A City of Two Tales

Strasbourg

Strasbourg France.  Yes, it is in France...

We came to Strasbourg as a bit of an afterthought.  Like most second thoughts it turned out to be the better thought.  I had heard that Strasbourg was a unique city, very beautiful and worth a visit.  All of which turned out to be true.

We found a Chinese Restaurant in the French City that looks German.

The French-German border is currently about 8 km to the east of Strasbourg.  Over the course of history that border has sometimes been to the east and sometimes to the west.  What that means is that Strasbourg is a homogenous mixture of German and French.  You can have Weinerschnizel with your Foie Gras. 

There is a high-speed train that runs between Strasbourg and Paris.  When I mean high speed, I mean 325 km/hr.  Why would anyone want to travel to Strasbourg at 325 km/hr.?  The city is not that large and it does not have an important port or major military installation.  Certainly the area of Alsace-Lorraine is well known for its wine but then so is the Loire and Burgundy and wine does not seem like a good reason to hurtle at death-defying speed headlong to the area where it is made. 

Well, maybe for some folks it is…

It turns out Strasbourg is where the EU is centered.  This is where the European Parliament is held and is where the administrative center of the EU is.  This is the home of the European bureaucracy.  Like all bureaucracies it is very important for the bureaucrats to hurry along with suits, anxious looks on their faces and carrying important looking briefcases so they can sit and wait. 

You need a high-speed train to do that properly.

In spite of my cynical view of bureaucracies everywhere I do believe the European Union is a great example of international co-operation.  Granted, their motivation is economic but the end result is a huge area with different languages, customs and philosophies all co-operating.  They are like a large disparate dysfunctional family -  but a family nonetheless. 

This could not happen in North America.  Mexico and Canada would probably be fine with it but the US is becoming more and more insular.  You would think it would work in North America with our language and customs being so similar.    The North American Free Trade agreement is a good example of how well we get along…

Strasbourg is beautiful.  Interestingly the town is so beautiful because it looks German.  Currently it resides in France and the language spoken here is mostly French but the architecture looks like a post-card of stylized Germany.  The most “touristy” and photographed part of Strasbourg is an area referred to as “Le Petit France” which looks like “Le Petit Germaine”.

Le Petite France...?

One of the interesting things about Strasbourg are the rivers.  The town is interlaced with rivers and canals almost like Venice.  They have a dam on one of the rivers which was used for defense.  When they were being attacked they would close the dam and flood the surrounding countryside making themselves impregnable.  Pretty clever, I thought.   There are not too many Knights with the ability to wade through ice-cold water in full armor to attack a walled city.  I have images of these suits of armor rusted into postures of attack in flooded fields rattling away from the knights shivering inside.

We took a boat tour of Strasbourg.  The weather was grey, wet and cold so we thought it would be a good way to get an overview of the city in the relative warmth of a glass-covered boat.  The tour had earphones so that you could hear the narration in your own language.  Unfortunately they had background music that was incredibly sleep inducing. I could look around the boat and see all these tourists nodding off. It was disconcerting hearing an Irish narration of a French city that looked like it was actually German. Since it was raining fairly hard the cover of the boat was like a window in the rain – lots of water drops and streaks – so often the interesting viewpoints were obscured.  I thought that a lot of people who were taking photos were going to be disappointed when they looked at the results and saw 50 photos of rain-streaked windows. 

Strasbourg has the most incredible Cathedral.  It took 400 years to build and I can understand why.  The stonework is so elaborate it is mesmerizing.  Unlike all the other Cathedrals we have seen it is not white – it almost looks rusty.  The stone it was made from is a pinkish colour which lends it a lot of character.  When it was finished it was, at that time, the tallest man-made structure in the world – taller even than the Great Pyramid of Cheops.  Again we are back to the “Mine is bigger than yours” philosophy… 

The Cathedral in Strasbourg.  An erection that took 400 years to attain.  

All over Strasbourg are the usual tourist shops all selling the same things.  However, in Strasbourg, you can shop to the sound of a Polka band playing on the street.  Can you get much more surreal than that?  Or more tacky?  Buying a rhinestone encrusted pink Eiffel tower to the sounds of “Roll Out the Barrel” being played on accordion and trumpet?

Since Strasbourg is our last stop in France we decided to treat ourselves to a fancy dinner.  We asked our host, Guillaume, where a good restaurant might be.  He said “Chut!”.  Which means “Shhh” or “Silence”.  So, I immediately thought that I had said something subversive and looked warily around before asking again in a whisper, “Where is a good restaurant”.  Again he said, “Chut!”  So I got a piece of paper and looking around very nonchalantly I wrote the question and flashed it at him and quickly ate the paper.

“Non, non, non, Miss yu, zat ees ze nom of ze restaurant!”

“Please don’t call her Miss Yu. We are married now - you can call her Mrs. Walsh or Telen!  How come people keep talking to her when I am asking the question?”

Shhhh... we found the entrance to the restaurant.

We found the restaurant.  It wasn’t easy.  In behind the Torture Tower and around the corner was a small doorway.  In a small clip on the side of the door was a typewritten piece of paper about the size of half a postage stamp that said “Chut”.  We went in and were met by two smiling little French ladies who looked like someone’s favourite aunties.  After a bit of flapping around and rapidly spoken French they led us to our table.  They gave us each a glass of wine gratis because the table was not immediately available when we arrived.   We spent two and a half hours enjoying incredible food.  I am not normally one for making sure my plate was cleaned up but I actually took pieces of bread and mopped up every last remnant of food and sauce.  My plate did not look as if it had been used except for the two gleaming duck bones rattling around on it. 

What a great way to finish up our time in France.