Thursday 16 October 2025

Moving slowly towards the cathedral this morning. A coffee and a slice of pizza on the way helped us avoid the many students on bicycles whizzing past. Just like last time here, the 60,000 uni students are everywhere. They ride fast, silently and with enough skill not to crash into a couple of pensioners. No helmets, either.

We made the cathedral in time for the presentation on the Astronomical Clock inside and its ‘chiming’ at 12.30 pm.

A Renaissance masterpiece, the Astronomical Clock is a result of the combined work of artists, mathematicians and technicians. Swiss clockmakers, sculptors, painters and automaton designers all worked together to produce this masterpiece. The current mechanism dates from 1842. It was well worth the entrance fee.

Then we retraced our tour from yesterday, through Petite France, looking for an éclair and a place to book for dinner. We were successful on both counts. Donatien Patisserie produced the world winning éclair and it is probably where Flashy got his last one in Strasbourg. He had, in desperation got another one beforehand from a not so good patisserie. A taste test at home confirmed the award winning one to be superior.

And we booked Winstub la Clou for dinner, another Flashy and the Major spot from 2012.

Now, here’s an interesting story from yesterday. In the 1500’s, Petite France was once the home of the tanneries. Here the beasts were slaughtered and their hides washed in human urine and hung out on the building’s eaves. Being a not so salubrious or sweet smelling suburb then, it was also home to bars and prostitutes. And, due to the prevalence at the time of syphilis, or ‘maladie Francaise,’ a hospital for the incurable was established nearby. In those days, they thought syphilis was carried on the wind. So, on windy days, when the stink of the tanneries could be ameliorated a bit, people locked themselves inside. Strange.

Strasbourg was also bombed in WW2. US bombers devastated the medieval heart of Strasbourg. They missed the real target. Most of the destroyed buildings were rebuilt after the war in their original style. So, sometimes you are looking at reproductions. Some of these are amazingly good and look genuinely 500 years old.

Winstub la Clou for dinner was a great example of Alsace food. For the fourth time today, the Strasbourgians thought Flashy was German. As we arrived, we got “hier ist die deutsche menu.“ And today the woman in the patissiere said “hallo, das macht drei Euro, danke.“

Luckily, the staff at la Clou spoke many languages, including English. So, we could order pork knuckle and sausage mit sauerkraut! And a half litre of Riesling. What a feast. Not too much volume though. So we should be able to sleep without too much fermentation.

Strasbourg Cathedral. Not quite Amiens!
Astronomical Clock.
Top right is the winner.
Pork knuckle was good.
Say no more.
And that's good too.


Comments

  1. Graeme16 October 2025 at 19:04

    Haven't met a pork knuckle yet that I didn't like.

    ReplyDelete

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