1001 Swabian Nights: Surprise Stop- Strasbourg!

Since we left Colmar so early (because nothing would be open today for the holiday), we decided at the last minute to detour to Strasbourg, France on our way back home!

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A few interesting trivia tidbits:
1450: Johannes Gutenberg created the moveable type printing press in Strasbourg. This invention started the Printing Revolution and is regarded as one of the most important events in modern history, with a key role in the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution through the ability to spread knowledge to the masses.

July 1518: an incident known as the Dancing Plague of 1518 struck residents of Strasbourg. Around 400 people were afflicted with dancing mania and danced constantly for weeks, most of them eventually dying from heart attack, stroke or exhaustion.

WWII: In the three days between the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 and the Anglo-French declaration of War against the Germany on September 3, 1939, the entire city (120,000 people) was evacuated. Except for the soldiers garrisoned there, the city remained completely empty for 10 months.

And as we visited on a holiday, the retail zones were very quiet and empty as we began our walk into the old part of town...

empty shopping streets on the holiday

Place Gutenberg

Place Gutenberg (above) is a large square in Strasbourg with a statue of Johannes Gutenberg in the center. Gutenberg, although born in Mainz, Germany was forced to leave with his family in 1411 due to an uprising against the patricians. It is not known when, but at some point after, Gutenberg migrated to Strasbourg and stayed until 1444. It was in Strasbourg where he is credited with inventing the moveable type printing press. Some of the details are lost but it is known that he returned to Mainz and his printing press was up and running in 1450. His major work was the Gutenberg Bible in 1455. He printed about 180 copies that sold for 30 florins each (about three years' wages for an average clerk). His bible was still significantly cheaper than a manuscript Bible that could take a single scribe over a year to prepare. 48 copies are known to exist today.

In front of the River Ill

The River Ill is a tributary of the Rhine River and runs through the middle of Strasbourg. We took a lovely, leisurely walk along the river...

The River Ill

A Kiwi viewpoint

So regal...

We were in Strasbourg at a perfect time to get lunch. As we strolled along the streets, an area on the map called La Petite France beckoned. It is an adorable old section of Strasbourg on the Grande Île (Main Island), where the River Ill splits up into a number of canals. In the Middle Ages, this was where the tanning-houses and slaughterhouses were located. The name La Petite France ("Little France") was actually not given for patriotic or architectural reasons. Strasbourg was under German rule when it was named. It comes from the "Hospice of the Syphilitic," built in the late fifteenth century on the island, to cure people with syphilis. Germans called syphilis the "French disease," hence the name for the island...

Now it is largely a tourist attraction with the historic half-timbered buildings and restaurants and street performers abound! We figured that we might as well stop for lunch here too, but with the strict stipulation of NO German cuisine (we are so tired of German food!). We were in luck and found an adorable little Thai restaurant on a cute alley corner with a table outside. Soon after sitting, we had the pleasure of a street musician stopping to play for the surrounding restaurant patrons. While we were watching, a little boy stopped to stand and stare down the musician with a great seriousness! He stood there for quite a while watching so intently and we couldn't resist getting a picture. We think he wanted to make sure that the musician deserved to earn his money before giving him some change! Another musician shortly followed the first one and while both musicians were good, we agreed the first was better and it was pretty amusing to watch the little boy's interaction with him.

An intense little critic evaluates the performance

Strasbourg Cathédrale - The "other" Notre Dame. At 142 metres (466 feet), it was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874. Today it is the sixth-tallest church in the world. It was described by Victor Hugo as a "gigantic and delicate marvel" and by Goethe as a "sublimely towering, wide-spreading tree of God." So you must understand, it was so massive that even though we tried, every single picture we took just did not capture it well. So a picture from "google images" will have to do:

We did get a picture of the plaza at the base of the Cathedrale...