Our wonderful fall weather continues as we sail down the river, sometimes instead of going ashore we enjoy the weather on the top deck…
On this day we are in France and our first visit is to Strasbourg which is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988, the first time an entire city centre has received such an honour.
It is a picturesque 16th century old town bisected by canals…
Lots of canal boat tours…
Lots of narrow streets and half timbered houses…
In the centre of town stands a stunning sandstone Gothic cathedral which at 466 feet tall is the sixth tallest church in the world…
Some inside pictures showing the scale of this building…
There is this really interesting Astronomical clock here as well which at certain times of the day the fiqures move around and perform different actions. It was quite something that this clock was made centuries ago…
The town square is also very pretty…
We then drove through some beautiful wine countryside…
This is an area of many small wine producers mostly Reisling who sell their wines through cooperatives and most of the wine is sold locally. It was also an area during WWII which was occupied by thousands of German soldiers and eventually liberated by the Americans. It was absolutely beautiful on a sunny, fall day.
Our final stop of the day was in the capital of the Alsace wine region, Colmar. As we entered there was a minature version of the Statute of Liberty as the sculptor Bartholdi is from Colmar…
There are other beautiful sculptures around the town made by him as well including this one in the courtyard of his family home now a museum…it represents Liberty, Justice and the Motherland.
The town also has many canals and sometimes called the Petite Venice…
Since the town over the centuries sometimes belonged to France and other times Germany the architecture reflects both countries. This house the Maison Pfister is built in the early German renaissance style…
It is richly decorated with Biblical scenes and mythological fiqures…
And of course many shops featuring good French food and wine…
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It was a long day so we were happy to get back on the ship to relax and to enjoy some of the local wines.
I really enjoyed cruising the river with you guys in France! Beautiful pictures and I’m sure the wine tasted favourably!! LOL!’
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