Strasbourg

So, I've left my cozy Paris apartment and headed out into the countryside.  First stop; Strasbourg, which is a ridiculously adorable town on the border with Germany.  It has an odd history as it has been passed back and forth between Germany and France repeatedly since Charlemagne died.  It's now the home of the European Council and the European Court of Human Rights which is a nice result for a town that has been the prize of a tug-a-war for centuries.

I stayed in a very cute hotel in the Cathedral square.

The only problem was this;

Less than 100 feet away were 16 cathedral bells that rang every 15 minutes....starting at 7:00 am.  Seriously!  Every 15 minutes.  Apparently the Vatican hasn't figured out that we've all got time devices of our own now.   Other than that, this 900 year old cathedral was really gorgeous with pink stone and odd animal statues interspersed with the gargoyles.

I took the walking tour.

An old girl's school

Old City fortifications

Fisherman's wharf

The guide talked all lot about the struggle between Germany and France with the tour ending in Republic Square with this war memorial.

The female character represents Strasbourg while the two nude males represent all the dead from both Germany and France.  They're nude to show that in death it doesn't matter which side they were on.  Strasbourg mourns for them all.

On the tour, I met an interesting woman from the UK who is working at the Human Rights Court and we had dinner together in Petite France.

 

Petite France is the original city and was eventually turned into a hospital/brothel for syphilis patients.  So French!  Now it's just beautiful with tiny cobblestone streets and wooden framed houses.

 

 

On the other end of the scale, here's the European Human Rights Court that I saw while taking a boat tour of the Ill River

 

It probably doesn't hurt that it's sunny and 22 degrees but I really like Strasbourg.  I'll have to come back one year for their Christmas Market.  Tomorrow I'm off to Dijon for some wine tasting.