!), and purchased some fresh pastries. Before heading to the car, we made a final stop to the Place des Halles. It had been described as a "covered marketplace" but as it turns out, was just a giant mall with your favorite international brands, including THREE Paul bakeries (now also found in places as far away as Washington, DC). Ah, globalization.
All in all, it was a nice day trip, and cool to be able to leave the country within 2 hours. Though we didn't find enough there to stay overnight, the charm of the riverfront border city and its tasty food was well worth a Saturday afternoon.
We drove down from Frankfurt for a day trip, and enjoyed wandering about - though it was surprising how little business activity there was even on a Saturday afternoon (most shops are also closed all day Sunday). The drive took about 2 hours in no traffic, and pleasantly required paying no tolls. We just needed passports at the border crossing. Parking was tricky, but we found space at the Opera-Broglie parking garage, and at EUR1,70/hr, a decent deal.
Our goal was to simply see the two key sites we'd read about via googling: Notre Dame Cathedral, and Petit France, the French neighborhood, before returning home. We also had imposed a requirement to come home with some French pastries for our Sunday breakfast.The first stop though, was for flammkuchen / tarte flambee, at La Stub. Though in the midst of the tourist and shopping area, the cozy restaurant had a large menu of tarte flambees, and an even larger dessert menu! The pizzas were good and served fast, allowing us to move to our first goal. We headed over to the Notre Dame, navigated past the many tourists with cameras, and went inside to see the church. Building it began in 1066, and I asked myself the same question I always ask when I get inside a very old European church: why did they build such dark, drafty houses for worship? It is still an active church today, and when there is no service, there are several prayer and meditation rooms available. The main hall is full of sculptures, organs, and other informative displays explaining the story of Jesus in French, German, and English. I found it very interesting, and was impressed by the incredible detail of the stained glass windows decorating the church. Important note: entry is free!
Upon leaving the cathedral, we walked over to the Tourist Office for EUR1,00 walking maps. Honestly, our Googling + Google map served about the same purpose, so we tucked them away for scrapbooking and headed around to scout the Palais Rohan, which was once a palace and now houses 3 museums. Not in a museum mood, we kept walking, this time along the river to Petit France. About 20 minutes later, we found ourselves on an archipelago just southwest of Strasbourg, where the roads were all made of cobblestone, and the restaurants (all closed, sadly), serve traditional Alsatian cuisine. Fun fact: this neighborhood was named after a hospice built on this island to cure syphilis, which was called the "French disease" in German! History can be so amusing sometimes... We continued to wander until we found an open bakery (hooray!), and purchased some fresh pastries. Before heading to the car, we made a final stop to the Place des Halles. It had been described as a "covered marketplace" but as it turns out, was just a giant mall with your favorite international brands, including THREE Paul bakeries (now also found in places as far away as Washington, DC). Ah, globalization.All in all, it was a nice day trip, and cool to be able to leave the country within 2 hours. Though we didn't find enough there to stay overnight, the charm of the riverfront border city and its tasty food was well worth a Saturday afternoon.
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