Day 15 - Strasbourg - Sept. 8

Bill having his birthday cake on Tuesday at coffee time

Rita's birthday cake for her 65th!  She shared with all of us....

Today was celebration time – Rita Wybenga joined those of us here who are being paid by the government. Bill’s birthday was yesterday so Bill and Rita were the same age for one day. We helped them celebrate these milestones. We bought Bill a piece of cake yesterday that he shared with Rita. Because today was a day off we looked all over town for a Black Forest cake for Rita’s birthday – could not find one so we settled for a triple chocolate cake. We found a room at the hostel where we ate supper with only our group and for dessert, Rita shared her cake with the rest of us – it was delicious. We have found out that coffee/tea is not offered after dinner as we are used to so tonight we did go to the bar area and ordered that to go with our cake. An excellent way to finish off our “much needed rest day”.


I’ll start with the beginning of the day now….we woke up today hearing the rain once again. After breakfast we set off “walking in the rain” to the city center to meet up with our tour guide who would give us a two hour tour starting with the Notre Dame Cathedral. We met isabelle, our very competent guide, who gave us so much information that there is no way I can remember all of it to put on paper.





We stayed outside of the cathedral first since the rain had stopped and she told us all about the construction – she pointed out the different types of architecture that make up this massive church. It was a protestant church from sometime in the 15th century until some time in the 16th century. During the reign of Louis XIV it became a catholic church. The city of Strasbourg is located right over the river from Germany - it belonged to Germany until 1681 when France took it over and it remained part of France until WWII when Germany took over again. In 1948 Strasbourg became French territory again.

The church is constantly being restored as a historical building and this restoration is paid for by individuals, companies/banks, the state and the church. The earliest dates that Isabelle gave us is of the stained glass windows from the 11th & 12th century – hard to imagine that they could be that old. Once we were inside the church we sat down and got all the information on the stained glass windows which are all along the sides of the church and one huge round one at the front. Each stained glass told a story. Two pipe organs are inside as well. We tried to see where the organist would sit but couldn’t find that out. In one of the front corners is an area where a huge astrological clock stands. I will try to post pictures to show you all the intricate details of this area. Isabelle explained it in so much detail and it was fascinating.

Leaving the church we continued on our walking tour of a section of Strasbourg called Petite France. The sun came out and we had great weather after that - must have been because some of us bought umbrellas..... Isabelle pointed out the statute of the man who invented the Guttenberg Press, the church where Albert Schwietzer had been a pastor before he travelled off to Africa as a doctor. Another church had Martin Bucer, a colleague of Martin Luther, as pastor. Goethe, the Shakespeare of Germany, who wrote the book, “Faust” also was from this area. This is only a very small part of all the information we were given.

We discovered that walking tours are the best way to see the sights in a city and we all enjoyed what isabelle shared with us. Strasbourg has canals running through the city and boat tours are also available and some of the group did a tour by boat later on in the day. Once Isabelle left us, we each went our own way. All the guys went to the local bike stores to get parts for their bikes or have their bikes looked over. The women checked out the stores and market place. By late afternoon we were all back at the hostel for happy hour…..and then supper and then off to bed. Tomorrow morning we are on the road again.

Today was celebration time – Rita Wybenga joined those of us here who are being paid by the government. Bill’s birthday was yesterday so Bill and Rita were the same age for one day. We helped them celebrate these milestones. We bought Bill a piece of cake yesterday that he shared with Rita. Because today was a day off we looked all over town for a Black Forest cake for Rita’s birthday – could not find one so we settled for a triple chocolate cake. We found a room at the hostel where we ate supper with only our group and for dessert, Rita shared her cake with the rest of us – it was delicious. We have found out that coffee/tea is not offered after dinner as we are used to so tonight we did go to the bar area and ordered that to go with our cake. An excellent way to finish off our “much needed rest day”.


I’ll start with the beginning of the day now….we woke up today hearing the rain once again. After breakfast we set off “walking in the rain” to the city center to meet up with our tour guide who would give us a two hour tour starting with the Notre Dame Cathedral. We met isabelle, our very competent guide, who gave us so much information that there is no way I can remember all of it to put on paper.

We stayed outside of the cathedral first since the rain had stopped and she told us all about the construction – she pointed out the different types of architecture that make up this massive church. It was a protestant church from sometime in the 15th century until some time in the 16th century. During the reign of Louis XIV it became a catholic church. The city of Strasbourg is located right over the river from Germany - it belonged to Germany until 1681 when France took it over and it remained part of France until WWII when Germany took over again. In 1948 Strasbourg became French territory again.

The church is constantly being restored as a historical building and this restoration is paid for by individuals, companies/banks, the state and the church. The earliest dates that Isabelle gave us is of the stained glass windows from the 11th & 12th century – hard to imagine that they could be that old. Once we were inside the church we sat down and got all the information on the stained glass windows which are all along the sides of the church and one huge round one at the front. Each stained glass told a story. Two pipe organs are inside as well. We tried to see where the organist would sit but couldn’t find that out. In one of the front corners is an area where a huge astrological clock stands. I will try to post pictures to show you all the intricate details of this area. Isabelle explained it in so much detail and it was fascinating.

Leaving the church we continued on our walking tour of a section of Strasbourg called Petite France. Isabelle pointed out the statute of the man who invented the Guttenberg Press, the church where Albert Schwietzer had been a pastor before he travelled off to Africa as a doctor. Another church had Martin Bucer, a colleague of Martin Luther, as pastor. Goethe, the Shakespeare of Germany, who wrote the book, “Faust” also was from this area. This is only a very small part of all the information we were given.

We discovered that walking tours are the best way to see the sights in a city and we all enjoyed what isabelle shared with us. Strasbourg has canals running through the city and boat tours are also available and some of the group did a tour by boat later on in the day. Once Isabelle left us, we each went our own way. All the guys went to the local bike stores to get parts for their bikes or have their bikes looked over. The women checked out the stores and market place. By late afternoon we were all back at the hostel for happy hour…..and then supper and then off to bed. Tomorrow morning we are on the road again.