I know, I have not written in a little while… Well, I missed some days because I went to visit my cousin in Strasbourg, France (and worked a lot after that). It was my first time in the city, and it was a nice discovery. Before planning this trip, I had never really thought about Alsace, so, when I did my reasearches, I was surprised to see how cute Strasbourg seemed. With all the canals and the flowers, the photos I found online seemed photoshopped. But the city really is lovely!
The Petite France
Strasbourg is composed of various quarters, with different feelings. The one that appears most often online is the “Petite France” (litterally Little France), with its typical houses, canals and touristy places. It is also known as the Quartier des Tanneurs (the name that appears on postcards), but my cousin only used “Petite France”. The name might seem romantic, but its origin is not glamorous at all: it comes from a building, the “hospice of the syphilitic”, which was built at the end of the 15th century to cure persons with syphilis (a disease called Franzosenkrankheit or “French disease” in German).
A European Capital
The Petite France quarter is one of the main attractions of Strasbourg. That’s where I took most of my pictures. As a European capital, Strasbourg also includes the European Parliament, but I only saw it from the boat. Rain started pouring down on the afternoon I chose to visit it. Therefore, I won’t be able to tell you if it’s worth walking around the buildings. I can however give you that link that I had planned on using to see the European sites of Strasbourg.
To see more photos of France, you can visit the gallery France.