Strasbourg - City of contrasts

Not sure what to make of this place. When we arrived in the train station, we were met by a patrol of 3 very fit, very tough looking soldiers in full combat clothing and with sub-machine guns and hands on the ready. They slowly made their way through the crowd - ever vigilant. You also notice a number of people standing around in key locations just watching what was going on. Outside the train station, there are two fully loaded, hardened Landrovers at the ready.
Strasbourg is not the prettiest city in Europe. That is being charitable. There are some really interesting places like the pictures below, but the main impression one has is of a city in need of a good hosing down.









There are a lot poorly maintained areas and even the more picturesque places, like the canals, have become hang-outs for local wine-o's and vagrants. They have set up shop just under the bridges and are sleeping on the sidewalks, in store entrances and on the lawns. This is right in the middle of the city centre. The police are totally ambivalent and we watched several police turn a blind eye to things our Canadian police would have intervened on immediately. Different standards I guess.



The funniest thing I saw here was a policeman on a Vespa with a whistle in his mouth. He was getting through the crowd by tooting his whistle, then gunning the Vespa through the crowd. You could hear him as he wove his way through the throngs of tourists there to see the Cathedral. Lt. Cluseau (Peter Sellers) came immediately to mind! Blake Edwards would have had a ball with this scene. Nuns flying everywhere.


- Derek

Location:Strasbourg, France