Strasbourg

The rain that was forecast, but didn't happen yesterday, during the day, came during the night. We had an early train from Luxembourg, and it was still dark and raining when we left the hotel. Good thing the rail station was just across the street! And a good thing we had our umbrellas.

But the rain had stopped by the time we arrived in Strasbourg. Again, our hotel here is just across the street from the rail station. It was much too early to check in, but we were able to drop our bags, grab a map, and set out to see the sites.

Strasbourg is a charming city, apparently spared too much bombing in World War II. However, it was damaged significantly in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. So while some buildings are really old, most are just old.

The cathedral is really old, dating back to the 12th century. Even 80 percent of the stained glass is original, dating to the 12th to 15th centuries. It was preserved by being hidden in southern France during the war, but was found and stolen by the Nazis. However, it was recovered by The Monument Men (yes, the movie was about real life) in 1945 and restored to the church.

The cathedral is also known for its clock, which is very large and elaborate, but the show it puts on every 15 minutes is underwhelming.

From the cathedral we followed the Rick Steves book on a walking tour along the River L'Ill to St. Thomas church, the largest Protestant church in France. The organ here is very famous because it was played by Mozart when it was new, and by Albert Schweitzer, who was born and raised near here.

We continued on to the "Petite France" area. This was the Medieval "industrial park" of Strasbourg, where water-driven mills and warehouses lined the river, and hides were tanned to make fine leather. The smell from the tanneries made it a much less desirable neighborhood. But now, Rick Steves describes it as "a Hansel-and-Gretel fantasy."

This area was packed with Viking Cruises and other tour groups, and is full of shops and restaurants aimed at tourists. We ate lunch in one of them, trying the local Tartes Flambee, which is really just a very thin crust pizza.

In the afternoon we retraced our steps back to the Strasbourg Historical Museum. We got in for half price for being old, and learned about Strasbourg from Roman times to the recent past. But mostly, the museum focused on the place as a "free city" in the Holy Roman Empire, followed by being tossed back and forth between Germany and France for several centuries, depending on who won the last war.

One interesting object here was a "fire organ" which was played with ignited natural gas, rather than wind. Apparently it didn't catch on.

Another interesting fact from the museum is that Strasbourg fights with Mainz over who gets to claim Johannes Gutenberg and the birthplace of movable metal type printing. Gutenberg lived here for a decade or so, and supposedly experimented with printing while in Strasbourg.

But he was born in Mainz and returned there to publish his famous Bible. Most media studies textbooks give Mainz the win, but Strasbourg has a statue, a square, and a street named after Gutenberg. Today, the square even had a double-decker carousel in operation!

Being so close to the French/German border has given this place a unique identity. The Protestant Reformation was big here, but when the French next took over, Catholicism was reinstated. There was a long history of pogroms here, with Jews being forced out of the city repeatedly. So when Hitler visited, he felt right at home. But so did Napoleon when he came through a century and a half earlier.

In the evening we set out to try the French wine and the German beer that are both equally popular here. We found a little place that served a light supper and enjoyed it before going back to the hotel to rest our weary legs.