2009.09. - Strasbourg, France

Strasbourg is famous for many of its European Union Institutions - the European Parliament, Eurocorps, the European Court of Human Rights just to mention a few.

It is also an interesting historical site, resulting in a common Franco-German culture. Not to mention that its entire city center is classified as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.

Nevertheless, our main reason to visit Strasbourg was to see old friends - Celine, Götz and their two kids, Victor and Juliette.

After a short re-union we headed out to explore the city. Our way led through an art flee-market where all of us found something to admire.


Soon we reached the Cathedral.
It is considered to be the 6th tallest church in the world (142m) and one of the finest example of Gothic architecture, built between 1176-1439.

Since the second tower on the south was never built, the Cathedral has an asymmetrical form. Supposedly, it has an observation level, from which you can see the plains of Alsace, and the Rhine banks from the Vosges to the Black Forest.


Our sightseeing this time was limited to the outside of the Cathedral. More precisely to a guitar player who sang beautiful French Ballads in an incredible voice.



What we missed was the famous astronomical clock of the Cathedral. Most tourists admire only the figures of Christ and the Apostles of the clock which launch into movement again and again.
But those well informed appreciate the mechanism behind the clock. It has a perpetual calender, a planetary dial (orrery), a display of the real position of the Sun and the Moon and the solar and lunar eclipses.

The weather was perfect, sunny, warm but not too hot.
We strolled through the old town for two hours just talking and looking at this, looking at that ....















































In the evening we were all very happy to sit down and have dinner.

The kids indoor ...





... and the older children outside in the inner yard of the house.




Götz spoiled us with a delicious meal - lamb with potato and green beans. Lots of garlic on everthying.






I guess we all expected the same for breakfast in France - croissant and baguette - what a nice way to start Sunday.

In fact the calories of the breakfast we thought, were not sufficient enough for the hike we planned to do that afternoon.


So we stopped for a small lunch at a farm in the country side.






The beginning of the hike did not look very challenging ....

... but it soon changed into very steep slopes ...







... before we reached the waterfall we were here to see.





And that was also the end of our visit this time.

After a beautiful weekend we needed to head back to Germany, hoping to see Celine and Götz with their children soon again.