Katrina
Feb. 21, 2007

We walked alongside the old half-timbered houses, through the winding streets of Strasbourg, talking amongst ourselves and observing the city around us when suddenly we turned a corner onto a large plaza and everyone's gaze was immediately drawn upward: Strasbourg Cathedral. It is one of those things that you read about and see pictures of, but you can never really get the full effect until you're standing under the huge bell tower killing your neck because you can't look away. It only gets more impressive when you go inside and try to take it all in: sculptures, flying buttresses, stained glass windows, and a multi-tasking astronomical clock. Thankfully, we had a tour guide who explained certain points of interest (maybe a little too zealously, as she was very kind to explain to us this certain historical event called the 'Protestant Reformation.')

We've had a very busy week since we left our host families behind in Saverne on Sunday (a bittersweet parting, as we were excited to go to a larger city, but sad to leave our new families). Since we've been in Strasbourg, we've toured the city, gone to the Museum of Chocolate, explored various markets all over the city, and spent an evening with a handful of French students. This is also our week for presentations, and two-thirds of the students have explained to us certain traditions or specialties of the Alsace region. We're all beginning to get tired and a few have been fighting off sickness, but it's been a very interesting and informative week already! There is so much history in this region that had to change nationalities five times in a century as France and Germany alternately took it over during various wars.

Let me tell you a bit about the astronomical clock. It was built in the mid 1800s to replace a 16th century clock that was falling apart. It is enormous and has mechanisms to show the time, day, month, year, zodiac signs, temperature, ecclesiastical saint days, lunar phase, position of the planets, and a separate face to show the relative positions of the moon, sun, and earth so that it can also show eclipses. Every fifteen minutes its figures are set into motion with the different ages of man passing before death and ringing a bell, and at 12:30 pm the twelve apostles pass before Jesus, who blesses each of them while the rooster crows three times, after which he blesses the viewers. It is quite the thing to see if you're ever in the area!