HEIDELBERG (Chapter II)

Well, it has been a busy month for us!  In addition to our normal routine (you know, Gerald working), we took an intensive German language course at the Max Weber Haus (pictured below in the snow storm we had about a week ago!) here in Heidelberg.  The Haus is a beautiful building, and one night we heard a violin/piano concert in the salon where the Webers used to hold "discussions" with other intellectuals.  The concert was very good, especially given that we could listen to great music while viewing the castle (illuminated) across the river.  The view on the right is the view from the salon (after the snow).  Don't be fooled by the snow, though.  Spring is definitely on its way here.  The magnolia trees - and other blossoming trees - are in full bloom and many of the trees have their spring-green leaf "fuzz".  Elyse went for a long walk yesterday and discovered one of the vineyards (see below) and a nice view of the old town. The weather is warming up and the sun feels warm.  There are many more outdoor café set up.  The one downstairs has blankets on the chairs that people put over their shoulders on the still-cool evenings.  Very cute and cozy looking!  The town promises to look even more beautiful in Spring.
 


It was pretty humiliating - and humorous - taking the placement test to determine our level for the German class. We TOLD them that we didn't know anything, but we had to take the test anyway (we assume they need to have a base measurement for everyone).  So we went on a Saturday (3/3) afternoon and were handed the first of the two sections of the test: three pages of exercises to judge our knowledge of German grammar and vocabulary. The first exercise - we kid you not - was 5 lines of letters with no spaces in between them.  Our job was to divide the letters into words/phrases/sentences and to add the appropriate punctuation and capitalization. Remember that some German words can be 20+ letters long as the Germans combine words to make new words.  Anyway, Elyse recognized a few words and randomly divided the rest of the letters.  Gerald added an extra strategy to his mostly random division of the letters:  he looked at the grading system and figured out how many capitals and words would be needed to add up to the 50 points for the section, then readjusted his choices accordingly.  That mathematical mind is always working!

The rest of the questions/exercises in Part I resulted in mostly random responses on our part, but we sat there for the full 45 minutes trying to make some sense of it and altering our answers periodically just to fill the time. Gerald found some comedy in the whole process; Elyse less so.  And just when we thought we had been humiliated enough, they handed us Part II: a cover sheet with graphs (which, being maps and numbers, we could determine were graphs of climate changes in various parts of the world) and a few questions.  We were to use the attached 3 pages of lined paper to write an essay response! HAH!  Luckily some other folks raised their hands and handed in the paper right away- admitting defeat.  We joined them in this surrender (they ended up being in our class) so that we did not have to sit there for 45 minutes twiddling our thumbs.  We stopped at the office on the way out to make sure they understood that we should be in the beginner's class and left to enjoy what was rest of the day.

There were about 150 students from all over the world who were taking German classes at the institute during March.  Classes met each weekday morning (from 9:00 - 12:30, with a half-hour break at 10:30 for coffee/tea and yummy breads/pastries.  There were nine of us in our class, with students from Egypt, Poland, Brazil, Taiwan, Italy, Australia and the U.S.  It was a fun group and we've learned a lot.  We had two teachers (dividing the week's lessons), one of whom was excellent and the other not as good.  We learned a LOT in such a short time.  We can understand a fair bit now - far more than we expected - especially in writing. We have purchased a few Asterix books in German and can make sense of them now (Gerald has an advantage since he practically knows the stories by heart in English).  We are even able to communicate a bit (mostly with patient people who are able to translate in their head what we are trying to say).  We can even talk with Holger's (Gerald's host) kids a little.  The little ones (ages 3 & 6) have not quite figured out why we mostly look at them blankly when they speak and why we talk gibberish all the time.  The 8-year old (who is learning English in school) is more understanding and even tries to teach us a bit.  Very cute!  We are considering taking an evening German course (two evenings/week) during the summer term (April - July) just so that we don't lose all that we've learned... and maybe even learn a bit more.

In addition to tackling German (the language Mark Twain said would take an intelligent person at least 30 years to learn!), we have continued to take advantage of the many offerings of Heidelberg and its environs.  One includes a weekly "coffee clutch" with other visiting scholars that is hosted by a lively group of women (mostly spouses of local academics).  This last week they had their annual Easter party - complete with easter egg hunt (although the kids were finding packages that included a chocolate bunny and about 10 chocolate eggs!) and token gifts for the adults.  It was held at a mansion (pictured below) owned by the University and available for rental.  It is a beautiful place and looks out onto the castle.  There was a LOT of food (there always is - we rarely need to make dinner Wednesday nights), both savory and sweet, along with wine and tea/coffee.  It is always odd for us on these evenings - they have tea/coffee with sweets first and then later on they break out the wine with quiches, etc.  Takes some getting used to!  When our hosts realized we were in our last week of our course, they spoke with us in German - and we were able to communicate reasonably well.  We decided that was our homework for the evening!



We have attended some fantastic classical music concerts this month.  We heard a chamber music performance at the Alte Aula (old hall) at the University at the beginning of the month.  This is a stunning venue, filled with dark wooden seats and balconies/galleries embossed with golden names and colorful designs. At this particular performance, we were seated next to a German woman whose son is in the process of building a house in Adelaide!  As if this weren't coincidence enough, at intermission she introduced us to her friend (sitting elsewhere) partly because she was from Canada.  During our discussion we discovered that this woman had worked at UConn in Storrs in the 1960s!  Small world...  We also attended a concert in one of the churches in honor of Bach's 322nd birthday.  The first pieces were on the organ, but the rest were played by a quartet on "period" instruments: wooden flute, harpsichord, violin and cello.  They were superb.  The concert was followed by a (German) movie (My Name is Bach), most of which we did not understand, but which we enjoyed.  The Germans have a nice tradition of including (in the ticket price) an offering of champagne and orange juice at intermission.  It felt a bit odd drinking champagne in a church, but we managed.

Our last concert for the month was part of the Heidelberg Spring Music Festival (taking place until the end of April).  There are wonderful classical concerts almost every night in various venues around town.  This one was held at the "Town Congress Hall".  It is a stately looking building; the music hall was smaller than we expected and had fantastic acoustics.  There was a guest solo oboist, Albrecht Mayer from the Berlin Philharmonic, playing with the regional chamber philharmonic orchestra.  We both love the sound of the oboe anyway, but this was one of the best concerts we have ever attended.  They played a Mozart symphony, among other pieces, that was superb.  It was a lovely evening and a nice introduction to the Festival for us.

We continue to explore Heidelberg itself - its architecture and its culinary feats (admittedly most of these are actually French restaurants!).  We've found some interesting examples on both fronts.  Here are a few of the interesting buildings.  We have begun to save our coins for the place on the right (it's next door to the Max Weber Haus, overlooking the river and castle).  It might take a while though.  Donations are welcome - there might be just enough room for you to visit too.  

EXCURSIONS

This month's excursions have mostly been one day trips. The longest was only about 2 hours away and they have all been wonderful.

STUTTGART

We had an image of Stuttgart being an industrial city, given that it is the home of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, so we were a bit surprised to see the beautiful (reconstructed) architecture and the many parks in and around the city.  We walked through the Schlossplatz (pictured below), looking (in vain, it ends up) for a bakery to get a sandwich for lunch.  It was a glorious day, so many people were out and, as you can see, the plaza is a beautiful place to sit and enjoy the sunshine! After finally (and in desperation) sharing a falafel for lunch, we meandered over to the State Gallery.  We found that half of the museum was empty - of both art and people - because the museum is in the process of refurbishing the "Old Masters" collection section of the museum (we didn't understand the sign near the ticket booth telling us that)! However, we thoroughly enjoyed their modern art collection, including some stunning Picasso's.  We realized that it was probably a good thing that we only had half the collection to view; it gave us more time - and energy - to walk around the city and to see other things.

We decided to go next to the Mercedes-Benz Museum - mostly because we wouldn't be able to do that anywhere else (and because we had heard it was interesting). We were very pleasantly surprised to find how good it was.   The building itself is pretty impressive, and there was a superb audio guide.  There were MANY old cars and other vehicles in the collection, as well as lots of interesting information about the development and history of the company. Below are just a few of the many cars we viewed. Unfortunately, the gift shop had sold out of what we wanted, so we came home empty-handed.  
 
We had time to wander around the city center a bit more before dinner and found these two gems.  The square on the left is Schillerplatz (named after the poet- dramatist Friedrich Schiller).  Behind the statue of Schiller you can see the Stiftskirche on the left, with its 61m high tower.  By law, no other building in Stuttgart may be taller than this.  There was a concert going on inside the church, so we had some musical accompaniment to our wanderings.  The courtyard pictured on the right is in the Alteschloss (Old castle/palace).  We were lucky enough to see the rams butting heads on the clock in the tower when the chimes rang 6:00 p.m.  The Don Quixote - looking man on the horse is Eberhard, the founder of Tübingen University.
 
We ended up at a cute little pub for dinner, where we sampled the Schwäbish (regional) cuisine - and beer, of course.  Gerald had Maultaschen - sort of a giant meat ravioli (about the size of a stuffed cabbage) that he said was delicious (unidentified meat, so Elyse didn't sample it), while Elyse had the Käsespetzle (like baked Macaroni and Cheese, but much better!).  It was a lovely day, but we had to get home to get a good night's rest before school started for us the next day!!

NECKARSTEINACH

The following weekend, Holger invited us to visit Neckarsteinach with his three older kids and a friend.  Neckarsteinach is located at a "bend" in the river, and has four castles - two in ruins and two still used by descendants of the family who built all four.  You can see the two still in use on the left in the middle photo.  The four were built by brothers between 1100 and 1250 due to a family feud, apparently.  The kids (Holger's, not the castle-building brothers) had a great time climbing on and around the ruins (Holger's eldest, Katharina, found a nice window seat) and we enjoyed the views and company.  We went back to their house for lunch and an afternoon of food, wine, and laughs.

LADENBURG

That Sunday was a beautiful, sunny spring day, so we decided to venture out on our bikes to Ladenburg, a nearby town we had heard about.  It took us about 25 minutes to get there, riding on a bike path that goes along the river and fields/gardens, and that was filled with people out enjoying the sunshine.  We didn't expect to find quite the gem that we did.  Ladenburg was originally a Celtic community (from about 200 B.C.!) and then was a settlement for the Romans and then for the Franks.  Carl Benz (of Mercedes fame) lived here, so there is a small automotive museum here too (we skipped it figuring we had seen the "big" collection in Stuttgart).  Below left is the town's central marketplace.  We sat on the fountain steps and ate pastries for lunch (sharing one savory and one sweet - both delicious!), and then explored the town.  Many of the town's homes have been recently restored, so the streets were filled with color and slightly askew buildings.  Parts of the town's original wall survive, along with one of the gates and the "witches' tower".  There are also many tempting-looking restaurants, so we hope to get over there for dinner one evening now that it is staying light later in the evening.

 

LANGE NACHT DER MUSEEN

The night of March 17th was designated the "long night at the museums" in Heidelberg (and in some other cities around Germany, apparently).  On this night - from 7 p.m until 3 a.m! - all the museums and galleries are open, and many churches and other buildings host concerts, lectures and other events.  A single ticket allowed for free entry to all the venues and covered transportation between and within the three participating towns: Heidelberg, Mannheim (about 15 mins from here by train), and Ludwigshafen (across the river from Mannheim).  A GREAT way to get people out and into these places - and there were LOTS of folks out!

We joined up with two friends from our German class and started the evening in Mannheim (figuring we'd want to be in Heidelberg when we were getting tired later in the night).  Mannheim is a fair bit bigger than Heidelberg and is more of a city - with wider streets and lots of shops (a real draw for the two of us - NOT!). After finding a pretzel (like in NYC) to eat (figuring we'd be "grazing" all night), we headed to a few of the many offerings in Mannheim.  Our first visit was to the Kunsthalle (Art Museum), which had an excellent selection of art, especially portraits.  We came in to the very modern wing (where we saw a man having his body painted!) and then moved into a gallery with a great selection of 19th - 20th century paintings.  Our next major stop was the  Zeughaus (we had learned that "zeug" means "stuff" -- an appropriate name for this collection), pictured below, left (yes, those are giant eyes looking out at you from the windows!).  It had a large, strange, but interesting mix of items: from musical instruments to porcelain, historical artifacts of the city, and portraits, among MANY other things.  After wandering there for a while, we took a break and sat on a bench outside and shared a bottle of wine while watching the shifting display of horses (one of which is pictured below).  The many designs on the horses included soccer balls, geometric designs and 1960's floral designs, among others.  We stopped at a few other places - including a café (that had just had a concert) and a gallery with a fantastic photography exhibit - and then headed over to the Schloss (palace) that is now home to the University's administration.  On the way, we came across the Jesuitkirche (pictured below), another example of subdued, Baroque architecture!



After taking the train back to Heidelberg at about 10pm, we started off at the Ethnology museum, housed in an old mansion at the far end of the Altstadt (old city). Outside the museum there was African food for sale - the couscous was delicious!  Inside was a wonderful collection of West African art and an extra special treat: there was a man from Ghana who was playing a drum and singing.  We sat on the floor - with many others - and listened.  He then moved onto the xylophone-like instrument pictured below.  The "keys" are made of wood and there are ceramic gourds under that have holes in them that have been covered with tape.  The vibrations through these hole contribute to a fantastic sound.  Someone asked him what he was singing and he said it was a call from merchants to come and buy their wares.  It sounded much more interesting when we couldn't understand the words!

We decided to head up to the castle next and took the fun  Tuesdayicular / cable car up (partly because we were lazy, but mostly because it was free and fun).  The castle looked beautiful all lit up at night.  It was fun to be able to wonder among the lushly decorated apartment rooms and to scan the exhibit placards on the history of the castle (it was about 12:30 a.m. by now, so our attention span was waning a bit).  There were guides dressed in period clothing who were explaining the history of particular people / rooms.  We understood SOME of the explanations (certainly a LOT more than we would have two weeks before!), but not all that much, so we moved on.  We quickly walked through the Apothecary museum (pictured below, left). Gerald had already been there and says it is excellent.  Elyse will return when she has the energy to read the placards more carefully.  We then took a quick peek at the "Grosses Fass" (Great Vat) that was made in the 18th-century and can supposedly hold more than 220,000 liters (about 55,000 gallons) of liquid.

We then walked back down to the Haupstrasse (main pedestrian street through the old city).  By now we were getting pretty tired (it was about 2 a.m), so we stopped to get a Doner Kebab at one of the shops along the street (we had to wait in line, so we were not the only ones!) to get some energy.  It tasted pretty darn good! Our next stop was the Kurpfälzisches (the Heidelberg/Palatinate region which used to be an independent state) Museum.  This museum is located in an old palace and has regional artifacts and portraits.  The building was beautiful, but we were probably too tired to fully appreciate  the collection.  We went there partly because there was an exhibit of photographs from Marilyn Monroe's "last sitting".  It was interesting to see how different she looked in different portraits - from the "dumb blond" look to vulnerable to a sophisticated woman. As usual, the Germans had dubbed the movie about her, including the interview with Robert Mitchum!

We were pretty spent by now, but made one last stop:  the Verpackungs Museum.  As it sounds, this museum focuses on packaging materials!  We decided to go because none of us was sure we would spend the money to get in, but we were curious about it.  It is the favorite museum of one of our German teachers, so maybe there is more to it than our exhausted minds and bodies could take in.  There were samples of posters and packaging for various products and it all looked that much more "sad" since the musicians who had been performing there were packing up.  We had some laughs as we cruised through it though.

By now it was quarter to three in the morning and time for bed. There were still a fair few people milling about - partly leftover from the Lange Nacht and partly from St. Patrick Day parties.  We were happy to sit down on the bus knowing that it would drop us off within a 5 minute walk of the apartment.  It was a fun evening/night and we are very glad that we did it.  We think every city with museums should hold a night like that. But our bed felt REALLY good when we fell into it about 3 a.m.!  The next day we went over for lunch at Holger's place to celebrate his son Valentin's 3rd birthday with the family.  It was a nice, relaxing way to recover from our evening.  They are a wonderful family -- and we could even communicate (or at least understand!) the kids a bit more!

SPEYER

The following Sunday we joined an excursion sponsored by the University Gästehaus (Guest House) in which we live.  A group of us met at the train station to head to Speyer.  Unfortunately, we had changed the clocks/time for daylight saving the night before, so many of those registered to come probably showed up an hour late!  There were about 15 of us - from China, Japan, Russia and the U.S.  It only took about 30-45 mins. to get there by train.  We walked through the town's Altpörtel (old main gate, pictured below later - when the sun was out!) and walked down the main street to the incredibly impressive cathedral (Kaiserdom) at the far end.  It was gray and cold when we arrived, so the place looked a bit deserted (other than tourists), but the town was bigger and prettier than we expected. We had a great guide who walked us around the city and shared a lot of facts and history (in English!) which we wouldn't have been able to gather otherwise.

Speyer was (like Ladenburg) originally a Celtic settlement and then a Roman market town.  It became important during the Middle Ages when it hosted 50 sessions of the imperial parliament (between 1294 and 1570). It was one of the main cities of the Holy Roman Empire in this period. In 1030, the Emperor (Konrad II) started the Kaiserdom (cathedral), now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It only took about 30 years to complete! It is the biggest Romanesque cathedral in Germany at 134m long, and has the largest crypt (with eight queens, kings and emperors buried there). It is stunning - and looked even more beautiful in the afternoon when the clouds lifted and we had sunny blue skies.  The picture below left is a side view of the entire cathedral (from a park nearby) - it's hard to fit it all in!  There are many styles as the cathedral was destroyed and rebuilt a few times and added on to over the years.  The picture on the right shows the Romanesque style clearly, including the HUGE columns that they needed to support the weight of the roof.  There is a large stone font at the front of the church.  Apparently when there is a new bishop, he is expected to fill the font with wine as a gift to the town. It takes about 1580 liters/400 gallons to fill.  They were waiting for a new bishop to be announced in the next few weeks, so maybe we'll go back for the party!  :)
 
Walking around the town we were surprised by more beautiful churches and half-timbered buildings.  The house on the left (below) was built by a rich merchant and the crescent is to commemorate the defeat of the Turks.  The church in the middle, is the Trinity church, whose interior is in the picture on the right. The pilgrim statue is actually commemorating pilgrims leaving from the Kaiserdom on their way to the famous pilgrimage site of Santiago de Campostela in Spain.  Trinity Church is actually a Lutheran church - despite its ornate decorations.  It is built of wood - the only material that the locals could afford when they returned to rebuild their city after the French had destroyed it - and almost every inch is covered with murals (of biblical stories) and designs.  It was a copy of a church in Frankfurt that was later destroyed.  This church has an organ (covered in gold) that has about 2800 pipes!  It was quite a beautiful place.
 

The guide then took us to the Jewish quarter of Speyer.  There was a Jewish community here since the Romans arrived. The common Jewish name Shapiro is derived from the town's name (pronounced SHpeyer). The Jews had managed a lot of the finances for the town and were quite an important part of the community - even being protected by the Bishop during the first crusade.  But, as in many (most?) European towns, the Jews were eventually exiled or killed in pogroms.  The few who remained or returned were (much) later rounded up during WWII and sent to concentration camps. There was a memorial with the names of those from Speyer who died in the Holocaust.  We were amazed to find that Speyer has the ruins of a synagogue that dates back to 1104 and a Mikveh (ritual bath, pictured below) from 1120.  The Mikveh has even been used over the past few years by visitors.  The water doesn't get above about 3° C / 45° F, so it would be a bit of a shock dunking one's head!  It was kept in such good condition because it was buried by rubble until a recent excavation.
 
We ended the tour with a walk up to the top of the town gate (first photo for Speyer).  From the top, we were afforded views of the town (including the one below) and the surrounding area - we could even see Heidelberg.  From here it was easy to see where the old wall around the town would have been - the street and homes curved along its old route.  After a lunch in one of the local pubs, much of the group went into the historical museum nearby for an exhibit on Pirates (good for the kids).  Gerald & I went in for a little bit (where we saw a picture of a bottle of wine supposedly from the 3rd century AD and some interesting artifacts), but then decided to retrace our steps and explore the town a bit more since it had become a glorious day.  After getting an ice cream on the way back to the train station, we returned to Heidelberg.  Another wonderful day.

SCHLOSS SCHWETZINGEN

The following day the Max Weber Haus had arranged for all the students to go to nearby Schwetzingen to visit the palace and gardens there.  Gerald took advantage of the opportunity to sneak in a morning of work for a change.  We know that we'll go back there once the gardens are more in bloom and the fountains are on, so it was not huge loss (except that Elyse and our classmates missed having him along) for him.   The group was split into smaller groups according to language ability - and the guides must have adjusted their speaking speed and vocabulary accordingly.  Our classmates and Elyse were able to understand a good portion of what the guide was saying the whole morning - pretty amazing when we think about it.  

The palace (above) was actually the summer residence of Prince-Elector Carl Theodor, starting in the mid-18th century.  It was interesting to see how these folks lived (pretty garish interior designs at times) and entertained in the palace, but much of it remains to be restored to its full glory.  It is the 72 hectares of gardens that are the real draw in Schwetzingen.  Much of the space is devoted to French gardens (below, left) modeled after Versailles.  But there are many other features, including temples to Apollo and Athena, a grotto, a fake Mosque (below, right), an arched Chinese bridge and many other "follies" that were the fad at that time. Apparently there is a beautiful theater where there are concerts held during the Schwetzingen music festival, so maybe we'll head back there for one of them!
  

STRASBOURG

That would have been all we had to report to you if we had actually gotten this out to you in March, but on Sunday (Happy Birthday, Graham!) we ventured over to Strasbourg for the day.  We were amazed at how different it felt and looked, even though it is only about 2 hours away.  Luckily we took our passports (crossing the border to France and all) as there was a passport check on the train on our way back to Heidelberg! Here is the coat of arms of the city of Strasbourg.



It was supposed to be a warm and sunny day, but it remained cold and dreary until early afternoon.  We were pleased, however, to find out that all the admissions were free on the first Sunday of the month!  We were also pleased to be able to understand the people a lot more easily!!  We headed over to the famed Gothic cathedral and found that it was being used for Mass (it was Palm Sunday, after all), so we went around to the Musee de L'Oeuvre Notre Dame (pictured below), housed in beautiful 14th-16th c. buildings filled with statues and other pieces of art (sample below) from the Middle Ages and Renaissance.  There was even a collection of Jewish / Hebrew gravestones from before 1349 (when the Jews were exiled).

We found a place for what we hoped would be a light lunch, as we had decided we were going to have a nice dinner.  Elyse ordered a leek quiche and Gerald ordered a fried Camembert.  We thought that would consist of a few slices of cheese with the side salad, but he received an entire Camembert fried!  Both meals were delicious, but a bit more filling than we expected!  We went back to check on the Cathedral, but Mass was still on, so we climbed the 330 steps up to the viewing platform on the Cathedral (we figure that  burned off about 2 bites of the Camembert).  It had started to clear, so we were able to see a fair bit. Just seeing the detail of the cathedral was interesting enough.  It is hard to fathom how many full-size sculptures are on the outside of the building, never mind how much work would have gone into the stained glass.
 
Next we headed to the Château des Rohans (pictured above, right - with the courtyard), the former 18th c. residence of the prince-bishops, which houses three separate museums.  The top floor has the Musee des Beaux Arts, with a very impressive collection of European paintings from the 14th - 19th centuries. The next floor was the most fun.  It contained both a collection of ceramics, furniture, toys, etc. and the private apartments of the royalty. The rooms in the apartments are richly decorated and there is a fabulous library (pictured below, right), complete with celestial and earthly globes on the long wooden table in the center. The room on the left was the King's bedroom.  It was pretty impressive to see. By the time we got to the Archaeological Museum on the bottom floor, we were too tired to take much in.  It was an amazing collection of artifacts ranging from prehistory to about 800 AD and was nicely displayed.
 

We tried the Cathedral once more, but now the Bishop was giving a sermon, so we knew it was going to be a while!  We had heard an amazing soprano singing voice when we were at the top of the Cathedral and heard it again in the plaza in front of the cathedral.  We traced it to a tattooed man playing the mandolin (see below).  We decided to take a seat at one of the cafés outside the cathedral so that we could listen to him while enjoying the view.  To the left of the cathedral is the stunning "Maison Kammerzell" (pictured below, right).  It is a rich merchant's house, built in 1589.  Not bad looking! Anyway, Elyse ordered a hot chocolate (what else?) and Gerald a fresh orange juice (we were still full, so no pastry!).  Elyse received a bowl of hot chocolate, complete with a soup spoon -- it was a soup dish filled with hot chocolate, after all!  We sat and rested, listened to the music, enjoyed watching people and appreciated, once again, how lucky we are.
 
We decided to try the Cathedral once last time before heading to another section of town, and found people milling around inside.  We were now free to wander throughout the inside and to gape at the size and beauty of the place.  The cathedral took almost 300 years to complete - from its beginnings in 1176 to the completion of the 142m high spire in 1439.  That explains the mix of design a bit. The rose window at the back is exceptionally brilliant - especially now that the sun was out - but all of the stained glass was beautiful.  The organ (just visible on the left of the middle photo below) dates from the Middle Ages and is quite ornate (we had heard it during one of our earlier visits). We were also able to see the astronomical clock that was created in 1842 and sits toward the front of the church.  It is about 20 feet tall and has an elaborate display of figures moving every day at 12:30 p.m. The cathedral is a beautiful and impressive building.
  
Now we (finally!) walked over to the other major highlight of Strasbourg:  "Petite France".  This is the old fishers', millers' and tanners' district and has alleys along canals filled (the alleys, not the canals) with half-timbered houses from the 16th and 17th centuries.  It was early evening by now, so the light made everything look that much more peaceful and pretty.  The "Covered Bridges", pictured below left, used to be covered, but now just have the fortified towers from the 16th century.   Behind them (where we were taking the picture from) is the "Vauban Barrage", a dam of sorts built in 1690, which could flood the southern part of the city for protection from invasion.  This vantage point allowed us to take in the beauty of the area before heading in amongst its narrow streets to find a restaurant for dinner.
 
We decided on a restaurant called L'Eveil des Sens.  It had a fixed price menu that looked great.  Gerald convinced Elyse that she should get the 3- (vs. 2-) course special because "the servings will probably be small."  If one wanted dessert, one had to order it at the beginning of the meal, so we both went for 3 courses.  Gerald had foie gras to start (apparently Strasbourg is famous for it -- if this restaurant's sample is any indication, we understand why!), then a beef dish (cooked for 12 hours and served with vegetables - cut like butter and tasted superb) and a Roquefort tart with poached pears for dessert (yummy!).  Elyse had a duck "pastille" (stripped duck with a Mediterranean flavor encased in a small filo package - fantastic!), followed by herb-coated veal (liver, it ends up - didn't quite "get" that part from the French menu) and an apple and cream "Mille Feuille" for dessert.  We were both satiated after the appetizers, full after the main courses and hurting by the end of dessert.  We decided that they make you order dessert at the start because they know no one would have room for dessert otherwise.  Unfortunately we had to scoot out pretty quickly after dessert so that we could catch our train home.  It was good that we had a couple of hours to let our digestive juices get started before we were horizontal.  We fell into our bed just after midnight -- still full, but very happy.  No breakfast the next morning, that's for sure!  Elyse pushed herself to have a pastry for lunch (even though she still wasn't really hungry) because she knows she will have to do without any pastry for this week of Passover!!  

And that catches you up for now.  April is sure to be a very busy and exciting month as we have visits planned with friends and family.  We are very much looking forward to them and will let you know what we were up to!