Day 8 - September 19 - Strasbourg France

By Ellen Outten

 


Strasbourg France, what a beautiful city.  I'll have beautiful memories of the city and the landscapes I saw.  


A stork's nest at the top of the tree













We left the ship this morning at 8:15 to ride by bus, approximately 45 minutes on a tour of Strasbourg.  We were shown some beautiful areas of Strasbourg winding up in the section of the city called Petite France.  Our walk from the bus took us eventually to Notre Dame Cathedral.   It is massive.  

There are 37 cathedrals in Frane, all with the name, Notre Dame.  In fact, Notre Dame only means Our Lady (referring to Mary).  Today, here in Strasbourg we visited Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg. 

This is truly a Gothic Cathedral soaring into the air 466 ft.  It was the world's tallest building between 1647 and 1874.  






















Today we took the type of walk in a foreign city that I hope everyone has a chance to experience.   Walking down narrow streets past french patiseries, cheese shops, boulangeries...  The sights and the smells are wonderful.

And, thne you turn a corner and there's this massive church.  WOW.

Our guide was great.  She told us about the various areas we drove through but also as we walked, she talked about wine and different cheeses.   She definately had opinions on both.  Soft cheeses, smelly cheeses.   There's no reason to eat a chese with no flavor!

She came into the Cathedral with us and narrated throughout our tour.   The stained glass windows are beautiful.  The Rose window is incredible.

We had free time afterward to wander the streets on our own.  Beth was on a different tour and we met up at the church.  I left her and found a patisserie and had to buy just a few pastries.  I also found a gelateria and had a small gelato.





Having had enough to eat, I met our group and took the 15 minute walk back to our bus.

I went light on lunch as the pastries in my room have to eventually be eaten before they go bad.  

We had a cooking demonstration by the chef, Mario today at 5pm in the lounge.  The recipe was for flammkuchen.  I volunteered to help the chef as I knew.there would be a thank you gift.  And there was.  I received a Viking apron!  FB has a video Beth posted.





Here's the flammkuchen after.tge chef baked it off with two bites missing.



Dinner is at 7:15.pm.   It's German night and the waiters are dressed in liederhosen.  Here's the menu, but I'm still not sure what we'll eat.


This evening, as we approached the dinner hour, our ship entered a few lochs. I stayed on deck to see how we sailed through.   







Tomorrow is our final day on board. I have a tour of the ancient village of Colmar planned as well as a bus trip to the Black Forest in the afternoon. After dinner will be spent packing and Thursday starts the long track home.

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