Strasbourg: EU And Petite France March 30, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Strasbourg , add a commentWe decided to go to the EU building today and sadly we were not allowed to go inside the actual building. Apparently they don’t allow people in without being in a group of 20-35 people with a reservation two to thre
e months in advance. We felt a bit better when we saw there was a large group of teenagers (on a field trip methinks) and they were turned away also. It was depressing particularly because their web site that we looked at last night said that they do allow people in without a group. That was a little disappointing.
So afterward we decided to go to Petite France, an area of Strasbourg, and eat our Crepes (with Nutella and banana) that I had made this morning. After we found a nice 
place to go sit it began to rain. We packed our things up and carried on through Petite France’s narrow streets. It was absolutely lovely, the area is a strange mixture of old French and German architecture. There were flower pots hanging from balconies and creperies and bistros on the first floor of the buildings. After a about twenty minutes of walking we found ourselves pretty wet and ducked into a church to hide from the rain for a couple of minutes.
Since it started raining, we went back to Austin’s house and ate the Crepes there. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t sitting on the side of the river either.
A nifty tid-bit of information; Europe loves American oldies, Especially music from the 1980′s !
P.S. We’re planing our next stop this Thursday to Zurich, Switzerland.
Out on the Town March 29, 2010
Posted by Chris in : Strasbourg , add a comment
This morning we walked around Strasbourg a bit before arriving at the Cathedral, Notre Dame of Strasbourg. The Cathedral was fantastic but we decided not to pay to climb the steps up the bell-tower; however, there is a fantastic astronomical clock in one corner of the church that is a must see for visitors to Strasbourg.
The central part of the cathedral was large and airy, plenty of space for the chairs in the middle and surrounded by hallways with beautiful stained-glass windows along the exterior walls. Additionally, as you travel back through the church, there are several different places reserved for prayer so that parishioners can pray in peace while the tourists visit the rest of the church.
After exploring the Cathedral thoroughly, we wandered around the square surrounding the church, encountering 2 museums, one of which refuses entry without an appointment! Anyway, we decided not to visit the museums because they didn’t look to fantastic and we’d have to pay to look at things like vases on columns.
Finally, we settled on having a cup of tea in front of the Cathedral at a small café looking at the front of the Cathedral. After leaving the Cathedral, we walked down the Ill River for a while, enjoying the scenery and buildings; we saw several buildings which, unbeknownst to us at the time, have histories over a thousand years long.
Among the buildings along the Ill, we saw the courthouse, national library, and more.
We finally found a gorgeous sun-filled park to relax a bit and decide on the next thing to do. After much thought and deliberation, we headed back to Austin’s flat at the same time he was arriving and we decided to take a cruise on the waterways of Strasbourg together.
We followed the boat through Strasbourg to find where it docks where we bought tickets and got aboard. The boat was a glass-covered boat allowing us to see out in all directions except down. While riding aboard the boat, we each got a pair of headphones to listen to a commentary about Strasbourg’s history and about the buildings we were passing by and we realized that Strasbourg has had a pretty funny past, there are all sorts of strange and outright hilarious events through the city’s history.
On the boat, we passed the EU Parliament by boat; we passed through a lock, and even saw a wall that was built across the river to preclude attacks from that direction, in addition to flooding an area near the town, protecting that side as well. We also saw what used to be a prison, has gone through several iterations and is now a school of business administration.
Apparently, in Strasbourg, the half-timber houses are considered more of furniture than buildings because they are easily replaceable. While I found this interesting, it made me wonder if all buildings that would be above furniture on the chain are made of stone or brick because there are a lot of half-timber buildings in the city.
Strasbourg: Closed Until Monday March 28, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Strasbourg , 1 comment so farYesterday we went to the EU building and were disappointed for it is closed on the weekend. However the outside of the building is very interesting. We’re going to try going there on Monday. Apparently you can listen in to the meetings and there are a lot of translators, so understanding the language shouldn’t be too difficult.
Also, we went out to lunch and I ordered an “American”, whi
ch we all thought was a regular burger with a side of fries and Ketchup. The burger came on a Baguette with the fries on top and a hint of Ketchup. Chris and Austin ordered “The Madam” which is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with an sunny-side up egg on top. Interesting menu options.
We were coming back from the EU building and our tram was stopped by a very long parade of handicapped people. I ha
ve never seen that many blind people together in one place before!Today we learned that the EU is not the only thing that is closed on the weekends. All things worth getting a closer look are closed until Monday! That mixed with the soggy weather means that we’ll probably stay inside today. So, for tomorrow we are planning to go to the cathedral (apparently closed to tourists on Sunday).
Strasbourg: Relaxing March 26, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Strasbourg , 1 comment so farToday we lounged around Austin’s house for most of the day. We relaxed and enjoyed the Crepes I made earlier.
Later in the evening we went to a movie with Austin and a couple of his friends from school. We were late because there is a soccer game tonight and a lot of fans were crowding the tram and the stop itself. In the masses there was a man playing a large drum, people with pa
inted faces, and a man in a sombrero with a flag (it apparently was his team’s rival and he was intent on burning it; too bad he was already very intoxicated).
The city is very beautiful after the sun goes down because everything has some sort of lighting on it. So just walking to and from the movie theater was nice, especially since it had stopped raining for the first time today.
P.S. Sorry for the post lacking length but the internet connection goes in and out around here. It’s become rather tedious to write the post today. We’re going to see if there’s a place that has free WiFi near here.
First Day in Strasbourg March 25, 2010
Posted by Chris in : Strasbourg , 2commentsWe met up with Austin in Strasbourg today after taking the TGV from Paris. Despite coming out the entrance we were directed to by the platform of the train, Austin ran around the station to the main entrance, a side entrance, and finally the entrance that we were at. When he finally saw us, he bee-lined straight for us gasping for air while greetings were shared all around.
After saying hello, Austin walked us to his flat, a nice 2 floor place in a nice part of town. Apparently he has 3 roommates and one of them has some friends staying over as well but luckily Austin has 2 beds in his room so no worries about sleeping space, we may even be able to use the more comfortable futons downstairs!
After giving us the grand tour of his flat, Austin showed us a delicious restaurant not far from there where we had lunch. On the way there, we saw the ‘Notre Dame of Strasbourg’, a large, thoroughly intimidating church in the middle of the city. The cathedral is a Gothic style cathedral made of red stone and containing a large steeple off to the left side of the door.
Apparently there are packages that offer great tours of the church as well as a boat ride around the river(s?) in Strasbourg in addition to the top of the bell tower being accessible for free on Sundays so hopefully we will be able to visit it and get a bunch of great pictures.
After lunch, we walked back a different route, seeing many different shops and street vendors selling a large variety of goods. Along the way, we also saw the mall in which Austin does his day to day grocery shopping; apparently there are things that are cheaper to buy in France and sometimes it’s cheaper to travel to Germany to go shopping!
