Dec Week 4 - Strasbourg | Grown-up Gap Year

We’re off to Strasbourg to scour every market in search of some traditional wooden ornaments and get our Christmas fix 1,000 times over! Well, my Christmas fix. K was an excellent sport with the help of every other stall having vin chaud.

A 25 min subway trip got us to the Gare de l’Est train station.

I love a good train station.

It looks like we weren’t the only ones with the idea:

After another 2 hours and 300 miles, we were in Strasbourg! The train popped us off Northeast of the town center, about an hour’s stroll to our hotel (going a roundabout way). It was a nice preview of what the city had in store for us later.

Right off the bat we were met with some Donkey Kong style street art. A good sign.

The murals outside this museum just a few steps from the train station were pretty neat.

Next we walked through the Barrage Vauban, a 17th century defensive structure which could raise the level of the river to flood the land south of the city in order to thwart invaders.

The dimly lit downstairs walkway was filled with old statues and sculptures . . . and was not spooky in the slightest.

The roof terrace offered a view of the Ponts Couverts, a 13th century set of defensive bridges and towers that guarded the Petite France quarter in the background.

A tower closeup.

Quaint building on the water.

Wait, what’s that duck doing up there???

Still a little early for check-in, we stopped for some lunch at Le Thomasien. We shared a perfectly crispy and thin tarte flambée and a ridiculously bubbly rösti dish, washing it all down with a few big boots of beer.

rosti-gif

A few blocks from the hotel, we turned the corner and . . . voila! We found the cathedral!

The hotel was decorated with old building embellishments.

Our cute little hotel room . . .

And turns out this is our view. 😮
K truly spoils me.

With vin chaud just a stones throw away!

After a brief respite, we marched onwards into the Cathedral.
Please forgive the surplus of photographs (sorry-not-sorry).

Going inside . . .

Let me hold that for you.

Pretty epic.

After some searching, we tracked down le chien de la cathedrale - this little pup is taking a nap at the base of the pulpit where his master, Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg, preached back in the 1500’s.

Three levels of “ENHANCE!” -

The Pillar of the Angels and the Astronomic clock (dated to ~1220?!).

Outside we spotted some gargoyles!

Next up we slowly mosied over to the main square for a light show at sunset, which did not disappoint!

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A before and after :

Around the corner, Galeries Lafayette was all lit up.

We then wound our way through every possible market to the outskirts of town where we found a hip scene featuring interactive virtual arm wrestling!

We enjoyed seeing the city all lit up while retracing our steps back towards the town center.

Closing down the markets left us with empty bellies, so we turned our attention to finding some dinner.

Things were in full swing at La Hache, a cute French restaurant right off the river. Luckily we were able to snag some barstool spots in the window.

K had the most absolutely incredible boeuf bourguignon, while I decided to try frog legs. I was more than pleased with my dish, but I still spent most of dinner staring longingly at K’s plate - it was that dang good.

The next morning we woke up slow and mosied over to tackle one last market.

Lunch involved some absolutely incredible spätzle.

Vin chaud with our very own souvenir mugs was a must!

I didn’t end up finding any worthwhile ornaments, but a selfie with Santa soothed my soul.

The Hermes nearby showed off some very cute advent calendar decorations.

From the market we took a nice stroll along the water and admired the various small shops like L’Oiseau, a cute little bookstore.

With the markets knocked out and plenty of time to spare, we opted for a boat ride to see the city from a different point of view. We were the last few in the queue, which, unfortunately, meant we weren’t able to sit together. The whole boat was packed in like sardines.

Near the start we got to use a lock to raise us up and out of the city center. Not a terribly exhilarating process, but it was a first for me! The tour took us to the outskirts of town for a view of the EU Parliament building before turning back. The sights from the boat were lovely, but poor K was struck by a coughing fit mid-journey and looked absolutely tragic by the end of the tour. Adding insult to injury, it took quite some time to find a secluded spot away from any other people so she could get herself together and replace her now tear and snot soaked mask with a new one. But we were both happy with the experience (despite my rave review, I know).