This weekend trip led us to the beautiful town of Strasbourg in the Alsace region of France as a birthday trip for Kathy. We started in the morning and after a nice three hour long drive we checked in to our, let’s call it “basic”, hotel in walking distance to the old town center and the European Parliament. If you come to Strasbourg, stay away from “Cap Europe” Hotel. Save your money for a better spot!

Strolling towards the old town, we had a look on an antiquities flea market on the way and crossed the channel which surrounds the “Grande Ile” where the old town lies. Those old town streets are beautiful to walk. The street names are written down in French and German and you can guess from them which industry was there in old days.

The first big stop was the huge and beautiful Cathedral “Notre-Dame de Strasbourg”. It is one of the most-important middle-age gothic buildings and of the biggest buildings made out of sandstone in the world. Parts of it are build in older romanesc style but most of it was built during the high-gothic period. The great squares around the Cathedral are surrounded by old impressive half-timbered buildings at the front facade, the old bishop palace, called the “Rohan Palais” at the southern side of the Cathedral, big stone houses of former rich merchant families on the northern side and during daytime the Cathedral itself and the squares are occupied by crowds of people from all over the world.

This weekend was special with holy orders and masses that’s why we were only able to take a look thru a side entrance and a short time behind the huge and beautiful front gate. But what an amazing view that was! The Cathedral was lit with lights and candles. The organ was playing in full blast, the people were singing along with the choir in the back. This all created an atmosphere which made the cathedral almost come alive. It is as impressive from inside as from the outside. The high cross vault, the beautiful coloured glass windows, the golden old Byzantine wall art over the altar made a huge impression. We left the Cathedral because now we hungered for cake! We found a nice little cafe and had the first cake for weeks! What a taste! Wonderful!

That sweet sin asked for a redemption, so we took a long walk along the channel, with the old well preserved half-timbered buildings. Our goal was “Petite France”, the real old part of Strasbourg, but trusting in Google, we were mislead for a short while. After noticing that we found it pretty fast. That part was really crowded but also beautiful. Small narrow streets, channels, small squares with huge old trees and old buildings makes a wonderful ensemble. The historical end of this part is the old flood barrage with the three towers from the historical town defenses where we enjoyed the sunset.

But now it was definitely time for some fooood. Kathy was keen for tapas, so we found a very nice Bar called “Mi casa es tu casa” and had a great evening with tapas and wine. Strasbourg by night is also very nice. The Cathedral is illuminated by many lights and looks great. If you stay in Strasbourg, go there when it is dark!

On Sunday we headed back to the Cathedral for the tower ascent. Sundays they don’t charge entrance fees which is quite nice! We crossed the huge “Place de la Republique” with the Opera house, the National Library and the Palais du Rhin.

330 stairs to the platform between the towers of the Cathedral makes you dizzy because you walk a circular stair all the way up. But it’s definitely worth it! What a view over Strasbourg and surroundings!

Next we walked all the way north to the European Parliament which was actually disappointing. Due to Sunday all was closed, sincerely closed. With steel fence and so on. So we only could take a look at the building and the flags. For the return to old town we took the tram, which is a quite new and sci-fi looking system.

The problem with the tourist flooded restaurants in old town is the arrogant stuff in many of them. We had some unpleasant experiences before we sat down in the “Lohkäs” restaurant in Petite France, where we enjoyed a very good traditional tarté flambee and a friendly waiter. The rest of the afternoon we spend lazy in one of the small parks between the channels close to the flood barrage with reading and watching the people passing by.

Unsure where to go for dinner we decided to visit that Spanish tapas bar the second night in a row and had a good time there again.

On Monday morning we enjoyed a very nice breakfast at the small but very good bakery called “L'Atelier 116”, a damn sure recommendation for breakfast in Strasbourg! Everything is fresh and very tasty. For the road we each took a nice Muffin because we had to go back home and work.

Till we travel again!