Second Stop: Strasbourg

 

 

La Grande Ile

After visiting Strasbourg, France, the first time in the 1990s, I theorized that my great grandparents immigrated from the Alsace region of France. I found records at Ellis Island of people with my last name immigrating from France during the correct time frame, which seemed to confirm my grandmother's statement that originally planted the seed of that belief.

Rainbow in Fountain on offshoot from Ill River

In 2013, my cousin Tami told me she had found proof our ancestors came from Oberwinterthur, Switzerland, instead. Any research through the online system, Ancestry.com, which sprang originally from a data base created for the LDS community in Utah to become a worldwide phenomenon around 2009, is subject to a lot of guesswork and requires leaps of faith, but Tami had spent more time connecting the dots than me, and it certainly makes sense. Nonetheless, I can't explain why during our recent vacation, I still felt a greater connection to Strasbourg and the rest of Alsace. Perhaps it was the rainbows, which my sister likes to say are times our mother is smiling from heaven in approval, that I kept seeing on a day when rain threatened but never delivered more than a few scattered drops. In any case, I still claim this region as part of my family roots.

It's not such a long shot.  Humans may have lived in the area now called Strasbourg since before the Neolithic Age (latter Stone Age thousands of years before Christ).  In 12 BC, the Romans established a military outpost called Argentoratum (also referred to as Argentina), supplanting proto-Celtic dominance which had begun about 1300 years earlier.  Therefore, many of us probably have relatives who lived in this area at some point, probably even on my mother's side of the family.

Rainbow Near Our Ship's Dock

Our day in Strasbourg started with a terrific breakfast onboard River Queen.  We then picked up a number for the included canal boat excursion, as we'd been instructed the previous evening at our cruise director's briefing, and walked the short distance from our ship to the domed tour craft.

Our knowledgeable guide told us about the remarkable history of Strasbourg and pointed out important sites as we glided along the Ill River which flows like a Venetian canal toward the heart of Strasbourg, the Grande Île (Grand Island), which in 1988 was the first entire city centre to be designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. 

However, make no mistake; Strasbourg is not merely a charming historic city but one of the most important cities of the 21st Century. 


European Union Parliament Building

We glided past the European Union complex, featuring a beautiful, modern glass structure where the European Union Parliament meets for essentially one week each month (12 times each year, with none in August but twice in September) to vote.  There's an equally modern residential structure across the river that's connected by a glass-enclosed pedestrian bridge.



Pedestrian Footbridge

Strasbourg is considered to be the legislative and democratic capital of the European Union, while Brussels, Belgium, is the administrative and executive capital, and Luxembourg, which we would visit a few days later, is its judiciary and financial capital.  This tri-city structure was confirmed with the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997.  It set me trying to remember what I heard about the Benelux in history classes, which wasn't much beyond it being a union of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg that apparently parlayed their cooperation into lots of power as the European Union developed.





EU Residential Complex

Looking at the grand scale and futuristic beauty of the structures, one can't help but wonder why these bureaucrats need two other cities to conduct business, other than to enjoy traveling between three wonderful areas.  A new movement is afoot to make Strasbourg the only seat of the EU.  Watch out Benelux!  However, the prestige and financial rewards of being one of the three capitals is unlikely to be ceded by Brussels or Luxembourg City. 

La Petite France's Maisson des Tanneurs

Following the ultra-modern EU complex, we came to a totally different world, La Petite France, where huge timbered buildings reveal Strasbourg's status as the big city of Alsace, reflecting the style of the small Alsatian villages but on a grander scale.

Among the buildings we passed were Maisson des Tanneurs, which is now a beautiful restaurant but was once a center for tanning leather.  As the city grew, slaughtering animals for hides and meat at different places around town became unacceptable due to the smell and unsightly waste, so in the 16th century, they were gathered into one area of stench where the waste could be washed away by the Ill River.

Bridge to Grande Ile in Strasbourg

Along the same line, our guide in Kayserberg pointed out a scenic area on a creek that she said was also the historic tanner's area, prompting me to ask her privately about my family's last name.  In the 1980s, an Old World Village merchant, whose business was family crest research, told me our surname was the same as a particular type of tree, the bark of which was used in tanning leather, meaning by extension that my ancestors were tanners of leather.




Approaching Our Stop Near Strasbourg Cathedral

Our Alsatian guide said she'd never heard of it, though as she said, she's not an expert in that exact field.  I owned a tanning salon at the time the Old World merchant told me his yarn, so I thought it sounded like a bit too perfect a fit, but I still like the story.

 

Strasburg Cathedral

When our canal boat ride concluded, we were led through cobblestone streets to the gorgeous Strasbourg Cathedral, a truly remarkable structure.  This Gothic church was the tallest building in the world for over 200 years, at 466 feet tall, and it can be seen from much of the city.  Having read Ken Follett's excellent historic novel, World Without End, in July, I thought of all the dramas that building such a structure could involve.

Our guide left us outside the Cathedral, and we explored the interior on our own.  There's so much to see, both inside and out, that a patient in depth exploration could take days, so of course we were done in an hour and a half, including a bit of time for prayer sitting in the pews where so many generations have worshipped over the centuries. 

We had been encouraged to enjoy a delicious meal in Strasbourg, a world-renowned nexus for French and German cuisine, where both wine and beer are excellent, but we wandered over to the Uniworld bus stop and headed back to the ship for an early afternoon lunch of freshly prepared regional foods, accompanied by German beer and French wine.  At home, Julie can rarely be pried from a water view for a meal, so why would we not dine on the Rhine, when we know the meal will be terrific and already paid for?

 

When we travel on our own, we rarely spend as much time in one city as we had already spent on our morning excursion, so Julie was ready to enjoy reading a book in the lounge and on the sun deck, giving me the opportunity to borrow one of the free Uniworld bicycles for an afternoon ride.

Dark blue-grey clouds threatened rain, and occasional gusts made me wonder if stiff winds would hinder my return to the ship, but I started down the bike path along the Rhine in the direction our canal boat had gone in the morning.

What a beautiful city, where McDonalds, Apple Stores and other modern businesses occupy space in historic buildings among local merchants.

 

There are beautiful Protestant churches that aren't as grand as the Strasbourg Cathedral but still quite lovely. 

Everywhere I turned I found terrific winestubs and bistros, bakeries and quaint shops, and about anything you might want for a pleasant Tuesday afternoon.

Strasbourg would make a wonderful destination for an extended city stay for your next vacation.  No wonder European Union statesmen make it one of their homes.