Strasbourg's Cathedral

Built between 1176 to 1439, the Notre-Dame cathedral looms large over the city of Strasbourg. Our first encounter with this gothic edifice it was on our walk shortly after arriving in Strasbourg.

The cathedral's tower stands at 142 meters (466 feet or 34 stories), making the cathedral the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874.

Here are perspectives of the cathedral from other parts of the city.

While David made the climb up to the tower (check out his blog post), I stayed below and enjoyed watching people walking in the square in front of the cathedral.

And similar to the portals of the cathedral in Metz, the blind-folded Synagoga is portrayed on the south portal.

Serious Recycling

On one of our walks in Strasbourg, we saw an operator picking up a bin of recyclables and emptying it into the truck.

Americana in Strasbourg

Canister Success in Strasbourg!

What a difference a week and another region make...we found a set of Alsatian canisters in the weekly flea market near the old slaughterhouse in Strasbourg. And when peering out a window of Strasbourg's Historical Museum, I saw a canister on its own, labeled Sago. Both purchases for a total of 25 euros!

In Pursuit of Kitchen Canisters!

One of my joys is hunting for early 20th century European kitchen canisters! I've found them in Easthampton (my first set), Paris, and Amsterdam, and the search continues. I was stunned the other night when we went to Bouche a Oreille, a fromage restaurant in the Place St. Louis. The restaurant is filled with kitchen canisters of the style I collect, and I felt anxious that I wasn't the only one looking for them at flea markets and antique stores!

Yesterday, we went to the local Marche aux Puces in the Metz Exhibition Park to see what was being sold. Held two times a month from 7 am to noon, the flea market is a wonderful place to watch people and things. I saw some canisters, but wasn't blown away by them; I like to buy them in complete sets, which is sometimes difficult. After walking around not one but two large halls of stalls (actually, you couldn't call them that...people often set up their wares on the floor), we headed off to Conflans-en-Jarnisy for an antique fair.

As David notes in his blog, this experience was tout French. The antique dealers at this high-end fair were happy to provide information about the pieces on exhibit. A dealer who learned the art of caning showed us his craft. My favorite pieces were enamel work made in Longwy.

I particularly liked this Longwy plate, and the dealer was nice enough to let me take a picture of it. After walking around the two halls, we enjoyed lunch and conversation with the fair "expert," a man who was there to answer people's questions about the antiques.

Although I didn't find any canisters to my liking on this outing, I learned about other collectibles that are pleasing to the eye. However, the hunt will continue...

The Week That Was

This past week was filled with activities, from walks around the former walls of Metz to seeing "Crazy Heart" at a nearby movie theatre. David went back to teaching and I'm settling in to the pulse of French life. I worked on some writing projects, visited the Municipal Archives and the Departmental (county) Archives, and ran errands. Each day, I did at least twenty minutes of yoga and took a walk. On Friday, we attended a concert of the Orchestre National de Lorraine at the Arsenal, a concert hall two blocks away, and enjoyed the fine playing of works of Schubert, Bartok and Janacek. The evening was sponsored by the Metz Rotary Club and the Rotarians were out in great numbers - many of them wearing bow ties!

It turned cold here this weekend, and we braved the 35 degree and windy weather today to walk to an exhibit of the works of Jacques Cocteau at the 18th century Chateau Courcelles, an exhibition space in nearby Montigny-les-Metz. On our way back, we walked through the Botanical Garden of Montigny and found a cactus room in the greenhouse!

Each town in France has a memorial to the war dead from World Wars I and II. Here is the memorial in Metz, just off of Avenue Joffre near our apartment.

A Festive Purim in Metz

We attended a Purim dinner at the Metz Jewish community center last Sunday. The children were in costume, as were some of the adults. Bruno Fiszon, the Grand Rabbi of the Moselle, dressed as a scientist (fitting, as he is also a veterinarian). We enjoyed a nice meal, some sweet kosher wine from Israel, and conversations with those around us - in French and in English.

David was asked to participate in a game where you try to bust the balloon that is tied to your challenger's ankles. David's challenger was Rabbi Bamberger, who heads one of the congregations in Metz. David won and received a silver 10 franc piece!

As there aren't a lot of Americans who visit the Metz synagogue, everyone was happy to welcome us and we were touched by their hospitality.