Today I officially became a senior citizen, well for some things anyway! Chris had brought banners and balloons for my birthday so when I woke up the room was decorated in celebration, he had also brought my cards and some of my presents with him so I had a lot of things to open. I had a great selection of cards and presents from Mum & Dad – a wonderful ring, Jackie & Neil – a photo album of my early years as well as a train ride, and Chris a new iPhone, with case, a wallet, necklace, earrings and a coupe of CDs so all in all more than I could hope for. After opening all my cards and presents, setting up the phone, it was time for Mum and Dad to FaceTime me to wish me a happy birthday, which I answered on my new phone, then it was time to head out and get some breakfast. We went to the same place as yesterday, although today we didn’t have quite so much which should leave room for lunch later, then after a quick visit to tourist information to buy tickets for the boat this afternoon we started a walk around the downtown area. Our first stop was Place Kleber, which is the largest square in Strasbourg, dedicated to General Jean Baptiste Kleber who served in Napoleon’s army during the Egyptian campaign, he was named Commander of the French forces and although he was assassinated in Cairo his body was repatriated and he was buried in Strasbourg. It is also home to one of the Christmas markets and the city’s Christmas tree. We walked round the square looking at the buildings and the markets, one of the buildings was the Aubette building, now an apple store and art gallery, it was once a monastic complex. From here we walked down the main shopping street and round to Gutenberg square this was named after inventor of the fist mechanical, movable printing press and publisher of the Gutenberg bible, who was also an apprentice goldsmith in Strasbourg between 1434 – 1444. Rue Merciere or Merchants street is probably one of the most spectacular medieval streets In Strasbourg, it also has once of the best views of the Cathedral’s rose window framed by the old houses. This was actually the world’s tallest building for 277 years from 1647 until 1874, work started in 1015, further work was carried out by Edwin Von Steinbach who started work in 1277, which was continued by both his son and grandson! In the same square as the cathedral is the Kammerzell House which is apparently one of the best preserved medieval houses in Strasbourg, it is now a restaurant and boutique hotel so we didn’t actually go in but it looked very impressive from the outside. From here we walked down to the river looking at Rohan Palace which was once home to bishops and cardinals from the house of Rohan from Brittany, it was subsequently used by nobility such as Louis XV, Marie Antoinette, and Napoleon, it is now an archaeological museum, but is still used for major diplomatic events such as the visit by Barack Obama. By the time we got to the palace it was almost time to get on the boat so we walked down to the quay where after a few minutes it was time to board. It started snowing just as we got on the boat, but luckily it was very light so we were able to see all the buildings and as it was very hot on the boat it was an opportunity to warm up! We did a loop of the island, and found out that Petite France is so called because so many of the French kings troupes returned with Syphilis, a hospital was built on the island and called little France! It is rather nicer now I have to say. The boat actually took us out to the European Parliament area, I hadn’t realised that the reason the European Parliament and the court of human rights were built in Strasbourg was because it has been successively owned by the French, German, French, Germans again and finally the French after the war, therefore apparently they fully ‘understood what it means to be European’ I am not sure we will bother going out there again as it is just a collection of modern buildings but at least we have seen it now. By the time the boat trip finished it was almost 3:30 so we decided to head off to get something to eat, we found a nice local restaurant where we had a very nice meal, then finished off the day by going back to Kleber square to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree, then walked round a few of the Christmas markets before heading back to the hotel at about 7pm what a great day.
