The Sights of Strasbourg

Strasbourg being the official seat of the European Parliament, it made sense to drop by Louise Weisse building, which houses it.

After a quick walk around, I headed back onto the tram and headed back to the Strasbourg Cathedral, one of the great cathedrals of Europe.  And great it certainly was, on par with Notre Dame de Paris, Barcelona's Sagrada Familia and St Stephens in Vienna.  Below is one of the front entrances with beautiful carvings adorning the archway.

Upon entering the Cathedral, I realized how lucky I was to have visited when they were exhibiting a large number of tapestries within the Cathedral itself.  Oftentimes, tapestries are displayed individually on museum walls where they sometimes lose their sense of belonging.  Here, there was no such issue as the tapestries felt right at home, adding to the beauty of the cathedral.

One of the beautiful stained glass windows:

Another exquisite tablet of three saints being displayed as it was intended within the Cathedral, giving this religious piece a strong sense of belonging, as compared to the many tablets that are displayed within museums where their context is sometimes lost.

This is the astronomical clock located within the Cathedral, built in the 19th century, replacing two of its forerunners, and takes into account various astronomical phenomena thus making it quite accurate.  Much like the astronomical clock in Prague, an automated mechanism takes place at 12:30 pm when animated figurines start moving.

The skeleton representing Death stands guard.

Calculations of solar and lunar equations.

The nativity scene within the Cathedral.

After the visit to the Cathedral, Au Dauphin was the next stop - for lunch.  Fish (salmon, cod) was the special of the day - delicieux!

After lunch, the interesting Cave Historique des Hospices de Strasbourg was the next stop on the agenda.  The wine cave of the city hospital was founded in 1395 and is currently still in use today for select Alsatian vintages. As you can see, there are a large number of barrels, with some dating back several centuries.

I thought it'd be neat to post the unique design of the Gare de Strasbourg exterior/interior, a beautiful mix of new and old.

Dinner was at Flam's, where they serve up a special type of pizza called Flammekeuche.  This is an Alsatian specialty where the dough is topped with cream sauce, bacon, onions and cheese then baked in a wood-fire oven.