Dec 16 – Train to Strasbourg

We awoke to a very light dusting of snow on the streets and rooftops.  It didn’t last very long but it was pretty and fit the Christmas season.

We had a lazy morning around the hotel and then headed to the train station about noon to catch a train to Strasbourg.  The trip was about 45 minutes.  We could see snow in the fields, although not much.  The weather seemed a bit warmer here although there was still some snow on the ground.

Our hotel was a short taxi ride from the train station but the road to the hotel was closed so we had to walk the last couple of blocks.  We had to go through a security checkpoint before we were allowed into the center of town.  The town turned out to be crawling with police and soldiers with wicked looking guns.  It is possible that they always have some of this security on site but much of it may be due to the recent terrorist attack in Strasbourg in which four people were killed and a dozen injured. 

We walked across the street to a small restaurant and had veggie quiche and salad.  Then it was off to the Christmas Markets. Strasbourg has many markets spread out over the center of town.  Overall, much, much bigger than Mulhouse or Colmar.  

We are just around the corner from Place Kleber and this was our first stop.  In the center of the square was a statue of General Jean‑Baptise Kleber, a French Revolution General.  It was a rather sobering sight as at the base of the statue was a makeshift memorial set up for victims of the recent terrorist attack.  There were flowers and candles all around the base as well as more around the foot of the tall Christmas tree at the far end of the square. We saw two other similar memorials set up at other parts of the town.

The grand Christmas tree at the other end of the plaza was huge and beautiful.

This section of town is beautiful with half-timbered homes and others buildings that are obviously of very old vintage.  

We spent almost five hours wandering around the streets and markets.

Place Gutenberg was fairly small and had only a few stands.  At one they had set up smokers for smoking salmon.

And nearby buildings had great decorations.

The Christmas displays were colorful with all types of enticing merchandise and holiday decorations.

The Place de la Cathedral is the site of Notre Dame Cathedral.  According to Wikipedia,  with a tower of 466 feet this cathedral was the tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1874.  It is still the 6^th tallest church in the world and the highest built entirely in the Middle Ages.  It is a combination of Romanesque and high Gothic architecture. It beautiful during the day…

and absolutely magical a night.   

We also walked a bit along the River Ill which flows into the Rhine River just a few miles away. The old center of Strasbourg, where the market is located, is on an island in the river. 

The school of St. Nicholas had some stalls set up in their courtyard and they also had an incredible nativity with the pieces carved out of logs.

A very different nativity was set up in a bretzel shop (bretzels seem to be pretzels with a different name).  Anyway, this nativity had a bretzel instead of a star over the manger.

We wandered during daylight then took a hot chocolate break and later headed out again to see the lights at night.  Strasbourg went all out on their street lights.  Everywhere there were lights strung out over the streets...

and in trees...

including various Christmas Trees.

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Watch video of Christmas tree lights.
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and of course the buildings.

The markets were busy and colorful.

There were lots of hot wine (vin chaud) shops and lot of shops selling all types of sandwiches and foods to eat.

And it was very hard to resist all of the colorful and interesting and varied merchandise.

Back in Plaza Kleber the memorials took on an eerie glow as the candles were much more obvious at night.