Strasbourg, France // RELAXING SILENT TRAVEL VLOG

Strasbourg, France // RELAXING SILENT TRAVEL VLOG

Hello 👋 it was a bitter sweet moment to say goodbye to Nancy we loved it there SO MUCH! but it was time to head to our next destination Strasbourg! which is about 2 hours drive and for whatever reason our tire pressure were….off so we stopped for a quick pump before we head out

It was nice to find out that using tire pressure pump is free here! after a quick pump, we were on our way driving through really beautiful landscapes and it started to rain quite heavily we drove through this beautiful community called Moyenmoutier it’s got mountainous backdrops

If it wasn’t for the rain, we probably would have stopped and walked around I can’t imagine how beautiful it would have looked without those low hanging rain clouds the road towards Strasbourg is quite windy through the mountains it reminded me of driving through the Rocky Mountains

As we approach Strasbourg, we stopped by the small town Dorlisheim for a snack the Alsace region has a long history between France and Germany a notable outcome of this is the influence of half-timbered construction which you’ll see more of in this (and the next few) vlogs!

Gijs loves French bakeries so he takes advantage of every opportunity he gets! the first impression of Strasbourg was that it felt like a big city definitely not the small town vibe we got from Nancy we booked a small suite just 25 minutes outside of the center

It’s nice and clean, got everything we need the plan is to explore Strasbourg today, and make a day trip out to Colmar tomorrow! our accommodation was really close to the Council of Europe building the meeting place for European Parliament so we walked by many consulates

The first place we checked out is the church of Saint-Paul this church took 5 years to build and was completed in 1897 with its iconic rose window of the facade it is one of the landmarks you don’t want to miss in Strasbourg unfortunately when we went the church was closed 😢

If you have a chance to go inside, remember to take some time to admire one of Eastern France’s largest pipe organs! We walked along the Ill river to get to the center where most of the attraction is along the way there were so much to see too, like this church we didn’t go in.. the main center of Strasbourg is located on a small island called the Grande-Île de Strasbourg (Great Island of Strasbourg)

It’s connected by several large and smaller bridges the Pad Bridge was built in 1905 as a pedestrian bridge overtime, more and more people came here to put their love locks gradually this bridge had become the love lock bridge of Strasbourg Let’s walk to the busiest area in all of Strasbourg!

So this is probably the biggest attraction in Strasbourg at its highest point measures 142 meters, it was the world’s tallest building from 1647 to 1874 today, it’s France’s 2nd tallest, and the world 6th tallest church. and if you are feeling a bit of exercise,

There’s a separate entrance/line to do the 332 steps climb of the tower we weren’t too excited for the climb so didn’t wait in that line but we did wait in the even longer line to go inside but at least this line it’s a lot faster because there’s no wait time between entry

Ok let’s get back to the history of this church… the construction of this church started in 1015 in Romanesque style through many historical changes, fires and expansions, it was finally completed in 1439 The original Romanesque construction that started in 1015 was a marvel for its time

Sitting at just 10 meters shorter than what it is today however, it was very prone to fire and was repaired several times in the 12th century with the rise of Gothic style archiectures in northern France expansions began slowly replacing the Romanesque style with Gothic style

At the back of the nave is several wells underneath where you can put their donations in for good luck and health, something like that. one of the most important artifact is the Astronomical Clock originally installed in 1352 named Dreikönigsuhr this clock not only shows time, day, month, year

It even shows zodiac sign and phase of the moon! naturally, that was also the most crowded area of the church. because of Christmas, there was a very grand display of nativity scene near the entrance definitely the best one we’ve seen on our recent church visits!

The Rohan Palace is a former residence of the prince-bishops today it houses 3 museums inside it the Archaeological Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Decorative Arts but we didn’t go into any 😅 Strasbourg went all out for Christmas decorations the amount of effort put into each store front and street is impressive!

And we also get to see more and more of the half-timbered housing constructions which I’ll talk about a bit more later! built in 1100, this square is named after the famous inventor Johannes Gutenberg who invented the printing press that once lived in this city. here’s the statue of him holding a printing scroll

This one is a must see if you’re a classical music lover! construction started in 1196, and was finally completed in 1521 it is the only hall church in the Alsace region: a church where the nave and aisles have roughly the same height apart from its unique construction and history,

This church is also of musical significance home to the 1741 Silbermann organ which was once played by Mozart in 1778! appreciating 😍 Petite-France is the most picturesque area in Strasbourg famous for the canals and well maintained half-timbered houses these iconic half-timbered houses have an exposed wooden frame

Often paired with white or bright colored infills These construction is most known in Germany, but because the Alsace region was annexed by the German in the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War, then France took it back after WWI then Germany regained control during WWII then France got it back after winning the war

You get the idea, lots of back and forth, thus the cultural influence 😅 everywhere we went the lights were just…unreal! we visited here at the end of December, right after Christmas the Christmas tree was still up, and was the most beautifully decorated on we’ve seen!

There’s even a sign that says “Strasbourg, the Christmas capital” no wonder they took lightning and decorations so seriously! this square was where the main Christmas market is, now that it’s over, they are in the process of taking things down dinner time! 😋 we arrived at a restaurant called Meiselocker

I’m still trying hard to avoid anything cheese, cream, dairy etc. and we saw steak on the menu, so this was the place 🤣 we order a “crudités” for appetizer to share it’s a mixed raw vegetable plate in sauce it came with carrots, beet roots, celeriac, and a salad in the middle

We also got some fresh bread to go with it I never had celeriac before, and it tasted like raddish…ish? this plate really makes me want to keep eating super healthy again… the bread was really soft, super fresh and it paired really well with the salad!

I was just super hungry at that point 🤣 for my main, I had the angus steak…. don’t think there’s anything Alsatian about this but it is dairy, butter and cream free ☺️ it came with a pumpkin puree and crispy potatoes it was super crunchy, loved my choice!

Gijs got an Alsatian dish called “choucroute garnie” it’s a local dish that prepares sauerkraut with sausages and various salted meat and is often served with potatoes the meat were very soft and well seasoned I’m not a big fan of sauerkraut though, otherwise I would definitely have ordered this one 😅

Here’s a little tip if you do plan to visit Strasbourg.. it’s way more quiet shortly after 9pm! in the next episode, we’re going to Colmar and Eguisheim, see you there!

After spending 2 nights in the Lorraine region of France, in the cute city of Nancy (which we fell in love with), it’s time to explore the next city Strasbourg! It will be the first place we are exploring in the Alsace region. Christmas spirit is still very high apparently!

Category: Travel & Lifestyle Vlogs
Mood: Calm, Relaxing, Chill

#travelvlog #francevlog #simpleliving

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