Strasbourg

We were lucky enough to be able to jump a TGV to Strasbourg a few days after visiting Austria, so we added France to our quickly growing list of countries.  The day was slightly rainy but not uncomfortable as we walked throughout the historic downtown.  The entire old city is designated as a World UNESCO Heritage Site and we felt lucky to see it.  We wandered through streets and streets of picturesque storefronts, marveling at the copious bakeries.  We soon found ourselves at the lovely Palais Rohan behind the most famous cathedral of Strasbourg.

The palace is a large structure that can be seen in an aerial photograph here.  I only got the back portion of the building, which is what you see once you go through the entrance gates into the courtyard.  There were four or five museums in the palace which we gained access to by purchasing a day pass (for about 10 euro).  We walked a very interesting archaeological exhibit dealing with the origins of civilization in France that was quite enlightening.  After this, we visited galleries hung floor-to-ceiling with French paintings, and two special photography exhibits.  Finally, we entered the main floor of the building and were treated to lavish sights of past living quarters.

Although I love paintings, photography, and a good science exhibit, I am ultimately a sucker for royal quarters.  It was incredible to wander the palace looking at the murals painted above all the doorways, the marble columns, the giant tapestries covering the walls, and of course a giant library with marble busts of ancient philosophers.  There are too many incredible photographs to share them all here, so I chose two of the most impressive.  First, the library, and second, a decadent parlor room.

The furniture was restored whenever possible, so what you are looking at was actually sat upon by the inhabitants of the palace.  The palace was built as a living quarter for Bishops and other religious figures, but it had to be decked out enough that the top royalty could stay there when they came to town.  Marie Antoinette stayed at the palace in 1770, and Napoleon stayed there several times with each wife as well as did his son (we saw all their rooms).  It was funny to think about the Bishops decorating the place, as people who are supposed to be relatively austere, throwing up their hands and saying "well, it's really for the royalty, you know how they are."  But they must have loved it.

After the palace, we walked across the square to Strasbourg's Notre Dame cathedral.  It's a similar in style to the famous Notre Dame in Paris, although it has only one spire (an outside photograph is here).  Inside it is soaring and majestic, everything you expect from a cathedral.  It has some amazing stained glass, pictured below.  It is also the home of an astronomical clock, the third in its series, built in 1843.  The first two are on display in the palace museums, and they are all spectacular.  I marveled at the planetary dials, the displays of the sun and the moon, astrologer clocks, solar and lunar eclipse charts, and much more.  You can read a little more about the clocks here.  One of the defining features of the clocks is the rooster automaton, that performs every day at 12:30.  It is thought to be the oldest automaton.