A short stay in Strasbourg

Our October trip from the US to KL included a stopover in France. Rather than squander our stay in Paris by sleeping off jet lag we went to Strasbourg. About 24 hours after leaving Indianapolis we were at the Hotel Vendome across from the Strasbourg train station. We landed in Paris and then took our train (booked on line) to Strasbourg. We have been to Strasbourg several times and decided to revisit because: it is cheaper than Paris, we like Alsacian food, and  it is a walkable city. Having been there before we felt no need to do more than wander, eat, and sleep. We picked the Vendome because it was inexpensive, had good reviews, and easy for jet lagged travelers to spend their time walking and exploring.

We looked forward to having a tartes flambee (flammenkuechen). We knew more or less where Le Flam's was - a inexpensive source and no worries about being out of them. We found Flam, ate, picked up bread and cheese, and went back to sleep. The next morning we had a 8 Euro breakfast at the hotel. It was better than we expected - fresh breads and rolls, cheese, flavored yogurt, and cereal.

When we left we had no particular place in mind. At the town square we spent time gazing at the historical carousel. We don't recall noticing it before, perhaps we were more involved in checking out the Christmas market vendors.

Note the two levels

End of October and still lots of al fresco dining

We worked our way toward the Cathedral. (Wikipedia entry is worth reading.) The cathedral was closed during mass, but the singers pictured below entertained a large group waiting to enter. Not pictured is a woman with a cup for money, she was clearly unhappy that they were in her spot. Not to worry, she apparently got her spot back because we spotted the singers later at a brasserie.

Are the Guatemalan Pipe Players who Reinvented Themselves?

Time to buy a stork (available S, M, L) for our grandson

Astronomical clock - Christ and 12 Apostles start moving
at 12:30 p.m

In center panel: St. Roch, St. Maurice, St. Nicholas
Why these 3 together? You can't learn everything
by Googling

To direct our wanderings we decided to take an audio walking tour. We would have preferred a guided tour, but there none available in English. We only received the audio set. Brochures are available; I don't remember if the staff member forgot or if the office was out of them.  Consequently, we weren't always sure if we were looking at the right building and various details were quickly forgotten. There is a lot to be said for visual reinforcement. Still it was a lovely, worthwhile walk and if we return to Strasbourg often enough we will take the tour again to appreciate more the city's history as told by its buildings.  We also took the walking tour while dodging runners in marathon.  The local security for the marathon were very helpful in getting casual spectators back and forth across the route through the city.

St. Thomas Church, the nearly 500 year old "Protestant Cathedral" stands on the site that was used as a place of worship under the patronage of Thomas the Apostle as early as the sixth century. I found St. Thomas' association puzzling since we had visited his alleged tomb in Chennai where he died in 72 A.D. Probably the word "patronage" means something different to the translator than to me. Pictured below is a 16th century tombstone that virtually every Google source went on to say "notable for its realistic depiction of his decaying corpse" and nothing more.

I appreciated the irony of learning that the Ecole National d'Administration is a building that was formerly a prison. The graduate school was founded in 1945 by DeGaulle to democratize the senior civil service.

School of Public Administration

A view of the Ill, a Rhine Tributary

Buildings along the Ill

After the walk we headed back to our hotel stopping for a tarte flambee and a salad at a small restaurant. We saw the building pictured below. Although we know nothing about it, it deserved a picture.

A pub perhaps?

We started our search for dinner by looking for a place that we have eaten at before - no luck. So we began to look with our budget in mind. We had a 17 Euro prix fixe meal (entree, main, and dessert) at La Petite Alsace. Doug's menu included a tarte flambee (last one for this trip) and Choucroute traditionnelle 4 garnitures (sauerkraut surounded with 4 pieces of meat including wurst). It was  lot of meat. For my entree I had a salad and then my potato and cheese casserole came with a salad. A day that started with me feel that I had too few vegetables was completely reversed. My casserole was good but a portion half the size would have done just as well.

Our stay was relaxing and left us ready to explore Paris.