Day 2 : Strasbourg

Our second day in Strasbourg was a beautiful one. After a French breakfast at the Ciarus we went for a walk through Little France (Petite-France). It is located on the Grande Île (Main Island), where the river Ill splits up into a number of canals and cascades through a small area of medieval half-timbered houses and baroque sandstone buildings.

The name "Petite-France" (Gerberviertel in German) was conferred by the former German inhabitants not for architectonical reasons, but because of the numerous "ladies of the night" working there in the Middle Ages — prostitution used to be known in Germany as "the French business".

It is a really nice area, but try to avoid it between 10 am and 3 pm because it gets really crowded by tourists. There are also some very nice churches there, including St.Thomas which boastes an organ by Silbermann that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used to play on when he visited Strasbourg. Another interesting church was actually divided in two parts : a protestant and a catholic one.

We had lunch in Petite-France, in a small literary snackbar called La tinta. Delicious tarte provençale, quiche Lorraine and raspberry tiramisu strengthened us to go on in the afternoon to the Museum of Modern Art. Inaugurated in 1998, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art sits on the banks of the Ill, in the heart of Strasbourg’s historical neighborhood. A work by architect Adrien Fainsilber, it was designed around clarity and open spaces, privileging the museum’s various departments.

The Museum is quite interesting, with nice collections by Picasso, Kandinsky and my favourite: Immendorff. We had a nice break on the outside terraces of the museum and went on to discover the city from the water.

On our second day we really put our Strasbourg Passes to some good use. The entrance to the Museum of Modern Art was free, and we also got a free boat trip on the river Ill. It is a great way to visit the city, as you go all places and still have the time to listen to the commentary, take pictures and note down places of interest better explored on foot.

Afterwards we went to a small place where they serve Flammkuchen, the traditional Alsacian food. Together with a bowl of cidre it went down perfectly. We wanted to check out the illuminated cathedral, but because we were too early I checked out a bible exhibition organized by the Gideon Bible Association, you know these guys who put bibles in hotels around the world. The exhibition was small and the "agents" who were there were a bit too pushy for my taste.

At 10 pm the cathedral was beautifully illuminated, nicely choreographed to Russian music by Tchaikovksi and Mussorgsky.