We didn’t plan to spend a ‘long weekend’ in the seventh largest city in France; a city that experienced a terrible act of terror at its Christmas markets in mid December six months ago; it just turned out like that. And during our visit, we spotted quite a lot of evidence of increased security. But, it was also obvious to us why so many people love to come to visit this city.

It is beautiful.

Outside the cathedral, quite close to where the Christmas markets are held each year, these soldiers were making a clear display of their presence. We also spotted some at the Gare when we arrived by train.

And, no one takes a second look at them.  But, as I’ve mentioned before, this is an odd sight to both Mick and me.

We spent our first full day walking around the old city taking in the major sights, and Mick even ended up having a coffee with some of the soldiers.

They were not too keen to have a chat with him though.

France has 13 officially listed public holidays each year, and just over half of them are religious holidays. This long weekend occurred because it was Whit Monday – the day after Pentecost.

We visited Strasbourg Cathedral and were amazed at the height of the spire – which had made it the world’s tallest building for more than 200 years until a church in Hamburg was finished in 1874. During our stay, we used the Cathedral to guide us to different key locations. If ever we were lost, we would get our bearings from the spire. It is so striking.

The city is filled with beautiful buildings.

We spent quite some time in the quarter of the city known as La Petite France, where the River Ill splits into a number of channels, creating several small islands. The water supply of this area made it an ideal location for tanners and millers. Now the half-timbered houses are mostly filled with restaurants and shops.

For some reason, the name of this quarter (Little France) has a link to the disease syphilis (called the ‘French disease’ in an 18-letter unpronounceable German word). In the 15th Century, people with syphilis were cared for on this island.

We were able to walk across a lot of foot bridges that took us from one island to another.

Can you spot Mick?

There are still some of the defensive towers in tact as well.

Like thousands of other tourists, we took a boat ride on the canal.

This was a great way to see more of the city than our feet would allow us to. We had to pass through several locks, which Mick loved, as well as a swing bridge we had earlier walked across. Going through the locks made Mick a little homesick for Pelican Waters and his boat, but when he saw these guys a little later on, he almost became teary. (Not really, despite us hitting our 6 month anniversary of being in France this weekend, we are still very much enjoying all France has to offer.) But, he did enjoy watching them!

Strasbourg is recognised as the Capital of Europe and hence there are several major institutions that are ‘housed’ or ‘hosted’ here including the Council of Europe, The European Parliament and the Lieu d’Europe – a space for learning about European citizenship. We went past all of these during our boat ride. The buildings were massive and majestic.

There was evidence of police presence on the water too. While we were waiting to board our boat – this went past.

During the long weekend, when the weather was not so great, we spent a few hours at the Palais Rohan, which was very near to the Cathedral. The palace, finished in 1742, was built by the Rohan family to house the prince-bishop (the bishop who also had a role as ruler over the people). A number of famous people have slept in the palace – including Marie Antoinette and Napoleon and Joséphine. Mick and I saw the rooms where they had slept (?apparently).

The palace now houses three different museums, and because the cashier guessed we were over 60, making my attempts with my makeup earlier in the day seemingly a waste of time, we got a reduced entry fee of €7 each for all three!

One place Mick found during our kilometres of walking that put a smile on his face was this joint.

Académie de la Bière – where during Happy Hour – pints were €5.

So happy in fact that he decided to get into the spirit of things.