August 2006. France and Luxembourg. Part 2.
Strasbourg. August 9, 2006.
In Strasbourg we took a ride on the small "tourist train", which is actually a small tractor decorated as a steam engine locomotive, towing several cars packed with tourists. It's very good to start the siteseeing with that and then visit the most interesting places probably once again on feet. Don't take the ride before 11am though. The streets are often blocked with careless delivery cars and the chances are your excursion will be spoiled.
Old houses architecture is Strasbourg is almost identical with German "Fachwerk" ("Colombage" in French). Both cultures mix in the town and you see it everywhere. Many signs are even made only in German. Street names are in both languages (well, German there is not a real German), and many inhabitants speak German and not English as a foreign language.
The tourist "train" takes you to a big bridge that lets you see many many others.
This one was just for fun. When walking through the town we saw a street called "Three Pies Street" (rue des Trois Gateaux). Note the second plate with German name (it think it's a dialect actually).
We were undecided on where we are going to go after Strasbourg and I did not make any reservations. We've thought that seeing Luxembourg would be interesting and took a highway going north-west in the direction of Metz. Not the tollway A4 but the smaller one. It goes through some beautyful landscapes, and on that day the sight was really great, with later afternoon sun rays striking the hills through the clouds. We were in a hurry and didn't stop to take photos. This one is taken simply through our dusty windscreen.
We missed an exit for one Campanile hotel on the map near Metz and wend futher north to Thionville. The Campanile there was full but we were lucky to get a room in Ibis right on the same street.
Luxembourg. August 10, 2006.
The small country has many nice places to visit but we had only one day and went to see the capital itself. It started to rain in the evening but cleared later. We parked relatively far away from the historical center and took a long walk. The city is situated on the hills with river flowing between them and therefore has many old but big bridges. It's quite useful for tourists - see the bridges themselves, take a walk under them along the river and see the city while standing on the top:
On the photo below you see the place where women used to wash clothes till early 20th century, standing on the flat stones put into the river (bottom left).
This is Duke's Palace on the photo below. Opposite the main gate there was some pub, which should be quite useful is the Palace's supplies are short :-) Read more about the palace on Wikipedia.
Officially, German is one of Luxembourg's languages. There are many signs in German but it seems that no one speaks it there except German tourists. French is everywhere indeed.
The historical center with Duke's Palace and numerous government buildings and commercial establishements are all on the hill, and down the hill are smaller houses of the "ordinary citizens". The streets there are quite steep and as everywhere you can take the "tourist train" if you don't feel you'll like a long walk.
Part 1: Southern Alsace / Vosges.