It's the first day of February, and that gave me more of a reason to hurry and post this long-due travel diary of my trip around Europe. The final destination of my two week trip was Strasbourg, France. It was a short trip, just one day but I found that was enough to get a good gist of the place. I absolutely loved everything about Strasbourg, besides maybe a few bits that I'll share as we go along, but overall, every single corner was a little gasp of surprise. It was just so beautiful and picturesque!
We started from Paris, and drove about five hours to Strasbourg. It was my first time seeing the French countryside, and it was quite beautiful. In the morning, we saw a haze of fog all along the hills. I tried to capture it with my camera, but in real life, it looked much more... well, European. Something you would imagine in French paintings!
After our long drive, we finally arrived at our destination. We gave up trying to find any parking space in their garages. They were all full. Without much help and translation available in the area, we guessed where we could park and hoped for the best. We were able to get street parking, and luckily, our car wasn't towed after five-six hours touring the place. Just driving around and looking for parking space got us excited because everything was so beautiful! Our first stop was the Strasbourg Notre-Dame. It is the definition of grandeur.
What we didn't know about this area was that it is supposedly the capitale de noel. I guess it's the season for people to just flock into Strasbourg because oh goodness, it was PACKED. There were so many people all around the cathedral and Petite France that I was pretty shocked. Also, I was unaware that they would have Christmas markets tented in front of the cathedral. So when we arrived, we were both surprised and disappointed with what we saw. Surprised because the markets were so festive, but disappointed because we couldn't take in the cathedral for what it was because there was too much going on in front of it! But still, it was breathtakingly beautiful.
As the sun sets, the gothic detailed cathedral became more and more beautiful as it glistened by the sunset.
The cathedral just could not be captured in a single shot. It is huge and I think it's larger than the notre dame in Paris! Below are pictures of the market. Look how small they are compared to the massiveness of the cathedral. The markets were selling all sorts of things. What was especially best-selling were the vin chauds and the chestnuts.
Of course, I had to get a small cup of their vin chaud and it helped warm up the coldness of the winter day!
Here are the pictures of the inside of the cathedral:
It's also lovely how there were so many musicians playing right outside the cathedral and where the open markets were. It helped created that festive Christmas aura, and it really felt like I was truly in Europe!
Then, from the cathedral we headed to La Petite France. Here you can really see the German influence of Alsace. I especially loved the architecture of the buildings in this area, and the river that runs throughout reflects the beauty of their town.
I can't say where exactly we went, but we did wander all throughout La Petite France. We didn't eat anything special, and if anything, I don't recommend US tourists to eat at a restaurant. Rather, eat something from the markets because it saves $$$ and I just did not enjoy the meal I had in a restaurant around here and service was horrible as well! Just sip a few vin chauds, eat chestnuts and hotdogs and fill your tummies with these beautiful sights!
Here you can really see the beautiful buildings of Alsace, the particular architecture that we all know of so well. I felt as though I was in some Disney movie, and it felt so surreal:
We stayed until late evening. The lights really made the night feel so bright, especially since the river reflected so much of that light. We enjoyed our time here so much (besides the food) and it is somewhere I'd definitely want to visit again and again, but next time not during Christmas season. Perhaps when there are less people and when it is warmer. I think if the weather also was sunnier, it would've been extra beautiful!
Well, that's really all for this post! I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures. Tell me if any of you have been to Strasbourg, and what you loved or didn't love so much. It'll help me plan my trip better next time I go :) x
Beautiful place!
ReplyDeleteLove your photos :)