Strasbourg
I
had a hotel in Strasbourg that I stayed at during the entire trip. On
my first real day in Strasbourg I spent most of my time walking around
the city. I took the tram from my hotel to the center of town. From there
I walked to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The Cathedral is pretty impressive.
It is built out of pink sand stone and has a lot of intricate sculptures.
The 14 meter Rose window is very nice and the astronomical clock inside
the church is quite interesting. I walked the more than 300 steps up to
the top of the church tower to get a view of the entire city. I took a
tourist ride around the city, which was good because it helped me get
oriented. The city isn't very large and it is easy to get to most places
by walking, but the tram can be used to get to some of the edges of the
city. I went to the Museum of Modern Art, which was much better than I
expected it to be. The area of Strasbourg known as the Petite France is
quite charming and I enjoyed walking around the area. Strasbourg has may
good restaurants and winstubs. Many of the buildings date from the 16th
century and the old city is quite picturesque. On my last day in Alsace
I spent some more time in Strasbourg. I even took a boat ride around the
city. One interesting part of the boat ride is that the rivers are at
different levels so we had to travel through several locks.
Basel Switerland
On
the second day of my vacation I took the train to Basel Switerland. The
Kunstmuseum was having a special exhibition of impressionist paintings.
The museum had gathered 50 impressionist paintings from all over Europe
which it had on display together with its own substantial collection of
paintings. The exhibition was great, but I wasn't allowed to take any
photographs. Afterwards I went to the Basel Zoo which the guide books
had rated highly. The big problem with the zoo is that I live near the
San Diego Zoo which is one of the best Zoos in the world. Even the L.A.
Zoo is a world class zoo, so the Basel zoo was a bit of a let down compared
to what I'm used to seeing. The city of Basel itself isn't all that interesting.
I did check out the Cathedral which was undergoing renovations at the
time. From the Cathedral I did get a good view of the Rhine.
Colmar
On
my third day I visited Colmar which is about 50 miles south of Strasbourg.
My first impression of the city was that it was "as cute as a button".
Like Strasbourg many of the buildings date back from the 16th century.
The area known as the Petite Venise is particularly charming. I went to
the Unterlinden Museum which they call the "Petite Louvre".
They claim that the Unterlinden is the second most popular museum in France,
after the Louvre. I don't believe that claim. I went to the museum on
a very nice Saturday and was able to get in without waiting in line. I've
been to the Musee D'Orsay on a cold wet day in January and there was a
line two blocks long. The Museum wasn't bad but I was disappointed that
their Impressionist collection was in storage so they could exhibit some
very unexciting works by some minor artists.
Stuttgart Germany
On
my fourth day I went to Stuttgart Germany. The original plan was to go
to Stuttgart and check out the museum and then head over to Ludwigsbourg
and see the Palace. I got off to a late start and by the time I got to
Stuttgart I realized that I wouldn't have enough time to see Ludwigsburg.
I did the walking tour of Stuttgart but there really isn't much to see.
Most of Stuttgart was destroyed in World War II. The Staatsgalerie, on
the other hand, was fantastic! The museum had quite a few piece that I
was interested in. The building itself was also interesting.