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France/Spain 2011
Day 3 - 19th March - Strasbourg (Part 4)
I then went back into the Cathedral to admire it.
Stained glass
2 guys admiring the altar
Guy at altar
Plaque on the choir (where the altar is)
Plaque commemorating John Paul II's mass at the cathedral in 1988
Nave
Rose Window
Maison Kammerzell again
At about this time, I noticed some singing. On the cathedral tower I'd thought I'd heard a girl singing, and now it started again. And what singing it was:
Luc Arbogast with amazing falsetto (he was the busker from before)
I was not the only enraptured one
Chest voice + falsetto
Crowd from the back
One woman told a guy: "Il est castré... l'opéra" ("He's castrated... the opera"). Apparently she had never heard of counter-tenors.
Luc Arbogast and his chest
Luc Arbogast - Aux Portes de Sananda
I got one. Of the 12 tracks on the CD, 1 song comes from XIVth century Montserrat, one from the Italian repertoire of the 16th century, one is inspired by traditional Judeo-Andalousian music and the rest is by him.
From YouTube, he goes around topless (presumably when it's summer) to other parts of France to perform. He also has a MySpace.
Rue de Maroquin ("Road of Moroccan leather")
"Place du marché aux-cochons-de-lait"
("Square of the market with milk pigs")
Very nice name.
While doing a tour of Strasbourg (following the SNCF audioguide) I ran into a group of men at the Palais de Rohan (Rohan Palace - yes it's the same spelling as the land of the Rohirrim). It turned out they were following the same tradition as the all-female group from before (I asked but they were not getting married to each other).
They were certainly a lot more colourful than the girls. Oh, and they also had condoms readily available. I told them a photo would be enough, but they still gave me sweets. They also had silicone (sealant, I think) and house glue for some reason.
Palais de Rohan
The SNCF audioguide had interviews with historians. I was impressed. This was a free audioguide!
Palais de Rohan side facing river
Not having time to visit everywhere the audioguide mentioned, I listened to some of the tracks without visiting those places. La Petite France (Little France) was called that because they used to keep people with Syphilis there. And since Syphilis was the French disease, the name stuck. Naturally this did not happen when Strasbourg was a French town.
There was also the Place Gutenberg and Brasserie du Canon on the audioguide map but it wasn't a real map (it wasn't to scale and didn't have streets etc) so I gave up.
"Mouvement Jeunes Communistes"
("Movement of Young Communists")
Exhibition on when Strasbourg was a Roman legionary camp on the Rhine from the 1st-4th centuries. I didn't have time sadly.
More exhibitions
Courtyard of Palais de Rohan
Entrance to Courtyard
A church
Church side
Wedding couple
Hello Kitty boutique. Ugh.