Cruise Report - Strasbourg

It was a busy week, so I didn't get a post finished midweek as I originally intended.  I did finally finish the bucket hat I intended to wear on the trip, so it never was worn but is ready for the next one.  Or for my daily walks.  I somewhat made up the pattern, although I had one for reference, because most of the ones I found online are for heavier yarn and I used Fiberlady's Bouncy Boo.  I wanted the hat to fit over whatever hairstyle I decided to make; I'd purchased a hat but it worked only if my hair were very flat, and without a high clip or ponytail or even braids.  So it's getting donated (it didn't cost much) and I made one to fit me:

  

Photo on the left shows the finished hat, with the pins and marking yarn in place.  I used the pins to keep track of how many rows on the top, so I knew how many stitches to work between increases, because I didn't want them to make lines so kept shifting where the increases happened.  And every so many rows I worked even to keep the shape I wanted.  Rather than have to fiddle with a locking stitch marker or more pins to keep track of where the row started, since I did it continuously, I flipped the marking yarn (the peach bit at bottom) back and forth.  It's easy to pull out when finished - as shown in the second photo.

So, back to the boat/ship and waking up in France.  The Wellness Instructor missed sailing so there were no classes this morning, and I was able to make a slow start.  Breakfast in the restaurant (what they called 'bistro breakfast', that I ate most days, available in the lounge, a small buffet of items) and then the cruise overview presentation.  After lunch, we head out for various tours of Strasbourg, with a bus into town and walking after the guides, who use an audio system to communicate to us.

First, the bus took us about, showing the European Parliament and Court of Human Justice and other buildings of importance to the European Union and humanity in general:

Synagogue de la Paix.  The entry side is quite lovely.

This building keeps being used as seat of government.

Of course, a central item of the tour is Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg, which is a confection:

There is a mini fountain park with hammocks set up outside.

  

The rose window from outside and inside:

We were just before Bastille Day, and they
were already decorating for the holiday.

The clock is a marvel, and we waited to see it chime.
Noon is really spectacular, but 2:00pm wasn't minor.

Of course, we had to see Place Gutenberg:

The Cathédrale is hardly the only church we saw - one guess as to the denomination of this one?

After our official tour ended, we were given free time and instructed to be back on the plaza at the base of the Cathédrale at a specific time, to regain the buses back to the boat/ship.  I wanted to see some more of the town and had noticed these little trains that were used for tours.  So I checked the information and when we were let to our own, I went to the nearest one and inquired whether it was the "vert" or "bleu" route.  The ticket-taker confirmed it was the one I wanted (which toured the part of town we had not seen) so I purchased a ticket and a few minutes later, we were underway:

As you can see, they offer recorded narration in many languages.

We saw many more churches on this tour, along with Important Buildings and bridges over the streams and so on.  I will not overwhelm you with churches, in part because I didn’t take notes about which is which for all of them.

Eventually back to the Cathédrale (both train routes began and ended there) and I had time to do a little walking about and shopping.  There were two things I wanted to purchase: pain d'epices, which is the French gingerbread, and of course, yarn.  In Basel I'd purchased some leckerli, which is Swiss gingerbread, and since I love gingerbread, a comparison seems a logical excuse to buy more.  Our guide had pointed out "the best shop" for pain d'epices and could I find it again?

The simple answer is no, but I found a bakery that had several different options that I was happy to select.  And on the way there from Place Gutenberg I passed a small shop that clearly had things of interest to me:

  

  

This is a chain in France, and what I found interesting is that they have almost no prewound hanks or balls of yarn.  The yarn is on cones (as shown in the top right photo) and they will wind off the amount you request.  So you need to know the yardage you want, and do maths.  I had no idea how much I wanted so made a guess of a useful quantity:

I opted for a blended yarn ('Tendresse': alpaca and wool and silk) in red and purple, and the scrap of grey was in an oddments basket and is very soft.  I made a guess of yardage that should be enough for a hat and mittens.  On the right in the photo you see two types of pain d'epices, plus some pates de fruits, and at the top une canelé which is a special sort of pastry I've been curious to try.  The golden coin at the bottom is a commemorative medal from the Cathédrale.

Going back to the buses we passed the Opera House:

Then it was onboard, and supper, and sailing to Germany.