Strasbourg, France (or is it Germany?)
 

Just came back from a weekend in Strasbourg. The Christmas market was over but the city decorations were still hanging. It was cold with often a cold wind blowing but besides a brief snowstorm, it stayed mostly dry.

We stayed at Hotel Arok, located near the train station. It was quiet and reasonably priced. The breakfast offered a variety of cheese, bread, seeds, yoghurt, sausages and there was even sauerkraut.

Day 1: Friday - we went to the tourist info. We bought a 6 Euro city card that gave us discounts on tours and museums. We booked a walking tour in German for Saturday and the first boat tour on the canal on Sunday. Both were under 10 Euros and worth the money.

The afternoon lines into the mighty and iconic cathedral were too long as well as the lines up to the church tower so we planned to visit both first thing Saturday morning.

Day 2 Sat
9 am - no lines at the cathedral! What an amazing work of architecture and the nativity scene was huge and involved various scenes depicting the birth of Jesus. We also heard the astronomical clock ring at 9.30.

9.50: We headed to the tower. No lines! We were the first so we could wait until 10 (which turned into 10.20) in the shelter of the ticket office. We paid 4 Euros.

15.00: the walking tour was fascinating and informative. Highly recommend.

Day 3 Sunday
we took the 10.00 boat tour. The boat was half full so we had our choice of seats. There is an audio available in a variety of languages. It was 1.5 hours and took us to the European Parliament buildings. Again, highly recommended!

We visited a myriad of cafes and had the 3 King galettes. Yummy! Dinners were rather disappointing but I think we just didn‘t choose the right restaurants.

Strasbourg‘s colorful medieval framework houses is the true highlight of the city. The old city is basically car free and Petite France is a fairy tale of stories - a former tanner district, a medieval syphilis hospital and the fortified towers and bridges of a city security system of days gone by. French is the dominating language but one could also hear the delightful Elsäss German as well.

Speaking of, ein gutes neues Jahr to everyone.

Strasbourg is gorgeous any time of year ! - would love to return.

Happy New Year to you, Kleeblatt! Following on for the rest!

Lavandula

Alsaciens never wanted to be Germans (Swiss people neither).
They were rather unhappy under the German "occupations" (1871 - 1918 and during WW2).
Although they had to suffer for a long time under French chauvinism.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your stay in France, especially in Strasbourg, Alsace.
Even though the Alsatian language has Germanic roots, Alsace has long been deeply attached to France, and that is what matters most.
As explained in the previous post, Alsatians suffered greatly under German rule. World War II left the deepest and most painful scars on Alsatians and the people of Moselle: they were invaded and annexed by Nazi Germany, and many were forcibly drafted into the German army and Nazi organizations. Those who were forced to enlist were called the "malgré-nous" ("despite ourselves").
As Alsatians like to say: bonne et heureuse année à toutes et à tous !

I am really glad and relieved that others also reacted.

My grand grand..father died in WW1. Millions others died in WW2, including US soldiers. One of the aims was to free Alsace from german rule.

If you happened to visit place de Broglie, you may have read the famous "serment de Koufra".

I am sure it was not intentional but in these sensitive times, it is important to pay attention.

I had googled the history of Strasbourg while in Strasbourg. Alsace belonged to Germany multiple times. Here is a brief timeline:

• Before 1681 → German / Holy Roman Empire
• 1681–1871 → France
• 1871–1918 → Germany
  (after the Franco-Prussian War)
• 1918–1940 → France
• 1940–1944 → Germany
  (Nazi occupation in World War II)
• 1945–today → France

The New Town was basically built during the German rule before 1918

As a German speaker, one can read German everywhere and the influence of the German history is heavily felt. What happened during WW2 in Strasbourg was terrible but the German influence goes much farther back.

As far as I understand, Alsace is quite happy to belong to France and to identify as French. It‘s an amazing region

Don't, forget that there are very few European countries where the whole polulation has the same mother tongue.
Most of them are multilingual since ever. For example:
Spain (Castillano, Catalan, Basque, Gallego)
France (French, Alsacien, Italian, Corse, Breton, flamand, plus creolian in the overseas departments)
Italy (Italian, French, Sardinian,
Alemanic German, Bavarian German, Ladin, Friulano, Slovenian)
Romania (Romanian, Hungarian, German)
Albania (Albanian, Greek)
etc. etc.
Allt these countires have ONE official language

Then comes Switzerland, the big exception as usual, where locals speak either German, French. Italian or Rumantsch (Ladin) which are ALL offical languages.

I would use "part of", more neutral than "belong to". There are, as in many provinces in France, people who shout for independancy (you may have seen "Elsass frei" tagged on walls). Land belongs to people. Majority of people in Alsace actually seem to be OK to be part of France (although many did not like that the "region" was agglomerated to "Grand Est"). And France is fortunate not to have someone else claiming that Alsace belongs to him. With no oil or rare earth there, we may be safe...

"Elsass frei": may be, but never "Elsass zu de Schwoobe!"

Unfortunately, the Concordat of 1801 is still in application in Alsace-Moselle. Priests, pastors and rabbisare paid by the government, but Muslims are not covered. When France voted the law of separation of church and state in 1905, Alsace-Moselle was part of Germany, so religious education is still obligatory in schools. (Parents can officially apply to opt out.) There is regular talk of France repealing the Concordat, but other items from back then -- better social security and retirement funds -- might be put in danger so most residents refer to keep the Concordat even though it forces all shops to close on Sunday.