Strasbourg, France

The ship went through three locks by the time I went to sleep at nearly midnight last night.  Everyone was impressed that the water level drops by over 40 feet at each lock.  There was also rain at some point in the night since the drops on the window awakened me at some point in the night.

We awakened around 6:30 this morning and made our way to the dining area.  Most of us ordered from the breakfast menu rather than from the buffet this morning.  Ian had the French toast and Mary & I had the eggs benedict.  Emily had a scrambled eggs and selection of fruits from the buffet.  We also sampled the cheeses including St. Albany, goat cheese, boursin and dilled Swiss.

At 8:30 we boarded a bus to drive the 15 minute route from our ship’s mooring in Kehl, Germany to Strasbourg, France.  Our guide took us on a walk through the old part of the city where the Ill River enters the Rhine.  Most of the old buildings have a brick, stone or masonry first floor and a timber frame construction for the other floors.  Many of the buildings along the Ill River were originally tanneries or grain mills.  Most of the attractive old buildings now hold high end restaurants, hotels and stores. 

Our tour culminated at the Strasbourg Notre Dame Cathedral which is a huge red sandstone church in the center of the city.  Construction on the church was started in 1015 and continued through the early 1400s as elements were added and the size and grandeur of the church was increased.  Much of the art from the church was stolen during Nazi occupation and was recovered from Bavarian salt mines by the Monuments Men.  We were surprised to learn that the foundation of the church was built on a church that dates back even before 1000 AD. 

There were many ornate stained glass windows to bring biblical lessons to the largely illiterate population of the time.  There was also a large clock that changes characters every 15 minutes to represent the cycle of life from childhood, youth, adulthood and old age.  The day of the week is represented as is the moon phase and the position of the planets that were known at the time that the mechanical clock was built. The clock is quite a sight to see.  There is a line to enter the church and all bags have to be inspected prior to entering.  There are six armed military guards outside the church. With recent terrorist acts across Europe and in France specifically, the added security isn’t surprising.

We had some time to explore on our own before walking down to the buses to drive back to the ship for lunch.  Rather than eating in the dining room we opted for the informal area on the Aquavit area in the ship’s bow.  We had reuben sandwiches, sausages, salads, Swiss style kraut with honey and a variety of cheese and bread.  I had a local Weissbier and the others had soft drinks or iced tea.

After lunch Mary & I took a shuttle back to Strasbourg but Emily wasn’t feeling well so she and Ian stayed in until taking the bus into town around 3 pm.  Mary wanted to take the guided tour boat around Strasbourg and met up with the lady from North Carolina, Amber, to take the 75 minute ride around the city.  I walked around the “Little France” area to take some snapshots of the beautiful old buildings and to look for a few geocaches.  By the time I had walked over to the cathedral I had met up with Emily & Ian who had been to a local bookstore.  I met Mary and several others from our ship at the gathering spot between the cathedral and post office to walk to the bus.

Before dinner we relaxed and cleaned up.  Everyone in our group except me had the spinach salad with blue cheese and bacon.  I had the beef Carpaccio which is raw tenderloin served with bitter greens and a spicy mustard.  Each of us ordered the marinated pork tenderloin wrapped in local ham and skewered with potato croquettes, yams, squash and onion.  It was outstanding.  Despite that being the overwhelming consensus for the main course, the seared halibut steak sounded pretty good.  All but Ian had the vanilla and dark chocolate mousse duo.  Ian’s passion fruit sorbet was excellent as well.  The wine that was added this evening was an Alsatian Riesling which is a more dry wine than a typical Riesling.  We all enjoyed our meals greatly then took a glass of wine up to the sundeck as the ship was powering down the Rhine River.  We went through a lock that appeared to be more modern than others we have seen but the drop in elevation is just as great at between 35 and 45 feet.

We stayed up on the top deck until the air got so cool that we headed to our staterooms.  Tomorrow we will disembark in Mannheim and will be bused to Heidelberg then will reconnect with the ship downstream and travel to Rudescheim where we will spend the night.