A few days in Strasbourg

One of the big differences we quickly have come to appreciate between this assignment in Europe, and our time in Asia, is the closeness, and therefore ease of travel to "get away". I know, why would you want to get away from Paris? To be frank , we have seen a lot of cities in the past 4 years, and getting out of the city on the weekend is a treat. So, here is the first city we explored - Strasbourg France, a mere a two and a half hours via TGV from Paris.



Our starting point was Gare de l'Est, only a few subway stops from our Bastille station.



They certainly know how to build train stations in Europe.

Having said that, here is the station in Strasbourg as seen from our hotel window.



If this looks a little like an air ship, don't despair. It's only a facade that has been added to the original European structure. It is a little strange, though.... not in keeping with the historic nature of the city.

For your history lesson today, I will tell you that Strasbourg dates back to a Roman settlement in 12 BC. It was devastated by Attila's Huns in 451 AD. To make a long story short, for the next 1500 years, Strasbourg was ruled alternately by the French and the Germans. In 1944, the final turnover went to the French. Before the start of WWII it's inhabitants were evacuated to cities and towns in the middle of France. As you can see from the pictures, (except for the train station which they seemed to feel a need to encase in glass) , it is a picture postcard of Europe. In 1992,Strasbourg was designated as the permanent home of the European Parliament.

For those of you who like looking at architecture, Strasbourg has a never ending supply of architectural masterpieces. Of course, the cathedral is the most stunning structure in the city.

Some miscellaneous pictures....

The picture above is of the Kammerzell house, the largest and most decorated of all the half-timbered houses in Strasbourg. Unfortunately this picture doesn't do it justice.... showing only the short end of the building. There are 75 windows and each frame depicts different characters from the bible and mythology.

This final group of pictures will prove that we were actually in Strasbourg and didn't just download some pretty pictures off the web.

Stephen is in the centre...wearing a hat.