Overnight we sailed to Strasbourg and arrived about 1am. After another lovely breakfast, there were two tour options today: a walking tour or a canal boat tour (the city was built on an island). We opted for the walking tour. Our shuttle dropped us in town and Veronica, our guide, led us on a wander through the former leather tanning district to the Notre Dame cathedral. The cathedral was her home church and an interesting factoid was that the stained glass windows with the exception of the altar stained glass were removed at the start of the Second World War and hidden in Southern France. They were discovered by the Nazi's and rehidden by them. Finding and returning them became the story of the Monument Men which was turned into a major motion picture. The altar stained glass was damaged in the war and replaced by new glass while all of side stained glass were the originals saved and returned by the Monument Men.
Outside the cathedral, setting up the Christmas market was in full swing. Strasbourg is the home of Christmas markets and they take it very seriously. There are many kiosks and even a very cool merry go round. Since our walking tour was over, we decided to check out whether we could do an independent canal boat tour. We could and after paying our 13€ fare per person, we were on the 11am ride.
Since the heart of Strasbourg is on an island, the canal boat was a great way to see parts of the city we wouldn't be able to see just walking around. There was English, French, and German pre-recorded narration. After the tour we wandered the narrow streets, and I enjoyed a hamburger served on a 12" baguette roll. It was 6.50€ for the burger, fries, and a soda.
Continuing our wandering, we found a stature of Gutenberg, founder of the printing press here. We then headed to our pickup point for the shuttle back to our ship. I should mention it was again a bit chilly and a little sprinkly while we were in the city. Temperatures were in the mid 40's.
Back on board the ship, I took a two hour nap (first in a long time) and we met up with the couple (Jennifer and David) that we ate dinner with the previous night for a pre-dinner drink and ordourves and learned about the wine pairings for dinner and listened to the Port talk for the next day's stop in Speyer (pronounced spire) which is very near Heidelberg where we store our motorcycle.
Following a prime rib dinner with Jennifer and David, we listened for an hour to a couple of French musicians who were brought on board as entertainment. The older fellow, Armand Jehle, played an accordion and pretty young black haired woman sang. After their musical set was completed, the ship set sail, passed through yet another set of locks, joined the main river channel, and we drifted off to sleep.
And so ended another wonderful day.
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