Day 20: Strasbourg

June 13 - So much of what we do today is within walking distance that I hardly have use for our 24-hour public transport cards.

First push through the crowds of tourists to stroll the streets of Le Petit France, a historic district where the Ill River splits into three swiftly flowing parts, each used in the past to power tanneries and other factories in past centuries. Here, the architecture looks definitively German.

One of the Ill River canals. To the right is Rue du Bain-aux-Plantes and the Maison des Tanneurs restaurant. This restored building has layered roofing, designed to allow drying of animal skins on the upper floors.

Two of the towers on the Covered Bridges (Ponts Couverts), originally built in the 13th century at the western end of the city. They are located at the point where the Ill River breaks into the five channels through Le Petit France.

Upstream from this is La Barrage Vauban, another defensive structure completed in 1700. It completely blocked river access to the city.

View of the Covered Bridges and towers from Barrage Vauban.

Back to Notre-Dame Cathedral, as I want to ascend to the roof. For 8 Euros I walk up many steps of a tiny spiral staircase to the top of the main structure, on the side without a spire.

View to the north from the staircase.

View to south.

On the spire, visitors left their graffiti. Or rather, professional carvers were paid to do it for them. This practice was brought to an end in the early 1800s and a visitor’s book was placed here instead.

Close-up photo of the one spire. Volumetrically, it is about 80% open space, to allow wind to pass through it.

Here's a bit about this cathedral. Construction began in 1015, and the intention was to make a Romanesque design. However, the project dragged on for 400 years (with some intervals of no work) and was finally completed in 1439. At some point, the parade of architects changed the style to Gothic, and that’s definitely the impression it gives today.

It was the tallest building in the world for 227 years (1647 to 1874), and the spire can be seen from the Vosges Mountains in Germany. By the way, the odd choice of one spire was a decision made sometime during the long construction time, as the original plan was to make it symmetrical with two.

One interesting detail. In 1794 during the French Revolution, there was a backlash against the Catholic Church, as the revolutionaries associated it with the dominance of the king. A proposal was made to topple the spire to symbolically destroy the power of the church (other decorative elements at the base had already been vandalized). However, a group of city residents who had the structure’s best interests in mind suggested that instead they construct a big red liberty hat to drape over it. This proposal was accepted and the spire was saved. Once the cathedral was returned to church control in 1801, the hat was shown as part of the church collection, but all this material was burned during the Siege of Strasbourg in 1870 (Franco-Prussian War).

Lunch at a fairly typical French restaurant.

We then decide to visit Germany. Seems appropriate, given how much Strasbourg has gone back and forth between the two countries. One tram gets us to a station near the border, and we walk along a bridge across the Rhine.

On the Pont de l’Europe, connecting Strasbourg with Kehl, Germany.

It is strange how perceptible the shift is when crossing a river between two countries. Suddenly, everything is written in German. Walking through the marktplatz area of Kehl, the thing I notice most is the number of discount stores.

A 99 Cent store in Kehl.

Not a great deal of old architecture here, unlike downtown Strasbourg.

Friedenskirche, Kehl.

Walk along a thin lake, clearly an abandoned channel of the Rhine. At the southern end is a viewing tower that I climb.

The Weißtannenturm.

Looking north from the Weißtannenturm into Kehl.

Cygnets by the lake.

Go back across the Rhine on another bridge and return to Centre-Ville for our pre-booked river tour.

The tour duplicates the walking we did this morning through Le Petit France, though we get to experience the lock system used to get boats like this up through the ‘rapids’. But then we go north and east, down a branch of the Ill River to the Orangerie District of Strasbourg. In general, this part of Strasbourg was unoccupied before Prussia took control in 1870, but the population grew considerably between then and the loss of Alsace back to France during World War I.

Pass the Église réformée Saint-Paul (1890s) behind the Pont d’Auvergne (1892).

The European Parliament Building, completed in 1999.

The European Court of Human Rights.

Conseil de l’Europe (Council of Europe).

Strasbourg is one of the few cities that has such importance in diplomatic relations and corridors of justice that is not also a country capital. Perhaps because the city itself has been buffeted by the historical strife between France and Germany so many times that now it serves as a symbol of the current harmony between the two, and ideally, that of the EU.

Back to Centre-Ville, and a cobbled-together dinner from a small pastry and sandwich shop.

Two desserts, and sandwiches with caprese and salmon.