Strasbourg

This is one of those times where pictures I’ve taken were sitting on my computer for way too long and were waiting to be published.

Earlier this year, we had spent a couple of days in Strasbourg because we heard it was a nice city and we also wanted to visit friends that live in Kehl - just across the Rhine from Strasbourg.

Some time during the trip, we decided to go on a boat tour along the many small canals that cut across the city. I thought this was going to potentially be an absolute tourist trap but turned out to be the best activity to do in the city. It really gave a completely new perspective on many sights and it also came with a complimentary city guide that you could listen to via headphones.

We also went a bit outside of the city center to see the European Parliament. They offer free tours and it was nice to see what you could normally only see on tv.

Storks are somewhat of a mascot for the region - and for good reason. We visited the Parc de l’Orangerie and were surprised to find that they were nesting on many of the trees there (which seemed conveniently cut to facilitate this) and it was busy like at an airport with them constantly taking off and landing. Later, we would stop at a rest stop off the highway and sit outside to have a burger. A brave stork just straight walked up to people there to try to get a free snack.

I had seen that the Marginot Line was located not too far from Strasbourg and wanted to see one of the fortifications there. We found the Fort de Schoenenbourg to be a perfect destination. A local organization is maintaining the huge underground complex and is offering tours. This was a very memorable experience and I believe we spent around two hour of walking underground to cover all that there was to see.

The most famous sight in the city is the huge cathedral with an operational astronomic clock inside. Twice, we had attempted to enter. The first time, the line was too long to make it to the showing time of the clock. The second time, the church was used for a service and therefore, we couldn’t enter either.

On another trip out of the city, we went to the base of the Vosges Mountains and started a hike from there. The tour we picked suggested lots of old castle ruins and it definitely delivered on that. We pretty much just walked from one to next, across some beautiful landscape. I really liked this area and it might be good to come back for some mountain biking as well.