June 14 - Today starts with a morning stroll and a pre-booked noon observation of the Notre-Dame Cathedral astronomical clock. The room where it resides, to the right of the alter, is closed off at other times.
This iteration of astronomical clock at the cathedral has operated without fail (according to the tour information) since its installment. It was built by engineer Jean-Baptiste Schwilgue (1776-1836) over the course of five years.
The clock face above the fence in the photo above has both gold and silver hands (hard to see). The gold hands give mean solar time (temps moyen) and the silver hands show ‘heure publique’ (Central European Time). The mean solar time is about 30 1/2 minutes behind CET. For this reason, even though the tour started about noon, the critical moment to watch the clock was 12:30. This is when two things happen: (1) the sequence of 15-minute indicators, those being a child, teenager, adult, and old man march around a spinning disk, and (2) the twelve apostles spin by on a disk above. Also, the rooster crows. This mechanical creature is thought to be the first automata of its kind, made of metal and wood. The sound it makes sounds very much like a real rooster.
There is also a planetary calendar and another showing the position of the sun and moon (including those moments of eclipses). Remarkably, all of these things are still quite accurate after 180 years.
We have seen similar clocks before, in Gdansk, and in Prague.
After the 12:30 chimes, we (the group of clock-watchers) had the cathedral to ourselves for a half hour, so got some photos without crowds everywhere.
From here we head north and east to visit a botanical garden and things along the way.
Then on to the Botanical Garden of the University of Strasbourg. Turns out to be a very entertaining place for Odette, due to the number of frogs in the aquatic plants section.
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) was a Lutheran minister, as well as a musician and philosopher. He helped develop Pauline Christianity. Though he was born in Alsace, he spent part of his life as a doctor in Gabon (and died there).