Mechanical music near the cathedral in Strasbourg
One of my favorite things, in every city I visit, is to wander around, sometimes on the way to somewhere, and sometimes just to see what I see. That usually means that by the end of the visit, whatever else I’ve seen, I have a mini-shoebox of rambling memories to share.
And, when I visit a city again, my ramblings usually toss up a whole new trove. Especially in a favorite city, which Strasbourg has become one of. And here it is.
To start with something quickly obvious, Strasbourg is an old city, with a lot of buildings from late medieval times on, and a close look at some of these timbered buildings tells you that they are feeling their age a bit. Straight lines are not always their thing.
Leaving aside this modern building which tips its hat the height and rooflines, there are more of the timbered buildings than seems the case; many have been given straighter and more modern facades.
Moving away from the historic center on the Grande Île, the older style is less evident, and there are bits of the city’s political history showing through. These buildings were built during German rule in 1870-1918, and match the then-current styles as Germany tried to make the city as German as possible.
That included a new university, new churches and a massive new railroad station, which you can barely make out if you peer closely at the picture above, because by the early 2000s it was no longer massive enough and was enclosed in the huge glass structure you see above.
The Saint Maurice (or Sanktmoritz) church was part of that; it was built mainly for Catholics of the nearby German army barracks, now gone and the German university. Today, the church identifies itself as a “European parish,” reflecting the city’s role as seat of the European Parliament.
Of course, German military memorials from the imperial days are long gone. Here, in Place Broglie, where the city’s biggest market takes place, is a memorial to the French Gen. Leclerc, whose armored division liberated the city from Germany in November, 1944.
If Leclerc shares his site with a market (and the Opera House behind him), another Strasbourg hero, Johannes Gutenberg, shares his with an ornate carousel in Place Gutenberg, near the cathedral. Much honored and touted in Strasbourg these days, his famous work in printing took place in Mainz, after he left Strasbourg, under something of a cloud. But, you know…
The one sight you can almost never escape in Strasbourg is the Cathedral. Its spire was for many years the tallest building in Europe, and possibly the world, and it’s visible from much of the city. I’ll spare you my millions of pictures; these four should be enough to celebrate its beauty and how it changes with the changing of the light.
A couple of blocks from the cathedral is the Restaurant Zum Strissel, the oldest restaurant in Strasbourg and likely a lot of other places. It’s been there since 1320, its continuous operation only interrupted for rebuilding after a kitchen fire in 1564. Even closer to the Cathedral is my current favorite in the city, Le Gruber, which features a variety of Alsatian traditional dishes, including the choucroute garnie below.
Also nearby are a wide assortment of fine wines, baked goods and more, including the uber-whimsical Comptoir de Mathilde, whose chocolate and delicacies were tempting indeed.
If French people still want an apology for so-called ‘French dressing,’ I’ll be glad to address the issue after someone takes down this ad for a New York Bagel that is loaded with cream cheese, pastrami, cheddar, avocado, fried onions, baby lettuce and honey mustard sauce. If you think that’s a New York anything, I have a bridge to sell you…
A small sign collection. In the historic center, Strasbourg has many bilingual place and street signs, but the second language on them is Alsatian, not German. Cats go missing everywhere, and the posters seem to be the same as everywhere, too. And, the site of Franz Liszt’s first performance in France, at age 12.
Getting around in Strasbourg is quite easy; the center is criss-crossed by a series of tram lines, and there’s an extensive bus network. But far the most popular wheeled transportation is bicycles, and sadly, when they share the right-of-way with pedestrians they are more likely to weave in and out of the crowd than to give way. Below, a small cyclist takes a break on a hot day.
With rivers and canals everywhere and the Rhine at the edge of the city, boats are popular, too. You won’t see much in the way of cargo in the center, though.
Another carousel, one of quite a few, but none so grand as the one in Place Gutenberg, which also hosts a weekly book market
There are quite a few regular street markets for food in Strasbourg; the biggest one is held twice a week on Place Broglie. The bees are excited about it, too.
Another German-era church, St Peter the Younger, was built for Catholics when the original St Peter the Younger, which had been split between the two faiths, became all-Protestant. If that’s not complicated enough, there are also two St Peter the Elder churches nearby.
At the older St Peter the Younger, an interesting group at the door on a Sunday morning, and below that an unusual window at the Protestant version of St Peter the Elder.
A beautiful garden at the Musée de l’Œuvre-Notre-Dame, which explores the history of the cathedral and contains many of its original sculptures, now replaced for conservation. Below that, the end of one of the cathedral’s downspouts… sort of like an earthbound gargoyle.
And, for last, two splashes of color. Well, one set of splashes, and one very colorful coat of arms of Strasbourg, going by its Roman name of Argentina.
