Kinda French, Kinda German: Strasbourg

Strasbourg sits on the furthest edge of France you can go. Any further and you’re in Germany. Matter of fact, when you get there, you realize it all looks a bit different. In place of classic French architecture, you get a little bit, well, German. This place has been a very conflicted place settled between some snaking rivers for many years. But as a traveler, I’m quite intrigued by it all.

Walking around you see classic German style housing and buildings while everything reads in French. Then of course, there’s the gigantic Gothic church sitting in the middle of town. As beautiful as it is, the Gothic style of church reminisces as something a bit more horror film-esc. Probably just an American movie stereotype, but this place has a little darker tone. The characters, the ambiance, the architecture are all a little more ancient bible with demons and hellfire. There’s pictures of people getting tortured and gnarled figures chiseled into the very building structure. I could imagine it used to give people nightmares back then!

As was my perfect timing, I stayed at a decent hostel where my entire room became friends. We wandered the streets and shared international relations from all over the world. Never have I seen an entire room go out for an evening. Quite charming.

Doubling down on timing, I found that the church was setting up for some kind of show. To my surprise, it was more than just a musical show, but a light show! I was quite impressed with the visuals tying the church to the projections. A little bit hypnotic, a little bit trippy equaled 100% amazing. I loved it so much I watched it 3x in a row.

Another lovely town, another lovely story. Oh, and did I mention the poetic looking walks down the river with flowers and bikes lining the way? That was pretty special too.

D’accord, au revoir. Tschüss ✌🏼

Don’t forget to watch the video at the end!