Our friend, Jane, arrived punctually at Strasbourg Central Station, smiling and Gin in hand.
She might have travelled for 26 hours, but there was no rest for Jane! Together we retraced our steps through the centre of the city, revisited the cathedral and walked along the little canals of Petite France.
Luckily for Jane a rain shower forced us to take a break in one of the quaint alsatian restaurants where we introduced her to the local speciality tarte flambées.
The next day the weather was looking better and we decided to take the 1 hour tourist boat cruise. The English audio guide helped to appreciate the colourful historic past and buildings of Strasbourg. We passed under bridges where people in the Middle Ages were strung up at the feet, then had their tongue cut out before being beheaded. The boat cruised past the many churches named after at least 5 different saints. Eventually we arrived at the European Parliament where, I believe still some "stringing up" is being done or, at least, some headless people are running around, hopefully not throwing stones in the glasshouses!
Of course we had to introduce Jane to the German tradition of “Kaffee ind Kuchen (coffee and cake)" in the afternoon! What we do to make our friends happy!
But then it was straight back to hard work climbing 332 steps to the top of Strasbourg's Notre Dame. Half way up we wished we hadn’t just eaten a huge piece of plum cake with cream! But the view from the top paid off our effort.
Then back to the boat for a little afternoon rest in preparation for the evenings summer light show of the cathedral and the Vauban dam. Sitting on the old cobblestoned Place du Château we watched in awe how the cathedral’s porch and facade came alive with music and light.
