Strasbourg!

The view of Strasbourg from the viewing level of the cathedral

After hours of sifting through numerous photos to delete the blurry, 'what-on-earth-was-that?' accidents and edit the leftovers, I can finally and proudly present to you Strasbourg! This was the first destination on my Christmas holiday trip. Yes, I know that Christmas has already become a distant memory as the hustle and bustle of life has been set back in motion, but this will be one of the last Christmas posts. So, without further ado, here is Strasbourg...

Lights

Strasbourg is the capital of the Alsace region in France, on the border of Germany. It can also be seen as the capital of Europe, due to several European institutions that are based in this beautiful city. And lastly ... drum roll ... Strasbourg claims to be the capital of Christmas.

From the end of November to the beginning of January, Strasbourg comes alive with it's famous Christmas markets. The first of these markets, Christkindelsmärik, was held in the year 1570 and the tradition has carried on over time until today. Every part of the city is decorated and lights blink and twinkle from every street, square and construction crane. Unfortunately I have no visual evidence of the wonderfully decorated construction cranes, so you will just have to take my word for it. The Great Christmas tree, which is about 30 metres tall, was one of the most impressive sights in Strasbourg. It was drizzling when I got there, but that just added to the effect as the lights reflected off of the wet paving. 

One of the Christmas markets

On the first day I rented a bicycle. At first it was more of a hassle than anything else. In order to take a photo I had to park the bicycle, haul out my camera, take the picture, put the camera back in the backpack and then be on my away again. To add to that, the streets in the centre of the city were filled with tourists, and I am not a fan of crowds! My solution? I decided to go visit the Parc de l'Orangerie. It is a lovely place to just relax and enjoy the scenery and I definitely would have spent more time there had it been warmer. The zoo was also a pleasant surprise.

What I would have looked like as an Eskimo

Beautiful scenery, even though it's winter

Storks at the zoo

If you walk around Strasbourg you quickly notice all the stork souvenirs. Storks are protected in the Alsace region due to their declining numbers about 40 years ago. The zoo in the Parc de l'Orangerie has a reproduction program for storks, and here you can see them up close.

The next day I went to an area in the city called Petite-France. Here you find the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg and the half-timbered style houses. The crooked, leaning houses,the cobbled streets and the canals all add to the charming atmosphere.

Half-timbered house 

Kammerzell House - one of the most
well-preserved medieval buildings

The cathedral has a pink hue because of the sandstone that was used to construct it, and it was the tallest building in the world from 1647-1874. From the observation level you can see as far as 30 km. Inside the cathedral there is an astronomical clock that was built in 1838-1843. Besides showing the time the clock also displays astronomical information. Everyday at half past twelve the clock strikes noon (it's over 170 years old, so cut it some slack) and a procession of little figures commences. I had expected more after seeing crowd that had gathered around the clock, and I must admit that I was slightly disappointed. However, I've realised that considering when it was built, it is actually quite impressive. Someone also made the remark that maybe the people in that time were more easily entertained than in today's time of information overload and instant entertainment.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg

View of the cathedral from a bridge

Looking down from the top of the cathedral

Strasbourg is a great "walking city" and it also has some interesting museums, such as the archaeological museum. It was the first time that I had gone travelling on my own and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I definitely had a lot of time for photography, and if nothing else I have learnt some editing skills. The first time that I loaded the photos onto my computer I was so disappointed! With the exception of one morning the weather had been horrid and the lighting terrible. Since then I've done more solo adventures, and I have absolutely loved it! Here are some more photos that I took while wandering through the beautiful city of Strasbourg. 

St. Thomas Church, Strasbourg