Touring Strasbourg...Wait, How Did We End Up in France Again??

I’ll admit it, there has been some hardcore relaxing going on here at our cabin in Hayingen.

Achieving master status at relaxation

Yes, that's a cigar in one hand and a beer in the other... Even the moon is peeking out in jealousy.

But all good things must come to an end, and sometimes they have to be replaced by other things that are good things.

Readers, meet Sarash (right). Sarah, readers.

Mom and dad have a part-time neighbor, Sarah, who spends most of her life in Strasbourg, France with her two children Alena and Julian. I suppose that some combination of her warmth, hard-work, and intelligence have guided her up the ladder to become an accomplished international diplomat of sorts, and to therefore have what I consider to be a really, really cool life. To put it in a very small nutshell, she travels around helping other countries understand and adapt the European Union's position on human rights. Frequent travel and cultural barriers must abound, and I can only imagine that the nuances within that job description take a very special and steely type of person.

Nevertheless, as she was only a couple hours' drive from Hayingen, she found time in her busy schedule to host all four of us Friday and Saturday night, and to furthermore take us around the city to give us the insider’s look at Strasbourg.

Sarah's street. Go ahead, call it cute. It's cute.

A little Strasbourg square in sight of the cathedral spire

It looked nice, to say the least. It almost made me think that John and I should’ve spent more time in France. Almost, but not quite. I’m movin’ on, Francie baby (as in, we’re going to Israel in two days!).

It was funny—going back to France after having been gone for only about two weeks, I felt some odd sense of confidence—as though I was a sophomore this time around, and before I had been a pimply, stuttering freshman. Foolish, I know, because I still hardly speak the language and I’m still woefully far from fully meshing with the French culture. But nonetheless, after visiting two new countries in which I was again a freshman, it was nice being back to a place with which I was mildly familiar.

How to even begin to explain all that we managed to do with only one full day I’m not sure, so let’s just take a visual journey. We’re going on a journey! Doesn’t that sound fun?

You know, I was going to wait for that old lady to get out of this shot, but then I decided that she makes it better because I'm pretty sure she's actually a model. Amiright?

Is that man grabbing his own butt!?	A view of the Notre Dame Cathedral
The Saturday Market--more on that later ;)	This city almost takes it too far with the cuteness.

A view from our boat tour, where I was conspiciously trying to cover the stench of a certain cheese sitting beside me

Inside the Strasbourg Notre Dame, which underwent constuction in the late 1100s. At top left, you can see the humongous 14th century organ across from some of the cathedral's 4,600 stained glass window panels.

The "Pillar of Angels," which represents the Last Judgment. Behind it you see an astronomical clock which dates back to 1842 and shows zodiac time, lunar position, ecclesiastical calendar and, of course, the time.

As we neared the church I heard an angelic voice coming from the courtyard and wondered 

what woman could be totally intimidating me with her vocal abilities. And to my surprise, 

we found a very non-woman sitting in front of the cathedral, letting loose as a one-man band. 

Simply chilling. See more on his Myspace page.

You'll notice I didn’t mention anything about what we ate. Who cares? 

Just kidding. That was a joke. Ha.ha. The food of Strasbourg shall get its own post. Stay tuned (to be notified of new posts in your inbox--click here!)