-Alsace! Samedi-

Samedi, Saturday, was overcast, but not windy, which was better than Paris.  Our cheerful guide, Mirek, led us on a walking tour through La Petite France neighborhood.  The architecture in this area, along the river, is characterized by the half-timber houses, combinations of oak and plaster and so adorable!  Unfortunately, it's not the cute houses which gave the neighborhood its name.  In earlier Strasbourg days, there was a hospital there which did a lot of work on venereal diseases like syphilis, and since Paris was such an active area, the disease was known as le mal de France (the illness of France).  And voila, La Petite France is essentially named for syphilis.  That's my fun fact for the day.

 Following La Petite France neighborhood, we passed the statue of Johannes Gutenberg, who created the printing press here in Strasbourg, and then we went to see the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg.  For a cathedral, it was very impressive and unusual.  It was built from a reddish sandstone, so the colours are incredible, though many of the statues have been replaced by replicas because of how easily they become worn and damaged.

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg

Across the street is the Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame, an dual-purpose institution which raises funds for the Cathedral (and has since the cathedral's inception dating back to 1246-ish) and functions as a museum for original works too damaged to remain in/on the cathedral, as well as for Middle ages art up through 1681.  There was a lot of stained glass and cathedral sculptures, but also some very interesting (and sometimes frightening) religious paintings.  The neatest thing I saw here was what has been concluded is one of the very first depictions of Jesus Christ in stained glass.  Very, very old.  Barely 4 digits kind of old.

However, we had a very important date, so at precisely 12pm we crossed back to the cathedral to witness the Atomic Clock.  Each little piece is very symbolic, and a lot of it is animated...cherubs turned hourglasses upside down, the hooded Grim Reaper strikes a bell (with his scythe), a rooster crows and creakily flaps his mechanical wings...like an enormous cuckoo-clock.

We're going to skip over the part where I got lost during our free lunch hour...and go straight to the 45 minute bus ride to Colmar.  We walked through (but didn't stop to play) a carnival set up in a parking lot, and went to the Musée Unterlinden.  It used to be a monastery, but thanks to a couple world wars and German invasions/takeovers of the area, only the building which is now the museum remains.  Still, I love that you can still tell what the building was meant for, particularly the inner courtyard garden.  With snow!

The most impressive (and famous) exhibit at this museum which also has a couple of Picasso's, local art, etc, is the Isenheim Retable (altarpiece).  Painted by Matthias Grunewald during 1512-1516 for a monastery near Colmar, I can only say that it was the most stunning piece of religious art I saw all weekend.  It has two sets of "doors" which are painted on each side, so after unfolding the leaves twice, you see the final two paintings on the innermost, second set, framing a set of sculptures in the centre.  A bit difficult to explain, but essentially, it means there are 11 different paintings which you see in 3 sets: 5 on the very front, 4 more when you open the first doors, and 2 when you open the second doors.  Except it's all dismantled now so you can see each set at the same time.

 

We drove back to Strasbourg, and it was time to seek out a second traditional dinner.  My only problem being that all of the Kansas kids had "seen so many cathedrals they all look they same" and just wanted to eat and drink (of course) at the hotel bar.  Excuse me, but I did not fly to France to eat at a hotel.  Which is why I dined alone.

Terres à Vin is a wine cellar with a small restaurant which is essentially a front for tasting their 2,500+wines.  And which was of course why I chose it.  The region of Alsace is known for its unique wines.  So, seated alone, trying not to look alone to the 3 other people and the waiter, I had smoked salmon, potatoes, and Zind-Humbrecht, a wine unique to Alsace.  The waiter was so nice and helpful, patiently listening to my French and helping me pick a truly Alsacien wine for my evening.  MY evening.  Just me, my thoughts, and the satisfaction of having sampled a bit of Alsace.