Strasbourg, France

We woke up this morning early, planning a drive out to Neuschwanstein Castle, but the below freezing weather and long drive deterred us.  Instead, we headed to Strasbourg France.  Strasbourg is a city on the Germany - France border; throughout it's history this city has changed hands back and forth several times.  We took the long route to get there, driving through the Black Forest, seeing picturesque German towns, with the goal of visiting another castle en route - the Hohenbaden Castle.  Unfortunately, the mile walk in the freezing weather was a deterrent so we never walked around the grounds.  This castle was built in the 1100's and has been ruins since the 1400's.  We were able to look at it from a distance and enjoy the view.

Arriving in Strasbourg we parked and then walked around.  Seeing that the river boat tours were still running, we bought tickets for the next trip and went and got lunch in the hour beforehand, the restaurant is shown here.  The men had pizza and the women pasta at a little Italian restaurant.  We really got a good overview of the city on the river tour, a 70 minute route around the city including views of the European Union headquarters, the churches, traditional German wood and stucco buildings and French buildings with ornate balconies.  There was a large variety of bridges and even a couple lochs we went through, enjoying the heated enclosed boat ride.

After the boat tour, we walked around doing some shopping and ending up at the Strasbourg Cathedral - also known as Cathedral of Notre Dame.  This beautiful cathedral was first built in 1015, was burnt down during the 1100's and rebuilt.  The gorgeous stained glass windows are known are some of the oldest known stained glass, dating from the 12th and 13th century.  When it was built, it was the tallest cathedral in the world, maintaining that status for four centuries; now it's the fourth tallest.  One of the most interesting things inside is a elaborate mechanical clock that maps the stars.

Then we walked around more shopping and ended with some coffee and cheesecake before heading home.

Waiting for the boat.

In an alley.  The building on the right leans in.  The building on the left is tiered with each floor extending further out than the one below it.

This was taken in the large open area outside the Cathedral.  Fascinating is the architecture on the brown restaurant second from the right in the frame.  The place we ate desert is the building back behind (the third building from the right).

Here are pictures of the Cathedral:

Brad, me & Andrew.  This shows the scale of the Cathedral, most of which isn't captured in the frame of this picture.

Against the Cathedral wall outside.

Stained Glass windows

This memorial is engraved on the wall inside the Cathedral.

The front doors to the Strasbourg Cathedral.

The mechanical astronomy clock in the Cathedral.