Strasbourg, France "Capitale de Noël"

The weekend before New Years Ryan and I took an overnight trip to Strasbourg, France. This was our first visit to France and a 2-hour drive made for a nice weekend getaway. The city was founded in 1262 and is quaintly known as Capitale de Noël or the Capital of Christmas. Strasbourg has been hosting Christmas markets in Kléber Square since 1570 and now boasts to have an astonishing 12 Christmas markets spread throughout the city.

Kléber Square

One of the landmarks we could see from almost anywhere in the city was a marvelous cathedral known as "Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg". The detail carved in the sandstone facade was remarkable. On our tour we discovered cathedral construction began in 1176 and was completed in 1439. The building stands 466 feet tall and is the sixth tallest church in the world.

Much of our time in Strasbourg was spent walking around the city. We were able to utilize the cities extensive tram service to assist us from downtown to our hotel. Our favorite part of the city was the “Petite France Quarter”. In this district of Strasbourg we enjoyed the Covered Bridges, Barrage Vauban, and scenic views of homes built in 16^th and 17^th centuries.  The old houses reflecting in the cannel water of the Ill River made this a picturesque location. We walked across several bridges linking the arms of the Ill River. These bridges are known as the “Covered Bridges”.  The 4 stone towers atop these bridges are all that remain of the medieval covered bridge built in the 14^th century. We marveled at the panoramic views of the city from the top of Vauban Barrage or “Great Lock”. This is one of the only buildings that remain of the defensive dam built to protect the city in the 17^th century.

Ill River At Night

 I hope you all enjoyed a little history from our visit to Strasbourg. We had a great time on our adventure and I will now leave you with 3 important lessons we learned on our journey. #1 Make sure your GPS is loaded with maps of the country you plan to visit (sadly it took over an hour to find our hotel as the GPS wanted us to make a u-turn and head back to Germany). #2 When walking on cable stone streets make sure you wearing good shoes. #3 It cost us 2 Euro to have our windows washed at a stop light (You will have to ask Ryan more about that one).

Detailed Carvings of the Cathedral

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg

 

Christmas Market

The Towers of the "Covered Bridges"

“Petite France Quarter”

“Petite France Quarter”

Vauban Barrage

Visiting Würzburg

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The Residenz Palace

Würzburg

Looking down the Main River from the Old Main Bridge

Saturday Ryan and I took a little day trip to Würzburg. This city was almost completely destroyed by an air raid at the end of WWII.  We toured The Residenz Palace otherwise know as the “Castle above all Castles.” The Residenz was built in 1720 and was one of the few buildings still standing following 1945 air raid. The building was not completely left unscathed by the attack, but has been well reconstructed. We enjoyed looking at the huge rooms, ornate carvings, grand staircase, and original furniture. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside the Palace. Interesting fact- we saw a guest room where Napoleon and his wife spent the night. We walked over the Main River using the “Alte Mainbrücke” or Old Main Bridge built in 1473. The walking bridge is one of the oldest bridges in all of Europe. After seeing the sites we walked through the Würzburg Christmas market and enjoyed some delicious German food.

Together

The beautiful flowers Ryan gave me at the airport.

The flowers are opening up and becoming more beautiful every day.

The collector mug Ryan and I brought home from the Wiesbaden Christmas market.

Every year the mug has a different design. This year the vendors and lighted angel wings are painted on the mug.

I made it to Germany on Saturday morning. Ryan met me at the airport with flowers and had the task of keeping me awake all day on Saturday. Sunday afternoon Ryan and I walked down to the Christmas market where we walked around enjoying all the handmade candles, ornaments, and nativity scenes. We met up with some friends who welcomed me to Germany and introduced us to some delicious potato soup from a vendor in the Christmas market.

Making The Move

Last week was an extremely busy week for both Ryan and I. Ryan has been busy searching for our European home and trying to get through in processing. His schedule was full of more meetings and tests than actual work. Ryan was on information overload all last week. :-\ He passed his driving test and now will be able to drive me around when I arrive. :-)

I have been busy coordinating with the 2 moving companies that will move our stuff. I have been packing my suitcases, cleaning our apartment, and deciding which items will go in each shipment. Today the movers will take the items that will be sent over to us via air. Tomorrow the movers will take all the furniture and everything else that will travel by boat. We are hopeful our belongings will arrive at the end of January; therefore I must pack my suitcases wisely. More to come at the end of the week....

Ryan's Send Off

After one long day of packing I believe we have Ryan all ready to go. Ryan starts work on Monday and needs to take enough stuff with him to get him through till the rest of our stuff arrives at the end of January. Yikes! Today (Friday) we will take Ryan to the airport and he will arrive in Germany on Saturday morning. I will stay behind to take care of things here and then will follow in a couple of weeks. We are very excited to begin our European adventure, but it is also very daunting preparing and knowing we are leaving the Country for 2 years. More updates to come soon...