In the Petite France district of Strasbourg
Last weekend, Levin and I went to Strasbourg, which is just across the German border into France. He told me I had to see Strasbourg, and he was right. It’s a really wonderful city. After two years of traveling, I’ve gotten to the point where, believe it or not, all the European cities are kind of starting to look the same. There are a few that stick out: Bruges is one, Strasbourg is another. The historic center of the city is on an island in the Ill River, so there is water and bridges, and the region has a lot of German influence, so the streets are packed with charming old half timbered houses, more than I’ve ever seen anywhere else. We ate Flammkuchen, one of the regional specialties, and crepes, and tried to go to a cheese restaurant that came highly recommended, but on a Saturday night it was completely booked, so we ended up at a restaurant that specialized in baked potatoes instead. I had also been looking forward to hearing the world renowned Gregorian chanters of the Strasbourg Cathedral, but the information on the website was wrong, as we found out when we showed up for the 11 am mass that we should have been there at 9:30. Oh well, just more reasons to go back. We did take a boat trip around the island and climbed the cathedral tower, and just spent a lot of time wandering through the streets enjoying the architecture.
Light show on the cathedral
There were two highlights of the visit for me. The first was Friday night. We got to Strasbourg rather late, but decided nevertheless to walk to the island and check things out. We wandered for quite awhile through magical, lantern-lit streets, where happy diners at tiny cafe tables spilled across the sidewalks. Eventually we made our way towards the cathedral, and noticed that it seemed to be lighting up and changing color. We quickened our step. We emerged onto a narrow street running, right in the middle of a sound and light show playing out on the side of the huge church. We stood and watched, entranced as the lights and shadows brought out different pieces of the elaborate Gothic architecture. It was one of the best possible tourist experiences: big, beautiful, free, and utterly unexpected. It turned out to be a special installation playing just for one month, so if you have the change to go to Strasbourg in the next week or two, it’s definitely worth the effort.
The other wonderful thing that happened was the following night. Levin had wanted to go to a classical music concert, which can usually be found in abundance in Strasbourg, but August is the month when the musicians, like everyone else, goes on vacation, so the pickings were slim. The girl at the cultural information office mentioned that there would be a free concert in the square behind the cathedral. Speaking in German, she had difficulty describing exactly what kind of music it was… traditional, not really jazz or rock, but energetic and funny. After the disappointment with the cheese restaurant and some very expensive baked potatoes (which were at least covered in cheese), we were wandering back toward the hotel when some music caught our ears. It seemed to be the event that the girl had described. We went over to check it out. From the short video clip below, I hope you can get some idea. It was four guys, playing two guitars, an upright bass, and an accordion, seated in a trailer decked out inside to look like a living room. I don’t know what the kind of music is called either, but is from the 1920s and fabulous. Everything about it was somehow perfect: the lights, the music, the square, the people, the tiny dance floor where people from 8 to 80 danced in all kinds of styles with all kinds of partners. It was a quintessential “this is Europe” moment, standing in this square in France, on a balmy summer night, listening to the music and watching the people dance. It reminded me of the Deana Carter song, “In a happy little foreign town, where the stars hung upside down… the band played, songs that we had never heard, but we danced anyway…” The concert and the dancing ended at 10 pm, just in time to watch the show on the cathedral again.
On the way home, we decided to take a different highway back along the German side of the boarder. The traffic was bad because of construction, so we detoured farther to the
east and took the Schwarzwaldhochstraße, the high road through the mountains of the Black Forrest. It was pouring rain most of the way, so we couldn’t fully appreciate the views, but what
Playing in the water in the Black Forest
we did see was beautiful. The rain eventually cleared up and we stopped to hike back to a waterfall, along a beautiful little river full of rocks covered in emerald green moss. I even took my shoes and socks off and waded across the river for a photo op. It was the perfect way to spend my next-to-last weekend in Germany.
