Intro Part I (Elderhostel Tour) Part II (Liguria & Lake Como) Part III Saturday, October 9. As we awoke in the morning, we could see the cathedral spire from one of our windows. We had breakfast at the hotel (without Randy). Then the three of us walked to the river and found the open air market in front of the Rohan Palace filled with stands selling fresh fruits and vegetables and all sorts of other foods.
From there we walked to the Cathedral of Notre Dame and went inside. Begun in 12thCentury, this huge pink sandstone Gothic church is renowned for its spire ("of such delicate, flaky lightness it seems the work of confectioners rather than masons") and its enormous astrological clock. We toured the church until shortly before 10:30, when we joined the crowd of tourists at the clock. Unlike many others in Europe, this clock is entirely inside the church. Also unlike most others, it is set half an hour behind the official time, so it strikes each hour at half past the hour. At 10:30 we watched it strike 10:00 as several different levels of moving figures did their thing.
Afterward we passed through Place Gutenberg, with its ornate antique carousel, and walked toward Petite France, an area of very old buildings along picturesque canals. We went as far as the Covered Bridge where four more or less parallel canals flow into the Ill.
Then we followed the river back toward the cathedral. Randy wanted to catch the big 12:30 show at the clock. We took a quick look at the church of St. Thomas as we passed by.
When we got to Cathedral Square, a mime performing there had attracted a large crowd. Randy was fascinated and apparently forgot about seeing the clock. The cathedral was now closed to the public and tickets were required to get in to see the clock. Darrell wandered around the side and found what passed as the ticket "window" (a small 6" by 12" opening in the brick, but with nothing but another solid brick wall visible through the opening). He ran back and found Jane, but not Randy. Returning to the opening, he shouted that he wanted to buy some tickets, but a voice from inside (and above) said it was too late. Eventually we found Randy in the crowd. Our hotel was just around the corner, so we went back there to check out and remove our luggage from the rooms. Afterwards we bought baguette sandwiches and drinks from a take-out place between the cathedral and the river. We walked to the Rohan open air market and found some benches where we could eat along the river. We were just above the little dock where they sold tickets for the canal boats. When we finished eating, Darrell went down to buy tickets for the 1:30 boat, only a few minutes wait. He was shocked to find that the first tickets available for an enclosed boat were at 3:30. The open boat had seats at 2:30, but he didn't think Jane should ride in that with her sore throat. Jane was very disappointed.
We walked along the river to the Old Customs House, now housing a museum and a fine restaurant where Jane had eaten 30 some years before. At this point Randy took off on his own. We walked through the old town to Place Kleber, a huge square, but rather cold and sterile compared to Place Gutenberg and Cathedral Square. We walked back toward the hotel on the Rue du Domo, the largest pedestrian street we had seen. Darrell left Jane at the hotel to rest while he ran to get the car from the garage across the river. Randy met us at the hotel at 3 p.m. We loaded the luggage and left Strasbourg. We were on our way to Woustviller, France, to visit our Internet friends, Markus and Ute Biewer. The drive through the Saar River valley, with the Vosges Mountains in the background, was beautiful. We took about 90 minutes to get to the Biewer's, arriving after 4:30. Darrell had been in touch with Markus by e-mail for about 18 months, but we had never met. We found both Markus and Ute delightful. We talked for over two hours before we even brought our luggage in. Then Ute served a delicious zwiebelkuchen (onion cake). Afterwards we talked some more and looked at the Biewer's wedding pictures. We went to bed about 11:00. |
