The River Rhine 2009

Day 4 - Aug 05 - Strassbourg

Strassbourg is now the seat of the European Union Parliament. The EU began in the 1950's as a free trade agreement for oil and steel. Now it has grown into 27 countries with common lawas and common currency (with the exception of Great Britain). Only Switzerland and Norway have decided not to join.

A "Pieta" (mother lamenting her dead son, like Mary holding the dead Jesus). This one was erected after WWII. One of the sons is French, the other, Germany, to show the common loss of war. This statue is in the traffic circle park known as Le Republic.

This is what most peopld come to see - the Cathedral. From a distance is is impressive, but much more so when approached thru the narrow street. I can only imagnine how ominous it must have seemed to the simple peasants.

Supposedly this was the highest structure in the world for a long time. Remembering the story in Genesis about the Tower of Babel, they must have been a bit nervous to build something so high. They had no knowledge of what existed at this height: air speeds, etc.

The right main entrance depicts the parable of the 10 wise and 10 unwise brides' maids. The ones on the right are wise and have their lamps lit. Jesus is just by the door smiling at them.

On the left are the unwise maids. Lucifer (the devil) is the fourth on the left offering an apple. Supposedly the people would have easily recognized Lucifer from the apple and the toads and other evil creatures that line his back.
Click on the photo for a closer view.

Our tour guide Vivian is from Springfield, Mass. The gentleman on the right, Michael, is one of the many interesting people met on board.

This part of the old city is called Little Paris.
Looks a lot like Colmar.

In the afternoon we rented bicycles. In Strassbourg, like many European cities, the rental is very reasonable: 5 Euros for the afternoon. The young girl with us is on the cruise with her family. Jenny wanted to go biking, but her family did not.

In Amsterdam, Denece and I learned that bikes are the best way to see a city - this is indisputable. We also had a bit of trouble with our Amsterdam bikes, because they were different. SO I had Dad and Jenny practice with their bikes on the uncrowded street near the bike shop. Unfortunately, that was not enought. Dad hadn't been on a bike for probably 30 years. As we were riding along a crowded pedestrian area he slowed down too much, hit his front brakes and fell. Fortunately, it was nothing. He continued for the rest of the day and was just a bit sore on his side. For me it was a big scare.

This is one of the spectacular buildings around L'Republic. We would never have walked the mile or so up to this part of Strassbourg, but with bikes we just ended up here.

Yup, that's Dad up there.

I asked this gentleman for directions and, after looking at our map, he simple replied, "Follow me." Even when we stopped took look at the river and thought that he was far gone ahead, he was graciously waiting for us. We never would have found this river path without him.

One of the many "victory gardens" or an "allotments" lining the path along the river. Most locals are in apartments and rent these from the city.

The river around Strassbourg. We did see some river rodent (either a muskrat or a beaver), but we were riding fast and I could get a definitive look at the tail. It was as big as a beaver, though.