Mon Oct 3

Today we were docked in the city of Kehl, Germany across the river from  Strasbourg, France.  We initially did a drive through the city pointing out the main sights and orienting us to the city. Strasbourg is where the meetings of the European union take place and also where the United Nations court for human rights is located.  There were many large modern buildings related to both EU and UN functions and lots of colorful flags of all the nations involved. 

Then we went into the old city for a walking tour through wonderfully picturesque streets ending at the fantastic Gothic cathedral.

These women wearing a traditional hat are all over the city painted by local artists

The cathedral was closing for the lunch hour so we weren't able to go in. The tour ended and Dick and Ted were tired and opted to go back to the ship. Sandy hadn't felt well and stayed on the ship that morning. I stayed in the city and walked EVERYWHERE and window shopped at all the elegant shops and checked out several department stores and generally enjoyed myself.

Previous palace now a shopping mall

Gutenberg statue. He was said to have invented the printing press in Strasbourg though the first bible was printed in Germany

I was determined to try some Alsace food at lunch and found a bistro where I had a delicious fois gras of Strasbourg with toasts and a nice salad with a glass of delicious Alsace reisling. About 3/4 of the way through the meal I realized that I had forgotten to photograph my beautiful plates as usual. After lunch I made my way back to cathedral square and visited the cathedral to see wonderful stained glass and a dramatically large cathedral.

Carvings above the cathedral door

The highlight of the cathedral is a huge and elaborate astrological clock.

Unfortunately, my pictures didn't turn out very well. There was also a dramatic looking and colorful organ.

I deserved gelato after all my walking and had no problem finding some in the square. Some more walking to make sure I had covered all of the old city and then I was ready to return to the ship.

At dinner that night, our British ship friends brought a RED German wine for dinner that was excellent and a big surprise to all the winos that thought there were no decent German reds.

The Brit friend husband was a big wine connossieur and the guys enjoyed sharing their wine stories and wine knowledge at dinner every night.