Strasbourg and the Cathedral Notre-Dame

Today we walked down to the Cathedral Notre-Dame, which I showed the outside of in yesterday’s blog.

First, we passed a shop which reminded me of one of my friends at the (Heidelberg) Historical Society.

See if you can guess her name. 😉

The Cathedral is an amazing building, construction was commenced in 1176 and completed in 1439.

Not to put too fine a point on it, it is very large and very impressive.

Inside was an astronomical clock which appeared to be undergoing some renovations.

Very close by was The Œuvre Notre-Dame Museum. We produced our Seniors cards to get very cheap entry namely €3.50 each (about $AUD 5.60).

This museum had a different system again for presenting information to visitors. They lent us devices about the size of a mobile phone, with a strap to go around your neck, which you use to dial in the number of the exhibit you are looking at, and then it would speak out information about it through the speaker which you hold to your ear.

The building had a great deal of artwork and statuary illustrating various phases of the construction and the artwork of the time.

This statue shows evil literally being crushed under foot.

And this painting illustrates what happens if you’ve been naughty.

It is entitled “Deceased Lovers”.

Finally, some of the other artwork on display.

After that we decided to test out their tram network. For a modest size city (770,000 population in 2017) it has an extensive tram and bus network.

After enquiring at the tourist bureau, which was adjacent to the cathedral, we were able to purchase a pass, similar to a Myki, for two people to use the trams and buses for 24 hours from the time that it was first used for €6.90 (about $AUD 11). Compare this to what we (in Melbourne) apparently charge tourists, which is $6 for the card, plus $8.60 for a full day’s travel per person, where a day is a calendar day, and not 24 hours from when you start using it.

After boarding the tram, I was somewhat taken aback to see a youngish person (University age, probably) leap up and offer me his seat. They must’ve thought I was old or something. Helen got exactly the same treatment from somebody else.

Some earnest-looking man offered us something in writing, in French, which I assume was something to do with religion. However I politely declined in my broken French.

The trans run every five or six minutes, so you don’t need to really worry about the timetables, just go to the tram stop and wait. And, the tram was very long.

They seem to have made an effort here to deter cars entering the city, and getting everyone on public transport. The traffic was light.