New Year's Day
Trip Start
Dec 2006
1
11
Trip End
Jan 07, 2007
Strasbourg, France
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Since it was New Year's Day, I decided to see if I could go to mass in the cathedral. Luckily, I had gotten up in just enough time to catch the last 30 mintues of the mass. I felt bad that I came in so late, but it was worth it. I sat in the very back so as not to disturb anyone, but no one seemed to care. Besides, even though there was a large sign in the middle of the aisle that said in French, English and German "Do not take pictures and be quite; we are participating in the mass. The church is closed to visitors" many tourists were coming in constantly, taking pictures and talking loudly to where it was almost impossible to hear the priest give his homily and say the mass. Also people kept on coming in to sit down as if to watch what was going on, as if they were watching a performance of some sort, and once they realized that they were attending a mass they got up and walked out after a few mintues! As a Catholic I found this to be very rude and disrespectful, but I admired the priest and those of us participating in the mass for not letting them disturb us. Out of all the cathedrals that I had been in during my time in Europe to attend mass, I must say that attending mass in that cathedral in Strasbourg was among the most memorable. It was my first time in the cathedral, and I must say it was beautiful and spetacular.
After the mass ended, the tourists flooded in like cattle just unpenned from the barn and allowed to graze on the grass. Between the floods of parishoners leaving the cathedral and the tourists coming in to visit the interior, I don't know how but I managed to find a way to tour the inside of the cathedral and take some pictures. I didn't take too many, because I kinda think that taking pictures, especially too many inside of a cathedral is disrespectful. Let's face it, it's God's house, not some tourist attraction; I don't care what you believe in, a cathedral is a place of worship no matter what and not a tourist attraction and it must be treated with respect. But despite this new feeling towards taking pictures inside of a cathedral, I couldn't help but to take at least 1 or two inside this one; after all, it was just gorgous and I wanted to remember what it was like attending New Year's day mass there.
After the mass, I really had nothing else to do. Since it was New Year's Day, all of the museums were closed. The Marche de Noel had just ended and there were some shops open, but not many. Also I had already seen most of what Strasbourg had to offer and the things I hadn't seen yet were closed due to the holiday. One good thing though was that there was a little tourist boat cruise that went down the river and gave a tour of the city for like a euro. Even though I don't like touristy things like that, I figured it would be a nice relaxing way to end my trip and pass the time I had since there was nothing else to do. So I purchased my ticket and got on the boat. As I waited to get on, I noticed a few swans, both white and black swim past me and the boat. One of them was trying to swim against the current and kept on getting caught in it. He (or she) looked at me with pleading eyes, as if begging me to help it swim away from the strong current. Eventually, the swan turned around and started to swim with the current and head in the opposite direction of the boat down the river.
Finally we were allowed to board the boat and I found a seat. The boat was very long and thin and had a glass concave ceiling so as to allow us to see the sights. There were several rows of seats that fitted at least 5 people (or more possibly) in a row. On the arm rests there were some headphones for the audio guide, and you changed the channels according to what language you spoke. Finally the boat hauled anchor and started to head down the river.
Even though the cruise was very touristy, I thought it was well done. The ride itself was very relaxing, and was a really nice way to see the city. The audio guide was also very informative and I not only got to see sights that I had not seen on foot (nor that I was able to due to the holiday and because they were far away) with the cruise and I also learned more about the history of the city. Supposedly the river there in Strasbourg has a canal system that dates back (I think the 15th century but I don't remember) but the audio guide explained to us how the system works and is made up and how it was unused until recently and that many of the locks were closed or destroyed. The tour also pointed out a lot of old homes and locations for old prisons, etc. where a lot of bad things happened. I know that one of the homes that had been pointed out to us that dated from the 15th century was the location of several murders, a suicide and also a fire and that there were a few serious prisons (yeah, Strasbourg seems to have had a very turbulous history in its day!) I also learned that 60% of the city had been bombed during WWII and that during the '60s I think there had been some debate over whether or not the French would return Alsace and Lauraine (the regions) back to Germany and supposedly there had been a lot of serious protests. Also I saw this garden that had been originally built for Josephine (Napolean Boneparte I's wife), as well as the EU parliment and other offices. I also saw other sites such as Petite France, the palace, etc. as we drifted down the river. Most of the sites I had already seen, but still it was nice to see the sites that I hadn't seen. Like I said, the cruise was kinda touristy, but it's worth your time, and is a good way to orientate yourself with the city.
The cruise lasted for about 2-3 hours I think. After the cruise, I decided to go get some lunch. None of the restaurants, particularly the one I had eatten in yesterday were not open so I ended up getting lunch at this small sandwich stand on the street near the boat dock. At this shop, I ordered a flamkucker (or tarte flambee, sorry if I mispelled that other word!) but basically that's what I ordered for about 4 euros. A tarte flambee is like a very thin pizza that is traditional to the Alsacian region. Traditionally it is topped with creme fraiche (which is like sour cream), onions and bacon and sometimes with cheese. I ordered the tarte flambee gratinee which had on it creme fraiche, onions, bacon and cheese. When my tarte flambee was ready I found a table in front of the shop so that I could stand and eat my food. It was very tasty actually; I really liked it and it was well done. I know that the topping combination sounds a bit odd, especially for the American palatte, but I really enjoyed it. The combination of the smoky bacon or "lardon" with the bite of the cheese and onions with the cool refreshing taste of the creme fraiche with the crispyness of the crust was dynamite. For desert, I went over to a stall nearby where I ordered a sweet "bretzel" or pretzel. It was basically a large, homemade soft pretzel with sugar on top. I paid about 2 euros for one, and it was very good. The pretzel was soft and sweet and tasted almost exactly like a doughnut.
After my lunch I decided to browse in some of the gift shops that were open and then I headed home. I had a very simple dinner of cheese, kouglehopf and meat again and I called my mom before going to bed. I went to bed fairly early that night because tomorrow I was going to leave for my next destination: Paris, in particular, Disneyland Paris (more info later). I had a long journey ahead of me tomorrow that would start early so getting a good night's rest was very important. Tomorrow my trip to Strasbourg would be officially over, but my Christmas vacation was not over yet. Tomorrow would be the official start of the New Year (yeah yeah I know, it was Jan. 1 but you get the idea) the mark of the beginning of the end of the holiday season, but I was still not done celebrating....
