Rhine Getaway: Strasbourg, France (4/20/2014)

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter/Ostern/Pâques! Almost appropriately, we were starting to see the sun peek through after a couple of gray days.

Viking Gullveig breakfast centerpiece

On the breakfast buffet

The Viking Gullveig ship arrived earlier than scheduled in Kehl, Germany (KM 293.6), so we missed being awake for the experience of going through the Strasbourg Lock. That would have been the fourth lock we traveled through in the last night.

It's hard to get the whole ship in the picture!

After breakfast, we readied for the shore excursion to Strasbourg. Our Program Director kept calling the city Straussberg. I hope after a few more cruises, he will have mastered the pronunciation of German, French, and Dutch names as well as he has mastered Italian (he lived in Italy 10 years, and I hope it doesn't take him another ten years...!)
We saw that our Viking motor coaches and drivers were the same ones from Breisach. These guys get to travel alongside the Rhine instead of on it.
Today we had the driver, Pavel, and our tour guide was a young woman, Cindy. We were to start with a 45-minute bus tour, then a 45-minute walking tour, before having 45 minutes of free time.
The motor coaches drove across the Pont de l'Europe/Bridge of Europe (1959-60) from Kehl, Germany into Strasbourg, France, passing through a section of the port before heading north on Rue du Général Picquart. Circled around to the west to pass the parc de l'Orangerie (established c. 1789), the oldest and largest park in Strasbourg with landscaped grounds and the rebuilt Josephine pavilion.

Parc de l'Orangerie

But the passengers were much more excited about the trees lining the street on the left side of the bus. Europeans typically severely prune Platanus sp./Plane Trees (Americans know them as sycamores) in parks. The bare branches of the trees along this street had stork nests, one after another along the whole street. This was the season for the storks to return from wintering in the south of Africa and build or bolster their nests for breeding. It is said that storks mate for life and return to the same nest year after year.

Storks on nest (Viking)

We had chosen to sit on the right side of the bus, but it turned out to be the wrong side!
Strasbourg can claim to be the capital of Europe, because of the location of the administration of the European Union (EU). The EU actually has administration buildings in four cities, including Brussels, Luxembourg, and Frankfurt. However, Strabourg is the home of the Council of Europe. We passed the Palais d'Europe/Palace of Europe (1972-1977, designed by architect Henry Barnard), the seat of the Council of Europe (founded 1949 and separate from the EU), which promotes cooperation among the member countries in areas such as human rights and quality standards of pharmaceuticals. It once housed the EU European Parliament until its own building was established in the complex.

Flags at the Council of Europe (Viking)

Next the European Court of Human Rights (1995 by British architect Lord Richard Rogers) where the elongated section of offices looked like a giant ship. The new EU European Parliament (1999) has a tower with an unfinished look, to symbolize the fact that the European Union is not yet complete.

EU European Parliament building (KSS)

We drove through Place de Bordeaux, named in honor of another city that took in women, children, and the elderly when Strasbourg was besieged during the Franco-Prussian War.
We passed the grande synagogue de la Paix/Great Synagogue of Peace (1954-1958 by architect Claude Meyer-Levy) and arrived at Place de la République, surrounded by impressive buildings.

Palais du Rhin/Rhine Palace
(1883-1889 in neo-Renaissance style)
formerly the Kaiserpalast/Imperial German

Rear of L'Opéra national du Rhin/National Opera of the Rhine (1873)

The bus traveled along the canalized River Ill.

Palais Rohan (1728- 1742) with the ubiquitous cathedral tower

Tour boat built for low bridges

Grande Boucherie/slaughterhouse (1586-1588)
now the municipal museum

 Ancienne Douane/Old Custom House (dating to 1358)

We were dropped off in La Petite France/Little France, an area where the River Ill was divided into canals.

La Petite France/Little France (KSS)

Two of three remaining defensive towers (KSS)

Vauban Barrage/dam (1686-1700) built for defensive purposes

Ponts couverts/covered bridges (KSS)

The covered bridges no longer have their wooden roofs

House between two canals (KSS)

Third tower and vine-covered building

The area is called Petite France because it was the location of a 15th century hospital that treated syphilis, which the Germans called the "French disease." Now it is a neighborhood park.

 We walked behind a restaurant to get across a canal.

Graffiti (KSS)

River Ill in the area of former mills

Fancy half-timber work (KSS)

Brynne & Paul at the Maison des Tanneurs/House of Tanners

Easter decorations

Pedestrianized Rue des Drapiers (KSS)

Relief on Winter Patisserie/Confectionary on Rue du 22 Novembre

Kitschy shop (KSS)

Paris department store Galeries Lafayette

Arrived at Place Kléber.

Général Jean Baptiste Kléber statue
(1838 by Philippe Grass) 

Général Jean Baptiste Kléber was born in Strasbourg and became a successful military leader. He served under Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt in 1798-1799, and stayed in Cairo as commander of the French forces there. Kléber was assassinated in 1800, and because Napoleon was afraid Kléber's popularity might overshadow his, he left Kléber's remains on an island near Marseilles. In 1838, his remains were brought to his hometown and buried in a vault beneath the statue, yet his heart is (literally) in Paris.

Aubette/Orderly Building (1765-1772 by Jacques-François Blondel)

Alstom Citadis 403 tram

Next we walked down Rue des Grandes Arcades.

Mercury as god of trade

The arcades indicate there were shops along this street

Next was Place Gutenberg.

Former hôtel de ville/town hall (1582-1585)
the finest Renaissance building in lower Alsace

Tourist train

Easter fair at Place Gutenberg (KSS)

Statue of Johannes Gutenberg
(1840 by David d'Angers)

Although Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the movable type printing press, was born in Mainz, it is said that he came up with the idea in Strasbourg.

Stand for crêpes, gauffres/waffles, and churros!

Churros and gauffres

#2 rue Mercière

View up rue Mercière of Cathédrale Notre-Dame
de Strasbourg/Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg

The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg/Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (1176-1429) is one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture, although it has touches of the Romanesque. The profusion of sculptural ornaments is awe-inspiring.

Central portal with rose window

Cathedral tower with a sign showing
the spire crowned with a Phrygian cap

The cathedral has a single tower; the south tower never was built as they were afraid the weight of it would cause the entire building to collapse. In 1794 there was a movement to tear down the north tower to make the cathedral symmetrical, but the local citizens placed a giant Phrygian cap on top of the actual spire in protest.

Looking up at the tower (KSS)

It was difficult to get the whole of the cathedral in one picture!

The north tower (without a spire) is the one
you can climb up for a view

We heard the legend of the wind that seems to always be blowing around the cathedral. One day the devil rode up to the cathedral on the wind. He saw his likeness carved on the façade. Very flattered that he was depicted as a handsome young man, he decided to enter the cathedral to see if there were any more such statues. Once inside the holy place, he was trapped. The wind continues to wait for the devil to appear, howling in impatience; while inside the devil causes currents of air to rise from the bottom of the cathedral.

The devil disguised as the Tempter of Virgins
(yet snakes and toads crawl out from his back)

Several of the group were confused, thinking that Notre-Dame was in Paris...
Place de la Cathédrale.

Pharmacie du Cerf/Hirsch Chemist/pharmacy (1567)

Maison Kammerzell
(ground floor 1467, upper floors 1589)
finest old burgher house in Strasbourg

Hôtel Cathédrale
(note the bomb on the right edge near the hotel name)

Hôtel Cathédrale bomb

At this point our guided tour was done, and we had free time. First we entered the cathedral where a Mass was in progress. The tourists were herded down the left aisle, and what we wanted to see was on the right! But the Mass ended and the ropes were taken down so that we could walk across to the right transept. The massive Astronomical Clock (1539-1584 by Tobias Stimmer) took up the whole north wall, but it was in the dark. The mechanism is from 1834- 1842 and it is very accurate. It could figure the date of Easter long before computers. We admired all the stained glass windows in the left aisle showing the German emperors and kings.

Strasbourg Cathedral suspended organ (Viking)

We left the cathedral to the opposite side of the square.

Palais Roban (1728- 1742)
now houses three museums

Maison de l'Oeuvre Notre-Dame/House of the Works of Our Lady
(East wing 1347, west wing 1579-1585)

We walked down to the River Ill past the Place du Marché-aux-Cochons-de-Lait/Suckling Pig Market.

Rue du Maroquin

Fountain ash tray

Place du Marché-aux-Cochons-de-Lait/
Suckling Pig Market

Walked along the River Ill.

River Ill with swans

A right turn on Rue Martin Luther brought us to l'église Saint-Thomas/Church of St Thomas, the only hall church in the Alsace, with a Romanesque west end (1230-1250) and a Gothic nave (c. 1330). The octagonal tower (1348) has a clock that strikes the hours four minutes early, to be heard before the cathedral clock strikes.

Église Saint-Thomas/Church of St Thomas

The other claim to fame for St Thomas is the Silbermann organ (1737-1740) that Albert Schweitzer frequently played.

What to do with your yogurt containers

There was a delightful little Easter market in Place St Thomas and we had samples of cheese and sausage, along with explanations which we did not understand!

Cheeses

Nougat

Sausages

Kugelhopf/Bundt cake and Tarte flambée,
looks like some kind of sweet bread in front

Bretzels/pretzels

We returned to the group meeting place in Place de la Cathédrale. The square had filled with artists doing portraits.

Portrait artist at work
(note the different levels of quality available)

Our guide continued a narrative as she led us to where the motor coaches were parked. She knew the short cut by the Maison de l'Oeuvre Notre-Dame, so that we could peek into the herb garden.

Herb garden

Again through the Place du Marché-aux-Cochons-de-Lait/Suckling Pig Market.

Charlie Chaplin living statue

Past the Grande Boucherie/Slaughterhouse cum museum, and Ancienne Douane/Old Custom House.

Ancienne Douane/Old Custom House sign

Crossed the River Ill and walked to Place d’Austerlitz.

"Le point de convergence" (2012, relief model of Strasbourg)
designed by artist Raymond Waydelich and Egbert Broerken

Then to Place de l'Étoile where the motor coaches awaited. After a quick drive back to the Viking Gullveig in Kehl, Germany, we were presented with macarons, those light little almond-flavored meringue cookies, a regional specialty.
Next: Kehl.