Strasbourg, France

Actual Date: August 10,2013

Last Friday morning, while trying to figure out what to do over the weekend, I came across Strasbourg, France. I read that it is one of the top day trips from Stuttgart because it is only an hour and a half away and there is lots to do. So......on Friday I had lunch with Billy and we decided we would go on Saturday.

This was the Best day trip EVER. We packed our lunch, like everyone here in Europe seems to do, with the delicious breads, meats, and cheeses and left our house about 9am. We were parked and on foot in the town by 10:45. This is such a picturesque town and there is sooooooo much history, apparently since it is located on the border it has been under German control and French control, it is a town that seems to have been fought over plenty.

The first thing we did was buy our tickets for the boat ride through the tunnels down the canals. And not EXPENSIVE like many tourist attractions, it was only 29€ for our whole family. The boat ride was great because you wore a headset and chose your language and there was even a pirate version for the kids, SCORE!!!!! The boat ride lasted a little over an hour and one of the neat things about it was you went through the locks, so they actually had to raise the water with us in the boat so when they opened the wall we wouldn't be under water. The kids, and myself, thought that was really cool. We saw old fortresses on the river where they shot guns out of the top and fired canons out of the bottom. See the pics below..... Maybe one day when I visit Debbie in London she can show me how to put the pics within my blog with the descriptions:) just a tiny reason I need to go visit soon....

We also toured one of the Notre Dame cathedrals. This cathedral started being constructed in 1031 and took 400 years to complete. The Gothic artwork is amazing. You could climb to the top but there were Lots of people and we did not want to pay 15€ for us all to climb up. There were many other areas in the town to get a great city view that were free. There is also an astronomical clock, constructed in 1842, everyday at 12:30 there is a show put on by the clock with a reenactment of the apostles. We did not see this due to being on the boat ride but I plan to see this with mom in November when I go back.

We attended a full French Catholic mass at Saint Pierre Le-Vieux. Not a huge cathedral but very old and quaint. The French language was so relaxing I think we all appeared drugged:). The mass started at 5:30 and at about 5:10 the priest came out and made his way around shaking everyone's hands and saying hello. He asked where we were from and then acknowledged us during the mass. So neat. After the mass he asked us what the rest of our "trip" entailed since he assumed we were on holiday.

After mass we set out to find a restaurant on the water we had seen on the boat ride .... We found it and it was great. We had a bottle of French wine from the region and delicious food, even Creme Brûlée , one of my faves. We sat on the second story and had a wonderful view. Pics below, it is the building you will see with all of the flowers on the balconies and if you can make out the name it was called Au Pont Saint Martin.

Next was you guessed it..... Had to try ice cream from France:). We encountered our only rude French person here. I think she was just a miserable person that disliked Americans but whatever, not like we care.

It was a long day because we stayed around to see the illumination show at the cathedral that began at 10:30. It was so pretty with beautiful changing lights and music.

This was a great town with so much to see and do, we all enjoyed it and cannot wait to return.

Interesting Fact:: prostitution is illegal in France but apparently very much legal in Germany. As we were leaving France that night and coming into Germany there were prostitutes everywhere. I had never seen anything like it. We tried to get a picture without drawing attention but it didn't come out. In Germany prostitution is actually regulated, brothels and having a pimp are illegal but it is more than acceptable to be a prostitute. Seems that Germany is one of the largest human trafficking countries in the world. Never knew, we don't see any of this where we live