Region: Alsace-Lorraine
Population: 272,000
Just to confirm, Strasbourg IS part of France. Yes, it may have changed hands four times in a mere fifty years (the first half of the twentieth century) between France and Germany, never best friends on the world map, but since WWII it has been a proud member of the Alsace-Lorraine region of France and its population has profited or suffered, as you see it, from the hand of French leadership.
So I'm here for a few days, just passing through really and killing time before I get settled in Paris. Weather: cold, rather dreary, subpar. Strasbourg itself is really nice, very "cute" would be the best word to describe it, with the houses with wooden beams reinforcing the structures and sort of the entire top half of the house jutting out like a bay window, all painted in pretty pastel colors. There's two rivers bordering the main little island of the city center Strasbourg that form a look similar to the canals of Amsterdam, I saw a bateau-mouche today giving tours along the L'Ill. There's a little region called La Petite France right near the train station, which itself is a great modern creation of glass curved in an almost spherical shape, like a map of the world made into a ball (the maps that stretch the world into a more oval shape). I'm staying a few kilometers outside the city near a park great for running and in a region that seems mostly populated by people of Arab descent. Coincedentally there a tons and tons of Doner Kebab and Halal places like in Germany, but we are right on the border. My final leg of the train journey went from Offenburg, in Germany, to Strasbourg, took all of twenty minutes like any streetcar ride and didn't require any passport check. I did see Polizei and Police marching the platforms together at one point, good Franco-German cooperation at work. So in Strasbourg I walked around a lot just to see the city, of course there's a giant cathedral (very very well and ornately decorated with saints around the front archways and the steeple is built either in a strange fashion or with a strange material, it has the appearance of being very transitory and airy. Passed the main square, Kleber Square, not too pretty as far as main squares are concerned but it has a FNAC and Galerie Lafayette and nice little boulangerie-patisseries, the whole town has lots of bookshops (although after being in Germany I realize that I hate the setup of French bookstores, they have no "bestseller" or "new" section where you can easily find free reads) They still have pretzels here but also baguettes, so its a mix of both worlds, they have these little mold cakes called Kaughelhopfs or something with powder sugar that are popular but they really are just like bread with raisins inside, not sweet enough for my sweet tooth. And also prices, like in all of France apparently, are up again. Alas to be back in Germany. Anyways, I continued on the tour to Gutenberg Place, where they had litlte second hand booksellers with their tents and tables, a little statue of Gutenberg, and then moved on up the town to the university, which takes up a lot of space. There was a big sign out front of the main building saying the school's slogan (It's unique) with an addition (...and on strike!). Back to France. I wonder how long they've been on strike. Saw lots of swans in the river which were pretty but then saw a few grazing on the grass right near me and rememberd how mean swans really are, the town is known for cigognes (storks) and at all the little souvenir shops they sold the little stuffed animals. Saw the old Jewish quarter, didn't really know they had all that many Jews before but I guess they did and the main temple was burned down in Kristillnacht, there's a little memorial bench on the spot and a new main temple that looks more like a giant stone building than a house of worship, except for the wall of golden jewish stars standing out on Avenue de la Paix. Walked up the avenue to bordeaux place, where there was just a big tram stop and not much to see, and walked back. Found a nice cafe in the heart of the Old Town called La Rive Gauche, with internet which I've been sincerely missing in the past few days, and enjoyed my cappucino while getting some work done. The next day I walked up even further out of the old town to the European Institutions, that is to say the European Parliament and the Council of Europe (which is not actually part of the EU but sort of a stepping stone towards EU membership, they deal with human rights and things of a cultural nature.) I think I got a pretty nice feel for the town, stopped in the big mall (Les Halles), in the mall and in all the little shops there are tons of sales going on for some reason, although I can't recall learning that now is sale-time in France. Apart from that I've been profiting now from my wifi access at the hostel to catch up on movies, emails, and finish reading my 1049 French book (it's done yaya!!) As much as Strasbourg used to be German, it seems pretty familiarly French now to me. Tomorrow onwards to Aix to use up just three days until "life" starts up again, I'll get to visit my friends and go to the famed IPN hopefully, maybe even O'Shannons Bar. I almost feel like it's too soon to return as I just left no more than two months ago, but I'm sure I will have tons of fun. Goodbye from Strasbourg!
