From Frankfurt to Strasbourg

Last week, after ten months, I left Frankfurt and went back home, to Guadalajara. It was quite hard to leave my apartment and my life in Germany, as I felt quite comfortable there in general terms. There were, of course, negative points, such as not understanding the TV or the cold temperatures, but overall I was very, very happy.

To make the change a bit easier for me and as my parents drove with the car to Frankfurt, I organised a short trip through France, spending four nights in four different French places I only knew because of Tour de France. In the following entries, I will explain what happened there.

The first stop was in Strasbourg, a city I already knew and one of my favourite places in Europe. When one hears the name "Strasbourg" for the first time, he mainly thinks about European institutions and bureaucracy. But the city is much more than it. It has one of the most amazing cathedrals in Europe, the most wonderful tram I have ever seen and a pedestrianised city centre which is worth a visit. It is really a pleasure to wander around the river and the beautiful old Alsacian houses of Petit France.The cathedral is a masterpiece of gothic art, as you can check in the picture below. There are sculptures everywhere in its façade and it is huge, not as huge as Cologne's cathedral but much larger than the average, really outstanding. Inside I could not help staring at the astronomical clock, a machine built in the Middle Age which calculates everything you can imagine: days of the week, seasons, moons, Easter holidays,... It is much beyond my intellectual capacity.
The city was also crowded with policemen, due to the NATO summit some days after my visit. I have never seen so many policemen together in the same city and we were walking in front of the hotel chosen by the Canadian representatives. Unfortunately, there were some riots last weekend, which made me feel specially sorry for Strasbourg, probably my favourite city in France.