Today is our last day in Strasbourg and our plan was to visit the Cathedral, we had originally intended to try and see the astronomical clock working but in the end decided it would pretty much be like all the other clocks we have seen so rather than queue for an hour, you have to buy tickets at 11:30, be inside to watch a ‘film’ at 12:00 and the display is 12:30 we would just go and have a look round the cathedral and look at the clock that way. The Cathedral is massive, apparently if Covid wasn’t happening you would be allowed to climb the spire which is 330 steps, but unfortunately it is closed, I think much to Chris’ relief! I think the main feature of the Cathedral are all the stain glass windows, they go all the way round rather than just above the alter and they are also massive, they depict either Saints or disciple’s, I am not sure which but actually it may be both! They also have a couple of nativity scenes on display. One side they have a display of all the animals and people that came to see the baby Jesus which is quite spectacular, but on the other side, is the display I probably like more even though it is less spectacular are a series of glass cases that have the people that came to Jerusalem, the wise men, shepherds with their sheep etc., and I think they were stunning, despite them being behind a rope and perspex you could really make out all the details. The clock is in one corner, as with everything in this Cathedral it is very large, one dial seems to have every day of the year on it, possibly linked to the moon phases, one quite small clock that actually tells the time and another large clock face that seems to have the signs of the zodiac on it, then they have also exposed some of the mechanics for you to see. From what we could tell there were a number of what looked like soldiers that we though probably go round as part of the display. Looking up information on the clock later it would seem that I was almost right, the clock, completed in 1574, was considered one of the seven wonders of Germany, it calculates the date, displays sidereal time on the celestial globe and has a dial indicating apparent solar time, movement of the sun and moon, as well as a planetary dial showing the gravitation of the six planets visible to the naked eye and a lunar globe indicating the phases of the moon! The clock dials measure both official and local mean time. I think a few bits of it are no longer working because Death is meant to ring in the hour, while quarter hours are marked by the four stages of life; child, youth, adult and old man, none of which happened while we were there, then at noon (12:30 official time) a procession of apostles (not soldiers!) move before Christ who blesses the crowd after the last figure has passed, interestingly they also say that during the procession, a rooster crows three times! I think the procession is the only bit that is still working but I could be wrong! From here we went to go and look at the rose window and the Organ which again were very spectacular then a final look at the figure’s and we decided we had probably seen enough. By the time we came out the place was still pretty much deserted so we decided to head up to Place de la Republique, this is the very heart of the German quarter and seems to create a border between the historic city and the new one. As one of the information panels points out Strasbourg has been managed by both the Cockerel and the Eagle, with France to the west and Germany to the east, ’over the ages carried along by changing identities, various architectural and cultural currents’. This is the Neustadt district or new town built by the Germans in 1870 after annexation, it was an extension plan aimed at tripling Strasbourg’s surface area. The German architects made it a showcase of their urban planning, with over 4,000 buildings being erected, the intention was to mark in stone the change of power and create housing for the new arrivals, between 1870 and 1915 the population more than doubled. The square is surrounded by five buildings, none of which are residential; the Parliament of Alsace-Lorraine which is now the National Theatre of Strasbourg, the Palace of the Emperor (now Palais du Rhin), the National and University Library, the Prefecture of Grand East and Bas-Rhin and finally the text centre Hotel des imports! After walking round the square the markets were finally starting to open so we grabbed a baguette and started looking at the Christmas stalls which we haven’t really done as it has been my birthday up until now. We went round the market by the town hall, Hotel de Ville, which seemed to be called Chris Kindels Makrik then started waking back towards the centre of town. We had got quite cold by this time so we decided to stop for a drink or two in a little bar we found which defiantly wasn’t aimed at tourists but suited us down to the ground. After fortifying ourselves with beer so continued round the markets, the stalls actually have quite a few different things, along with all the usual ones and it was nice looking round them, I actually brought quite a few new Christmas decorations for our tree at various places. My favourite market was probably the one around the Cathedral but we did also find a couple of nice shops to go in that sold decorations as well. After we had been round all the markets we decided to reward ourselves with a hot chocolate and a crepe which was really nice, then we took a walk back to the hotel via some of the medieval streets to have one last look at them. We got back to the room, had a bit of a relax, then after updating the blog etc decided to pack before heading down to a final drink before heading home tomorrow.
