Strasbourg

Greetings from Strasbourg! At first I was a little unnerved by the medieval street plan and so many pedestrian streets (which of course is great) but thank goodness for GPS! The hotel is right in the middle of the historic Petite France, on islands in the Ill River (as in 'I feel ill'...) It's all walkable and quite charming. There are tons of restaurants and everyone eats al fresco. The flavor of the town is very much Germanic: note the half-timbered buildings. 

There are lots of things to do and see and tomorrow I'm plodding off on to the wine trail (not so much for the wine but the scenery.)

So, this being Holy Week and such, I had to include some windows from the fantastic ginormous cathedral. Other than the rose window and other geometric designs, I included some key events in the life of Jesus. This is a test!

Oh, and the 2 boys were climbing a tree that juts out over the river. Parents were nowhere. They survived.

Today was get out of Strasbourg day. I ventured about 1/2 hour south into the Alsace wine region. Many MANY vineyards! First stop in a nice little town, Obernai. Toodled and shopped (well, window shopped.) Easter is a BIG DEAL in France. Maybe religiously as well but certainly the decorating and baking rabbit- and lamb-shaped goodies. I got some shots, of course, in the local church. I got a closeup of the Visitation window. I've always like that story of Mary and Elizabeth dishing about being pregnant. "Oy, the swelling!" A beautiful rose window in that church also.

Then I went up and up and up to the top of a mountain to the convent of Saint Odile, who is buried there. She is the patroness of Alsace and of good eyesight. Google and read her story. I find it fascinating! Anyway, lovely views from the monastery and there are some little chapels and I got a shot of some more macabre skulls and owls, in lovely mosaic!

They had a wonderful restaurant with hearty Alsatian food... very German influenced so that was my big meal of the day.

Last day in Strasbourg, just toodling around. Met some new friends from NC for lunch. Went to L'Orangerie park after lunch. Just delightful. They have huge plane trees that the storks have nested in. Found out that the stork is the symbol of Strasbourg.The hotel front desk manager gave me my mascot when I told her I had seen the storks for real today!