Tuesday 4/30/19 – Today I did a day trip to the town of Strasbourg. I took the train which took only about 30 minutes. I used my handy Loco2 app to buy my train tickets. Quick travel trip if you ever travel to Europe, download the Loco2 app and use it to buy all your train tickets. They don’t charge a fee, they offer the lowest rates and you keep all of your tickets right on your phone for the train conductors to scan when you’re on the train. Brilliant!
So Strasbourg was a beautiful city and had so many quaint canals I thought I was in Amsterdam. But of course, first a little history!
Strasbourg is France’s seventh largest city (population 275,000) and it’s name means “city of streets”. The poor people of Strasbourg have had a dizzying history: harsh Germanization after the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, extreme Frenchification after World War I, a brutal period under Nazi rule during World War II, and then the intense need to purge all that was German after 1945. When the Council of Europe was born in 1949 with the goal of winning an enduring European peace, Winston Churchill proposed that it be headquartered in Strasbourg. There are several European Union administrative offices housed here. Because of that, there have been many protests here. Speaking of which, and this was really eerie… while I’m sitting there checking my email, I get a notice from the US State Dept that tomorrow (Wed May 1) is a French National holiday and they’re expecting major protests there. If you’ve been following the news about the riots in Paris from the “yellow vests” (Gilet Jaunes in French) it is also happening here so I’m getting out just in time! Here’s another travel tip – when you travel internationally, always register with the US State Dept and let them know where you’re traveling and they’ll alert you of any risks in your travel area.
Of course I found all the churches in Strasbourg and there were 3 beautiful ones but I only shared a picture of the largest one which is the Strasbourg Cathedral (Cathédrale de Notre Dame). This church changed from Catholic to Protestant and now back to Catholic. The Cathedral was started in 1176 and completed in 1439 and at 466 feet the spire was the tallest in Europe until the mid-1800’s. The cathedral’s stained glass windows traveled a lot during World War II. Hidden by the French in southwestern France first, then carted to northern Germany by the Nazis, and finally saved and returned by the Monuments Men (British and American troops dedicated to returning art to its rightful place) after 1945.
Even with all these beautiful church’s, to me, the beauty of this city is all its lovely canals. Very peaceful and calming. Most of my pics are of various different canals. Enjoy!
Jeff
The Wandering Italian 