Ill river, Strasbourg

Heading for home tomorrow after merely one night in Strasbourg, French Rail industrial dispute permitting! So far TGV services and Eurostar seem to be unaffected, so fingers crossed!

Had a delightful scenic rail trip today across Switzerland to Basel, where we found that a large room under the station had a door labelled "France", and so we went through it to be met by two French gendarmes!.. before boarding the train for where we are tonight. It felt a bit like Alice going through the looking glass..a loosely defined and low key border crossing with token guards.

Today's blip shows the tributary of the Rhine on which Strasbourg sits.

This is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region of eastern France, and the official seat of the European Parliament, close to the German border.

So in a day we have moved from one HQ of multiple international institutions, to another.

The beautiful and historic city centre stands on the Grande Île (Big Island).
It was classified a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988, the first time such an honour was ever placed on an entire city centre.

Strasbourg is immersed in Franco-German culture and although violently fought over and disputed for centuries, has proved to be a bridge of unity between France and Germany also, especially through the University of Strasbourg, currently the second largest in France, and through the peaceful coexistence of Catholic and Protestant cultures (in stark contrast to my native city of Belfast!!!)

We are very struck with this beautiful place, and have already resolved to come back and spend more time here a.s.a.p.
Please do feel free to join us!